Arsenal throw Premiership race open

For footballers, there is something about scoring against your former club. You can always tell how a player feels/felt about his old club by the way a goal is celebrated.

I love to watch players play against their former clubs. Determination and the desire to win are written all over them. Whether it is a Wayne Rooney against Everton, Gerard Pique or Carlos Tevez against Manchester United or Shawn Wright-Phillips against Chelsea, they always seem to go the extra mile.

Just on Wednesday night, Antonio Valencia, new kid on the block for Manchester United, scored the last premiership goal of the year 2009 against his former club Wigan. It was an evening of fabulous football by the Ecuadorian who had earlier helped create 3 of the 5 goals scored at old Trafford, but even that did not bring out an "Adebayor-like" celebration.

I have never seen anyone celebrate a goal against their former club the way Emmanuel Adebayor did against Arsenal at the city of Manchester. He "Bolted" almost a hundred meters to celebrate in front of the Arsenal fans. The real Bolt would have given him thumbs up for the sprint.

With other leagues in Europe on a winter break, all eyes were on England during the holiday. The year ended with a lot to look forward to in the New Year.

For instance, the top sides in the premiership have been highly inconsistent this season. At the start of the season, post-Ronaldo, most people tipped Chelsea, under yet another manager, to run away with the 2009/10 premiership title. Even though they ended the year as league leaders, they have struggled a lot in recent times.

In fact, their last game against Fulham before the departure of the African players on their team for the African Nations Cup, was a major struggle. The blues trailed their west London rivals for the most part of the match until the 75th minute when Didier Drogba headed in the equaliser in a game that ended 2-1.

Drogba will be sorely missed in January.

Manchester United and Arsenal

Judging by Manchester United and Arsenal's performances in their last 2 matches, Liverpool's last minute victory over Villa, Manchester city (under a new coach who so far has a 100 percent success record and looks determined to prove a point), and with Aston Villa's Martin O'Neill confident that his side can break into the top four, the English premier league title is far from a two-horse race.

In fact, as it stands, any of the top 7 teams can still go all the way. For us fans, it makes the premiership as interesting as the La liga and Bundesliga, unlike the serie A, where Inter seem to have won the league already.

Wednesday night though must have been a déjà vu for Wigan who got mauled by the same score line courtesy of United earlier on in the season. They, alongside Portsmouth, West Ham, Hull City and Bolton Wanderers, seem ill equipped to avoid relegation, with the battle at the bottom being as interesting as top.

Wayne Rooney is definitely having his best season ever, no wonder the English fans have their fingers crossed and are hoping he can win them the World Cup. I hope metatarsal stays far away from him this time.

Despite the fact that Cesc Fabregas limped off the pitch after a brilliant though brief performance against Aston Villa, the young Gunners in their last match of 2009 put on a beautiful performance against Avram Grant's side who are not only struggling to stay in the premiership but also for their very existence. They face bankruptcy unless they can clear their debts by February.

A new year

With the African Cup of Nations starting in a couple of days and many key players away on national duty, should we expect any changes in the log? As it stands, Arsenal, with a game in hand, are two points behind the Red Devils and four points behind league leaders Chelsea. Can they make it back to the top of the table?

Even though Fabio Capello and Jose Mourinho recently said the United squad, is "not as strong without Cristiano Ronaldo", we all know that United are a "second half of the season team'' and they are currently in a similar position to prior seasons when they won the league so I doubt that the fans will be too worried right now.

Thank God the 3-time defending champions have started to overcome their injury problems.

So, it is a new year, second half of the season, with high expectations both in the league, champions league and even the Nations Cup. I wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year with just one question on my mind: who will win the 09/10 EPL?