by Andrew Discenza

Dimitar Berbatov has suddenly caught fire for Manchester United as the champions look to have hit their stride at Christmas with a 5-0 thrashing of Wigan. He first showed the strength to hold of Antolin Alcaraz and fire in from close range, then turned in a flash to finish with a fierce toe-poke into the roof of the net. Alcaraz then conceded a questionable penalty, which the Bulgarian slotted in with the utmost composure.

David Silva’s status as one of the very best in the Premier League is in jeopardy after his lackluster display contributed to Manchester City’s 0-0 stalemate at West Brom. On another day the Spaniard would have led his side to victory, but sent a glorious chance over the bar when Sergio Aguero had laid an opportunity at his feet six yards out. That miss set the tone for his finishing, as he had two or three other chances to win the match for City but couldn’t find enough quality to beat Ben Foster.

Tottenham remain the top club in London thanks to clinical finishing lacking in both Arsenal and Chelsea’s performances. Tottenham found that cutting edge in the ever-impressive Gareth Bale, whose brace helped Spurs to a surprising third in the Premier League at the start of 2012. Emmanuel Adebayor set up Bale for the opener, squaring to the Welshman who displayed close control among three Norwich defenders before finishing crisply under John Ruddy. Bale then truly showed his class by running half the field onto a Modric through ball, blowing past two defenders and chipping ever so coolly over the goalkeeper.

David Stockdale’s brilliant keeping was enough to hold a blunt Chelsea side to a 1-1 draw with Fulham. He made a strong stop to deny Fernando Torres a brilliant early goal before making a string of saves late on to preserve a point. His kick save kept out Flourent Malouda’s backheel, he tipped over Daniel Sturridge’s effort, and blocked Didier Drogba from a tight angle, He then palmed headers from Drogba and Raul Meireles over the bar, before keeping out the Ivorian’s cracking freekick with the seconds winding down.

Howard Webb awarded a laughable penalty kick to hand Everton a point at Sunderland. Leon Osman had gone down in the area as Wes Brown and Lee Cattermole closed in to block the player’s shot, and Mr. Webb took his time before pointing deliberately to the spot. But replays showed that the Sunderland players made no contact whatsoever, and that Osman went down in a heap theatrically after kicking the turf rather than the ball.

Blackburn produced goal line heroics at the death to hold a frustrated Liverpool to a 1-1 draw. In the final attack of the match goalkeeper Mark Bunn made the save of his career, diving down and to his right to somehow keep Andy Carroll’s close-range flick out of the bottom corner. From the ensuing corner it was Grant Hanley who rose to the occasion, blocking Daniel Agger’s header that had come off the underside of the bar with the very last kick of the game.

Phil Dowd again finds himself in the spotlight with a dreadful decision that doomed Wigan to defeat at Manchester United. Conor Sammon seemed to be innocently positioning himself to collect a long ball when his outstretched arm made slight contact with the head of Michael Carrick. A simple foul was the appropriate call for Mr. Dowd to make, but the referee brandished a straight red card to an astonished and dismayed Sammon.