By Andrew Discenza

Manchester United are in a crisis of sorts after frailty at the back lead to two straight defeats. David De Gea gave Sir Alex Ferguson a most unwelcome 70th birthday present on New Year’s eve, demonstrating his continuing aerial ineptitude. The Spanish goalkeeper could only flap desperately at Morten Gamst Pederson’s corner, leaving Grant Hanley to win the ball and nod into the empty net to hand Blackburn an astounding late winner at Old Trafford. Phil Jones then epitomized United’s defensive shortcomings with a calamitous own goal to seal Newcastle’s 3-0 rout over the champions. Tim Krul’s deep free-kick was allowed to bounce, and as Jones bent to head the ball it instead bounced off his chest and rolled into the net past the wrong-footed Anders Lindegaard

Have your say: Which performance will be more worrying to the manager: De Gea’s or Jones’?

Tim Howard has scored the longest-ever Premier League goal – netting from an incredible 102 yards out. The American smashed a clearance from near his own penalty spot and as the wind carried the ball it seemed to deceive everyone as it was allowed to bounce amongst four players. The bounce suited Howard just perfectly, as it sailed over a helpless Adam Bogdan to nestle in the net.

Poor refereeing allowed Manchester City to succumb to a sensational late 1-0 defeat at Sunderland. Dong-won Ji’s 93rd minute finish capped off a dream result for the home side, but Kevin Friend’s officiating team failed to notice that the Korean was a yard offside when Stephane Sessegnon played the killer pass.

Robin van Persie was the most explosive striker in the Premiership in 2011, and showed it by capping off the year with yet another match-winning performance against QPR. Refusing to be frustrated after fashioning three attempts for himself and failing to hit the target, the Dutchman kept his cool to finish under the goalkeeper and earn his 35th goal, the second most ever in the Premiership in a calendar year. The stats speak for themselves, a Messi or Ronaldo-esque 48 goals in 57 matches for club and country.

David Luiz’s dreadful error at the back gifted Aston Villa the winning goal on a New Year’s weekend chock full of upsets. Ciaran Clark was driving the ball forward when Luiz seemed to lose his mind completely, inexplicably straying five yards from Stillyan Petrov and giving the Bulgarian acres of space with which to finish off what Clark started.

Golazos rang in the New Year as wonderful strikes were seen across the Premier League’s festive period.

Sam Ricketts scored the best goal on New Year’s eve, stepping inside his defender to open up for the shot and curling a simply glorious effort that found the side netting.

Anthony Pilkington’s match-winning performance for Norwich on Monday was highlighted by a wondergoal, as he saw the gap fully 25 yards out and bent a low, supremely accurate shot into the bottom corner.

Newcastle duo Demba Ba & Yohan Cabaye each scored stunners to upset Manchester United. The two have been stars for Newcastle and showed it as Ba volleyed instinctively into the corner from a long ball and Cabaye hit a cracking freekick that found the net off the underside of the bar.

David Ngog & Gary Cahill were Bolton’s heroes, each with a fine goal to earn Bolton’s comeback win over Everton. Louis Saha’s touch fell fortunately to Ngog in the box, but there was nothing lucky about the 22-year-old’s sharp turn and curl into the corner. Then Christ Eagles played in Cahill, and the defender found a striker’s finish into the corner from a tight angle.

Craig Gardner & David Vaughan produced another pair of brilliant strikes as Sunderland trounced Wigan. Gardner’s free-kick was certainly helped by the wind but it was no less a joy to watch, as it bent wickedly to breeze into the top corner. Vaughan then scored his second golazo in six matches, smashing a first-time shot with aplomb into the roof of the net.

Have your say: Which was the best goal of the festive period?

David Stockdale’s brilliant double save kept Arsenal from extending their advantage and set the stage for Fulham’s outrageous late comeback to steal a 2-1 win on Monday. The impressive goalkeeper needed to get down quickly to parry Aaron Ramsey’s low drive, and then Gervinho looked certain to score from the rebound just two yards out until Stockdale produced a miraculous reflex save to push the shot onto the post.

Frank Lampard netted a late winner against Wolves, but the Chelsea man should have seen red after just 25 minutes. The veteran midfielder made an amateurish mistake by sliding sickeningly into Adama Hammill’s ankle with his studs up – a move which has almost universally been grounds for dismissal the past two seasons. But referee Peter Walton made the bizarre decision to only show the 33-year-old a yellow.

Have your say: Should Lampard have been sent off?

Danny Simpson produced a horrible goal-line mistake and a wonderful block within five days. His blunder let in Craig Bellamy’s freekick on Friday, as he broke away from the wall only to get in his goalkeeper’s way and help the ball into the net. But Simpson atoned for himself on Wednesday, stretching to block Wayne Rooney’s point blank volley on the line.

Brad Friedel conceded an 84th minute equalizer to hand Swansea a hard-fought point against Tottenham. Friedel had defender valiantly against relentless pressure by the home side until Angel Rangel’s deflected shot caused the American to hesitate, and he simply couldn’t get down in time to gather, allowing Scott Sinclair to tap home.

Stephen Warnock produced one of the most comedic errors of the New Year, gifting the ball to Nathan Dyer to give Swansea a fifth minute lead from which they wouldn’t look back. Warnock received the ball under little pressure in his own half, but chose to attempt a casual back-heel which dribbled pathetically away and far closer to Dyer than his target of Richard Dunne.

Joey Barton just can’t stay out of the headlines. The QPR midfielder opened the scoring for Rangers with a crisp first-time volley into the bottom corner, but let his temper get out of control again to see red just 25 minutes later. He had squared up aggressively to Bradley Johnson, and although it was the slightest of headbutts on the Norwich man it was more than enough for the referee to send Barton from the pitch.

Peter Crouch’s fine brace was the difference as Stoke edged Blackburn 2-1. They were both very typical of the big striker, as he rose each time to bring down an aerial pass ahead of his defender and volley unerringly into the net.