Winners & Losers (04/01/12)

So who's had a winning Christmas and New Year period and who ate to much turkey and drank too much (Danny Care)?

Winners

The Barclays Premier League - it seems no team with intentions of claiming the title have come through the festive period unscathed with Man Utd and Chelsea both losing at home and Man City, Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal all dropping points to 'lesser' teams. It all contributes to a more interesting league, still anyone's to win.

Celtic - previously covered in this blog, Celtic claimed top spot in the SPL for the first time since April with a victory over their arch rivals Rangers. Consolidated with a New Year win over Dunfermline, it's 11 victories on the trot.

Scottish Rugby - a record 13,000+ crowd at Murrayfield and around 9,000 at Firhill saw Glasgow slug it out against Edinburgh to win the 1872 Cup, showcasing some young promising Scottish talent. Both teams are in good form of late, with one month to go until the 6 Nations and the Calcutta Cup.

Adrian Lewis - The Jackpot successfully defended his World Darts title, despite the majority of the crowd cheering on rival Andy Hamilton following farcical scenes in Lewis' semi final where he walked of stage because of a draft.  The final also saw Lewis very close to completing a 9 dart finish, just missing the double 12 on the final dart.

Losers

The NY Jets - it's been a miserable end to the NFL season for the Jets.  Wide receiver Santonio Holmes has been playing like a spoilt brat, playing only for himself and blaming everyone else for his own poor performance and QB Mark Sanchez has again underperformed in his third season.  The final weekend loss at Miami saw Sanchez thow 3 interceptions and persistantly struggle against the Miami defence.  Both players are on shaky ground right now.

Mark Sanchez really needs to improve

Danny Care - already mentioned, but that only reflects the fact that Danny Care has been TWICE reprimanded for drinking related incidents, leading to police charges, a court appearance and expulsion from Stuart Lancaster's consideration for England's 6 Nations title defence. See here for more!

Liverpool - The Anfield club have chosen not to appeal the FA decision to ban Suarez for 8 games following the alleged racist abuse towards Man Utd's Patrice Evra.  The first of those 8 games was played last night with Liverpool losing at Manchester City 3-0.