Premier League

We get it. People want to feel like they are informed and up-to-date with the world around them. That is why journalism exists. The news, and the journalists that contribute to it, keep the general public “in-the-know.” It is a noble cause when you think of it in such a way. It is a public service. 

Journalists have a privilege and a responsibility to ask the questions that need to be answered. If they ask the right question to the right person, even a lack of a answer can sometimes be enough to inform the world about what is really happening. 

It’s back: 31 days of rumors, nonsense and exorbitant sums of money for players EPL teams don't need. It's the January Transfer Window.

Newcastle United fans have just received the mother of all late Christmas presents: Alan Pardew has officially left the club, and they’ve received £2m in compensation to boot. Their benefactors? Crystal Palace, who’ve hired Pardew to replace Neil Warnock, sacked on Saturday.

In a moment reminiscent of Zinedine Zidane's epic headbutt against Italy in the 2006 World Cup final, Arsenal's Olivier Giroud headbutted QPR's Nedum Onuoha on Boxing Day. So whose was better?

Alexis Sanchez has adapted incredibly quickly to the Premier League this season, scoring 10 goals and recording 6 assists in all competitions. Both of those numbers are the highest in the squad, but that is not all that Alexis leads the team in. 

Sanchez is, without a doubt, the most entertaining Arsenal player to watch. He is charismatic on the pitch, gesticulating to teammates, opponents and referees alike, and once he gets the ball at his feet he manipulates it as if it were another tongue with which he speaks. 

Bristol Rovers's Lee Mansell kissed Gateshead's J.J. O'Donnell to diffuse a confrontation.

While the fair-weather softies on the Continent take two weeks off to stuff their cake holes with Gluhwein, stollen and panettone, the clean-living, bread and water puritans of the Barclays Premier League are bracing themselves for a week of utter madness. 

It’s Christmas Eve, and by now each and every one of you will be knee-deep in the “festive period”: your credit cards will be maxed out, the onset of gout is just around the corner, and your liver is the complexion and consistency of a duck pate that’s been sat in the sun too long.

Head injuries are nothing to be trifled with. With all of the new information that has arisen concerning concussions and their long term effects, watching a player get knocked unconscious, or suffer any sort of trauma to the head, can be a very troubling experience. 

So when the camera showed Liverpool’s Martin Skrtel on the ground on Sunday, blood pouring from his head, it was hard not to fear the worst. Replay did not help.