2019 was a great year for sports and for sports betting, but you might never know it if you looked at our sites readership statistics. 2018 had lots of big hitting stories that got us clicks, like the repeal of PASPA, the kidnapping of 5Dimes “Tony” and other big stories. But in 2019, we hired Paul Seaton and Derek Tonin, so get ready for some soccer retrospectives and political odds!

Whoever scored the most goals gets the most clicks

In early October, Paul wrote about the top 7 goal scorers in soccer history, topped by Josef Bican with 805. This piece, which takes a fond look at some of the best players in the game, past and present, has had a lot of staying and has helped keep the lights on at the CalvinAyre shop.

The story has been responsible for over 14% of all sports clicks that we’ve received this year in less than 3 months’ time, and had more than double the readers of every other story you’ll see in this article, combined.

Winning the Premier League is one of the toughest tasks in football. While it has been won multiple times by the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and captured once by Leicester and Blackburn, some big sides have never seen their ribbons on the trophy.

Liverpool, Spurs and Everton are just three of the major sides who have never lifted the Premier League title, albeit with The Red close to ending that hoodoo. But could they collapse in the second half of the season? All these five sides have done exactly in the Premier League.

Manchester United, 2003/04

A surprising name in this list are the record-holding 13-time Premier League champions and the team who have won the most league titles in history, with 20 to their name. United, who won 13 of their opening 17 games in the 2003/04 season, were too by virtue of Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ having drawn a large number of their games.

How did you enjoy your Christmas? If you love football, then you would have been looking forward to bulging Boxing Day nets, incredible drama and plenty of twists and turns at breakneck pace. Whoever you support, you’ll have been after excitement.

I write this with no axe to grind against the results, or any particular decisions. The team I support earned six points and scored more goals than you can count on one hand. Nor was my team robbed of any points, or indeed goals, by the Video Assistant Referee, or VAR for short.

VAR still managed to ruin my Christmas football, and I’ll bet it did yours.

On Sunday evening, after the biggest VAR travesties took place at Anfield, ‘Even though I’m a Liverpool fan’ was trending at #4 on Twitter in the United Kingdom. Even the home fans, bereft of Premier League titles, having witnessed their team being assisted by today’s decisions, took to the social media platform to complain about VAR.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The two most important bowl games, the College Football Playoff national semifinals, are in the rearview mirror but there are still plenty of good postseason matchups this week as the calendar flips to 2020.

How much excitement will there be for the players on No. 11 Utah on New Year’s Eve when the Utes face Texas in the Alamo Bowl from San Antonio? The Utes players are probably still kicking themselves for an upset loss to Oregon in the Pac-12 title game. Had Utah won that, it likely would have earned a spot in the College Football Playoff. The Utes didn’t even get a decent consolation prize: The school’s first-ever trip to the Rose Bowl. Utah is a 7-point favorite and has covered eight of its past nine as a favorite. The Horns have lost their past five as underdogs.

Four games on New Year’s Day and all involve ranked teams. Marquee matchup of teams that had higher goals when No. 14 Michigan takes on No. 13 Alabama in the Citrus Bowl from Orlando. This is the first time the Tide have missed the playoff, which was assured when they were upset 48-45 by Auburn on November 30 in a crazy Iron Bowl. Star Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa missed that game injured and he’s not playing here, either. Michigan, meanwhile, was routed by bitter rival Ohio State to close the regular season. The Crimson Tide are 7.5-point favorites and have won their past eight after a loss.

The next five months will decide so much for teams in the English Premier League. Who’ll win the league, who’ll qualify for the Champions League and who will be relegated to the EFL Championship.

Who will win the league may be something of a moot point. Barring season-long injuries to Virgil Van Djik, Sadio Mane, Mohammed Salah and Roberto Firmino, Liverpool have the league title sewn up, 13 points clear at the top with a game in hand.

While Liverpool have previously blown four English Premier League leads they held on Christmas Day, it seems highly unlikely that they’ll do anything other than romp home for their maiden Premier League title, won at the 26th time of asking, 30 years after their last English title.

Champions League places

The Christmas period has been one of the most intensive ever for the English Premier League. With two games in less than 48 hours for many of the 20 teams in the best league in the world, there were games littered with mistakes, moments of magic and a whole goalmouth full of VAR decisions, many of which have stirred up a social media storm.

While some sides had a Christmas to forget, such as pointless Newcastle or ‘nil point’ Norwich, others fly into the New Year on a wave of optimism, such as both Merseyside clubs, Everton and Liverpool.

Leicester City 0 -4 Liverpool

The EPL Title was on the line on Boxing Day, but it was Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool who bossed affairs at the King Power as they blew Leicester out of contention and effectively ended the title race before the New Year.