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.

No Boxing Day results will ever come close to the free-scoring football seen on 26th December, 1963, when across the 10 games played, the old First Division produced no less than 66 goals. Maybe it was the spirit of the age. The Beatles were at the start of a run of three years at Christmas number one, singing ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ while First Division footballers were flying at each other and crashing in goals like never before.

Here are the full scores from that fateful festive fixture list.

First Division Results / 26th December, 1963:

Blackpool 1-5 Chelsea

In a decade where so many of English football’s magical moments have taken place on live television, the English Premier League has grown more and more. The amount of money in the game has increased, and so has the notoriety for the players themselves.

In a decade where the top Premier League footballers could buy a house every week and still have change left over to tip hotel bellboys like Harry and Lloyd in Aspen, who have been the best of the best?

We have put together a team of absolute greats in a 4-3-3 formation that would terrify the 1970 Brazil side, 1999 Manchester United team and the cast of Space Jam rolled into one.

Let’s find out who makes the cut.

The Boxing Day football fixtures that approach this Christmas are going to be some of the most fiercely competed fixtures all season. With the Premier League title on the line at the King Power Stadium in Leicester, Liverpool could see their 30-year wait for the English Premier League virtually ended in the Midlands with victory.

Elsewhere, which United will be celebrating victory at Old Trafford where former United greats Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Steve Bruce meet? Who else will be gathering in the football present every manager wants under their tree—three vital points?

Manchester United vs. Newcastle United (26th December, 5:30pm)

While Manchester United have disappointed their fans with a haul of 25 points, Newcastle have delighted their followers with the acquisition of exactly the same. Such as the vagaries of football fans that these two giants of the English game in terms of fanbases meet when next to each other in the table, albeit 7 places lower than they did when they battled for the Premier League title back in 1996.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

When Christmas Eve falls on a weekday and there are no NFL games, it’s one of the slowest sports days of the year in the United States because the NBA and NHL go dark. There is one major live event this year, however, and it’s the Hawaii Bowl featuring the host Warriors of the Mountain West Conference against independent school BYU with an 8 p.m. ET kickoff. The Cougars are 2-point favorites but have failed to cover their past six as betting favorites.

It’s a record ninth Hawaii Bowl appearance for the host school, which has gone 4-4 in the previous eight. Hawaii and BYU used to be members of the Western Athletic Conference and this is the third straight year they meet. BYU won 49-23 last year in Utah.

No bowl games on Christmas but two on December 26. The first at 4 p.m. ET is the Independence Bowl from Shreveport, Louisiana, with Conference U.S.A.’s Louisiana Tech facing Miami of the ACC. The Bulldogs will clearly have the fan advantage as the Tech campus in Ruston is only about 70 miles away. The Bulldogs have played in this bowl four times, last in 2008. They are in a bowl game for a sixth straight season and have won the past five.

Leicester fall away at The Etihad while Manchester United fall on their own sword at Vicarage Road and Spurs grind out a very Mourinho victory against an old enemy at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

If Christmas is a time for giving, the Premier League has been the place for the most festive of football fixtures. There have been hilarious own goals, massive misses and own goals galore all season, but the most recent gameweek has been fuller than ever.

At Goodison Park, Carlo Ancelotti and Mikel Arteta watched their teams play out a bore draw that condemned both clubs to a stuttering start under new stewardship. Sheffield United and Southampton both earned special away wins, The Saints triumphing at Aston Villa to drag them into the relegation zone while they leapt out of it at their victims’ expense.

Sheffield United’s win has hoisted them up to 5th place in the Premier League on Sunday night – an amazing achievement from a side who were playing Championship football this time last year.

Two teams with incoming managers clash at Goodison Park, Leicester and Manchester City try to make ground on Liverpool and there’s a London Derby for the ages at White Hart Lane 

While there are some interesting ties between teams battling to avoid the drop, much of the focus this weekend is on two sleeping giants who meet in the North, a battle for the right to challenge the throne in the North-West and a gigantic clash in the capital. It’s like Game of Thrones returned for Winter in the English Premier League.

Everton vs. Arsenal (Saturday 21st December, 12:30 pm GMT kick-off)

A fascinating clash between two teams about to kick off new regimes will unfold on Saturday lunchtime local time as Everton host Arsenal. While in the 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s, this would have likely been a top six clash, neither side look close to cracking that group of clubs (Liverpool, Leicester, both Manchester clubs and the two London teams who meet on Sunday).

The College Football Playoff semifinals this season are a bit earlier than usual, on December 28, and will be held at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta and the Fiesta Bowl outside Phoenix. How does the committee decide which semifinal is where? Depends on the top-ranked team as one reward is that it will not be placed in a bowl that is geographically disadvantageous.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

LSU is the No. 1 team and plays No. 4 Oklahoma in the Peach Bowl, and the Tigers know Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta well having beaten Georgia there for the SEC title. It’s a matchup of Heisman Trophy finalists in LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, the runaway winner, and Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts, who finished second in the voting. Both were transfers from other powerhouse schools. LSU is 14-point chalk and has won and covered its past five against Big 12 schools.

The second semifinal features No. 2 Clemson vs. No. 3 Ohio State in a matchup of two of the nation’s best offenses and defenses. Tigers QB Trevor Lawrence was the preseason favorite to win the Heisman but wasn’t a finalist, while OSU had two finalists in QB Justin Fields and defensive end Chase Young. Clemson is a 2-point betting favorite, while the Buckeyes have won and covered their past seven as underdogs.

Three League Cup ties took place on Wednesday night as three Premier League sides eventually joined Aston Villa in the semi-final to make it an all top-flight final four.

Aston Villa beat Liverpool 5-0 on Tuesday night as Jurgen Klopp fielded the Under 23’s side in his absence, while Liverpool were 3,500 miles away at the Club World Cup Finals. One day later, Liverpool beat Monterrey 2-1 and three more teams took their places in the semi-final draw.

Everton 2-2 Leicester City (Leicester win 2-4 on penalties)

A stirring tie at Goodison Park brought what will probably be an end to Duncan Ferguson’s brief period as interim manager in fine style. Ultimately, Everton went out at the quarter-final stage, but The Toffees stuck to their task manfully and were unlucky to lose in the end.

Donald Trump has joined a very exclusive list. The U.S. President has now become only the third ever to be impeached by the House of Representatives, and will now likely face trial by the Senate. We’ll take a look at how his odds looked on PredicIt right up to the final vote, and the current prices offered for what comes next.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn’t start this impeachment process without the confidence that it would turn out well for the Democrats, and the odds reflected that most of the way. After announcing the process, Trump’s odds of being impeached in 2019 jumped from roughly $0.14 to $0.42, and never really looked back.

While his odds of being impeached overall remained high throughout, around the $0.80s, with no one knowing how long the process would last, his odds of being impeached specifically this year only spiked to the $0.80s at the end of the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation, when the timeline became clear. The price made as steady climb from $0.81 to $0.99 from December 10 to the day of impeachment, December 19.

So what next? With the Holiday season upon us, the odds of Trump leaving office in 2019 are at $0.01. The odds that Pelosi’s democrats add another article of impeachment are also long, at $0.02.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Live American sporting events generally take place between noon and 10:30 p.m. ET, at least via start times. It’s not too often that U.S. bettors can wager on something with an American interest in the middle of the night or very early morning Eastern time unless it’s an international event like the Presidents Cup (last week), World Cup, Olympics, Australian Open, etc.

Which brings us to the UFC Fight Night card this Saturday as the organization visits Busan in South Korea with a main event that will begin at 5 a.m. ET from Sajik Arena. The card is headlined by a featherweight bout between Frankie Edgar and Chan Sung Jung, better known as “the Korean Zombie.” It’s the first-ever UFC card in Busan but second in South Korea.

Edgar and Sung Jang were supposed to fight in November 2018 at a UFC Fight Night event in Denver, but Edgar had to withdraw due to injury. Sung Jung originally was to fight Brian Ortega on this card, but Ortega withdrew earlier this month with a knee injury.

Manchester City coast to victory over The Gunners, Liverpool stretch their lead as Leicester are frustrated and Ferguson springs a surprise at Old Trafford.

Nothing is guaranteed in the English Premier League, and with points hard-fought at legendary grounds such as Anfield, Old Trafford, The Emirates and the King Power Stadium.

There were several games with just the odd goal deciding three huge points for many teams. West Ham United relieved pressure on their manager Manuel Pellegrini as they gathered all three points at St. Mary’s keeping Southampton in the relegation zone, the only goal from Sebastian Haller. Another team who were in real trouble until a vital victory were Burnley, but they beat a depleted Newcastle 1-0 at Turf Moor.

Elsewhere, Sheffield United grabbed another win, this time getting the better of Aston Villa, for whom Jack Grealish missed a penalty. Chelsea dropped vital points in the race for Champions League qualification, losing to an injury-ravaged Bournemouth side at Stamford Bridge.

The sport of tennis is set for a defining season in 2020. With the top three players in the world over the past 15 years – Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer – entering the twilight of their careers, new players have emerged as genuine threats to their supremacy.

In this eight-part series, we’ll assess each player in the top eight and what they can achieve in 2020. We’ll look at how their positions are under threat and what they can do to attain their goals in the season to come. It’s never easy to look forward, but with our 2020 vision, you’ll have the benefit of hindsight when you’re talking tennis during the next 12 months.

We continue our series with a look at the 8th best player in the world at the start of season, Italian player Matteo Berrettini. Having sneaked onto the ATP Finals list at the end of 2019, the eight-best player didn’t threaten the final, but he has proven his pedigree over the 2019 season. Can he strike it big in 2020?

Berrettini’s highlights reel from his play in Rome last season suggest that he has a chance: