Chelsea and Arsenal are playing a match in heavy rain and weather on Monday night from Emirates Stadium and heading into halftime the score for the match is scoreless at 0-0 and both teams have had their chances as they try to get a win at Emirates Stadium and this is the last match of the week before the Boxing Day fixtures coming up.
The match between Chelsea and Arsenal is tied up at halftime and there are no goals in the match so far and Chelsea has seven shots with two on goal, while Arsenal has just two altogether. The Gunners have four tackles to nine for the Blues, while Chelsea has six fouls and Arsenal three and right now the Gunners have a better possession time stat that Chelsea, but overall things are fairly matched heading into the second half.
The table after the weekend has Liverpool in first place over Manchester city and Arsenal and behind those teams are Everton and Chelsea, while the Blues have an edge over Newcastle as well as Tottenham and Manchester United. Southampton is next on the table and they are followed by Stoke and Swansea City.
The matches on Sunday had some fine results with Tottenham winning over Southampton 3-2 and Swansea City fell to Everton 2-1. Emmanuel Adebayor led the way for the Spurs in the big win, while Seamus Coleman got things started off for Everton before Ross Barkley hit the winner in the 84th minute and that was a big result for the club. Liverpool had another strong match on Saturday, with Luis Suarez scoring two more goals to get the win over Cardiff City and other matches included wins for Manchester United and Manchester City, as they won over Fulham and West Ham United. Crystal Palace fell for the second time in a row against Newcastle, while West Brom and Hull City played to a 1-1 draw, Stoke City won over Aston Villa and Sunderland and Norwich played to a scoreless draw.
Check here for live score updates from ESPN.
Here is more news on world soccer, including some financial issues regarding some of the top teams in Europe and here is a report from Reuters.com : European Commission probe into possible illegal state aid to seven Spanish soccer clubs including Real Madrid and Barcelona is not part of a malicious campaign against Spain, one of the complainants said on Friday.
Loek Jorritsma, a retired senior policy adviser at the Netherlands ministry of sports, made a formal complaint in 2010 highlighting what he believed was illegal aid to clubs in his native Holland as well as to Real.
The Commission opened an investigation into five Dutch clubs, including PSV Eindhoven, in March and launched a separate probe into Real, Barca, Athletic Bilbao, Osasuna, Valencia, Elche and Hercules on Wednesday.
The announcement of the Spanish investigation prompted a furious response, with some claiming it was driven by envy at the world and European champions' recent successes.
Real president Florentino Perez labeled it "a campaign against Spanish football" and said the world's richest club by income had done nothing wrong, while secretary of state for sports Miguel Cardenal complained of "damage to Spain's image".
Jorritsma said his motivation was to identify possible instances of illegal state aid to professional clubs wherever they occurred in Europe.
"It's a campaign on behalf of competitive balance, against foul play and for a level playing field, which is disturbed by state aid," Jorritsma told Reuters.
"I treat the Dutch clubs and all European clubs the same way," the 70-year-old added.
"It is state aid and they are professional organizations like banks or any other enterprise.
"It's not culture and there is no law that gives you any freedom to jeopardize the market."
Jorritsma is not the only complainant in the Spanish case and the EU has said a representative of "several European clubs" also filed a formal objection.
The Commission has declined to reveal their identity, saying it was a confidential matter. Jorritsma is happy to go on the record, however.
"I am a former civil servant and I don't like to do things anonymously and I take responsibility for the things I do," he said.
Representatives of some of the Dutch clubs he denounced had even threatened him with physical violence, he added.
"I explained my reasons to them and in the end they all thought I was very brave.
"Because of my professional background I know how to formulate things."
One of the areas Jorritsma highlighted is a property deal Real struck with the City of Madrid in 2011 that the Commission said appeared "very advantageous".
The swap deal was based on a re-evaluation of a plot of land at a value of 22.7 million euros ($31 million), instead of its earlier supposed value in 1998 of 595,000 euros.
The Spanish investigation, which could take many months to conclude, is also examining whether Real, Barca, Bilbao and Osasuna benefited from special tax treatment.
Valencia, Elche and Hercules allegedly received illegal financial assistance from the regional government in the form of loans and bank guarantees.
All deny wrongdoing and the Spanish government has said it would fight to prevent the clubs being forced to pay back any aid deemed to be illegal. (Reuters)
