The Boxing day fixtures once again provided the traditional surprise results which frustrate punters year in year out with, notably, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City failing to take advantage of lowly opposition. Seven draws from the ten top-flight fixtures left the table with only minimal changes, but there was certainly no surprise that Bolton didn't take part in the stalemate-fest, as they have now played 33 games in all competitions since their last draw, dating back to February. This Saturday's fixture against Wolves may well provide the breakthrough in that particular run, but let's start this week's preview with Friday night's potential cracker at Anfield:

So, it's game on again at the top of the Premier League. Whether through City's complacency or AVB's siege mentality rubbing off on his players, Monday night's result has at least closed the gap slightly and allowed Man.United to get within one win of the summit again. With City facing Arsenal, United at QPR and Chelsea at Wigan this weekend, things could get even more interesting by the time the following matches have been completed:

Some of you may remember Rob Styles, who thankfully retired from refereeing some years ago, but infuriated fans up and down the country with his liberal use of the red card in situations where one certainly wasn't warranted, while seeming unable to distinguish between dangerous tackles and those that were simply hard but fair. The latest incarnation of Styles, Stuart Attwell, who has featured in this column several times previously for quite unbelievable errors, managed to achieve a rare feat on Saturday by issuing a red card that not a single person in the stadium representing either side thought was the correct decision. If a player nearly 50 yards from goal and close to the touchline can be deemed to have been denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity when he is fouled, then you had better prepare yourself for several red cards per game in future. Every season that Attwell has been refereeing games, he has pushed the boundaries of fallibility further and further. Harking back to his most notorious blunder,

There's nothing more I can add to the huge number of heartfelt tributes that have been paid to Gary Speed following the general and genuine shock surrounding his death last weekend, but whatever the reasons behind the events, I hope that as a result, we will at least see a wider and more intelligent discussion over the tremendously debilitating effects that clinical depression can cause. The decision made by Stan Collymore, for instance, to openly discuss his long-standing battle with the illness has led to the usual ignorant outbursts from many quarters issued by people who hide behind their keyboards as they send messages telling him to "pull himself together", and that his money and a well-paid job in football leave him with no reason to be "depressed", thereby displaying a complete ignorance of what the condition entails and how it can affect those that suffer from it. Ignorance (together with a reluctance to listen and learn) seems to be quite a major characteristic of the general public on so many issue