Biggest FA Cup Shock
Macclesfield v Crystal Palace 2-1
The winners of last season’s FA Cup final have been eliminated by non league team Macclesfield in the third round of the FA Cup. The National League North side defeated FA Cup holders Crystal Palace 2-1 on Saturday despite being ranked 117 league places below the Premier League club:
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Sixth-tier Macclesfield could lay claim to having produced the greatest upset in the FA Cup’s 155-year history, as in the competition’s history never a team with a difference in league position of 117 places has beaten the higher ranked team.
West Ham’s first win since 8 November
On Sunday West Ham United were playing QPR at the London Stadium. They won 2-1 after extra time. New signing Taty Castellanos who joined from Lazio on Monday and Crysencio Summerville scored the goals.
Six-pointer lost
BBC: Home games against Fulham, Brighton and Nottingham Forest and a trip to bottom-of-the-table Wolves were a chance for the Hammers to get themselves out of trouble after Christmas.
Of those 12 points available, West Ham picked up just one – and even that came after they had twice thrown away the lead before drawing 2-2 with Brighton.
They conceded a late winner against Fulham, were humiliated 3-0 by Wolves and then again managed to lose after scoring first against Forest, with Morgan Gibbs-White converting a decisive 89th-minute penalty.
At half-time, the Hammers were one point from safety – now they are cut seven points adrift and left facing a huge battle to stay up.
What a Start into 2026…
The first game of 2026 at Wolves away on 3 January ended in a 3-0 defeat for West Ham. After a disappointing 2-2 draw with Brighton in their last game of 2025, the Hammers gifted Wolves their first full points of the season. Their opponents who sit bottom of the table hadn’t won a single game so far.
West Ham’s performance was described as ‘shocking, pathetic and embarrassing’ and it is now very much in doubt if Nuno Espirito Santo is the right manager to turn things around. The Portuguese took over from Graham Potter with the club 19th in September, but the Hammers are still stuck in 18th place and four points adrift of 17th-placed Nottingham Forest with a relegation six-pointer against Sean Dyche’s side coming up next. With the relevant statistics having worsened, time could be running out for Nuno.
BBC has had the following look on Nuno’s stats:
- Nuno has gone 26 Premier League games without seeing his side keep a clean sheet, across spells at Nottingham Forest and West Ham. Only Steve Kean (30 between May 2011 and March 2012 with Blackburn) has gone longer without a shutout among managers in the competition’s history.
- West Ham are now winless in their last nine Premier League matches (D4 L5), their longest run since the final nine games of the 2010-11 campaign when they were relegated.
- West Ham have conceded 41 goals in the Premier League this season, their most after 20 games in a top-flight campaign since 1965-66 (44).
- West Ham have conceded more goals in the opening five minutes of games than any other side in the Premier League this season (4).
Well, things are really looking bleak, West Ham are in deep, deep trouble! If the manager and his players don’t turn things around quickly, relegation seems almost inevitable for the Hammers!
ManUtd sack Amorim
By the way, Ruben Amorim is no longer manager of Manchester United! He has been sacked on Monday, Under-18s head coach and former player Darren Fletcher will take charge of ManUtd’s game with Burnley on Wednesday.
New manager at Rapid
Rapid Vienna already has a new manager: 36-year-old Johannes Hoff Thorup took over as head coach at SK Rapid from January 2026.
The Dane was born on 19 February 1989. He was very successful in his first managerial position at small Danish club FC Nordsjaelland from 2022 to 2024. He then managed Norwich from July 2024 until April 2025, finishing 13th in the English Championship.
Hoff Thorup has signed a contract initially running until the end of the 2026/27 season, with an option for an other season.
Let’s hope he’s the right one for Rapid now! 
Defeated again…
…by the odd goal:
West Ham full-back Ollie Scarles was in tears after his mistake gifted Fulham a 1-0 win and deepened his side’s relegation fears.
West Ham looked set to earn a point until five minutes from time when Scarles, 20, took an air shot at a clearance, allowing Harry Wilson to lift a cross to the far post for Raúl Jiménez to tuck home.
“We are all disappointed and sad, but we stick together,” said manager Nuno Espirito Santo, whose side have taken just three points from their past seven games. “He has our total confidence and support. Mistakes are part of the game. Today and tonight is going to be tough, but tomorrow is another day.”
West Ham remain five points adrift of safety after the first of a run of supposedly winnable games, with Brighton and Forest still to come to east London, either side of a trip to rock-bottom Wolves. Home fans held up red cards and chanted “sack the board” in the latest protest against owner David Sullivan and vice-chairman Karren Brady.
“I felt the momentum was ours, we created situations,” Nuno said. “We got punished and after that there was not too much time.” (from The Telegraph)
AFC Sunderland…
…are doing incredibly well this season. The newly promoted club rank seventh in the Premier League table at Christmas.
With David Moyes as manager the club finished bottom of the table in the 2016–17 season and were relegated from the Premier League with 24 points. 2017-18 the “Black Cats” were even relegated to League One, but finally, by winning the play-offs 2-1 against Sheffield United, they were promoted to the Premier League again.
And with their first game against West Ham at home, they were off to a good start, battering Graham Potter‘s worst Hammers 3-0. And they could end 2025 with an other win at home when they play Leeds United on the Sunday after Christmas. Well, the Irons would be grateful if their relegation rivals (6 points ahead of WHU as it stands) would be sent home from the Stadium of Light with a defeat!
West Ham in need of points
The next few games will be decisive for West Ham’s season. West Ham United are in the relegation zone over Christmas and are in desperate need of points when they play at home against Fulham two days after Christmas Day.
The Hammers have lost 10 of their 17 Premier League games this season (W3 D4). Only in 2002-03, 2006-07 and 2022-23 have they reached 10 losses in fewer games in the competition (all 16th game).
Defeats against Aston Villa and Manchester City leave them 18th in the table, five points adrift of safety, but that gap could be widened with Nottingham Forest directly above them still yet to play on Monday.
West Ham have been in the relegation zone at Christmas on five previous occasions, but can take heart from the fact that they avoided the drop both times they were not bottom of the table – in 2006-07 and 2009-10. Nevertheless, results have to improve over the festive season, otherwise the Hammers would have to start planning for the Championship.
These are West Ham‘s games until their FA Cup match against QPR on 11 January:
- 27/12 Fulham (H)
- 30/12 Brighton (H)
- 3/1 Wolves (A)
- 6/1 Nottingham Forest (H)
1 Punkt für Rapid
1:1 in Mostar am letzten Donnerstag, Rapid scheidet als Letzter der Tabelle aus der Conference League aus. Die Bosnier kommen durch ein Last-Minute-Eigentor von Nenad Cvetkovic überraschend ins Play-off. Sieben Punkte reichen ihnen für den 23. Platz.
Stefan Kulovits blieb bei seiner zweiten Amtszeit als Interimstrainer innerhalb von weniger als einem halben Jahr sieglos: nur zwei Unentschieden und drei Niederlagen stehen nach der Beurlaubung von Peter Stöger am 28. November zu Buche, während Kulovits im Frühjahr, nach Rapids Trennung von Robert Klauß, noch die Qualifikation für den Europacup geschafft hatte.
Ab Jänner muss ein neuer Coach her, der diesmal nicht wieder „ein großes Missverständnis“ sein darf!
0:1 x 3, die fetten Jahre sind vorbei!
Was waren das für Zeiten, als Rapid im stets drei Mal ausverkauften Praterstadion Europa League und sogar Champions League spielte! Lang, lang ist‘s her… Am Donnerstag blieben bei Rapids drittem Heimspiel in der Conference League einige tausend Abonnenten zu Hause, vor 17.714 Zuschauern verlor ein zwar verbessertes, aber ohne Torerfolg bleibendes grün-weißes Team 0:1. Mit dem selben Resultat verloren auch Salzburg und Sturm Graz Ihre Europa League-Spiele. Drei Mal 0:1 bedeutet, dass in den letzten 17 Europacup-Spielen von den österreichischen Klubs nur sieben Punkte geholt wurden (2 S, 1 U, 14 N).
Wie der KURIER graphisch darstellt, bedeutet das, dass unsere Bundesliga seit zehn Jahren nicht mehr so schlecht in der Nationenwertung lag.
Österreich verliert damit nicht nur einen Startplatz im Europacup. Die schlechte Platzierung und der Rückfall hinter Dänemark, Norwegen, die Schweiz und Zypern bedeuten auch, dass man in der Qualifikation früher starten muss und nur mehr je ein Klub die Chance auf Champions League und Europa League haben wird (Meister und Cupsieger). Die anderen beiden Teilnehmer steigen in der zweiten Quali-Runde der Conference League ein.
Dass Rapid in der Vorsaison unter Robert Klausz einen tollen Lauf in der Conference League hatte und bis ins Viertelfinale kam, konnte angesichts der desaströsen Ergebnisse in der laufenden Saison, in der allen drei in der Ligaphase vertretenen Klubs das Ausscheiden droht, leider den Absturz in der – von England und Italien vor Spanien angeführten – Länderwertung nicht verhindern!
EXTRA TIME 
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