Zlatan

It’s shaping up to be one helluva second half to the Premier League season, and we have the month of December to thank for that. Chelsea strode to the top of the table, but Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester City are all keeping the pressure on. Behind the top four, Arsenal and Manchester United are within touching distance.

At the bottom, Hull City, Swansea and Sunderland occupy the relegation spots, but Crystal Palace, Middlesbrough and even Leicester City will be sweating over their upcoming fixtures.

A country's awarding of their footballer of the year award ultimately says a lot about the state of the game within that nation. For example, knowing that Argentina are loaded with talent but that one man has managed to win this individual prize on 10 occasions speaks to his standing as one of the greatest of all time.

For other nations, a player sweeping the prize time after time shows that he’s single-handedly carrying that nation to new heights à la Gareth Bale. These are the players that’ve utterly dominated their country’s player of the year award in recent times.

A meeting between two clubs sitting side-by-side in the Premier League table turned out to be a thoroughly one-sided affair, Manchester United traveling to the Hawthorns to play West Bromwich Albion and comfortably winning 2-0.

The gap between the top six sides in England and the rest of the division appears to be pretty large on the evidence of Saturday’s match between the Red Devils and the Baggies. United are now unbeaten in eight consecutive EPL matches, and they’ve drawn level, at least momentarily, with Tottenham, who have a game in hand.

On Wednesday, Manchester United beat Crystal Palace 2-1. The first Manchester United goal was scored by Paul Pogba and assisted by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The second goal was scored by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and assisted by Paul Pogba.

There can only be one Man of the Match, so who was it to go to?

Well, the people who decide such things said it should go to Pogba (likely because Zlatan's assist may or may not have hit his arm), but Zlatan overruled them and said it should go to Zlatan.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is getting a statue in Sweden. Zlatan's statue does not have a shirt on. Not wearing a shirt is a very Zlatan thing for a statue to be doing.

The real Zlatan took a picture with the Zlatan statue.

Manchester United's 1-1 draw with Everton Sunday was noteworthy for two things Zlatan Ibrahimovic did.

The one that everyone is focusing on: his kicking Seamus Coleman in the head early in the second half.

Zlatan wasn't punished on the field for the incident, but his comments after the game could cause the FA to take a closer look.

The clash between Manchester United and Everton played out much like a GEICO commercial this Saturday at Goodison Park.

The script goes something like this:

"If you're Zlatan, you score ridiculous goals and get away with almost anything, including stomping on Séamus Coleman's head. It's what you do."

"If you're Marouane Fellaini, you come off the bench at 85' and get called for a stupid penalty at the 87'. It's what you do."

It’s the EFL Cup so everything must be taken with a grain of salt, but Manchester United’s dominate victory over West Ham in the quarterfinals saw United resemble a waking giant. It must also be said that West Ham’s performance was totally in line with their 2016-17 season so far — disastrous.

With only two minutes gone, the Red Devils opened the scoring after a brilliant exchange between Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. With both Paul Pogba and Marouane Fellaini suspended for the match, Mkhitaryan was handed a rare start and setup Ibrahimovic with a slick back heel.