While most of the leagues around Europe are resting for the holidays, the English Premier League (EPL) features a four-game stretch of games within 11 days during the holiday season that is not only both challenging for coaches and players, but also helps separate the contenders from the pretenders in the league.

Chelsea maintained their lead over the EPL, hammering West Ham United 2-0 to kick off Friday's Boxing Day slate of games. Chelsea's veteran captain John Terry got things rolling for "The Blues," tapping in Diego Costa's pass past West Ham keeper Adrián to make the score 1-0. Costa, currently sitting in second place in the EPL's scorer table, scored his 13th goal of the year, finishing off the fast break by breaking down three West Ham defenders and blasting a shot past Adrián in the 62nd minute to help give Chelsea the victory.

"West Ham is difficult. They are difficult when they defend and they started the game with the intention to defend," said Mourinho. "And they are difficult when they attack, which they started the second half with intentions to attack. I think we coped well with both situations."

With the win, Chelsea finishes the day with 45 points, maintaining a three-point lead over defending champion Manchester City, sitting in second place of the EPL standings, and ten points ahead of third-place Manchester United. Manchester City, with help from Yaya Touré, David Silva and Fernando, punished West Bromwich Albion playing at the road at the Hawthorns on Boxing Day to keep pace with the Chelsea. Manchester United took care of Newcastle United at Old Trafford in easy manner thanks to a pair of goals from Wayne Rooney and another one by Robin van Persie to defeat Newcastle 3-1.

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"It's a fantastic Christmas because we dominated for 90 minutes, we didn't give away many chances and we created plenty," said Manchester United coach Louis van Gaal.

Manchester United vs Newcastle United

West Ham drops to fifth place with the loss to Chelsea while Southampton moves up to fourth place after disposing of Crystal Palace 3-1 on the road visiting Selhurt Park. Sadio Mane, Ryan Bertrand, and Toby Alderweireld all had goals for the Saints as Southampton looks to return to their winning ways after a hot start to the season has petered out for the club.

"I think we had a good start, we controlled the game and had some good opportunities," said Southampton coach Ronald Koeman. "Maybe the last 15 minutes before half-time we had a little bit more problems to be the dominant team. But we defended well and we looked solid today."

Crystal Palace vs Southampton

Results from the rest of Boxing Day EPL games:
Sunderland 1 - Hull City 3
Everton 0 - Stoke City 1
Leicester City 1 - Tottenham 2
Burnley FC 0 - Liverpool 1
Swansea City 1 - Aston Villa 0
Arsenal 2 - Queens Park Rangers 1

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