A headache for managers but a real treat for the fans, festive football is back!
The 26th of December is a standout day for Premier League fans with 18 of the 20 teams facing off this year.
Some of the most eye catching fixtures this season include Arsenal’s away journey to Brighton, hoping to not have a repeat of the last season’s defeat, as well as Chelsea’s televised trip to Vicarage Road to play Watford.
Liverpool’s clash against Newcastle United will be the third time these sides have faced each other in a Boxing Day fixture. Their other meetings have finished 2-2 and 2-0 to the men from Merseyside respectively.
Manchester City will be hoping to potentially overhaul Liverpool as league leaders, as they travel to the King Power to face Leicester, with former Foxes title winner Riyad Mahrez returning for the first time in the league.
Boxing Day fixtures are notorious for producing plenty of goals, with only 28 of the 232 Boxing Day fixtures ending 0-0.
In only one season (1994/95) has there been more than two 0-0s in a Premier League Boxing Day fixture list.
In fact, the average Boxing Day fixture produces 2.6 goals. However, there have been a number games to break the mould, with Chelsea and Aston Villa producing an eight goal thriller in 2007- a late Gareth Barry equaliser giving the Villans a share of the spoils.
Despite more than 348 hours Premier League Boxing Day action taking place down the years, referees have only reached for their back pocket on 36 occasions, meaning that a red card occurs every 0.16 games.
No player has been sent off more than once on Boxing Day but four Villa players have been sent off on the 26th of December, more than any other team.
The Boxing Day Leaders
When it comes to Boxing Day records, Manchester United set a fine example with the club picking up 60 points from the 72 available to them during the Premier League’s 27 year history.
The 12-time Premier League winners also have the best goals per game rate (2.58) and have picked up 2.5 points on average from every Boxing Day fixture they’ve participated in, solidifying them as the kings of Boxing Day fixtures.
From 24 fixtures, the Red Devils have a loss percentage of just 8.3%, which is the lowest record out of any side to have participated in five or more Boxing Day fixtures. United are trailed closely by Arsenal, Blackburn Rovers (12.5%) and Coventry (12.5%).
Reading, Huddersfield Town, Barnsley and Ipswich Town are the only sides to never lose a Premier League fixture on the 26th of December.
At the opposite end of the scale, out of the Premier League sides past and present who have participated in 5+ Boxing Day encounters, Norwich City have the highest loss percentage (83.3%), followed by Leicester City and West Brom who both have a loss percentage of 75%.
Two of this season’s promoted sides, Cardiff City and Wolves, are amongst the four teams to have never taken a point from a Premier League Boxing Day clash. Bradford City and Brighton & Hove Albion are the only other sides with a 100% loss record.
As well as never picking up a Boxing Day point, Bradford also have the unwanted record of conceding the most goals per game (4). In the two games they’ve participated in, The Bantams have been defeated 4-0 and 4-1 by Manchester United and Sunderland respectively.
Birmingham City, who participated in six Boxing Day fixtures during their spell in the English top flight, have the lowest goals conceded per game (0.67) rate out of the 46 sides to have participated in a Boxing Day fixture.
Their rate betters fellow current Championship side Ipswich (0.75) and Arsenal (0.8), who sit second and third respectively.
The Current Crop
Wolves, Cardiff and Brighton once again sit bottom of the pile of the Boxing Day Premier League table when only current sides are considered.
Just above them in the table however are the 2016 Premier League winners Leicester City.
Leicester’s Boxing Day record won’t fill their fans with much optimism ahead of their clash with Premier League champions Manchester City. The Foxes have won just once, and lost nine, of their previous 12 fixtures that have fallen on the day after Christmas.
Despite Leicester’s nine defeats, Newcastle have been defeated 12 times on Boxing Day, more than any other side out of not only the current Premier League crop, but out of the 46 sides to have competed in the Premier League too.
No other side has drawn on more occasions than Chelsea, who have drawn 37.5% (9) of the 24 Boxing Day games they’ve played in.
The so called Premier League ‘Big Six’ occupy the top six positions in the Boxing Day League table.
Manchester United top the table with an average 2.5 points per game, followed by Arsenal (2.2), Liverpool (2), Tottenham (1.95), Manchester City (1.78) and Chelsea (1.75) respectively.
West Ham sit ever so slightly behind Chelsea in the league table, boasting an impressive 1.56 points per game ratio and outstanding 1.94 goals per game record from the 18 Boxing Day fixtures they’ve participated in.
The Managers
With the Premier League being renowned for its cut-throat approach to managers, this is reflected by 150 managers taking charge of Boxing Day fixtures.
43.3% of the 150 have only managed a single Boxing Day fixture, whilst 58% have managed in two fixtures or less.
Only seven managers have taken charge in 10 or more Boxing Day fixtures, with Sir Alex Ferguson taking the helm in 19 fixtures, more than other manager.
Arsene Wenger (17), Harry Redknapp (15), Sam Allardyce (14), David Moyes (13), Joe Kinnear (10) and Steve Bruce (10) make up the remainder of managers to get to double figures.
Sir Alex rather unsurprisingly tops the list of managers with the highest number of Boxing Day victories (16), followed by his old nemesis Arsene Wenger (12) and current Newcastle gaffer Rafa Benitez (6).
It’s the former Liverpool manager Benitez who has the best win rate on Boxing Day (85.7%) out of any manager to have taken charge of five games or more on the day after Christmas. Sir Alex Ferguson’s record stands at 84.2%, followed by former Sunderland and Leeds manager Peter Reid (80%).
When it comes to Boxing Day defeats, two former England managers sit high on the list.
Sam Allardyce, who has taken charge on Boxing Day with seven Premier league clubs, has the highest number defeats (7), whilst the ‘Wally with the Brolly’, Steve McClaren, has four defeats to his name during his spells with both Middlesbrough and Newcastle.
Former Manchester United Captain Bryan Robson has been partially responsible for five Boxing Day defeats, whilst Tony Pulis, Alan Curbishley, Graeme Souness and new Fulham manager Claudio Ranieri all have four defeats on their CV.
Out of managers to have taken charge of five fixtures or more, it’s former Middlesbrough and West Brom gaffer, Bryan Robson, with the highest loss percentage (83.3%), followed by Steve McClaren and Premier League title winner Claudio Ranieri (66.7%).
Mauricio Pochettino makes Boxing Day fixtures look easy, boasting a 100% win record out of the four fixtures he’s managed in, with his sides scoring 3.25 goals on average.
Manuel Pellegrini, Marco Silva, Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp boast the same win rate, however neither have participated in as many fixtures as Pochettino.
Leicester manager Claude Puel, Brighton gaffer Chris Houghton and Cardiff boss Neil Warnock are the only current Premier League managers to have never picked up a point in a Boxing Day fixture at the highest level.
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has arguably the Premier League’s most bizarre Boxing Day record. In the four fixtures he’s led a side, the outcome has resulted in a 0-0 draw on every single occasion.
The Goalscorers
In the 232 Boxing Day fixtures that have taken place to date, 592 goals have come from 375 goalscorers.
Robbie Fowler, sixth on the Premier League’s top goalscorers standings, thrived in Boxing Day fixtures during his career. His nine Boxing Day goals make him the most prolific striker on the day, followed by Alan Shearer and Robbie Keane who both have scored eight times.
Fowler, who has scored on December 26th for Liverpool, Leeds United and Manchester City, is one of six players to bag a Boxing Day hat trick. Thierry Henry, Dimitar Berbatov, Kevin Phillips, Gareth Bale and most recently Tottenham striker Harry Kane, are the only players to achieve the feat.
England Captain Kane and Bournemouth striker Jermaine Defoe are the highest scorers on Boxing Day out of the current crop Premier League players.
Their six strikes place them ahead of West Ham forward Marko Arnautovic, who has three goals to his name.
Arnautovic is just one of 60 scorers of a Boxing Day brace in years gone by. Robbie Keane, Boro legend Juninho and former French international Louis Saha are the only players to have achieved a brace on two Boxing Days.
Only 2.53% (15) of Boxing Day goals have come as the result of an own goal. Newcastle players have been responsible for a fifth of these, with Peter Ramage, Shay Given and Fabricio Coloccini all placing the ball into their net to give their opposition a late Christmas present.
Leicester defender Jonny Evans and Aston Villa captain James Chester both share the curious statistic of being the only players to score at both ends in the same fixture on Boxing Day.
While Evans was playing for Manchester United, he scored for his side as well as the opposition three minutes apart from each other in his United’s 4-3 victory over Newcastle in 2012.
One year later, Chester’s own goal gave Manchester United a 3-2 win at Hull City, after the Welsh defender’s first half goal had initially given The Tigers a 1-0 lead.
The Keepers
Despite the flurry of goals to occur in Boxing Day fixtures of the years, 151 clean sheets have been achieved by 87 different goalkeepers.
Petr Cech, a keeper with a record 161 Premier League clean sheets, is also the top dog on Boxing Day with six clean sheets followed by former Manchester United and Fulham stopper Edwin Van Der Sar with five.
Out of the current crop of Premier League goalkeepers, Asmir Begovic and Liverpool’s Simon Mignolet have more clean sheets (3) than any other keeper in the division.
Former England number ones Paul Robinson and David James, along with former Stoke and Sunderland stopper Thomas Sorensen, are the only keepers in Premier League history to keep Boxing Day clean sheets for three different Premier League clubs.
Chelsea and Manchester United have the most Boxing Day clean sheets (12), followed by North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham (10).
Festive Fixtures
Including the Boxing Day fixture list, Premier League clubs this season will play four league games each over the festive period (22nd Dec-3rd Jan).
Everton players will have on average 2.23 days to recover for each of the fixtures they play, which is the shortest recovery period out of any of the 20 sides in the Premier League. Everton’s city rivals Liverpool have just over a day’s more recovery time (3.27) which is set to keep them fresher as the fixtures come thick and fast.
Chelsea will hardly have to venture out of London over the Christmas period, with their away trips to Watford and Crystal Palace resulting in fans and players having to travel just 79.6 miles to and from games over the festive period.
Liverpool who have the second shortest travel distance out of Premier League sides (245.4 miles) still have to travel just under 166 miles more than Maurizio Sarri’s side.
Newcastle’s trips to Vicarage Road and Liverpool mean that the Toon Army will have an 880 mile all round trip over Christmas, which is over 130 miles more than Tottenham who have the second biggest travel distance during the festive period.
Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham and West Ham may have more reason to be optimistic than others heading into the fixtures around Christmas and New Year, with neither of them having to face one of the so-called ‘Big Six’ over the festive period.
Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Southampton, Cardiff and former Premier League champions Leicester City will all face off against two of the ‘Big Six’ during the two week period.
Over this festive period, there are a number of huge fixtures to keep an eye on, including the likes of Everton versus Tottenham on the 23rd, Arsenal’s trip to Anfield on Saturday the 29th and the mouthwatering top of the table clash between Manchester City and Liverpool on the evening of January 3rd.
View our extensive Boxing Day infographic, which includes a full league table of how current top flight sides have fared in fixtures on December 26th previously, throughout the Premier League's 27 year history:
