Your Guide To The Best Of Boxing Day Soccer

While Boxing Day (December 26) isn’t much of a thing in non-Commonwealth countries, it’s a big deal in England. But where the holiday traditionally meant that servants and tradesmen would get gifts from their employers, now it mainly means one thing: soccer.

Similar to how American Thanksgiving is taken over by football, Boxing Day belongs to the Premier League; it’s the only major European league that doesn’t take a winter break and every team plays a match on the 26th. And with every one of those matches either on television or available streaming online, there’s no excuse not to use this guide and check some of them out.

7:45 EST Kickoff

–Stoke vs. Manchester United

Ok, this one isn’t the most exciting game of the weekend, but it’s actually for the opposite reason than you might expect. Surely gritty Stoke City will try to grind out a point against the mighty footballing force that is Manchester United, right? Not exactly.

Stoke is actually playing some dynamic, exciting football with the likes of Xerdan Sahqiri, Marko Arnautović and Bojan Krkić. And conversely, Louis Van Gaal has turned United into a dour side that probably won’t concede, but isn’t going to score either. The best hope for a neutral is that Stoke score early and force United to actually attack, opening up the game for both sides.

10 EST Kickoff

–Aston Villa vs. West Ham United

Aston Villa are are the bottom of the table haven’t really been looking like they deserve a better fate. New manager Remi Garde hasn’t really changed much and, at least until the transfer window, can’t really be expected to make much of a difference.

On the other side of the pitch, West Ham are a respectable 8th in the table. Even without Dimitri Payet, the Irons have been a solid side under Slaven Bilic. They should be fine in this match, but there isn’t much potential for excitement here.

–Bournemouth vs. Crystal Palace

At the start of the season, it’s hard to imagine that anyone would want to watch this match, but you could do much worse on Boxing Day.

Under Alan Pardew, Palace have looked like an energized side. They’re even with United and Spurs on points and have only conceded 16 goals in 17 matches; they’re respectable on offense too, with the likes of Yohan Cabaye, Yannick Bolasie, and Wilfried Zaha going forward.

Even without leading scorer Callum Wilson, Bournemouth are still trying to play attractive, attacking football. And after a rough start to the year, consecutive wins against Chelsea, United and West Brom have lifted the Cherries into 14th place. They might still technically be underdogs in this match, but they’ll surely put Palace under pressure.

-Chelsea vs. Watford

No one would have picked newly-promoted Watford to be above Chelsea at this point, but that’s how the table currently stands.

A strike force of Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney has the Hornets sitting in 7th place; Deeney has a phenomenal work rate and, if not for Jamie Vardy, Ighalo’s scoring would be the story of the season. The duo will surely trouble Chelsea’s defense.

Chelsea will have to hope that Jose Mourinho really did lose the dressing room and that sacking him will lift the team’s sprits; outside of Willian, virtually no Chelsea player has looked as good as they should this season. On paper, they should have more than enough talent to beat Watford, but it will come down to interim manager Guus Hiddink‘s ability compensate for the squad’s weaknesses; a large part of his success will come down to his ability to get the players to buy into his plan.

-Liverpool vs. Leicester

Again, this match-up is the opposite of what everyone expected when the schedule came out.

Leicester is the story of the season. Thanks to the improbably trio of Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and manager Claudio Ranieri, the Foxes are flying high atop the Premier League.

In Liverpool, a mediocre start to the season saw Brendan Rodgers replaced with charismatic German Jurgen Klopp. But, for all the talk of his past success and new tactics, Klopp’s Reds have been virtually the same as Rodgers’. And while he has some talented players, there are questions about whether they can fit in his high intensity system.

-Manchester City vs. Sunderland

Despite spending even more money this summer, Manchester City aren’t completely clicking. Their offense isn’t the same without the recenty-returned Sergio Aguero and, without captain Vincent Kompany, the defense is in disarray. Their issues can be summed up by Yaya Toure‘s performance against Arsenal. Wearing the captain’s armband, the midfielder sleepwalked through most of the game, before scoring a beautiful goal and dominating the game in the final 10 minutes; he was unable to pull City level, though, and they suffered yet another road loss.

While Sam Allardyce has fixed some of Sunderland’s defensive woes, the Black Cats still don’t look like much of a threat going forward. An aging Jermaine Defoe can only do so much and, without much support for him, Sunderland have only scored 18 goals this season. With summer signing Jeremain Lens reportedly unhappy with his playing time, it’s unlikely he’ll get much of a chance to pitch in on the attacking side.

– Swansea City vs. West Bromwich Albion

This one is going to be bleak.

After finding relative comfort in the Premier League, Swansea has sunk this season. With Bafétimbi Gomis leading the line, the Swans have scored 15 goals this season; only Aston Villa and Stoke have fewer. And with manager Gary Monk out, there doesn’t exactly look like there’s much chance for a dramatic turnaround. They might avoid relegation, but the rest of the year won’t be pretty.

Staying up and not being pretty is essentially the story of West Brom manager Tony Pulis‘ life; he has famously never been relegated out of the top flight despite managing the likes of Stoke and Crystal Palace through lean stretches. Even with his team sitting comfortably mid-table, a Pulis side is more than likely to focus on the defensive end and score off a set piece, if given the chance.

-Tottenham Hotspur vs. Norwich

Even without Harry Kane reaching the heights of last season, Spurs currently sit in fourth place on goal differential. Until a loss to Newcastle midway though the month, they had not lost since the opening weekend, which speaks to their defensive stability. Dele Alli is already looking to be a fine signing and, given the league’s instability this season, Spurs might find their way into the Champions League.

Sitting just two points above the drop zone, Norwich doesn’t have much going for them. They’re not necessarily playing poorly, but there isn’t enough quality at either end of the pitch to step up and win a match for them.

12:30 EST Kickoff

-Newcastle United vs. Everton

Three straight positive results have seen Newcastle claw their way out of the relegation zone. Much of the work has been done by Georginio Wijnaldum, who has scored seven goals in 15 league appearances this year. There’s plenty of potential in attack with the likes of Siem de Jong, Ayoze Perez and Aleksandar Mitrović, but there hasn’t been much production yet.

For Everton, Romelu Lukaku has been the second hottest scorer in the league this season behind Jamie Vardy. He’s formed an exciting partnership with Spanish winger Gerard Deulofeu and, combined with Ross Barkley in the midfield, Everton have a strong young trio. Their current run of form hasn’t been dominant, but their attack should be enough to carry them past Newcastle.

-Southampton vs. Arsenal

Despite being winless in their last five matches, Southampton sit 12th in the table. They may have sold some of their bigger names over the last two summers, but the Saints still have a strong spine made of Saido Mane, Dusan Tadic, Victor Wanyama, and Graziano Pelle.

Arsenal, on the other hand, are second in the league only behind Leicester. Despite a rash of injuries–Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alexis Sanchez, Francis Coquelin, Santi Carzola and Danny Welbeck have missed various amounts of time this season–the Gunners are surviving. With a recent win over Manchester City, they have to be considered serious title contenders and finally look to be playing with some of the mental strength and confidence Arsene Wenger loves to talk about. They shouldn’t have a problem with Southampton, but they’re played several intense matches in the past few weeks and, as any Arsenal fan knows, they have a way of making the most benign game into a challenge.

Photo:  Manchester United before playing Paris Saint-Germain during a match in the 2015 International Champions Cup at Soldier Field on July 29, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. Paris Saint-Germain defeated Manchester United 2-0. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Article by Joe Kozlowski