Who has the best Boxing Day record in the Premier League?
By Euan Burns
The Boxing Day games in the Premier League are, for many fans, the most anticipated of the season. Be it at the stadium or on the sofa with a plate full of leftovers, the Boxing Day games are wonderful.
What makes them so much nicer is if your team wins. That leads many fans to look back at their past record on Boxing Day and look for some sort of precedent to suggest that three points are on the way.
Here is a look at which teams have got the best record of giving their fans an extra present on Boxing Day.
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Which Premier League team has the best Boxing Day record?
As is perhaps to be expected overall, Manchester United are the team with the best record in Boxing Day matches. Since the tradition began way back in 1888, United have played 96 games on Boxing Day.
Their record is 51 wins, 18 draws and 27 losses, meaning an overall points record of 171. The Red Devils have scored 195 times and conceded 140. These days, the records in this sense are becoming marginally distorted with not all teams playing on Boxing Day and the fixtures are spread over multiple days.
Liverpool, Brighton and Hove Albion, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea make up the top five on the list. The 2021/22 season's Boxing Day fixtures provided some brilliant entertainment as Manchester City beat Leicester City 6-3 and Arsenal put five past Norwich. There was also a 3-2 win away from home against West Ham United for Southampton.
Premier League Boxing Day fixtures 2022
There are seven games on Boxing Day in 2022 for the fans to look forward to and there are a couple of very intriguing ties. The action gets underway with Brentford hosting Tottenham, a game that Antonio Conte's may have some concerns over.
Later in the day, Aston Villa will welcome Liverpool to Villa Park and that is another game that could be tricky for the away side. The day is rounded off with league leaders Arsenal hosting West Ham United. Everyone is intrigued to see if Arsenal can carry their great form from before the World Cup into the rest of the season, while West Ham have ground to make up after a poor start to the campaign.
Premier League Boxing Day TV schedule
All kick-off times GMT*
- 12:30 - Brentford vs Tottenham (Prime Video)
- 15:00 - Crystal Palace vs Fulham (Prime Video)
- 15:00 - Everton vs Fulham (Prime Video)
- 15:00 - Southampton vs Brighton (Prime Video)
- 15:00 - Leicester vs Newcastle (Prime Video)
- 17:30 - Aston Villa vs Liverpool (Prime Video)
- 20:00 - Arsenal vs West Ham (Prime Video)
Which players have scored the most on Boxing Day?
Some players have taken to the Boxing Day games in a goalscoring sense better than others. The player with the most Boxing Day goals ever is Robbie Fowler with nine. Seven of those goals came in away games as well. Harry Kane equalled the tally of nine last season, meaning he can break the record when Spurs take on Brentford should he find the net.
Robbie Keane and Alan Shearer managed to get eight Boxing Day goals each, while Thierry Henry racked up seven. The top ten is rounded out by Jermain Defoe, Dimitar Berbatov, Andy Cole, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard.