It’s one of the greatest days of the year, perhaps in human history. Nurse your booze- or food-fueled Christmas hangover on the couch with four straight Premier League matches:
NEWCASTLE vs FOREST (7:30am ET, 12:30pm GMT)
The hosts have lost three of their last four coming into this one, slipping away from the Top Four race amid an injury crisis. Nottingham Forest are useful visitors, then, as they’re bottom of the Premier League form table. They’re winless in seven and have lost seven of their last 10, but they’ve got a new chief in Nuno Espirito Santo and are hoping for the New Manager Bounce.
SHEFFIELD UNITED vs LUTON TOWN (10am ET, 3pm GMT)
Here’s a good old-fashioned relegation scrap between two newly promoted teams showing a few signs of life at the bottom. Luton defeated Newcastle at home last weekend to get themselves two points from safety, with a game in hand on Forest in 17th. SHU may be doomed, though they nearly took three points off high-flying Aston Villa last time out and Chris Wilder’s return to the hot seat represents a new era. They both need to win this one.
BURNLEY vs LIVERPOOL (12:30pm ET, 5:30pm GMT)
The third major relegation candidate, Burnley, is also in action on the Day of Boxing. They’ll host some formidable opposition in Liverpool, who are coming off a high-octane encounter with league leaders Arsenal at the weekend. They’ll be firm favorites with Mo Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold in formidable form, but the Reds are always liable to leak chances. Can Vincent Kompany’s struggling side take advantage and generate some Barclays insanity?
MAN UNITED vs ASTON VILLA (3pm ET, 8pm GMT)
This is surely last-chance saloon for Erik ten Hag. Manchester United crashed out of the Champions League, and now their league form has hit the skids. Three losses in their last five is poor indeed, but that’s nothing compared to a -5 goal difference after 18 games for one of England’s great footballing institutions. The Red Devils have scored just 18 goals—half as many as league leaders Arsenal, and four teams have more than the Gunners.
These are unforgivable results, and there have been some unforgivable decisions. Rasmus Højlund’s substitution last time out while the young Dane still seeks his first goal in the Premier League was bizarre. That he made way so Marcus Rashford could be deployed centrally—where everybody and their brother knows Rashford should not be played—created the unforgivability. Jonny Evans in defense, Scott McTominay as the key attacking midfielder with Bruno Fernandes looking despondent…this just can’t go on.
Perhaps Unai Emery will serve as executioner. Villa came up short against Sheffield United last time out, barely salvaging a point, but they’ve been fantastic this season. They sit third in the table, level on points with Liverpool and one behind Arsenal. They’ve had none of United’s scoring problems, with 38 this season. Ollie Watkins is a good bet to cause havoc here. So are Moussa Diaby and Leon Bailey, while John McGinn and Douglas Luiz have been among the best central midfielders in the league. There are questions in defense for Villa—they still leak a few too many goals—but they’re liable to score four any day.
Manchester United are in trouble this Boxing Day, no doubt about it, and another loss at Old Trafford could be all she wrote for ETH. Sacking the manager will not fix all the Red Devils’ problems, or even many of them, but allowing him to continue after another bad result here would represent a decay in standards at this grand old club that is just too drastic. With Sir Jim Ratcliffe finally assuming his 25% stake along with control (reportedly) over footballing matters, much of his attention will be above the coaching level: new technical director, new squad-building strategy, a new regime. But you’ve got to think that it will also involve a new manager. Surely it’s too late for ten Hag to turn this cruise ship around.
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Oh, and look out for CHELSEA vs CRYSTAL PALACE on Wednesday, as well as the Thursday double feature: BRIGHTON vs TOTTENHAM and ARSENAL vs WEST HAM.
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THE FPL STOCK MARKET
↗️It can no longer be denied: Richarlison (£6.7m) is scoring goals for Tottenham, and they’ve got some decent fixtures coming up.
↗️Djordje Petrovic (£4.5m) isn’t off to a blazing start as Chelsea’s starting keeper, but the Blues have a nice run of fixtures coming up and he’s very cheap.
↗️If you buy the Luton Town surge, Andros Townsend (£5.0m) should continue to find opportunities to get on the scoresheet. Plus: cheap.⚽︎