As Christmas day settles, football fans wait eagerly for the Boxing day fixtures. Historically, the Premier League will always have a number of matches played on Boxing day. But this year, there is only one, why?
The only match on Boxing day is the 8PM (GMT) match between Manchester United and Newcastle United. This is a massive change to last year where eight matches took place on boxing day.
Manchester United will host the Magpies in a hard fought encounter with United chasing to get back ahead in the race for Champions League Football. Newcastle will also be keen to win in order to start a charge towards their goal of qualifying for Europe.
This is what the Premier League said in relation to the loss of games in this year's Boxing Day schedule. In UEFA competitions teams are now expected to play more league games with the change from a Group stage to a League stage. As of last year teams will play an additional two games, jumping from six to eight.
Seven Premier League games will be played on the 27th of December. Obviously a massive break in English football tradition. This included a key battle in the race for Europe, Chelsea vs Aston Villa.
This change will be sure to cause different reactions from fans. Since it's announcement the decision has been slated. One user wrote on X (Formerly Twitter) "One PL fixture and its at 20.00 on Boxing Day .....Football as been destroyed by Greed and TV companies .....Was once the best day of the year". The decision to end such a long standing Premier League tradition has clearly caused a stir in the football community.
Once the presents are unwrapped and Christmas Dinner is eaten, for the first time in years, there will be just one Premier League fixtures to look forward to. Some fans however have said it is good that players are able to get a longer rest. We will have to wait till next year to see if this lack of Boxing day fixtures is here to stay.
