Boxing Day has always been one of the highlights of the Premier League calendar. Multiple kick offs, wall to wall football, and the feeling that absolutely anything can happen once players stumble out after Christmas Day.
This season, though, it feels strange. Instead of a packed fixture list, the focus is on just one headline game: Manchester United vs Newcastle United. No channel hopping, no checking three scores at once, just one match carrying the weight of a tradition that usually delivers chaos by the bucketload.
With that in mind, it feels like the perfect time to look back at the craziest of the craziest Boxing Day results the games that prove why December 26 has such a legendary reputation in Premier League history.
If you want pure festive madness, this is hard to beat. Nine goals, wild momentum swings, and long stretches where defending felt optional.
Manchester City were four nil up before many fans had finished their first drink, and the game looked done. Then Leicester came roaring back, scoring three times and turning the Etihad nervous. For a brief spell, it felt like the impossible comeback might actually happen. City eventually pulled away again to make it six three, but by then the match had already become a Boxing Day classic.
It remains the highest scoring Premier League game ever played on December 26.
This is Boxing Day folklore.
Eight goals. Three red cards. Two penalties. Constant chaos. Aston Villa stunned Chelsea by going two goals up, Chelsea hit back, players were sent off, and the match somehow kept escalating instead of calming down. Even a late Chelsea penalty did not end the drama, it just confirmed how ridiculous the whole afternoon had been.
Nearly two decades on, this is still the game most fans think of when someone mentions crazy Boxing Day results.
Given this season’s Boxing Day fixture, this one feels especially fitting.
Newcastle refused to lie down at Old Trafford, taking the lead three separate times. Every time, United found a response. The game was already brilliant at three three, but Boxing Day demanded more. Deep into stoppage time, Javier Hernandez popped up with a dramatic winner that sent Old Trafford into chaos.
Seven goals, relentless pressure, and a finish that summed up everything festive football should be.
This one still sounds fake if you were not around to see it.
Manchester United were three nil down late on at Hillsborough in the Premier League’s very first season. Most games end there. This one did not. United scored three goals in the final minutes to somehow rescue a draw, turning a lost cause into one of the most shocking Boxing Day comebacks ever.
It set the tone for the festive fixtures and proved early on that Boxing Day plays by its own rules.
There is something about Boxing Day football that strips away logic. Players are tired, preparation is rushed, and the atmosphere feels slightly unhinged. That is when mistakes happen, confidence swings wildly, and games spiral out of control.
Even if this season only gives us one Premier League match to enjoy, history tells us that December 26 rarely disappoints. All it takes is one game for Boxing Day to remind everyone why it is football’s most unpredictable tradition.
