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🎁 The Boxing Day Football Special 🎅🏻
We preview ALL of the Boxing Day football worth watching and keep you updated on the latest football news...
George Hudson
December 24, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 13 minutes
Prepare yourself for the Boxing Day football
In this special Christmas edition of the Goat Report we’re previewing every game of football that’s being played on Boxing Day. As well as what and when the games are happening, we’ll tell you why they matter to help you decide which games to watch.
Plus, as we’re feeling generous this Christmas, we might even include a few tips for anyone who’s considering taking a Christmas flutter…
We’ve also got the latest football news from the world and another goalkeeper-heavy shocker. Plus, we’re gifting you some Goat trivia so you can test your knowledge of the beautiful game this Christmas.
Today's game plan:
🥊 Boxing Day games to keep an eye on…
Manchester City vs Everton | 12:30 GMT
This is a good time for Sean Dyche’s Everton team to play City. The current Premier League champions are in the mud right now and dropping down the table fast. City followed up the damaging loss to Manchester United with another defeat, this time against Aston Villa where they went down 2-nil.
Meanwhile, Everton are starting to move up and away from the relegation zone after keeping 3 clean sheets in their last 3 Premier League games. Expect a physically aggressive performance from Dyche’s team with plenty of yellow cards likely.
Newcastle vs Aston Villa | 15:00 GMT
Two teams that are looking to establish themselves in the European club competitions, and see each other as direct rivals for Champions League and Europa League places; this game should be a cracker. The Christmas atmosphere at St James Park alone makes this worth of a watch let alone the quality players on show for both teams. In particular, Villa’s Morgan Rogers has emerged as a serious baller this season with all of the attributes to play at the highest level for a very long time.
The context going into this game is Newcastle sit in 8th place on 26 points and Aston Villa are in 6th place on 28 points: expect goals with both teams going for the win.
Chelsea vs Fulham | 15:00 GMT
A Boxing Day West London derby with plenty at stake for both teams. Chelsea have quietly established themselves as potential challengers for the Premier League title, mainly thanks to the creativity and goals of Cole Palmer, while Fulham, thanks to the genius of their manager Marco Silva, are picking up results against all sorts of teams, including a 2-2 draw against Liverpool a few weeks back. With a hostile atmosphere at Stamford Bridge and both sets of fans expecting a result, we’re predicting a tense game with at least one red card.
Bournemouth vs Crystal Palace | 15:00 GMT
Bournemouth were already full of confidence but even more so now, fresh off the back of a big 3-nil away win over Manchester United. The Cherries have been the surprise package of the season, sitting in 5th place in the league only 3 points behind Nottingham Forest in 4th place.
Palace’s form has been poor this season and they find themselves in the bottom half of the table, flirting with the relegation zone. This game will see a dominant Bournemouth attack a defensive Crystal Palace, but we’re predicting both teams will score.
Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham | 15:00 GMT
Tottenham are good to watch this season. If you’re watching Spurs, you’re guaranteed to see some goals —if they’re not scoring them, Ange Postecoglou’s team are conceding loads of them. Words to sum up Tottenham’s season: inconsistent, unpredictable, frustrating.
Forest are having an incredible season —4th on the Premier League and battling for a Champions League spot. Forest have won 9 of their 17 games and are looking solid under Nuno Espírito Santo. We’re predicting a draw in this one.
Southampton vs West Ham | 15:00 GMT
Southampton are rock bottom of the league and look certain to go back down to the Championship having won just 1 of their 17 games so far this season. It seems unlikely they’ll get a result against West Ham but with both teams scrapping for points, this Boxing Day game could go either way.
Having said that, we’re predicting a 1-nil away win for the Hammers.
Celtic vs Motherwell | 15:00 GMT
Celtic are now 9 points clear of 2nd-place Rangers and look to have the Scottish Premiership wrapped up already. Motherwell are in 4th, 18 points behind leaders Celtic. In their last league game, Celtic put in a disappointing performance to draw 0-0 with Dundee United, and we’re expecting Brendan Rodgers to demand his Celtic team give the fans something to cheer about.
Expect a fast start with Celtic likely to score 4+ goals over the course of 90 mins.
Wolves vs Manchester United | 17:30 GMT
What can you say about this Manchester United team? Although they look to be playing better possession and pressing football under Ruben Amorim, this team is struggling to create decent goal scoring chances. United have scored just 21 times this season, whilst they conceded 22 times. As we mentioned earlier, this is the first time in Premier League history that Man United have been in the bottom half of the table on Christmas Day.
Wolves are in the relegation zone and can’t put a run of results together. Every Premier League team has decent players, but Wolves have a few like Matheus Cunha and Jørgen Strand Larsen, which makes their league position of 17th so surprising. Surely United can’t go 3 games without a win? We’re predicting an away win with Bruno Fernandes to score.
St Mirren vs Rangers | 17:45 GMT
At the start of the season Rangers were chasing Celtic closely, but they started to fall away in October when they lost to Kilmarnock and then Aberdeen. In the fixture between these two that same month, Rangers took a scrappy 2-1 win but St Mirren have proven themselves to be an unpredictable opponent having picked up results against Aberdeen and Hearts.
We’re predicting an away win for Rangers with both teams to score.
Liverpool vs Leicester | 20:00 GMT
Looking at league position and form, Liverpool are clear favourites to win this one especially with Mo Salah looking more hungry than ever to snap up goals and assists. Liverpool go into this game after their 6-3 drubbing of Tottenham over the weekend, whilst Leicester lost 3-nil at home to relegation rivals Wolves.
We can’t expect anything other than a Liverpool win, the question is how many goals they’ll score. One thing you can be certain of is that Salah will score or assist.
This Week’s Shocker…
The Carabao Cup game between Tottenham and Man United last week threw up no less than 4 goalkeeping howlers. To be fair to Man United’s backup goalkeeper, Altay Bayindir, his first error was more just poor goalkeeping when he pushed a shot back out into the path of Solanke to score, but Fraser Forster gave up 2 goals through some absolute shockers.
The game finished 4-3 to Tottenham and they advance to the semi-finals to play Liverpool. For United they followed up the loss to Spurs by losing in the league to Bournemouth. Another shocker for United: This season will be the first since 1989 that Manchester United have been in the bottom half of the table on Christmas Day.
Around the world…
After having a sensational Euros with Spain over the summer, 22-year old Nico Williams is being chased by top clubs including Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Man United, Tottenham, and Barcelona. However, Paris Saint Germain have emerged as the leading party to sign Williams as they are prepared to trigger the €58 million release clause that Athletic Club have put on the Spaniard’s contract. Yes, he’ll get Champions League football and ridiculous money, but is going from La Liga to Ligue 1 a step down for Nico Williams?
After losing 2-1 to Aston Villa - their 6th loss in the 2024/25 Premier League season - Kyle Walker has revealed that Pep Guardiola will lead a Man City training session on Christmas Day. City have had Christmas Day off for the past 3 seasons, but with City in the mud this year things are different.
The legendary Spanish winger Jesus Navas has announced his retirement from football at the age of 39. Navas came on as a substitute in Sevilla’s loss to Real Madrid over the weekend. Before kick-off, Navas received a guard of honour from both sets of players and waqs warmly applauded by both Sevilla and Madrid fans.
All in all, Navas made 705 appearances for Sevilla over 18 seasons, and spent 4 years at Manchester City between 2013 and 2017.
Mohamed Salah made more history on Sunday as he became the first player in Premier League history to get 10+ goals AND assists in six different seasons. Match-winner.
Barcelona are interested in taking Rashford off Ruben Amorim’s hands on a half-season loan with an option to buy. It’s no wonder Barca are looking at a loan deal —they’ve dropped off in La Liga and need some m0ore legs in the squad, they’ll need help from United paying Rashford’s insane wages, and they need to assess whether or not Rashford can actually put in consistent performances.
Swap deal for Robert Lewandowski?
GOAT Trivia…
Say congrats to…
Alexis Mac Allister [@alemacallister], the Argentina and Liverpool midfielder turns 26 today.
On this day in football…
Back on Christmas Eve 1995, Leeds beat Man United 3-1 in a raucous game at Elland Road. After Gary McAllister put Leeds ahead from the penalty spot, Andy Cole grabbed an equaliser but goals from Tony Yeboah and Brian Deane completed a memorable win for Leeds.
Manchester United would go on to win the Premier League, finishing 4 points ahead of second-placed Newcastle.
Goal of the week…
Our goal of the week comes from Real Madrid’s 4-2 win over Sevilla. Kylian Mbappe lashed in this screamer from about 25-yards out. To be fair to the ninja turtle, that is a cracker —check the technique on that.
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