As the most watched football league in Nigeria returns (the English Premier League) today after a month and 12 days out, we take a look into the boxing day fixtures for the big boys.
Tottenham Hotspur will commence the league comeback with a short trip to west London to face Brentford in an early kickoff meeting by 13:30 GMT+1.
Antonio Conte’s men sit fourth on the league table eight points behind North London rivals and top of the table Arsenal will be aiming to maintain their unbeaten run against Brentford since the bees promotion back to the premier League last season.
League Leaders Arsenal will return with a Matchday 17 fixture against London rivals West Ham United at the Emirates in a late fixture on boxing day.
The gunner leads the summit with five points clear of second place Manchester City after making their best ever start to a premier League season, winning 12 games, drew and lost one each from their first 14 matches.
Mikel Arteta’s men, who have an impressive record over West Ham United since becoming Arsenal’s manager in December 2019, have played the Hammers seven times, won six and drawn one.
West Ham Manager David Moyes who stated in his pre match conference that three years ago would have been the best time to face Arsenal well lauding Mikel Arteta for an excellent work since taking over is yet to record a win over Arsenal away from home (17).
Jurgen Klopp’s side who were knocked out of the Carabao Cup to Manchester City 3-2 mid week, will hope to overturn their terrible start to a league in over 15 years.
The 2020/2021 English Premier League Champions turned Strugglers Liverpool, will travel to Villa Park to face Aston Villa who will be without their number one goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez who made two penalty saves which gave Argentina their third World Cup title last Sunday.
A win for Liverpool who currently sits in sixth position on the log will see them move into the top 4 depending on the results of the teams around them.
Tuesday fixtures will see Manchester United take on Steve Cooper’s Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford with Erik Ten Hag’s men needing to now rely on Marcus Rashford and co to bag the goals after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo who fell out with the club at the beginning of the season.
Chelsea who sit eighth place on the league table will play 14th place Bournemouth while Leeds United will welcome champions Manchester City to end the boxing day’s fixtures on Wednesday night.
Other Monday boxing fixtures will see third place New castle who are having a fairytale season after sitting in the button three this time last year will travel to Leicester to face Leicester City.
Victory for Eddie Howe’s Men will see them move past Manchester City into second position prior to City’s away trip to Leeds on Wednesday while Leicester City will hope to continue their resurrection back into life after starting the season on a seven games winless run with the foxes drawing one and losing six.
Crystal Palace will welcome fellow Londoners Fulham while Everton play host to Wolves before Southampton Vs Brighton ends 16:00 GMT+1 boxing day fixtures.
