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British football’s Boxing Day tradition has acquired a mythological reputation over the years.
Other nations might wrap themselves in blankets to hibernate and pat themselves on the back for taking care of themselves, but not here. We do not.
Here, hordes of fans make a pilgrimage to the frozen stands on December 26 as winter settles its icy buttocks into the hearts of football.
And it is not a reluctant journey. There is a genuine anticipation in that commitment, an expectation of something special. A noble hope that sacrificing frozen hands and ears in the name of football will bring a greater reward.
The ghost of Christmas goals past fuels the narrative. Every year we remember that Boxing Day, 1963, when 66 goals were scored in ten top-flight games.
Boxing Day football has given us many exciting matches… but is it really better than other dates?
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That day, Burnley thrashed Manchester United 6-1, Fulham thrashed Ipswich 10-2 and Blackburn recorded an 8-2 away victory at West Ham.
In recent years we have seen Manchester City triumph in a 6-3 thriller over Leicester, Arsenal defeat Norwich 5-0 and Bournemouth draw 3-3 with West Ham with three late goals.
Meanwhile, Liverpool have scored 16 times in their last four festive fixtures. So much for the Christmas hangover.
It all adds up to what seems like a reasonable conclusion. Boxing Day football is special, right?
Good?
Well, the statistics actually suggest that while there are more goals per game on Boxing Day, it is a minute difference.
In Premier League history, he has scored an average of 2.71 goals per game, a slight increase from the norm of 2.67 goals in all games, according to Opta.
Despite the higher number of goals, there are fewer shots in Boxing Day matches (26.3 compared to an average of 26.5), so a cruel argument could be made that goalkeepers are too distracted by chattering teeth .
For all its great moments, Boxing Day only gives us 0.04 more goals per game than usual.
The highest-scoring Premier League Boxing Day came in 1999, when there were 35 goals.
The chances of holding on to a failed 0-0 draw are quite rare: only 30 of the 269 Premier League matches to be played on Boxing Day have ended goalless.
However, hopes of having a modern remake of 1963 seem pretty far-fetched. The most generous Boxing Day in the Premier League era, 1999, only gave us 35 goals, just over half of those in 1963.
In 1999, there were some crazy results as Everton beat European-threatening Sunderland 5-0, while Manchester United and Tottenham both claimed 4-0 wins.
But we’re still waiting for a day that comes remotely close to 1963 on the crazy scale.
Do tempers flare more intensely with the biting cold? Very slightly: Boxing Day gives us an average of 0.15 red cards per game, compared to the usual 0.14, and there are slightly more fouls.
The 2007 edition of Chelsea vs Aston Villa was a particular thriller, blessed with goals and heated moments.
There were three red cards when Chelsea played Aston Villa in 2007, and slightly more fouls are committed in Boxing Day games.
Chelsea came back from 2-0 down to establish a 4-3 lead in injury time but Gareth Barry scored a 92nd-minute penalty on a day when Zat Knight, Ricardo Carvalho and Ashley Cole were sent off.
Perhaps the statistics can give us some intriguing predictions for next Boxing Day.
Manchester United have the best Boxing Day record of any team in the Premier League era, winning 21 of 27 games and only losing two.
In those games, United scored 71 and conceded only 27, accumulating 67 points, an average of 2.48 per game.
Meanwhile, Aston Villa have a fairly weak ranking, winning just five of their 25 assignments and accumulating 0.84 points per game, a weak record that bodes well for their trip to Old Trafford this season.
Whatever angel is at the top of the tree on Boxing Day usually navigates it without problems.
Manchester United have a brilliant record on December 26, winning 21 of their 27 games.
Boxing Day records of ALL current Premier League teams, from 1992 to present (ranked by points per game)
Range
Equipment
Juice
Cattle
Drawn
Lost
For
Against
God
points
PPG
1
manchester united
27
twenty-one
4
2
71
27
44
67
2.48
2
Arsenal
25
sixteen
7
2
47
twenty
27
55
2.2
3
Liverpool
25
sixteen
5
4
52
19
33
53
2.12
4
Tottenham
26
fifteen
8
3
53
twenty-one
32
53
2.04
5
city of manchester
twenty-one
12
2
7
43
25
18
38
1.8
6
Chelsea
28
13
9
6
46
3. 4
12
48
1.71
7
Everton
28
eleven
7
10
38
33
5
40
1.42
8
Brighton
5
2
1
2
7
6
1
7
1.4
9
western ham
twenty-one
7
7
7
39
29
10
28
1.33
10
Fulham
fifteen
3
8
4
fifteen
18
-3
17
1.13
eleven
crystal Palace
13
3
5
5
8
sixteen
-8
14
1.08
12
Nottingham Forest
4
1
1
2
1
7
-6
4
1
13
Aston Villa
25
5
6
14
28
38
-10
twenty-one
0.84
14
Burnley
6
1
2
3
5
10
-5
5
0.83
fifteen
Wolves
5
1
1
3
4
9
-5
4
0.8
sixteen
Newcastle UnitedEdit
24
5
4
fifteen
31
44
-13
19
0.79
17
Bournemouth
5
0
3
2
4
12
-8
3
0.6
18
Brentford
2
0
1
1
2
4
-2
1
0.5
19
Sheffield United
5
0
2
3
1
5
-4
2
0.4
twenty
London
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
In 28 Premier League games on December 26, the table leaders won 19, drew six and lost only three.
Arsenal have the second-best Boxing Day record of any team in history, winning 16 of 25 outings and drawing seven.
Their opponent this year, West Ham, is not bad at all: they won, drew and lost seven in 21 games.
Near the bottom of the list, Bournemouth and Sheffield United are still waiting for their first Boxing Day win after five attempts, while Brentford have not won either of their two attempts so far.
The Bees will have to wait until at least next year to make amends, as this time they will host the Wolves on December 27.
Newcastle have a surprisingly chaotic record, winning just five of 24 Boxing Day Tests and losing 15.
Coventry, currently in the Championship, surprisingly have the third-best points-per-game record in Premier League Boxing Day history, earning 17 points from eight games, with five wins.
If you’re looking for a Boxing Day savior, Harry Kane would normally be your man.
He has the gong of the top scorer in history to date, with 10 goals in seven games.
None of the current Premier League contingent comes close to that.
We are probably not in line to break records this year in terms of goals, simply because only five games will be played on December 26 in the middle of a packed festive schedule.
Anyway, it should be exciting if the last few years go by.
Of 13 Boxing Day ties in the last two years, eight have been won by the visitors, giving hope of some upsets this time around.
Perhaps the magic of December 26 is similar to that of the FA Cup, something that oozes nostalgia that, whether we believe it is appropriate or not, we must keep alive to preserve the uniqueness of the British game.