WHEN the Premier League kicks off again this Saturday afternoon, we will be just into the Opta defined 12 days of Christmas.
Definition: 12 sleeps until the greatest day of the annual footballing calendar, Boxing Day.
So, with the Christmas period fast approaching, let’s look into the teams and players who ought to make the Premier League nice list and those who should make the naughty list.
December tends to be the month with the most Premier League games in a season, so it is a time when teams can really start to gather momentum, or when they can struggle to keep pace with the rest of the division.
10 of the last 15 teams to be top of the Premier League table on Christmas Day have gone on to be crowned champions. However (look away Liverpool fans), that hasn’t happened in the last two seasons and four of the last six instances of a team failing to do so has been by the Reds (also Arsenal in 2022-23 and 2023-24).
It is a bleaker look for teams sitting bottom of the Premier League table on Christmas Day with 28 of the 32 previous such teams going on to be relegated, and 18 of those in last position.
Only West Brom (2004-05), Sunderland (2013-14), Leicester (2014-15) and most recently Wolves (2022-23) have avoided that fate.
Blackpool technically have the best Premier League record in the month of December, beating Stoke and Sunderland in 2010 in their only such games. However, if you don’t want to show Ian Holloway and his Tangerines any Christmas spirit and you say two games isn’t a big enough sample, then Manchester United are the December angels, winning 62.0% of their matches in the month.
The grinches of the Premier League are Hull City, who have won just 13.8% of their December games, the worst rate of any team, just behind fellow Yorkshire side Huddersfield Town (14.3%). Ee-bah humbug!
Looking more specifically at Boxing Day and Norwich City are the team to have played the most Premier League games on that day without ever winning, failing in all eight of their attempts (D1 L7).
That includes a 5-0 drubbing from Arsenal at Carrow Road in 2021, one of eight overall wins by a five-goal margin on Boxing Day in the Premier League.
Maybe Dean Smith that year and Peter Taylor in 2000 allowed their players to indulge in more turkey on Christmas Day than Mikel Areta and Arsène Wenger did, but who am I to judge!
Shout outs also go to Leeds United and Wolves, who are the only teams to hand their fans an early Christmas Present by winning on Christmas Eve, beating Manchester United and Chelsea in 1995 and 2023 respectively.
| Biggest Boxing Day Wins in the Premier League | |||||||||
| Date | Team | Opponent | F | A | Venue | Result | Manager | Opp Manager | |
| 26-Dec-99 | Everton | Sunderland | 5 | 0 | H | W | Walter Smith | Peter Reid | |
| 26-Dec-00 | Arsenal | Leicester City | 6 | 1 | H | W | Arsène Wenger | Peter Taylor | |
| 26-Dec-00 | West Ham United | Charlton Athletic | 5 | 0 | H | W | Harry Redknapp | Alan Curbishley | |
| 26-Dec-04 | Liverpool | West Bromwich Albion | 5 | 0 | A | W | Rafael Benítez | Bryan Robson | |
| 26-Dec-11 | Manchester United | Wigan Athletic | 5 | 0 | H | W | Alex Ferguson | Roberto Martínez | |
| 26-Dec-17 | Liverpool | Swansea City | 5 | 0 | H | W | Jürgen Klopp | Leon Britton | |
| 26-Dec-18 | Tottenham Hotspur | Bournemouth | 5 | 0 | H | W | Mauricio Pochettino | Eddie Howe | |
| 26-Dec-21 | Arsenal | Norwich City | 5 | 0 | A | W | Mikel Arteta | Dean Smith | |
Now let’s take a look at the wisemen of the Christmas period, who delivers the goods and who provides their teammates with presents?
The list of the top goalscorers and assisters in the Premier League in December overall looks familiar, Alan Shearer (39 goals) on top of the former and Ryan Giggs (5 assists) the latter.
| Premier League in December | Goals | Premier League in December | Assists | |
| Alan Shearer | 39 | Ryan Giggs | 28 | |
| Wayne Rooney | 34 | Wayne Rooney | 18 | |
| Robbie Fowler | 33 | Cesc Fàbregas | 17 | |
| Harry Kane | 33 | Mohamed Salah | 16 | |
| Mohamed Salah | 29 | Steven Gerrard | 16 | |
| Jermain Defoe | 27 | Jordan Henderson | 16 |
As does the same two charts for Boxing Day with Harry Kane (10 goals) the leading goalscorer on that day and Dimitar Berbatov, Wayne Rooney, Paolo Di Canio and Michael Carrick the joint-leading assisters (5 each).
| Premier League on Boxing Day | Goals | Premier League on Boxing Day | Assists | |
| Harry Kane | 10 | Dimitar Berbatov | 5 | |
| Robbie Fowler | 9 | Wayne Rooney | 5 | |
| Alan Shearer | 8 | Paolo Di Canio | 5 | |
| Robbie Keane | 8 | Michael Carrick | 5 | |
| Thierry Henry | 7 | Mohamed Salah | 4 | |
| Jermain Defoe | 6 | David Beckham | 4 | |
| Dimitar Berbatov | 5 | Kyle Walker-Peters | 4 | |
| Steven Gerrard | 5 | Martin Ødegaard | 4 | |
| Frank Lampard | 5 | |||
| Andrew Cole | 5 |
The list of players with the most goal involvements in a single Boxing Day Premier League game is more niche and nicer however, with John Arne Riise and Stephen Ireland joining Thierry Henry on a list of just three players to have recorded 4+ combined goals and assists in a game the day after Christmas.
| Date | Player | Team | Opponent | Goals | Assists | Goals + Assists |
| 26/12/2000 | Thierry Henry | Arsenal | Leicester City | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 26/12/2004 | John Arne Riise | Liverpool | West Bromwich Albion | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 26/12/2008 | Stephen Ireland | Manchester City | Hull City | 1 | 3 | 4 |
Henry is also joined by six other players on the list of players to gift gold, frankincense and myrrh (the Christmas hat-trick) to their fans on Boxing Day in the Premier League along with Kevin Phillips, Robbie Fowler, Dimitar Berbatov, Gareth Bale, Harry Kane and Chris Wood.
| Date | Player | Team | Opponent | Goals |
| 26/12/2000 | Thierry Henry | Arsenal | Leicester City | 3 |
| 26/12/2000 | Kevin Phillips | Sunderland | Bradford City | 3 |
| 26/12/2001 | Robbie Fowler | Leeds United | Bolton Wanderers | 3 |
| 26/12/2011 | Dimitar Berbatov | Manchester United | Wigan Athletic | 3 |
| 26/12/2012 | Gareth Bale | Tottenham Hotspur | Aston Villa | 3 |
| 26/12/2017 | Harry Kane | Tottenham Hotspur | Southampton | 3 |
| 26/12/2023 | Chris Wood | Nottingham Forest | Newcastle United | 3 |
41 different players have received a red card in a Boxing Day Premier League fixture with a record four of those going to players playing under Joe Kinnear, who can’t have been spreading too much cheer to Brian McAllister (1992), Andy Thorn (1994), Vinnie Jones (1995) and Sebastien Bassong (2008).
Brentford’s Norwegian defender Kristoffer Ajer has made the most Premier League appearances without ever appearing in a December game (69 apps) and Norway is close enough to Lapland for us to think….no, you’re probably right.
Now you have just spent 10 minutes reading random Christmas related stats, it won’t hurt to hear one more: Roque Santa Cruz has the best minutes per goal rate in the Premier League in the month of December, netting once every 94 minutes (minimum 800 minutes played).
| Premier League in December | Goals | Minutes (800+) | Mins/Goal |
| Roque Santa Cruz | 9 | 846 | 94 |
| Demba Ba | 11 | 1166 | 106 |
| Divock Origi | 8 | 852 | 107 |
| Luis Suárez | 14 | 1510 | 108 |
| Ruud van Nistelrooij | 16 | 1759 | 110 |
| Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 22 | 2484 | 113 |
Merry Christmas, you footballing animals.
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