Premier League Boxing Day Records

The festive period is one that many football fans look forward to, with congested fixture lists meaning that football comes thick and fast for watchers of the sport.

In this article, we delve and take a look into Boxing Day records via Opta and our partners at Bet365.

Interestingly, despite a turbulent 10 years in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, Manchester United have by far the best Boxing Day record of any side in the Premier League, winning 21 and drawing four of their 27 matches on 26th December, while scoring a staggering 71 goals, a mere 12 points and 24 goals greater than Arsenal who have won 16 of their 25 Premier League fixtures on this date.

United’s first of two defeats on Boxing Day came in 2002 as they were beaten 3-1 by Middlesbrough while their most recent Boxing Day loss came via a 2-0 scoreline away at Stoke City in 2015 under Louis van Gaal.

Something interesting to note is that Tottenham have the second-best goals scored statistics on Boxing Day and boasts an impressive record on this date despite their inconsistencies throughout the Premier League era prior to Harry Redknapp’s appointment in the 2008/09 season. The Lilywhites have scored 53 goals in 26 matches while only suffering three defeats in 26 matches - they haven't been beaten on Boxing Day since 2003.

1995 Premier League champions Blackburn Rovers have also made the top 10 despite playing in the Championship since the 2011/12 campaign. The Ewood Park club have had some good festive victories on the 26th of December, including a memorable 1-0 win over Liverpool in the 2006/07 season where Benni McCarthy scored the only goal of the game in the 49th minute.

Despite not making the top 10 in terms of points accumulated on this date, Coventry City have the third-best Points Per Game record on Boxing Day (2.13 points), following five wins and two draws in eight matches, with the Sky Blues last featuring in a Premier League fixture on this date in the 2000/2001 season following a 19th placed finish in the top-flight that campaign. On 26th December 2000, they actually managed to beat Everton 2-1 at Goodison Park thanks to goals from Mustapha Hadji and Gary Breen.

Take a look and see which Premier League sides have accumulated the most points on Boxing Day via the table provided by Bet365:

Some sides naturally struggle to win on Boxing Day, with Bradford City being the only side in Premier League history to lose all of their matches on this date, although when delving deeper, this is more than understandable, having suffered a 4-0 loss at Old Trafford against Manchester United in December 1999, while being thrashed 3-0 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the following campaign.

Norwich City have notably only managed one point in eight Boxing Day matches, while Brentford are the worst performers that currently ply their trade in the Premier League, having picked up one point from two matches following their 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur last year.

Luton Town will be adding their name to the Premier League Boxing Day charts for the first time in their history, as they travel to Sheffield United on that date, seeing Rob Edwards’ men having the chance to get the best Points Per Game record of any Premier League side on 26th December or perhaps, equalling Bradford’s unwanted record.

Bet365 have kindly provided a table displaying the worst-performing Premier League sides on Boxing Day:

Which Player Has Scored the Most Premier League Goals on Boxing Day?

On December 26th 2022, Harry Kane’s goal in Tottenham’s 2-2 draw at Brentford saw him become the most prolific goalscorer on this day with 10 goals in seven matches, surpassing ex-Liverpool, Leeds United and Manchester City forward Robbie Fowler who had managed to bag an impressive nine goals in 10 matches.

Which Player Has Provided the Most Premier League Assists on Boxing Day?

At present, the record amount of assists for a single player on this date is tied, with four players managing five assists in their career, with Michael Carrick (14 appearances), Paolo Di Canio (5 appearances), Wayne Rooney (12 appearances) and Dimitar Berbatov (6 appearances) all achieving this feat.

Interestingly, Kyle Walker-Peters (4 appearances), Martin Odegaard (2 appearances) and Mohamed Salah (4 appearances) are active players that have managed to assist four times, with the latter-mentioned player having the chance to earn a fifth assist when Liverpool travels to Burnley on Boxing Day.

Which Player Has Made the Most Premier League Appearances on Boxing Day?

Gareth Barry leads the way for the most Premier League appearances on Boxing Day with 18.

The ex-Aston Villa, Manchester City, Everton and West Bromwich Albion midfielder was memorably involved in Villa’s 4-4 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day 2007, scoring a 92nd-minute equaliser from the penalty spot in what is the highest-scoring Premier League match on 26th December to date.

Frank Lampard comes a close second having featured 17 times on Boxing Day, while the likes of Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick, Aaron Hughes, Sol Campbell, Steven Gerrard and James Milner are all tied in third-place having played 14 times each on 26th December. Milner is unable to move into an outright third-place this year due to Brighton being scheduled to host Tottenham on 28th December.

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