Festive season socks soccer to us

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This article was published 26/12/2020 (2079 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“On the second day of Christmas

The football gave to me

The Ar-se-nal versus Chel-sea.”

…as well as five other matches!

Few Christmas traditions are being traditionally observed over this holiday season unlike any other, and while most parts of England are experiencing lockdown — depriving TV and radio audiences of the familiar football riffs on The Twelve Days of Christmas — the Premier League will nevertheless commence its gruelling festive fixture list today, Boxing Day, with a quadruple -header of contests.

Much like the world junior hockey championship, which began Friday under similarly unusual circumstances, the English top flight’s Christmas schedule is something of a holiday staple, not only in England and Europe but also on these shores and around the world, the games coming so thick and fast you can barely keep track.

You just watch, and, at least when your team isn’t playing, hopefully relax. Like most traditions, it’s a comfort knowing it’s there, constant, reliable, waiting for you when you have a moment to sit down and flick on the television — the sort of moment that will be more abundant this year than most.

Today’s programme begins early, at 6:30 a.m., with a second-vs-third-place match between Leicester City and Manchester United (all games on DAZN). Foxes, with the best defensive record of the top four, have been a model of consistency this season, never winning more than four on the trot or losing more than two in succession; they’ve also not dropped lower than fourth in the standings.

United, meanwhile, seem to be finally rounding into form. Without a loss since Nov. 1, they’re the hottest team in the division and have a game in hand on their fellow title contenders. Win it, and they’re only two points back of leaders Liverpool — a surprising feat, what with their topsy-turvy start to the campaign.

Aston Villa-Crystal Palace and Fulham-Southampton are the 9 a.m. kickoffs, and both are a testament to the Premier League’s competitiveness in 2020-21.

Anchored by Tyrone Mings, Villa’s defense is stingier than all but Manchester City’s, and while the talismanic Jack Grealish puts in stellar performances week-in week-out, he is aided by a rotating cast of offensive contributors, whether Ollie Watkins, Bertrand Traore or Anwar El Ghazi, the latter of whom scored twice against West Bromwich Albion the last time out.

Presently ninth, Villa have two matches in hand on most teams above them. Add them as wins, and they’re second in the table — a remarkable accomplishment for an outfit that was only promoted in 2019.

Southampton, for their part, will arrive at Craven Cottage in seventh spot and just two points back of the Champions League places. Since losing their first two matches of the season they’ve lost only two more, and if results go their way they’ll finish the day in third. Manager Ralph Hasenhuttl, a controversial appointment in 2018, has been central to Saints’ success. Following a 16th-place finish they came 11th last term and continue to improve — a trajectory most clubs can only wish for.

The afternoon kickoffs (2 p.m.) will feature a struggling, eighth-place Manchester City side at home to a Newcastle outfit that has won just two of six, as well fourth-place Everton’s trip to winless Sheffield United.

Despite having all the money in the world, City can barely find the back of the net. They’ve tallied a paltry 19 times in 13 outings and don’t have a player with more than four goals in the Premier League. Gabriel Jesus, Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne have, themselves, combined for just four, and the lack of offence has a lot to do with a streaky run of results that has yielded a two-game winning streak only once in 2020-21.

At Bramall Lane, Everton will expect to pile further misery on Sheffield United — a relegation-destined team yet to emerge from the drop-zone since September and whose draws with Fulham and Brighton represent their only positive results to date.

Finally, and crammed in the middle of the Boxing Day football, is an intriguing London derby between Arsenal and Chelsea (11:30 a.m.).

Having looked every bit a title contender thru November, a slump of two wins from five has left Chelsea fifth and out of the Champions League positions ahead of kickoff. Of course, things are so close that victory at the Emirates could see them vault into second if other results go their way, and it’s almost a certainty that a derby win awaits as a belated Christmas present.

Arsenal have been in the holiday spirit since the schedule commenced, giving away goals, points and places with a level of generosity that has delighted opponents and frightened their fan base in equal measure.

The Gunners have won only four times this season, and not at all since Nov. 1. Another loss or draw would extend the skid to eight matches, and there’s no reason to believe they won’t lose or draw — and probably lose — the derby to Chelsea. A heavy defeat could also signal the end of manager Mikel Arteta’s disastrous tenure at the club, and with Paris Saint-Germain having parted ways with Thomas Tuchel during the week his replacement could well be lined up and ready to go as soon as Tuesday at Brighton.

If there’s a Premier League club secretly grateful for the absence of in-stadium fans, it’s surely Arsenal. The singing at their home ground would hardly be festive; the lockdown has probably saved the club even further embarrassment.

That said, there is always room for a Christmas miracle.

In a campaign already clustered and complicated by COVID, where the unlikely has become likely and predictions all but meaningless, perhaps Arsenal can actually conquer Chelsea and Sheffield United somehow beat Everton.

Maybe Christmas will come best for the most-suffering — a sentiment even more prescient for the world at large in this very difficult year.

After all, another Premier League Christmas tradition is the turnaround. There are so many matches in so few days that, quite suddenly, a team quite recently struggling can quite quickly be thriving. Many a title challenge has been launched in late December and early January, and, equally important, escapes from relegation tend to begin during the festive period.

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There is reason to hope. A new dawn, a new year, is just around the corner, carrying with it the freshness of morning and potential for anything — even very, very good things, impossible though they may seem at the moment.

Yes, there is reason to hope, and also to celebrate.

Merry Christmas, and enjoy the football.

jerradpeters@gmail.com

Twitter @JerradPeters