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Was 2025 the tipping point for anyone who still believed that those who run football give a flying fig about those who watch it?

Long before Fifa’s World Cup ticket farce we had the news, slipped out in autumn, that this would be the first Boxing Day since 1982 to feature just a single Premier League fixture.

Scheduling, commitments to player welfare and the unstoppable expansion of the Champions League were the reason. The result? Another cherished tradition chipped away at. Another kick in the teeth for paying supporters.

It seems almost quaint to suggest it these days but if you polled regulars at the 20 clubs – those parting with their hard-earned cash to actually go to games – there would be a firm consensus in favour of this festive tradition.

Boxing Day football has a rich tradition, of course. There have only been five years without top-flight matches on 26 December since the Second World War, and most of the time it is nearly a full programme. It is the perfect day for it: reunited families trudging off to games together, local pubs full and bumper gates.

These are occasions in their own right and there’s a reason why most supporters scan the fixture lists when they come out for four things: first and last games, derby games and then Boxing Day. This year that’s all gone. Sunderland, Leeds, Crystal Palace and Spurs don’t even play until 28 December – by then the turkey will be a distant memory.

The Premier League – who are not the villains of this piece, despite ultimately deciding on the fixtures – says the tradition will be back next year. Boxing Day falls on a Saturday and that will mean an almost full programme, broadcaster picks permitting.

But that is not how these things work, is it? When it’s been proved that you can tinker with festive football, the risk is it will happen again.

That’s what happened to FA Cup third round weekend, which is now a shadow of what it once was as games are spread over five days and an increasing number of Premier League bosses struggle to hide their indifference. Replays have been banished, sacrificed at the altar of supposed progress.

And the Premier League know themselves there is little they can do, with Uefa and Fifa seemingly hellbent on squeezing ever more of their competitions. The reason we’ve lost Boxing Day this year is the expansion of the Champions League, which leaves the domestic game with less time to fulfill their fixtures.

Given there is now a commitment to give players 60 hours of rest between games, the Premier League couldn’t sacrifice a full round of fixtures on 27-28 December.

So what it boils down to is English football losing one of the best football days of the year so we can get more Club World Cup or another round of largely meaningless first round Champions League games. That, like the last of the Christmas sprouts, is very difficult to stomach.

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Four questions per month. Two bonus picture questions. And answers at the bottom of the page… no peeking!

January

1 Who beat Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open?

2 Who did Luke Littler overcome in the final to win the PDC World Darts Championship?

3 Tottenham Hotspur needed extra time to get past which fifth-tier side in the FA Cup?

4 Wales lost 43-0 to which side on the opening night of the Six Nations?

February

5 Which side denied Kansas City Chiefs a third successive Super Bowl?

6 Who shocked England in their second Champions Trophy match?

7 France lost to England in the Six Nations for the first time in how many years?

8 How many of Real Madrid’s six goals against Manchester City came from Kylian Mbappe?

March

9 Who won from pole to take F1’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix?

10 Which horse denied Galopin Des Champs a third successive Cheltenham Gold Cup?

11 England’s first goal under Thomas Tuchel came from which Arsenal player?

12 Which Frenchman topped the Six Nations try charts as his side reclaimed the title?

April

13 Which Englishman did Rory McIlroy beat in a play-off to win the Masters?

14 Who scored Arsenal’s third after Declan Rice’s double in the win over Real Madrid?

15 In what position did Eilish McColgan finish in the London Marathon?

16 Which blue won the men’s boat race for the sixth time in seven years?

May

17 In which country did Chelsea win the Conference League?

18 Mark Williams lost the World Snooker final, how many years after his first defeat?

19 Inter Milan edged a seven-goal thriller against which side to make the Champions League final?

20 Which Manchester City forward had a penalty saved in the FA Cup final?

June

21 Whose 149 helped England beat India in the first Test?

22 Which Englishman finished in a tie for fourth at golf’s US Open?

23 How many match points did Carlos Alcaraz save in the French Open final?

24 Who became the first African side to beat the England football men’s team?

July

25 How many strokes did Scottie Scheffler win the Open by?

26 Who scored England’s equaliser in the Euro 2025 final?

27 Whose last-minute try helped seal the British & Irish Lions’ series win?

28 How many minutes did Iga Swiatek take to beat Amanda Anisimova in the SW19 final? (Fiendishly difficult… so you get a point if within five minutes either side!)

August

29 How many runs did India beat England by to tie the Test series at the Oval?

30 What tournament-high tally did England put on Samoa in the Women’s World Cup?

31 Jack Draper reached which stage of the US Open?

32 Which Frenchman scored the opening goal of the Premier League season?

September

33 Who top-scored with four points as Europe edged the US to retain the Ryder Cup?

34 Ezri Konsa and which other defender scored their first England goals in the rout of Serbia?

35 Who did England thrash by 342 runs in a one-day international?

36 England beat which side to win the Women’s Rugby World Cup at Twickenham?

October

37 Who defeated England in the semi-finals of the Women’s Cricket World Cup?

38 England qualified for the men’s World Cup after winning 5-0 away to which side?

39 How many of Chelsea’s goals in their 5-1 win over Ajax were scored by teenagers?

40 Where did George Russell pick up his second race win of the F1 season?

November

41 Lando Norris’s final F1 race win of the campaign came in which country?

42 Who was the only England player to reach a half-century in the first Ashes Test?

43 How many successive wins did Steve Borthwick’s England finish the year with?

44 Which country beat Spain to win a third consecutive Davis Cup?

December

45 Joe Root scored his first Test century in Australia after how many attempts?

46 Rory McIlroy was the first golfer to win the Sports Personality of the Year since when?

47 Which Englishman scored Manchester City’s equaliser at Real Madrid?

48 Who did Scotland draw as their opening game at next summer’s World Cup?

Bonus picture questions  

49 Name the British sprinter below who won 200m silver in her first major final at the World Athletics Championships in September.

50 Here’s Newcastle United’s players celebrating the opening goal of their Carabao Cup final triumph over Liverpool – but who scored the header?

Answers

1 Novak Djokovic

2 Michael van Gerwen

3 Tamworth

4 France

5 Philadelphia Eagles

6 Afghanistan

7 Four

8 Four

9 Lando Norris

10 Inothewayurthinkin

11 Myles Lewis-Skelly

12 Louis Bielle-Biarrey

13 Justin Rose

14 Mikel Merino

15 Eighth

16 Cambridge

17 Poland

18 Twenty-six

19 Barcelona

20 Omar Marmoush

21 Ben Duckett

22 Tyrell Hatton

23 Three

24 Senegal

25 Four

26 Alessia Russo

27 Hugo Keenan

28 57

29 Six

30 92

31 Second round

32 Hugo Ekitike

33 Tommy Fleetwood

34 Marc Guehi

35 South Africa

36 Canada

37 South Africa

38 Latvia

39 Three

40 Singapore

41 Brazil

42 Harry Brook

43 11

44 Italy

45 30

46 1989

47 Nico O’Reilly

48 Haiti

49 Amy Hunt

50 Dan Burn

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Football would be boring if it was predictable, right. So rather than bask in all of my brilliant predictions of how the sport would play out over the last year [citation needed], I thought I’d laugh at some of things that I absolutely didn’t see coming.

NB: this does not say “all the things I got totally wrong in 2025”. There will be others…

Liverpool to defend the title

We do a season predictions feature at the start of every campaign, because it’s nice to have your horrifically poor foresight documented for all to see. I was hardly alone in predicting Liverpool to retain the Premier League, but I just didn’t see any way that a very good squad that dominated one season + apparent upgrades on several players in key positions couldn’t = more of the same. 

That, it appears, was not smart. And so we begin…

Earps over Hampton

I didn’t think that England would defend their European Championship title, but the shame of that is slightly mitigated by their route through the tournament: losing to France, winning two penalty shootouts and scoring in the 96th and 119th minutes to beat Italy. Fine margins.

But what I certainly didn’t foresee was Hannah Hampton becoming the best goalkeeper in the world this year, or certainly the one that made the biggest difference. I figured that dropping Mary “big game” Earps was a risk not worth taking with so much other uncertainty around form and selection (particularly given the absence of Millie Bright).

Sunderland straight back down

The Premier League had worn me down. The last six promoted clubs had gone straight back down and I didn’t dare to predict that anyone could bridge that gap. Wolves being one of the worst Premier League teams in history has helped, but Sunderland deserve all the credit for both their recruitment and the ability of Regis Le Bris to knit it all together.

Sunderland probably aren’t quite safe yet but I’m prepared to be wrong twice in saying that the rest of this season will be enjoyable simply because supporters can enjoy the ride. That was unthinkable six months ago.

Postecoglou’s second chance

I was in Seville to watch Ange Postecoglou’s first European game in charge of Forest. Despite one draw from games against Arsenal, Swansea and Burnley before it, the quality of Forest’s play with and without the ball during the first half persuaded me that he could build something.

Ah well. Postecoglou was sacked after only eight – winless – games in charge, Forest immediately went for the risk-averse option of Sean Dyche and have won seven games in 12 since. Ange will struggle to get another job in England.

Why appoint Frank Lampard?

On 2 January, 2025, Coventry City were 14th in the Championship. Frank Lampard had been in charge for nine league games, winning three, drawing three and losing three. Supporters were angry at owner Doug King for a decision that they perceived was based upon fame rather than ability. Why replace Mark Robins with this?

Points at league table: Yeah, fair enough. Coventry have been the most dominant team in their league in English professional football this season. They are free-scoring, occasionally open defensively but it hardly matters when you’re picking up 2.24 points per game and 12 points clear of third place. Along the way, Lampard has rebuilt his own reputation.

We’d have a Man City verdict by now

“Man City’s 115 charges: Premier League’s 12-week hearing concludes with decision expected in spring,” read one headline in December 2024. Most media outlets and journalists were on the same page. After months of rumour and counter-rumour, we didn’t know how the case would shake out.

But we did think an initial verdict, along with punishment pending appeal for proven charges, would land in the first half of 2025. And still we wait. And still there would likely be appeals if it goes against Manchester City. And still we grow older and more weary.

Frank to impress at Tottenham

I didn’t think that Thomas Frank would supercharge Tottenham because the squad seemed imbalanced and I put more credence on the 17th-place finish than the Europa League win (I picked Spurs to finish ninth). But I absolutely didn’t think that Frank would look out of his depth to the point that the pressure would envelope him three months into the season.

There’s an obvious point to make: losing matches at Brentford was less of a national news story than it is at Spurs. But it’s the inflexibility tactically and the incapability to create dynamic patterns of attacking play that has underwhelmed me most.

Tuchel’s crunch point

Because Thomas Tuchel had been appointed with a “win now” mandate, every setback seemed likely to become bigger than itself. So when England beat Andorra 1-0 and then lost to Senegal in the June international break, I feared that we may be witnessing a slump that England’s head coach could ill afford a year out from the World Cup.

Who knows what next summer brings, but Tuchel has absolutely got a firm grip back on this situation. England haven’t conceded in their six games since, Elliot Anderson has become a fixture in midfield and with it Tuchel has the balance right. It’s still win now or nothing, but I feel far happier than I did in June.

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At Ewood Park, there tend to be five seasons in a year: spring, summer, autumn, winter and protest. This weekend, a new campaign commenced as a multitude of supporter groups have joined up under the banner of Blackburn Rovers Coalition.

“Turn off the taps” starts with refusing to spend money in the stadium on matchday and continues with a planned boycott of the Watford home game on 24 January. New year, same old scene at Blackburn Rovers.

The pertinent question, entirely bleak, is whether anyone will notice. Against Millwall, Ewood had its lowest crowd for a Saturday league game in more than four years (and that likely included season-ticket holders who may or may not have been included in the count).

One stand was entirely free of home supporters and the top tier of another stand was closed. Outside the ground, 30 minutes before kick off, it felt hard to believe that a Championship fixture was about to take place.

Blackburn have the third lowest average home crowd in the Championship this season. Add together the ground capacities of the two teams below them – Wrexham and Oxford United – and it’s still more than 6,000 short of Ewood Park’s capacity. Only at Stadium MK, a ground far too big for its football team, will you find more empty seats in English football.

Still, after a week of rain I should be happy to see a full game at all. Twice this season, Championship matches in Blackburn have been abandoned due to the state of the playing surface. The Alum House Brook, running behind the Riverside Stand, provides water table complications, but the infrastructure of the pitch is dated and requires investment that hasn’t been forthcoming.

A fortnight ago, manager Valerien Ismael stressed that he would accept a reduction in the playing budget to improve the club’s pitch. Managers at this level don’t usually have to make these choices. Ismael calls this job the biggest challenge of his career and you can see his point.

Nothing is ever easy at Ewood; that is the wastage. Everything good only seems to exist as the set-up to a punchline at supporters’ expense. Seventh in the Championship in 2023 to 19th in 2024. Seventh last season to who knows where in 2026.

Rovers were victorious on Saturday, some blessed relief after five winless matches. But the grim reality here is that positive news is always accompanied by concern. There were first-team debuts for Matty Litherland and Nathan Dlamini; the former was named as the game’s best player. After the game, Ismael said that he is using academy players because the attitude and performance in training of others has not been good enough.

Protest has returned because Blackburn are in danger of relegation again and because of a wider, greater unease that a club has been trodden into its own muddy pitch. The malaise is long-term and unforgivable. When Venky’s took over in 2010, Rovers had played in 17 of the 19 Premier League seasons and were a point off the top seven. Their only full top-flight season as custodians ended in a pathetic relegation and Blackburn have not been back since.

In 15 years under Venky’s, Rovers have finished in the top six only once. That was in their only third-tier season in the last 45 years. Again, even the successes come laced with resentment. When one recent list ranked all Championship owners, Venky’s were kept off the bottom by Dejphon Chansiri, now no longer at Sheffield Wednesday. If that’s your low bar…

It is the sheer length of tenure that grinds you down. Fifteen years ago to the day from the time of writing, then new owners appointed Steve Kean as manager – sacking Sam Allardyce – and the rot set in. From then, the only movement was sideways or backwards. Ewood Park, home for 135 years, is full of memories and trinkets that have become ghosts of a time when people were proud to come here.

And so apathy drowns the place like the rain. The first chant of the game from home supporters – “We want Venky’s out” – barely garners support away from one corner of the Ronnie Clayton Blackburn End. “Stand up if you hate the Venky’s” doesn’t get much either.

In the final 20 minutes a banner is raised: “We want Pasha out” (Suhail Pasha is the chief operating officer). But the only people who really seem bothered are two stewards in bright orange jackets who have a word and then leave them to it.

I – and we all should – wish the Blackburn Rovers Coalition well. Their mandate is everything that is no more, tangible and intangible: investment, ambition, hope. There is no reason why Rovers should be so helpless and so hopeless, ceilings lowered and green shoots damaged by rain. That is not entitlement; look what these owners inherited.

But that’s the biggest problem here. It has been 15 years. When you support a club where nothing ever seems to happen, forcing change becomes only more daunting because you first need to persuade everybody that it is even possible.

You’re asking people to believe in better when nobody can really remember what unadulterated happiness feels like when it comes to Blackburn Rovers. Anger gets into your head and can be used as fuel. Apathy seeps into your bones and breaks your fighting spirit from the inside out.

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The sound of the prison door slamming shut will be forever etched in Michael Branch’s memory.

Now aged 47, the man once hailed as the next Robbie Fowler after breaking into the Everton team as a teenager back in 1996 talks about his lowest moments with disarming honesty and no little humour.

But you can see why, when he delivers one of his half hour TED talks on his journey from Goodison Park to HMP Altcourse and a seven-year sentence for supplying drugs, the kids in the audience sit up and take notice.

“I just remember sitting in my bed being absolutely petrified, thinking I can’t get through this, I don’t want to get through this. I had some dark thoughts,” he says.

“Then they opened the doors the next morning and everyone was walking about. The noise was like nothing else. I just thought ‘I’m not meant to be here’. But obviously I was.”

It is more than a decade since Branch walked out of prison, vowing never to go back. By his own admission his life still has its up and downs but he is a model for rehabilitation.

After just a few days inside, one of the prison officers noticed Branch and introduced himself. It was an ex-Everton teammate from the youth side he played in and he “helped immensely”, moving him onto a less dangerous wing where he could blend into the background.

There he “got his head down”, throwing himself into studying and the gym. But he credits prison counselling, which forced him to confront some buried feelings from his early days in football, with saving his life.

“At first they sent me there because of my low mood. Because I did have some very dark thoughts when I first went into prison, the shame, guilt and everything else around was getting to me. My mood was far too low and one of the prison officers noticed it,” he recalls.

In those sessions he talked about his struggles with “imposter syndrome”, the self-doubt that crept in after his Everton debut at Old Trafford as a 17-year-old. It was also how he came to terms with what he’d done, “getting in with the wrong crowd” and, in desperation at mounting financial worries, getting involved in drugs.

“Opening up helped me so much. It changed my mindset completely and now I know how to handle those ups and downs,” he says.

One way has been to run, which is the inspiration for his “Running through the darkness” challenge. Inspired by an advert for a Christmas push-up challenge, he decided to run a kilometre for every day of advent – starting with 1km on December 1 and culminating on Christmas Eve with a gruelling 24km route.

He hopes to inspire conversations about mental health alongside raising money for James’ Place, a charity that helps men with suicidal thoughts.

“It’s been a massive challenge but I have enjoyed it,” he says. Most of the runs have been undertaken in driving rain and the journey has been documented through his Instagram page.

“Don’t get me wrong, there’s been times when I’ve thought ‘Urgh, I can’t be bothered’ but when you get your first couple of Ks in, you’re away then and you feel great afterwards.”

Now back working for Everton in the box office, Branch’s redemption arc is inspirational. On Saturday he finished his 20km run in Hill Dickinson Stadium to applause from his fellow Evertonians.

“I think the fact that I didn’t quite make it at Everton haunted me for a bit but I’ve made my peace with it now. I played more than 50 times for the club I love, I’m really proud of that,” he says.

“Now I just want to do whatever I can to help people out.”

You can donate to Michael’s charity run here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/run-through-the-darkness

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This is The Score with Daniel Storey, a subscriber-only newsletter from The i Paper. If you’d like to get this direct to your inbox, every single week, you can sign up here.

We’re as you were in the top three, with Arsenal establishing a lead at Christmas that they finally hope to turn into a maiden league title for Mikel Arteta. Manchester City remain the most impressive of the title challengers recently, but don’t sleep on Aston Villa.

It was another bad weekend for the bottom three despite Burnley finally ending their own run of defeats. That’s because Leeds now look rampant at Elland Road; they push West Ham further into trouble ahead of a more gentle run of fixtures.

As for managers under pressure, Thomas Frank continues to talk a good game after we all watched his team lose and badly lack creativity and obvious cohesion in the final third. Plus ca change…

Here is one piece of analysis on each of the top flight clubs who played this weekend (in reverse table order)…

This weekend’s results

• Newcastle 2-2 Chelsea
• Bournemouth 1-1 Burnley
• Brighton 0-0 Sunderland
• Man City 3-0 West Ham
• Wolves 0-2 Brentford
• Tottenham 1-2 Liverpool
• Leeds 4-1 Crystal Palace
• Aston Villa 2-1 Man Utd

Change means nothing for Wolves

In the context of desperately seeking any hope, this was a good midweek for Wolves supporters. Deeply unpopular executive chairman Jeff Shi has left the club. Shi was accused of being the principal architect of Wolves’ dismal slump into Premier League oblivion.

But there are two catches. Firstly, Wolves are still absolutely dreadful on the pitch and that seems unlikely to change any time soon. They have now equalled the longest winless streak at the start of a Premier League season and play Liverpool and Manchester United away in their next two matches.

Also, the club’s statement on Shi stated that he will “remain chairman and chief executive of Fosun Sports Group but will have no operational duties relating to Wolves”. Fine, but Fosun are the ultimate owners, so surely that means that the next executive chairman will be answering to the guy responsible for the downfall? Wolves supporters must push for more change; a half-solution is no good now.

Burnley stop the rot, but at what cost?

No Burnley supporter is going to turn their noses up at stopping a run of seven straight defeats. A draw at Bournemouth is a fine result, albeit a very fortunate one given Bournemouth’s dominance.

There’s also a complicating factor here. Had Burnley lost, Scott Parker may well have been sacked. When you’re trying to survive relegation after a poor half-season, the worst thing can often be getting just enough points to keep a manager in place but not enough to ever escape trouble.

Burnley should not let one lucky result determine their future plans. Fail to take three or more points from their two home games over Christmas (Everton and Newcastle) and Parker should still go.

Now comes West Ham’s season-defining run

If we simplify the relegation battle to one team from Nottingham Forest, Leeds United and West Ham, it has been a sorry month for West Ham. They have taken three points from their last six league matches; Forest have taken 12 and Leeds eight.

The glimmer of hope: those six West Ham games were against teams placed second, third, fifth, seventh, ninth and 14th in the Premier League. Their next five league games are against sides placed ninth, 13th, 15th, 17th and 20th and West Ham have taken seven points from four games against the bottom seven this season.

But that means that there are no excuses now and no margin for error. If West Ham fail to take at least nine points from their next five games, they will likely enter the final third of the season with fewer points than games played and a significant gap to safety. We’re about to find out whether Nuno Espirito Santo has a handle on this job.

Nottingham Forest – Play Fulham on Monday night

Calvert-Lewin continues to deliver for Leeds

I’m writing about Dominic Calvert-Lewin for the second weekend in a row because there’s a case to make that he has been the the signing of the Premier League season so far. And that’s not something even the most rampant Leeds optimist could have foreseen.

Over his last four seasons as an Everton player, Calvert-Lewin never scored with more than 10 per cent of his shots in any campaign; he’s scoring with 19 per cent of his shots this season (and a whopping 46 per cent of his shots over the last five games).

This year, to save me from tears,
I'll give it to Calvert-Lewin pic.twitter.com/WQA6HLs9kk

— Leeds United (@LUFC) December 21, 2025

Over his last three seasons at Everton, Calvert-Lewin never scored with more than 18 per cent of his shots on target; he’s scoring with 40 per cent of his shots on target this season (and has scored six of his last seven shots on target). It’s ridiculous and I’m here for it.

Fulham – Play Nottingham Forest on Monday night

Bournemouth are in danger

We all circled the home game against Burnley as the fixture when Bournemouth eased any fears of being pulled into the relegation conversation. Andoni Iraola’s side have now taken four points from the last 24 available and play Chelsea (away) and Arsenal (home) next. It’s only West Ham’s inability to pick up points that leaves Bournemouth looking up rather than down.

To which we must add the Antoine Semenyo problem, with rumours heavily suggesting a January move that the player has hardly moved to refute. Semenyo has scored or assisted 42 per cent of Bournemouth’s league goals this season and replacing him in January would be desperately difficult.

But with Iraola’s own deal expiring this summer and Semenyo’s release clause reportedly dropping at the end of the season, Bournemouth have tough decisions to make.

Frank can’t keep pulling the wool over eyes at Tottenham

“I think that throughout the game it was a very good performance,” was Thomas Frank’s first answer to Tottenham’s in-house interview after the home defeat to Liverpool. Now I’m not saying that Spurs didn’t show some fight after they went 2-0 down with 10 men, but come on now.

Liverpool had taken four points from their previous six away league games and just conceded three at Elland Road. Spurs started the game tentatively and it’s still very hard to work out how Xavi Simons, Randal Kolo Muani and Mohammed Kudus, all three moments players in a system team, will create clearcut chances regularly.

Over the last 10 league games, only Burnley (seven) and Wolves (none) have taken fewer points than Spurs’ eight. In those circumstances, supporters want to see change rather than upselling “very good” performances that end in defeat. I asked my colleague Kat Lucas what she thought about this and she replied only using emojis.

Lewis-Potter takes his chance for Brentford

“If we get Keane into those positions, we know he will score goals with his movement and the timing of his runs,” said Keith Andrews after the win at Wolves, all delivered with a smile after conceding that Lewis-Potter has been eager to get higher up the pitch.

Lewis-Potter has suffered a little at Brentford, picked as a makeshift full-back last season to cover for injury and then struggling for regular league minutes in 2025-26.

But with Brentford needing to share the goals around more (Igor Thiago had scored exactly half of their league goals this season before Saturday), an energised young forward determined to prove that he belongs in the final third is a very useful thing indeed.

Newcastle squandering leads is killing momentum

Newcastle were magnificent in the first half against Chelsea, blowing away the cobwebs of their desperate derby performance the previous weekend. They merited being three or four goals up, such was their dominance.

But you have to make leads stick and it’s something that Eddie Howe is badly struggling with. Only Arsenal have scored first in more Premier League matches this season, but only Wolves and West Ham have a worse record in those circumstances. Add in the Champions League and Newcastle have squandered 21 points from winning positions so far in 2025-26.

A brace for Nick Woltemade this afternoon pic.twitter.com/N5QhjLL8jG

— Newcastle United (@NUFC) December 20, 2025

Here’s the weird thing: last season Newcastle let only seven points slip from winning positions. They have gone from the best in the division at it to one of, if not the, worst. That’s not good enough after the summer spend.

Read more: Nick Woltemade shows Newcastle have moved on from Alexander Isak

Everton’s predictable creativity issues laid bare

Last week we wondered how Everton might create chances without Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall; the answer appears to be they won’t. Judging them against Arsenal and the best Premier League defence is unfair, but Everton failed to have a first-half shot at home in the league for only the second time in 20 years.

David Moyes picked Charly Alcaraz in the Dewsbury-Hall role, but the Argentinean was entirely ineffective. Tyler Dibling came on with 15 minutes left but he’s clearly struggling for confidence and form too.

For the games against Burnley and Forest, I wonder whether Moyes may consider switching things and starting Dibling wide left, Dwight McNeil on the right and bringing Jack Grealish central but with licence to roam. Grealish too is not really producing right now – one goal or assist in his last nine games.

Brighton are finding out the Premier League is a young man’s game

I’m using Brighton vs Sunderland as the example of a trend here. Yes, that’s partly because the game was 0-0 and not enough happened.

The matchday squads for this game on Saturday contained 24 different players aged 23 or under, of which 17 played a part in the game. Only one player over the age of 28 (Granit Xhaka, 33) started the game.

And it could have been more. Carlos Baleba (21) of Brighton had left for AFCON and would likely have played a part. Chemsdine Talbi, Habib Diarra, Noah Sadiki and Simon Adingra were all missing for Sunderland and they are all aged 23 or under too. These are two clubs reinforcing the principle that the Premier League is a young man’s game for clubs looking to extract value from the transfer market.

A weird climate surrounds a brilliant mood at Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace have qualified for knockout European football, albeit in underwhelming fashion. They are three points off the top four in the Premier League at Christmas, which is ridiculous. There should be no “but” here.

And yet there is a weird climate building here. Oliver Glasner’s future is up in the air and this week brought weird rumours from Spanish media about a potential departure. Daniel Munoz and Jean-Philippe Mateta have invited rumours about summer exits to bigger clubs. Marc Guehi’s own future will be up for debate without a new contract and then there’s Adam Wharton to think about.

It’s really a lesson to every supporter of non-financially elite clubs: enjoy your time in the sun; bask in it. Because a bully will probably be along soon to try and ruin it.

Yoro indicative of Man Utd’s defensive problems

Ruben Amorim’s side played above pre-match expectations at Villa Park, but lost because they missed clear chances and were unable to stop Villa in the moments. Perhaps that is no surprise: United haven’t kept a clean sheet in 10 games and have conceded six goals in two matches during which they outperformed opponents in the space of six days.

Sunday’s most guilty party was Leny Yoro. Morgan Rogers’ goals were both brilliant, but a central defender’s job is to make life as hard as possible for an attacker. Both times, Yoro allowed Rogers the time to control the ball and then barely applied any pressure as Rogers moved closer towards the goal.

United’s football relies upon intensity all over the pitch; Yoro was repeatedly the opposite. You know what Rogers is going to do when he gets the ball – why make it easier for him?

Read more: Ruben Amorim faces the greatest test of his Man Utd reign

Sunderland’s ridiculous clean sheet record

In 2024-25, the three promoted clubs kept eight clean sheets in 114 combined attempts. In 2023-24, the three promoted clubs kept five clean sheets in 114 combined attempts.

However, 12 of those attempts each season were against each other. Factor in only clean sheets against non-promoted clubs and you have a record of 10 clean sheets from 204 matches against non-promoted clubs, or roughly one every 20 attempts.

This season, Sunderland have played 16 league games against non-promoted clubs. They have kept six clean sheets. Do not sleep on how mad that is.

How Liverpool can get the best out of Wirtz

This iteration of Liverpool, whereby Arne Slot is trying to protect the defence and keep the attack in motion while acclimatising new players and avoiding becoming consumed by the pressure swirling around him, is absolutely fascinating because we are seeing experimentation happen in real time.

On Saturday evening, it was Florian Wirtz that I found most interesting. During the first half, Liverpool only had two purely attacking players on the pitch: Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike. The problem: Wirtz dropped a little deep to pick up the ball, Ekitike was isolated and Wirtz had too few passing options in front of him.

The change came at half-time, Alexander Isak on for the injured Conor Bradley. Then (and because of the numerical advantage), Wirtz was able to find more space, play higher up the pitch and work alongside two forwards; the game changed. The injury to Isak complicates matters, but this nip-and-tuck, more-defensive-and-then-more-attacking shuffling from Slot is absorbing viewing.

A weird old week at Chelsea

Just another normal seven days in Chelsealand. It started with Enzo Maresca insinuating that he wasn’t backed by the club’s hierarchy, followed by a leaked news story about Manchester City being interested in appointing him in the summer. Maresca then gave it the “No, I’m really happy here” in his pre-match press conference, which all felt a little transparent.

The team on the pitch is equally baffling. Chelsea were rotten in the first half but excellent thereafter. Ordinarily you’d praise the manager for an inspirational team talk, but then Joao Pedro revealed that he had told Robert Sanchez to go long to him (which is how the equalising goal was scored). Last year, the story was that Sanchez would be dropped by Maresca if he kicked the ball long.

work from Joao, and Rob will take the assist. #CFC | #NEWCHE pic.twitter.com/ko6l9yHwLY

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 20, 2025

It’s all just impossible to get a handle on, behind the scenes and on the pitch. One minute you think that Chelsea are title contenders (fair enough, given the vast spend). The next minute you think that the manager is probably going to be sacked soon and he’s asking for more experience at a club where the entire transfer strategy surrounds buying youth.

Rogers makes his mark again for Aston Villa

Morgan Rogers is having a season to remember. It’s only three months since Aston Villa supporters were booing his contributions. Now he’s in the form of his career and gaining heavy support for a role in Thomas Tuchel’s starting XI in the World Cup next summer.

Rogers has become a cheat code, in that he can alter the entire course of a match even when his team is not playing particularly well. The two goals against Manchester United were fabulous, gaining possession, cutting inside and then curling shots into the far corner that were unsaveable.

Could this move create a role for him on the left of England’s midfield? Marcus Rashford has possessed the shirt, but there would be far less competition than centrally, where Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer are likely to fight for a starting role.

Haaland reverts to type for Man City

It’s something that we have kept an eye on recently, but Erling Haaland really has become a penalty box poacher recently. It was interesting to see him on Saturday occasionally asking for the ball to be played directly over the top. Without Ederson or Kevin De Bruyne, City are missing that option.

But it barely matters. Against West Ham, Haaland had only 13 touches of the ball in 90 minutes and yet eight of these (62 per cent) were inside the penalty area. Haaland has had 107 touches in the attacking penalty area this season, eight more than any other player.

But the remarkable bit is how high a proportion of his touches come in the box. The percentage for the other four players in the top five for penalty box touches ranges between 11.8 and 14.8 per cent. Haaland’s percentage: 30.1.

1-0 to the Arsenal

If it feels like Arsenal are grinding out games to go top of the Premier League at Christmas, the evidence spectacularly bears it out.

Under George Graham, the famous chant was “1-0 to the Arsenal” as supporters gleefully owned the accusation that the team was boring but functional. It began in 1994, when Arsenal won two Cup Winners’ Cup knockout home legs and then the final against Parma by that scoreline.

But in 1993-94, Arsenal won only seven league games 1-0. In their title-winning seasons under Graham, they won three and five games by that scoreline respectively. This season under Mikel Arteta, Arsenal have already won four league games 1-0 and have won seven games 2-0 in all competitions. It’s functional and it’s working.

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Aston Villa 2-1 Man Utd (Rogers 45′, 57′ | Cunha 45+3′)

VILLA PARK – If Manchester United really did want to cash in on Bruno Fernandes then they will now find out what life is truly like without him.

Talk about timing. In a week where Fernandes was quoted saying the club “wanted me to leave” in the summer, the midfielder hobbled off at half-time before Aston Villa capitalised to continue their Premier League title charge and best winning run for 111 years – now 10 straight.

Fernandes had pulled up in the 40th minute, and it was a bizarre moment, United’s captain stopping play unchallenged before feeling his hamstring, leaving fans holding their breath and contemplating the prospect of weeks or months without him.

A very rare sight for Manchester United fans – Bruno Fernandes substituted due to injury pic.twitter.com/2iVSOezmLC

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 21, 2025

The remainder of United’s season was flashing before their eyes. Just how difficult it would be, and how impotent their attack would look without the player who has scored twice as many goals (20) as any other under Ruben Amorim.

Only then, Fernandes continued. Nothing to worry about here, with the Portuguese seemingly shrugging off the concern and even going close to breaking the deadlock, his effort deflecting wide before a frantic finish to the half saw Matheus Cunha cancel out Morgan Rogers’ worldie for the hosts.

But any hope Fernandes was fit to continue was crushed at the break, and with centre-back Lisandro Martinez coming on, it was as blatant an acknowledgement that United truly have no one to replace him as Amorim could have mustered.

That is naturally the case for every club and their best player – see: Villa and Rogers in this current form – and the second half became a glimpse into United’s future for however long Fernandes may be out – “a while”, according to Amorim afterwards.

This was United’s first half of league football without him since May, with Fernandes unsurprisingly Amorim’s most used player at United and undeniably his most influential.

It made for grim viewing. The tone changed on a sixpence with United looking shell-shocked as all of their first-half endeavour evaporated when Rogers restored Villa’s lead with another curled effort, albeit one where Senne Lammens this time could have done better.

For United the onus was on Mason Mount to create, and with £74m man Benjamin Sesko lacking sharpness – he had missed a decent one-on-one in the first half – it was down to Cunha to provide the threat, but having done so much for the United cause in the first half the Brazilian then somehow headed wide when it looked easier to score.

Off went Sesko, on came Joshua Zirkzee, and with Amorim experimenting on the go he even changed tact and turned to a couple of United’s academy prospects. Jack Fletcher – the son of Darren Fletcher and a midfielder like his dad – took to the field before winger Shea Lacey also made his debut.

It was both a brilliant moment and a reminder of how thin this squad is, with these bare bones having been made barer without Kobbie Mainoo.

A suspension for Casemiro had seemingly paved the way for the midfielder to make his first Premier League start of the season, but instead conspiracy abounded after a calf injury was given as the party line for his absence from the matchday squad.

We will have to taken Amorim’s word on that one. “Let’s focus on the players we have,” he insisted before kick-off, but Manuel Ugarte starting instead proved to be United’s first problem.

It wasn’t their last, and though United can take positives from this narrow defeat, the prospect of a prolonged period without Fernandes is concerning.

Cunha alone cannot carry the spark, and while Mount must raise his game yet another level – having impressed in recent weeks – to help lift any sense of impending gloom, they will need Sesko to find his shooting boots fast. Or else that narrow gap to the top four will only get wider.

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