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This comment hits a little too close to home for my liking. The festive period is always about football first, fir trees second.
This can be a difficult time for football supporters. Can we manage to keep the necessary eye on our team while showing appropriate enthusiasm for gift choices, wrapping, food shopping and preparation, table decorations, joining in family get-togethers....? We'll give it a damned good try! Sorry, what was that you were saying...?
Manchester United target Neves and Gallagher
Manchester United are on the hunt for a midfielder. This can’t be good news for Kobbie Mainoo… as a pair of former Premier League stars are targeted by Ruben Amorim’s side.
Jamie Jackson has the full story here.
Newcastle v Chelsea at 12.30pm is a great way to start the day’s action, isn’t it? Eddie Howe’s side are down in 12th and Enzo Maresca’s men sit fourth but only six points separate them, with the Magpies’ formidable home record likely to make it tough for Chelsea.
Newcastle may be hamstrung, however, by their sheer number of current defensive absentees. Tino Livramento has joined Sven Botman, Dan Burn, Emil Krafth, Jamaal Lascelles, Kieran Trippier and goalkeeper Nick Pope on the treatment table, with Lewis Hall also a doubt.
Even so, and despite Maresca claiming he was “falling more in love with [his players” earlier this week, you wouldn’t bank on Chelsea strolling to victory at St James’ Park. Can Maresca settle on a regular forward line? Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho came off the bench in the Carabao Cup against Cardiff in midweek to score and look like contenders to start this one.
Predicting games like Newcastle v Chelsea this season has been very, very difficult.
I notice there’s lots of discussion in the comments about the Guardian’s Top 100 players… these things are always subjective, of course. One thing you cannot argue with is Ousmane Dembélé’s place at the very summit.
Find all our Top 100 content here and feel free to disagree with our writers.
10 things to look out for: From pressure on Scott Parker at Burnley, to Wolves’ long search for a win, to calls for Dominic Calvert-Lewin to feature in Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup plans, it’s all here.
In case you missed it there was drama in the all-Welsh Friday night Championship clash, with Wrexham goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo handing victory to Swansea in the 90th minute in south Wales when he dropped Ben Cabango’s header right into the path of Adam Idah. The Swans substitute had the simplest of task to tap home to make it 2-1.
An early Christmas present from Okonkwo – who is one of Bukayo Saka’s best friends in football, by the way, having grown up at Arsenal – and Welsh bragging rights for Swansea.
Steve Evans steered Bristol Rovers to their first point in 10 league matches, although he said the 1-1 draw at Crewe was “frustrating” given the home side had 10 men for most of the game. Elsewhere in League Two, Cambridge United jumped into the playoff spots with a 2-0 win over Accrington and Cheltenham picked up a 2-1 win at struggling Barrow.
Northampton cruised beyond AFC Wimbledon 3-1 in League One.
And in the Bundesliga, the battle of the Borussias was won 2-0 by Dortmund, Max Beier scoring in the 97th minute to see off Mönchengladbach after Julian Brandt struck early on.
Preamble
Good morning all and welcome to another of our matchday live blogs. It’s Saturday morning so that can only mean one thing – buildup! And we can safely called it a bumper day of action with no less than eight Premier League games, starting with Newcastle v Chelsea at 12.30pm, heading into the four 3pm kick-offs, Tottenham v Liverpool at 5.30pm and then two 8pm games: Everton v Arsenal and Leeds v Crystal Palace (all times GMT).
There is also a full schedule of games in the Scottish Premiership, Championship, League One and League Two, plus lower down the pyramids and in Spain, Germany and beyond too. See – bumper.
As always with matchday lives we encourage your comments and emails, so let me know your predictions for the day ahead, thoughts on 2025 in general now that it’s coming to an end, or just how you’ll be spending a day of festive footy-ball. Should be fun!
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