October 26, (THEWILL) – The English Premier League has confirmed that a match will be played on Christmas Eve for the first time in 28 years. Wolverhampton Wanderers will host Chelsea at the Molineux Stadium on Sunday, December 24 at 1pm local time.
The fixture was originally scheduled for December 23 but has been moved to Christmas Eve. The only other EPL match to take place on December 24 was in 1995 when Leeds United defeated Manchester United 3-1.
The festive fixture schedule has been adjusted to allow more recovery time between matches. The Crystal Palace versus Brighton and Hove Albion match has been brought forward to December 21 and Aston Villa will face Sheffield United the following day.
Six matches will take place on December 23 before Chelsea’s trip to Wolves on Christmas Eve. The second round of festive fixtures begins on December 26 with five matches.
The EPL said the changes allow “greater time for players to recover” between the three-match weeks. However, supporters’ groups have not been particularly favourable towards these winter schedules and may express further discontent with the Christmas Eve fixture.
The festive period fixtures include:
Thursday, December 21
Crystal Palace v Brighton
Friday, December 22
Aston Villa v Sheffield United
Saturday, December 23
West Ham v Manchester United
Fulham v Burnley
Luton Town v Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest v Bournemouth
Tottenham v Everton
Liverpool v Arsenal
Sunday, December 24
Wolves v Chelsea
Tuesday, December 26
Newcastle United v Nottingham Forest
Bournemouth v Fulham
Sheffield United v Luton Town
Burnley v Liverpool
Manchester United v Aston Villa
Wednesday, December 27
Brentford v Wolves
Chelsea v Crystal Palace
Everton v Manchester City
Thursday, December 28
Brighton v Tottenham
Arsenal v West Ham
Saturday, December 30
Luton Town v Chelsea
Aston Villa v Burnley
Crystal Palace v Brentford
Manchester City v Sheffield United
Wolves v Everton
Nottingham Forest v Manchester United
Sunday, December 31
Fulham v Arsenal
Tottenham v Bournemouth
Monday, January 1
Liverpool v Newcastle United
Tuesday, January 2
West Ham v Brighton
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
