[ 2014-12-26 ]

Premier League Boxing Day schedule
The Premier League's teams got a nice little
five-day rest and now get to kick off one of the
world's best holiday traditions: Running
themselves into the ground! For most Premier
League teams, the game that they play on Boxing
Day will be the first of four in eight days.
Meanwhile, Lionel Messi, Andrea Pirlo and Arjen
Robben sit on their couches and laugh.

Because everyone tunes in for Boxing Day anyway,
the scheduling gods usually don't love to give us
big marquee matches, but there's plenty of super
watchable stuff this time around. The early game
is a local derby featuring a very entertaining
West Ham side, while Manchester United should get
a decent challenge from Newcastle.

This slate of games could also mark the end of the
road for some under-fire managers. Someone is
going to win the Premier League sack race over the
next two weeks, but who? Some have touted Brendan
Rodgers as the favorite, but Hull's Steve Bruce
and Leicester's Nigel Pearson appear to be in a
bit more trouble. Losses during this set of games
could see one (or two, or three) of them out of
work before the new year.

Chelsea vs. West Ham United

TV: NBC Sports Network (U.S.), TSN1 (Canada), Sky
Sports 1 (U.K.)

West Ham continue to stick in the upper part of
the table. Their last loss was five games ago,
away to Everton. They won't be expected to get a
result against Chelsea, but they have enough
players healthy and in good form that they could
steal a point here and pull off a couple of wins
in forthcoming fixtures. It also helps that Eden
Hazard isn't expected to be fit to play in this
game.

Manchester United vs. Newcastle United

TV: NBC Sports Network (U.S.), TSN4 (Canada), BT
Sport 1 (U.K.)

It looks like the Newcastle fans are turning on
Alan Pardew again. They've lost two in a row in
the league, including a derby defeat to
Sunderland, and they got absolutely pasted in the
League Cup final. He could restore a lot of
goodwill with an upset result at Old Trafford, but
United have been able to scrape points in games
where they don't even play that well as of late.
However, their recent draw against Aston Villa
should give the Magpies some hope.

Arsenal vs. QPR

TV: NBC Sports Network (U.S.), Sportsnet regional
(Canada), BT Sport 1 (U.K.)

Lately, QPR's been able to outplay their
relegation rivals and take three points from those
games while falling to teams in the top half
without putting up that much of a fight. There's
not a lot of reason to believe this game will
deviate from that pattern.

Schedule

Chelsea vs. West Ham United
Burnley vs. Liverpool
Crystal Palace vs. Southampton
Everton vs. Stoke City
Leicester City vs. Tottenham Hotspur
Manchester United vs. Newcastle United
Sunderland vs. Hull City
Swansea City vs. Aston Villa
West Bromwich Albion vs. Manchester City
Arsenal vs. Queens Park Rangers

Source - SB Nation

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