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That remark hits a little too close to home personally. The festive period is invariably prioritizing the beautiful game, fir trees second.
Supporters face a tricky balance for soccer fans. Can we manage to maintain the required focus on our club while displaying suitable excitement for presents, holiday meals, and family events...? We'll certainly do our best! Apologies, could you repeat that...?
Man Utd Target Neves and Gallagher
Erik ten Hag's side is looking for a midfielder. This can’t be good news for Kobbie Mainoo… as a pair of former Premier League stars are targeted by the Old Trafford club.
Newcastle v Chelsea Pre-Match Preview
Newcastle v Chelsea in the early Saturday slot provides a fantastic start to kick off the football. Eddie Howe’s side occupy 12th place and Enzo Maresca’s men sit fourth. Only six points separate them, given Newcastle's strong home form set to provide a stern test for Chelsea.
The home side could be hindered, however, due to a lengthy list of unavailable defenders. Tino Livramento has joined a host of sidelined players in the medical room, with Lewis Hall also a doubt.
Despite this, and even with the manager stating his growing admiration for the squad recently, you wouldn’t bank on Chelsea strolling to victory at St James’ Park. Will the coach decide on a consistent attacking trio? Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho were substitutes during the midweek cup tie to score appearing as candidates to start this one.
Predicting games in such fixtures in the current campaign has proven exceptionally tough.
Top 100 Players Discussion
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 top.
10 Things to Look Out For
Major plotlines this weekend include: The scrutiny on Burnley's manager, Wolverhampton's hunt for three points, appeals for the striker's inclusion to feature in Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup plans, it’s all here.
Friday Night Round-Up
For those who didn't see late drama unfolded in the all-Welsh Friday night Championship clash. The shot-stopper handed victory to Swansea in the 90th minute when he dropped Ben Cabango’s header straight to the substitute. The Swans substitute had the simplest of task to score for the decisive goal.
An early Christmas present from the Arsenal academy graduate, by the way, and local supremacy for Swansea.
Steve Evans steered Bristol Rovers to their first point in 10 league matches, but stated the 1-1 draw at Crewe was disappointing given the home side had 10 men for most of the game. In the fourth tier, Cambridge United jumped into the playoff spots thanks to a victory over Accrington while Cheltenham won at struggling Barrow.
Northampton strolled to a comfortable victory in League One.
And in the Bundesliga, the battle of the Borussias was won 2-0 by Dortmund, with a late Beier goal to defeat Gladbach following an early Brandt strike.
Preamble
Hello everyone and welcome to another matchday live blog. It’s Saturday morning meaning pre-match excitement! It's truly a packed schedule featuring eight top-flight matches, kicking off with Newcastle v Chelsea at 12.30pm, heading into the four 3pm kick-offs, the evening fixture, and then two 8pm games: the Merseyside and London clashes (all times GMT).
Additionally, there's a complete card of games in the Scottish Premiership, Championship, League One and League Two, plus lower down the pyramids along with European action. See – bumper.
Following our usual format, we welcome your interaction, so share your predictions for the day ahead, thoughts on 2025 in general now that it’s coming to an end, or your plans for a day of festive footy-ball. Should be fun!
