Another weekend of English Premier League action is done and dusted with Leicester City and Arsenal the big winners. It is onto the always-exciting, can't-wait-for-it Boxing Day schedule, as Leicester and Arsenal try to maintain their momentum, while the likes of Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool look to invoke their powers of bouncebackability.
After the latest round of fixtures, Leicester City stayed top of the Premier League courtesy a hard-fought 3-2 win at Everton. Claudio Ranieri's men are showing absolutely no signs of fading away, and Jurgen Klopp and his Liverpool side will not fancy facing them on Boxing Day.
Liverpool were woeful against Watford at the weekend, deservedly going down to Quique Sanchez Flores' excellent side, and if they don't show up on Saturday against Leicester, they will get a proper beating from the league leaders, especially if Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez are given space to work their magic.
Arsenal will want to follow up their impressive 2-1 win over Manchester City with a similar result against Southampton, who have piled a fair bit of misery on Arsene Wenger's men in the recent past.
The Gunners will be well aware of that as well, but another solid defensive performance, coupled with that ruthlessness in the attack should give them all three points against the Saints, who haven't quite been able to replicate their form from last season yet.
Third-placed Manchester City host second from bottom Sunderland on Boxing Day, and Manuel Pellegrini will be relieved to be back home owing to the obvious problems this season on their travels.
Sunderland were put to the sword by Chelsea at the weekend, sapping out every bit of momentum from the Black Cats, and Sam Allardyce will be wary of a Manchester City backlash on Saturday.
Tottenham climbed to fourth in the table after their impressive win at the weekend, and Mauricio Pochettino will be confident his team can maintain that spot by getting the better of Norwich at home, even if Alex Neill's men pulled off a pretty commendable win over Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Louis Van Gaal will be the focus at the Britannia Stadium as Stoke City host Manchester United, with the Dutchman under tremendous pressure to produce results. Jose Mourinho is reportedly waiting in the wings to take over from Van Gaal if Manchester United stumble again.
Stoke manager Mark Hughes, a former United man, will ask for the kind of performance they put up against Manchester City, and if they do that, Manchester United might just be welcoming a new manager.
Champions Chelsea began their post Jose Mourinho II era with a comfortable victory over Sunderland and with Guus Hiddink officially taking over, the players will want to give their new manager another win. But it will be far from easy, as they will be up against high-flying Watford, who are seventh in the league, ten points ahead of their Boxing Day opponents.
Below is the EPL Boxing Day schedule, with all the ten fixtures along with the TV listings, time, dates and venues.
Saturday, 26 December: Stoke vs Manchester United (12.45 pm GMT, 6.15 pm IST, 7.45 am ET) at Britannia.
Aston Villa vs West Ham (3 pm GMT, 8.30 pm IST, 10 am ET) at Villa Park.
Bournemouth vs Crystal Palace (3 pm GMT, 8.30 pm IST, 10 am ET) at Vitality Stadium.
Chelsea vs Watford (3 pm GMT, 8.30 pm IST, 10 am ET) at Stamford Bridge.
Liverpool vs Leicester City (3 pm GMT, 8.30 pm IST, 10 am ET) at Anfield.
Manchester City vs Sunderland (3 pm GMT, 8.30 pm IST, 10 am ET) at the Etihad Stadium.
Swansea City vs West Bromwich Albion (3 pm GMT, 8.30 pm IST, 10 am ET) at the Liberty Stadium.
Tottenham vs Norwich City (3 pm GMT, 8.30 pm IST, 10 am ET) at White Hart Lane.
Newcastle vs Everton (5.30 pm GMT, 11 pm IST, 12.30 pm ET) at St. James' Park.
Southampton vs Arsenal (7.45 pm GMT, 1.15 pm IST, 2.45 pm ET) at St. Mary's.
TV listings: India: Star Sports network. UK: BT Sport and Sky Sports. USA: NBCSN. Canada: TSN and Sportsnet. Australia: Fox Sports. Singapore: 102 Mio. Hong Kong: Now TV. China: PPTV Sports. Thailand: CTH. Middle East and North Africa: Bein Sports. France and Spain: Canal+. Germany: Sky Sport.
