It’s the most wonderful time of the year for sport fans. Here we pick our 3 must-see sporting events over the upcoming Christmas period:-
Premier League
Christmas is the busiest time of the year for the Premier League. With four rounds of fixtures squeezed into 13 days, it is a crucial period which will shape the remainder of the season.
Leicester have exceeded all expectations to get themselves into 2nd place, but with last weekend’s defeat at Manchester City, can they maintain the challenge to leaders Liverpool when the two meet at the King Power Stadium on Boxing Day?
How will Arsenal start life under new manager Mikel Arteta? Will Carlo Ancelotti bring some star power to an Everton side in the mix at the wrong end of the table? Can anybody close the gap to newly crowned World Champions, Liverpool?
You can see all 25 live games over the festive period in one place with Virgin TV:
Boxing Day (all Amazon Prime*)
Spurs v Brighton, 12.30pm
Bournemouth v Arsenal, 3pm
Aston Villa v Norwich, 3pm
Chelsea v Southampton, 3pm
Crystal Palace v West Ham, 3pm
Everton v Burnley, 3pm
Sheffield United v Watford, 3pm
Man Utd v Newcastle, 5.30pm
Leicester v Liverpool, 8pm
Friday 27 December (Amazon Prime*)
Wolves v Man City, 7.45pm
Saturday 28 December
Brighton v Bournemouth, 12.30pm, Sky Sports
Norwich v Spurs, 5.30pm, Sky Sports
Burnley v Man Utd, 7.45pm, BT Sport
Sunday 29 December
Arsenal v Chelsea, 2pm, Sky Sports
Liverpool v Wolves, 4.30pm, Sky Sports
Wednesday 1 January 2020 (all BT Sport)
Brighton v Chelsea, 12.30pm
Burnley v Aston Villa, 12.30pm
Newcastle v Leicester, 3pm
Southampton v Spurs, 3pm
Watford v Wolves, 3pm
Man City v Everton, 5.30pm
Norwich v Crystal Palace, 5.30pm
West Ham v Bournemouth, 5.30pm
Arsenal v Man Utd, 8pm
* a subscription to Amazon Prime is required
World Darts Championship
It wouldn’t be Christmas without the darts at Alexandra Palace, a festive tradition for many. Darts’ biggest event of the year started earlier this month and will conclude with the final and the crowning of the 2020 PDC Darts World Champion on New Year’s Day.
The tournament has provided plenty of memorable moments already, and as the final gets nearer the standard will only get better. Michael Van Gerwen defeated Michael Smith in last year’s final and the Dutchman is favourite to retain his title. Can he do it again? How much further can Fallon Sherrock go? And will we see any nine darters? Find out on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel this Christmas.
Cricket: South Africa v England First Test
It has been a memorable year for English cricket. First we had that thrilling and unpredictable ICC World Cup final, which England won in emphatic circumstances. Then came The Ashes, retained by Australia despite Ben Stokes’ heroics at Headingley.
Next up for England is a four test series in South Africa. The first of these starts on Boxing Day in Centurion as England look to get the series off to a positive start and improve on the recent series defeat against New Zealand. If it’s cold and dark outside this Christmas, the warmth and sunshine of South Africa and a bit of cricket should provide the perfect tonic.
