Do we do better on Boxing Day or December 27? | Statistics | News

A match on Boxing Day is normally as conventional as Christmas pudding or pulling crackers at the moment of the 12 months, however for the second straight season Gooners will probably be watching the motion from afar as they await our festive fixture.

One other 24 hours should elapse till Ipswich City head to Emirates Stadium, however our pals from Opta have delved into the document books and imagine the delay may very well be a great omen for us.

Our first Boxing Day sport within the Premier League was in opposition to the Tractor Boys in 1992 and resulted in a 0-0 draw, however since then we’ve been fairly profitable on December 26, successful 16 of our 25 fixtures on that exact day.

Extremely, we’ve solely misplaced twice within the competitors in that point – again in 1999 at Coventry Metropolis and in 2015 at Southampton. We’re unbeaten in our final six, together with Mikel Arteta’s managerial debut at Bournemouth in 2019, and subsequent wins in opposition to Chelsea, Norwich Metropolis and West Ham United in 2022 – our final Boxing Day battle.

That document places us third within the all-time Boxing Day desk, regardless of enjoying much less video games than the vast majority of the opposite ever-presents within the division’s historical past:

Because of the conventional nature of the Christmas calendar, fixtures the day after Boxing Day have been few and much between, and actually our encounter with Ipswich this 12 months will probably be simply the fifth time we have now taken to the sector for a Premier League sport on that day. Nevertheless, we will take solace from the truth that we’re unbeaten in these video games, with three spectacular victories coming in our 4 such matches.

On December 27, 1993, we trashed Swindon City 4-0 with Kevin Campbell serving to himself to a hat-trick, and it could be 16 years till we performed on that date once more but it surely was an analogous destiny for Aston Villa as they had been crushed 3-0, with Cesc Fabregas bagging a brace.

A 12 months later we had been again in motion two days after Christmas once more, after being handed a London derby in opposition to Chelsea however as soon as once more, we prevailed because of a 3-1 scoreline with the Spaniard heading in the right direction once more alongside Alex Tune and Theo Walcott. The pattern continued in 2011 as Wolves got here to Emirates Stadium, however our 100% document ended after Steven Flecther cancelled out an early Gervinho purpose.

All that implies that we have now a 75% win ratio on December 27, versus a not-to-be-sniffed-at 64% the day earlier than. Nevertheless, whenever you add these outcomes to our Boxing Day efficiency, solely Manchester United followers have loved extra festive cheer than our Gooners:

With a small pattern measurement of Premier League fixtures to analyze, we additionally requested Opta to evaluate our complete Soccer League historical past to search out out if we have now a choice for taking part in on December 26 or 27 – they usually uncovered an fascinating statistical quirk.

There’s simply 0.1% distinction between our win percentages on both day, with Boxing Day edging forward by the slightest margin potential:

Nevertheless, we have now been defeated simply eight occasions in our historical past on December 27, with our final loss on that day coming again in 1966 at Southampton. Fixtures in that timeframe embody a 2-0 north London derby win in opposition to Tottenham in 1982, and a 1-1 draw with Ipswich two years earlier – a fixture performed simply 24 hours after we clinched a 2-2 draw in opposition to Crystal Palace!