Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, and David Moyes, Manager of Everton, embrace prior to the Premier League match between Liverpool and Everton at Anfield on September 20, 2025 in Liverpool, England.placeholder image
Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, and David Moyes, Manager of Everton, embrace prior to the Premier League match between Liverpool and Everton at Anfield on September 20, 2025 in Liverpool, England. | Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Boxing Day is a traditional day on the Premier League fixture list but why aren’t Liverpool and Everton playing?
The festive period is one that is always enjoyed by fans, even if the managers and players aren’t necessarily so keen about the fixture congestion.
This season is different for Everton and Liverpool with both teams only having four games over a 15-day period with one game being played in mid-week and the rest at the weekend.
The traditional Boxing Day fixture schedule is also looking bare with only Manchester United against Newcastle United at Old Trafford being the solitary game on what is usually a packed day of footballing action. So why aren’t Everton and Liverpool playing on Boxing Day when they have a game on the 20th?
Why are Everton and Liverpool not playing on Boxing Day?
First up, Liverpool face a trip to London and Tottenham on the 20th with Wolves at home on the 27th, Leeds United at home on New Years Day before ending the festive period on the 4th of January against Fulham away from home.
Everton have the sort of fixture list that David Moyes will be taking advantage of with three winnable games and one that could influence the title race. For obvious reasons, Everton are at home against Arsenal on the 20th, then take on Burnley away from home on the 27th, Nottingham Forest on the 1st of January before Brentford on the 4th. Three wins from four should be the target, despite the absence of Idrissa Gana Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye due to the African Cup of Nations.
According to the Premier League, there is a simple explanation for the lack of games on Boxing Day, via BBC Sport: "There are now several challenges to Premier League fixture scheduling rooted in the expansion of European club competitions – which led to a revision of our domestic calendar ahead of last season, including changes to the FA Cup.
"This ultimately left the Premier League as a 33-weekend competition – fewer than previous seasons, despite being a 380-match competition since 1995. With fewer weekends to work with, the League is bound by how the calendar falls. The league can give an assurance that next season there will be more Premier League matches on Boxing Day – as the date falls on a Saturday."
Could fixtures have been played on Boxing Day?
It’s a strange explanation considering that the games on the 27th could all have been played on the 26th. Without any real difference in terms of the physical stress being placed on the players who played on either the 20th or 21st. With almost half of the Premier League qualifying for European football, they are well used to playing three games a week but, for once, the festive period offers a bit of respite.
To compensate, there are more games on New Year’s Day and on the 30th of December which makes it look like the league has switched the busy period from being around the Christmas period to New Year instead.
Everton have the easier games on paper, however, if Arne Slot and Liverpool have aspirations of getting back into the title race, they should be looking at four wins from four, especially when all the teams they are facing are in the bottom half of the table.
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