Premier League Boxing Day: 5 Best Premier League boxing day matches of this decade

1. Manchester United 4-3 Newcastle United, 2012

The boxing day soared when Manchester United had an intense game against Newcastle United 7 years ago. The win was special for the Red Devils too, as they obtained a 7 point lead in the table.

It was a throwback to the classic 90’s rivalry between the Red Devils and the Magpies and was full of twists, turns and controversies. Newcastle United took a lead in the 4th minute of the game with Demba Ba pouncing on a mistake from Michael Carrick to fire a shot on goal.

The shot was saved by David De Gea but James Perch was at home to tap in the rebound. Manchester United found the equalizer after 25 minutes, through an unlikely source – defender Jonny Evans, who bundled in after a goalmouth scramble.

However, 3 minutes later Newcastle United once again took the lead with Evans Danny Simpson’s shot into his own net, only for the linesman to disallow the goal for an offside, as he falsely believed that Pappis Cisse was offside.

But referee Mike Dean overruled the decision and gave the goal, leaving Red Devils boss Sir Alex Ferguson into a fury. The first half ended with the Toons at the front.

In the second half, Soon Manchester United scored their second equalizer in the game with Patrice Evra’s kicking the ball in. But only for Cisse to put Pardew’s team back into the lead 10 minutes later.

The goal-fest continued as Manchester United’s new signing that season Robin Van Persie equalized the score once again with an impressive strike. From there it felt that the match will end with an exhaustive 3-3 draw.

But it was Mexican striker Javier Hernandez, who in the added time kicked in though, Carrick atoned for his earlier error by sending a cross into the box, and ‘Chicharito’ slid into fire home.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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