Boxing Day Premier League schedule and fixtures: The scheduling robot must pay for its sins

Clive Brunskill

Boxing Day never offers the best slate of games, because the Premier League knows that you're going to watch anyway. They don't need a marquee game to draw you in. But good god, the robot done screwed up.

Every year, the Premier League has every team play on Boxing Day. Because it's the only thing on television in the United Kingdom, as well as the only thing on television in the morning on the western side of the Atlantic, they don't schedule any marquee games because you're going to watch anyway.

The Premier League schedule is "randomly" determined by a scheduling robot, but it can be told not to schedule certain games on certain days to deal with scheduling conflicts ... or undesirable fixtures for the league. See, they need to save the good ones for days when you have something else to do other than watch their league. While there are a few watchable games, there aren't any truly marquee ones, and that's okay.

But seriously, did the scheduling gods have to screw us over this badly? An Arsenal - West Ham game cancelled by a tube strike? Liverpool vs. Stoke chosen to be an isolated, prime-time matchup instead of one thrown in the massive seven-game cluster? How did this happen? No one wants to watch Liverpool play Stoke. Not even Liverpool fans are interested in that game!

Your Boxing Day schedule is as follows, with all times ET. That's five hours behind the U.K.

Everton vs. Wigan Athletic - 10 a.m.
Fulham vs. Southampton - 10 a.m.
Manchester United vs. Newcastle United - 10 a.m.
Norwich City vs. Chelsea - 10 a.m.
Queens Park Rangers vs. West Bromwich Albion - 10 a.m.
Reading vs. Swansea City - 10 a.m.
Sunderland vs. Manchester City - 10 a.m.
Aston Villa vs. Tottenham Hotspur - 12:30 p.m.
Stoke City vs. Liverpool - 2:45 p.m.