EPL Boxing Day Preview: Five Of Top-Six Teams In Action On Wednesday

Five of the top six teams in the English Premier League will be in action on Boxing Day as the title fight suddenly becomes interesting with Liverpool leapfrogging defending champions Manchester City to the top of the table.

The focus will be on the fixtures at the Anfield, King Power Stadium, Wembley, Old Trafford and Falmer Stadium.

Leicester City vs Manchester City

Pep Guardiola ends the calendar year with his City side embroiled in a tense race for the first time in his Premier League managerial career. The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss, seven times a league champion in the three countries in which he has managed, takes City to Leicester on Boxing Day trailing leaders Liverpool by four points.

There is also now unexpected pressure beneath him, with Tottenham's superb 6-2 win at Everton having hauled Mauricio Pochettino's talented side to within two points of City.

It is a far cry from last season when, after 18 games, City held a commanding 11-point lead over second-placed Manchester United and were already, in the eyes of most pundits, as good as champions.

Twelve months earlier, in Guardiola's first season in English football, City were seven points behind leaders Chelsea at the corresponding stage but in the middle of a run of poor form which would eventually see them end the season in third place, 15 points behind Antonio Conte's title-winners.

City's shock 3-2 home defeat by struggling Crystal Palace on Saturday has certainly put a new perspective on the league table heading into the busy holiday period which culminates with current leaders Liverpool visiting the Etihad to face City a week on Thursday (January 3).

For the first time since his days at Barcelona, Guardiola currently finds himself caught up in a potentially tense and exciting title race, with all that entails.

Liverpool vs Newcastle

Meanwhile, Rafa Benitez's return to Anfield on Boxing Day is likely to stir memories of an unsuccessful Liverpool challenge for the Premier League title, but Jurgen Klopp is trying to focus on the present.

Klopp's Liverpool hold a four-point lead at the top of the table as Benitez, the club's manager between 2004 and 2010, visits with his relegation-threatened Newcastle United side on Wednesday.

There is a strong sense this could be the season that the English league trophy comes to Anfield for the first time since 1990, although recent history is offering mixed messages as to whether that will happen.

First, the good news for Liverpool: In eight of the past 10 seasons, the leaders on Christmas Day have gone on to win the Premier League.

Now, the bad news: On the two occasions it did not happen, the Christmas leaders were Liverpool. In 2008/09, Manchester United won the title; in 2013/14 it was Manchester City.

The late collapse to miss out in 2014 was perhaps the more immediately painful experience for Liverpool fans, but the failure of 2009, under Benitez, maybe offers more reason for regret. Both cases offer lessons that the Merseyside club, however, appear to have absorbed.

Brendan Rodgers' team of 2013/14 were not as balanced as the side current Reds boss Klopp has now.

While Rodgers had an outstanding attacking partnership, with Luis Suarez supported by a fully-fit Daniel Sturridge, his men were defensively suspect.

The then Liverpool manager had four senior centre-backs -- Martin Skrtel, Daniel Agger, Mamadou Sakho and Kolo Toure -- yet struggled to settle on a first-choice pairing. A team who scored 101 league goals conceded a whopping 50; far too many for any side with serious championship ambitions.

If Tottenham Hotspur's comprehensive defeat of Everton confirmed their standing as genuine contenders in the Premier League title race, it also underlined the value of Son Heung-min to Mauricio Pochettino's side.

The South Korea international was outstanding in the 6-2 victory at Goodison Park and will again be expected to exert his influence when Spurs attempt to apply further pressure on Liverpool and Manchester City when they face Bournemouth at Wembley on Wednesday.

Yet while Son's emergence as one of the Premier League's most effective forwards this season has strengthened the belief that Pochettino's side can push the top two all the way, his form also highlights the potential impact of his absence when he departs for the AFC Asian Cup in January.

Spurs have already moved to limit the effect of the tournament by negotiating with the Korea Football Association that Son should be allowed to join up with international team-mates in the United Arab Emirates following the London club's meeting with Manchester United on January 13, three weeks after foreign-based players would be expected to join the national squad.

His absence, though, will still be felt with Son set to miss league meetings with Fulham, Watford and Newcastle United, if South Korea advance to the final, as well as the League Cup semi-final second leg against capital rivals Chelsea and a potential FA Cup fifth-round tie.

At a crucial stage of the season, the loss of any senior player would be felt.
When that player has been performing as consistently as Son, the loss could affect Spurs' chances of ending their wait for silverware under Pochettino.

The manager has a number of other match-winners he can turn to with Erik Lamela and Lucas Moura having shown already this season they are capable of turning games.

Manchester United vs Huddersfield

Manchester United return to Old Trafford for the first time under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's management against Huddersfield with a new-found swagger after scoring five goals in the Premier League for the first time in five years.

The Norwegian's caretaker spell in charge until the end of the season got off to a dream start as United threw off the shackles, that led to turgid football and deteriorating results under Jose Mourinho, to thrash Cardiff 5-1.

United still face a huge challenge to make up an eight-point gap just to qualify for next season's Champions League via a top-four finish.

But for now the luxury of just being able to enjoy watching a side play with freedom and the attacking principles that have underpinned the club's history is enough to excite United fans again.

"I think the boys are looking forward to playing at Old Trafford and that's important. We should be looking forward to that, they are the best fans in the world," said Solskjaer when questioned whether some of the current United squad have been inhibited by the pressures of playing at home in the famous red shirt.

Solskjaer is certainly a favourite of the United faithful having scored 126 goals in 11 seasons as a player, including the one that famously won the Champions League final in 1999.

He was serenaded throughout by the visiting fans in the Welsh capital at the weekend as United hit five for the first time since Alex Ferguson's final game in charge.

"I just hope in the next five months I do a good enough job for them to keep singing my name when someone else comes in," added Solskjaer, whose positivity has immediately lifted a squad downtrodden by Mourinho's mood swings.

"Just to be positive. Take risks," said Jesse Lingard, who scored twice in Cardiff, at what Solskjaer's message has been.

"If you lose the ball, win it back, and play the United way - attacking football, entertaining football. For us as players, we enjoyed it today."

Rarely has enjoyment ever been top of Mourinho's list of priorities, even in his most successful spells with Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan.

Boxing Day Schedule:

6:00 PM IST: Fulham vs Wolverhampton Wanderers
8:30 PM IST: Burnley vs Everton, Crystal Palace vs Cardiff City, Leicester City vs Manchester City, Liverpool vs Newcastle United.
Manchester United vs Huddersfield Town, Tottenham Hotspur vs AFC Bournemouth.
10:45 PM IST: Brighton & Hove Albion vs Arsenal.

(With AFP inputs)