As Leicester City prepare for their Boxing Day clash against Manchester City, FoL looks at five of the east Midlands side’s most dramatic games to take place on the 26th of December. While Leicester have generally struggled in Boxing Day encounters, something that seems likely to continue this year as well, there have been a number of both dramatic and highly entertaining Leicester games that have taken place on the day after Christmas.
Liverpool 1-2 Leicester City – 1984
The Foxes went into this game with just the one win away from home in the season and were faced with the ever-difficult challenge of facing Liverpool at Anfield. However, Leicester, led by their dynamic duo, Alan Smith and club legend Gary Lineker, were up to the task.
LCFC opened the scoring in the 11th minute thanks to a goal from Smith. Things then went from bad to worse for the hosts as Lineker doubled Leicester City’s lead and the Foxes went into the break 2-0 up at Anfield.
Liverpool hit back in the second half thanks to a penalty from captain Phil Neal, setting up a dramatic finale. Yet it would prove only a consolation as the Blue Army were treated to a late Christmas present in the form of three points.
Leicester City 2-2 Manchester United – 2020
Just 12 months ago saw Brendan Rodgers’ men take part in one of the more thrilling boxing day encounters in recent history. The Foxes went behind twice in the game but fought back on each occasion to share the spoils with the visitors.
Marcus Rashford opened the scoring thanks to a sublime assist from Manchester United’s main man at the time, Bruno Fernandes. However, that lead would last just eight minutes as Harvey Barnes pulled off an individual piece of brilliance to equalise from outside the box.
The Red Devils then would have thought they had done enough to seal the three points as Fernandes beat Kasper Schmeichel one-on-one with 12 minutes left in the game. Subsequently, this had all the hallmarks of ending in another frustrating Boxing Day result for the Blue Army, but Jamie Vardy would have other ideas.
With just over five minutes of normal time remaining, Leicester’s number nine pounced on the end of an Ayoze Perez cross in the penalty area with his shot taking a deflection off Man United defender Axel Tuanzebe, before bouncing into the back of the net.
This game portrayed the resilience that was evident within last season’s team that led to us winning the FA Cup in May of this year. Although the Foxes would eventually drop out of the top four in the final stages of the season, Leicester’s Boxing Day clash with Man United made it clear that we could come from behind when facing adversity against stronger sides.
Arsenal 6-1 Leicester City- 2000
Yes, I went there, I couldn’t go the entirety of this list without including a fixture that LCFC lost in. Thierry Henry tore the Foxes defence to shreds scoring his first hat-trick in the Premier League.
Into his second season in the Premier League, Henry opened the scoring with a brilliant strike on the half-volley, giving the hosts a 1-0 lead at the break. Patrick Vieira would then double the hosts advantage shortly after the break as he lobbed the ball over a helpless Tim Flowers in goal before tapping the ball into an open net.
Leicester would then pull one back just four minutes later with thanks to Ade Akinbiyi, the less said about his time here the better. However from then on it was an onslaught with Henry proving why he was one of world football’s hottest properties as he humiliated the Foxes’ defence another two times in the second half.
Arsene Wenger’s side dominated the final half hour to continue their push in the title race while LCFC were left to wallow in what will go down as one of Leicester City’s worst performances on Boxing Day. Click below to continue the article.
Leicester 2-1 Manchester City – 2018
Here’s a fixture that is on a much lighter note compared to the last one. Leicester went into this game having not won a Premier League game on Boxing Day since 1998.
However, the east Midlands side were coming off the back of a stunning 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge less than a week earlier while Man City were in poor form by their high standards. Bernardo Silva opened the scoring at the King Power Stadium after less than 15 minutes, giving the Citizens an early advantage and putting Claude Puel’s team on the back foot.
The home side would hit back immediately with Vardy and Marc Albrighton combining to level terms not long after going behind. Normally when these two combine it would be Albrighton crossing the ball into Vardy somewhere near the six-yard-box. Yet in this case it was roles reversed with Vardy delivering a brilliant cross to Albrighton who was waiting at the far-post.
With 10 minutes left to be played it looked like the spoils would be shared between the two sides but this fixture had one more chapter to be written yet. After a poor corner from Albrighton was initially cleared away by Leroy Sane, the ball fell to Ricardo Pereira on the edge of the box who took a touch before unleashing a rocket. Scoring an absolute screamer of a goal to give LCFC their second win in as many games against a top four opponent.
This brilliant week would momentarily ease the pressure that was on Puel, however he would only last another two months at the helm before being sacked.
Leicester 2-0 Everton – 1963
Finally, it wouldn’t be a Boxing Day list if 1963 didn’t get at least some form of mention. This fixture gets an inclusion based on the fact that LCFC seemed to be one of the only sides that didn’t have a hungover backline from Christmas.
It was one of only a few Division One games to take place on Boxing Day 1963 that didn’t have an absurd score line. The day saw just the two sides keeping clean sheets while Fulham managed to score 10 goals causing their Christmas celebrations to continue on for an extra day.
Back to the Foxes game, Leicester went into this clash with legendary goalkeeper, Gordon Banks in between the sticks, meaning it would take something incredibly special for Everton to repeat the chaos occurring elsewhere around the country at the time.
Leicester’s main talisman at the time, Ken Keyworth, scored a double to give the Blue Army a comfortable victory at Filbert Street. Keyworth would also play a key role in helping LCFC claim their first ever piece of major silverware in the 1963/64 season when the Foxes went on to win the League cup that season.