Man Utd Festive Fixtures 2026/27

· GiveMeSport

GIVEMESPORT looks at the Manchester United games taking place over Christmas 2026 and the New Year 2027

The Premier League has confirmed its festive schedule, and Manchester United have come out of it better than most.

Four matches between 26 December and 7 January, three of them at Old Trafford, one away trip, and no Boxing Day fixture at all.

That'll be music to Michael Carrick 's ears as the winter period is notorious for derailing teams heading into the second half of the season.

United are one of six clubs not playing on Boxing Day, instead opening the Christmas period at home to Nottingham Forest on the Sunday teatime, live on Sky Sports. Sunderland follow three days later in a full midweek programme, then the only away day of the window — an early Saturday kick-off at the Amex to face Brighton on TNT Sports.

The schedule then hands them the longest rest in the division. While most of their rivals play again on January 5 or 6, United do not return until Thursday January 7, when Newcastle visit under the lights.

Across all competitions, the window is Premier League only. Their Champions League commitments sit either side of it — RB Leipzig at home on December 8, Bayern Munich at Old Trafford on January 20 — and the FA Cup third round falls after the league programme clears. Only a deep EFL Cup run, with semi-finals scheduled for January, would add to the load.

Everybody plays four. The difference is in the travel and the turnarounds, and that is where United gain. Manchester City have the hardest of it: Newcastle away at 8pm on Boxing Day, then Everton away at 8:15pm three days later, then Spurs at home and a trip to Leeds on 6 January. Three away days, two of them long ones, and barely 72 hours between the first two.

Liverpool are similarly stretched — Hull away on Boxing Day, Aston Villa away on 30 December, Coventry at home, then Sunderland away on 5 January. Arsenal , by contrast, barely leave London: Crystal Palace away, Fulham away, then Ipswich and Brentford at the Emirates.

Chelsea gets Coventry and Ipswich away either side of New Year before Newcastle at home and a short trip to Selhurst Park. Newcastle themselves face City, Forest, Chelsea and then United — four games against sides with European ambitions, finishing with the hardest away night of anyone's schedule.

For Carrick, with a squad already carrying injuries and a Champions League campaign to manage, three home games out of four and an extra 48 hours before the last of them is close to the best draw available. Given how the season has started, United will happily take it.

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