BetMGMBetMGM

GOLDEN GOALS MD18: GOALS APLENTY IN BOXING DAY BONANZA

Boxing Day football is upon us with the packed festive schedule taking shape.

There’s a West London Derby at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea take on Fulham, while high-flying Liverpool face Leicester with the Foxes desperate for points to stay away from trouble.

EFL Cup semi-finalists Tottenham travel to Nottingham Forest, Newcastle are at home to Aston Villa looking for a third straight win against the Villans and both Wolves and Southampton recently changed managers meaning they will be hoping for a change in fortune as they come up against Manchester United and West Ham respectively.

Successfully predicting the scorelines in these games could net you up to £1 million. And the best part? Getting as few as two scores correct could mean one of several prizes heading your way — everything from a £5 Free Bet to £5,000 cash!. Can you be one of the entrants to win a prize?

Click here for full Golden Goals information, including prize breakdown and terms..

This is how we see it going on Golden Goals Matchday 18…

Newcastle 2-2 Aston Villa

St James’ Park welcomes Boxing Day football with the Geordie faithful looking for a happier Christmas than last year, when ex-Magpie Chris Wood scored a hat-trick in a 3-1 win for Nottingham Forest.

Three wins in a week in all competitions have brought festive cheer to Tyneside, though Villa have rekindled some form after a blip themselves following their Matchday 17 win over Manchester City.

That moved Unai Emery’s men closer to the top four with striker Jhon Duran once again finding the net to take his tally to three in three – he’s 14/5 to make it four in four.

History here is very much on the side of the home team. Villa haven’t won at St James’ Park since 2005, when they won 3-0 against a Newcastle side that had been reduced to eight men when Steven Taylor saw red and team-mates Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer were dismissed for fighting each other.

Last season’s 5-1 mauling on the opening day was an awakening for Villa, who lost just twice more before Christmas. They will be desperate to avoid a repeat here though, and end their dismal record in the North East.

Newcastle have put in some strong home performances this season, beating Arsenal and holding Manchester City and Liverpool to draws. They can be susceptible, though, as the defeat to West Ham here showed, so Villa will be looking to get on the front foot against a side that has scored eight without reply in their last two Premier League matches.

It’s a tough one to call, with history being so on the side of Newcastle yet Villa very much on the upturn in form. Expect goals in an entertaining draw.

Nottingham Forest 2-2 Tottenham

Who had Nottingham Forest in the top four at Christmas on their Premier League bingo card?

A convincing win away to Brentford in the last game before the festive break saw them become the only team this season to defeat the Bees at the Gtech Community Stadium.

The result means Forest have won four of their last five matches in all the Premier League in a run that’s included Manchester United and Aston Villa. It was also their fifth win on the road during the campaign – more than the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons combined.

It marks an incredible turnaround for a team that was hovering just outside the relegation zone just 12 months ago when Nuno Espirito Santo was appointed.

Much of the form is down to goals of Chris Wood, who has 10 goals – only Cole Palmer (11), Erling Haaland (12) and Mohamed Salah (15) have hit more. You can back the New Zealander to get on the scoresheet again at odds of 11/8 with BetMGM.

If ever you wanted to understand why football is a rollercoaster, look no further than Tottenham Hotspur. Just over a month after thrashing Manchester City 4-0 at the Etihad, they have won just two of eight games, conceding 18 goals in that run.

They may be without key defenders but shipping six at home to Liverpool would have stung nonetheless.

It’s genuinely hard to call the result of any match that Tottenham are involved in but this one seems destined to be a score draw; while Spurs concede plenty, they are also the leading scorers in the division.

Chelsea 3-1 Fulham

A West London Derby awaits at Stamford Bridge, with somewhat surprise title contenders Chelsea up against a Fulham side enjoying an impressive season themselves.

The Blues have lost just twice in the league this season – and not at home since the opening-day defeat to Manchester City.

A run of five Chelsea wins in a row came to an end against Everton on Matchday 17 as they were held to a goalless draw, though their unbeaten run now stretches back to October and encompasses nine Premier League games.

Their record against Fulham is somewhat more impressive – the Cottagers have beaten Chelsea just once since 2006 and haven’t won at Stamford Bridge since 1979.

In Cole Palmer, Chelsea have a man with 17 goal contributions so far this season and it was he who scored the winner in this fixture last season. Nicolas Jackson, meanwhile, has nine league goals to his name – it’s a rather tasty looking 17/4 for both Palmer and Jackson to score here.

Fulham have lost just twice on the road this season and are unbeaten in away games outside the city of Manchester.

Draws, though, have been their Achilles heel with four of their last five games ending all square. Sunday’s goalless draw at home to bottom-of-the-table Southampton will feel particularly disappointing. It was their seventh of the season, which is a joint league high.

We don’t see their eighth draw of the season coming here, with west London bragging rights remaining with the home side. Fulham will provide a test of their title credentials but it will be a Merry Christmas at the Bridge.

Southampton 1-2 West Ham

Who’d have thought a more pragmatic approach would stem the flow of goals that Southampton were conceding?

Since they parted company with the principled Russell Martin the Saints have kept runaway league leaders down to two goals in the EFL Cup before earning a creditable point away to high-flying Fulham.

If they are to embrace a more defensive approach, will we see results significantly improve? A win at home to West Ham could breathe belief into a side that has been the laughing stock of the league since the start of the campaign.

They will need to find some firepower from somewhere if they are to get a result. Only Everton (nine) have failed to score in a Premier League game this season more times than Southampton’s eight.

Hammers boss Julen Lopetegui has eased the pressure on his shoulders somewhat in recent weeks, with a run of three games without defeat. However, they’re still failing to meet the expectations of many in the London Stadium and there were audible boos at the final whistle, despite a good point at home to Brighton.

They can start by improving their shooting accuracy. No team has managed a lower percentage of shots on target than West Ham – with just 29.3% of their efforts being accurate.

Despite their goalscoring issues the Hammers do carry the marginally better form and will get over the line here.

Wolves 2-3 Manchester United

Predicting what Manchester United might do has become almost impossible of late.

Their dramatic 2-1 win at Manchester City was sandwiched between home losses to Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth, as well as alongside a chaotic EFL Cup defeat at Tottenham. They have shipped 10 goals in the process.

The Red Devils travel to Molineux here to face a Wolves side which, having dismissed Gary O’Neil, dismantled Leicester 3-0 in Vitor Pereira’s first game in charge. It was just a third win of the season for the Old Gold but it brought them to within two points of safety and, importantly, was their second clean sheet so far.

A side that has shipped 40 goals in 17 games evidently needs to improve on their defensive record but the very early signs under the new boss are promising.

For all their defensive troubles, Wolves have fared better when it comes to scoring goals. They have six more than United’s 21, which is the fifth lowest in the league, while the Red Devils have scored more than one goal away from home on just two occasions so far.

We expect that to change here. Their unpredictability means you are never sure which United will turn up, yet they should have too much quality here; Wolves can be wide open defensively, despite last week’s clean sheet.

An entertaining game that will provide optimism for the Wolves faithful - but no points.

Liverpool 3-0 Leicester

The Boxing Day fixtures culminate with Leicester's trip to Anfield to take on Liverpool in what the odds, at least, suggest will be a proverbial walk in the park for the hosts.

And while dropped points away to Newcastle and at home to Fulham look disappointing at first glance, the position the Reds find themselves in at this stage of the season is a Christmas present all Liverpool fans would have been dreaming of.

In Leicester they face a side who have very different priorities, with Premier League survival top of their Christmas list.

They haven’t started too badly under new boss Ruud van Nistelrooy – with a win, draw and defeat in his three games – although they take on a different calibre of opposition here to what they have faced so far.

The fact there have been 12 goals in Van Nistelrooy’s three league matches since he took over at the helm suggests they are more open than they were under Steve Cooper and the stats back that up with Leicester averaging 2.77 expected goals against under this manager versus 1.94 xGA under their former one.

That will be music to the ears of Liverpool’s forward line – and particularly Mohamed Salah, who will fancy his chances of adding to his impressive tally of goals against newly promoted sides.

Since the start of the 2020/21 season, the Egyptian has scored 15 times in 24 Premier League appearances against teams coming up from the Championship, including three in three this season.

You can back him at 4/9 to score anytime with BetMGM as part of what should be a pretty comfortable evening for Arne Slot’s side.

Add our Golden Goals selections to your betslip here

Odds correct at time of publication but subject to change. Please note: This week's Golden Goals deadline is Thursday 26th December 15:00. Opt-in is required and you can find out more here.

Golden Goals Terms & Conditions

Opt in & predict 6 correct scores (see game lobby for weekly tournament cut-off time) to win up to £1m Jackpot. Predict 2+ correct scores and win a prize (ranging from Free Bets to £5k Prizepool). Winnings shared evenly in case of multiple winners. Each prize subject to its own terms. Void if 1 or more matches postponed/abandoned or not completed. Verification procedures apply. 18+. T&Cs and exclusions apply.

We're sorry!

Unfortunately, BetMGM isn't available in your country.