Best New Year's Day Premier League Games in History

01.01.24 1141

The Christmas period is a hectic one in English football and the Premier League always grabs the attention of fans on New Year’s Day. Let’s take a look at some of the best Premier League games down the years on the first calendar day.

Liverpool 4-2 Nottingham Forest (1996)

A year before Nottingham Forest were relegated from the Premier League saw the club put up a decent fight for a spot in the Champions League. However, their excellent form at the time was stomped out by a rampant Liverpool.

This game is perhaps the most famous of the New Year's Day results because of the chaos throughout the match. The Reds fell 2-0 down after 17 minutes before drawing level from a Robbie Fowler brace just before half time. Stan Collymore would score in the second half to give them the lead before his cross led to an own goal that secured all three points late on.

Reading 6-0 West Ham (2007)

Despite the woes and a spot down at the bottom end of League One right now, the biggest victory in terms of a goals margin on this day falls on the shoulders of Reading.

The Royals had just joined the Premier League after a record-breaking triumph in the Championship that earned them 106 points - a feat that is still yet to be beaten.

In the top flight, it was a fantastic debut season for Reading, and their 6-0 battering of West Ham was no doubt the pick of the bunch with and own goal from West Ham star Anton Ferdinand and finishes from Brynjar Gunnarsson, Leroy Lita, Stephen Hunt and a brace from Kevin Doyle.

Tottenham 5-2 Everton (2005)

Back in 2005, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur were in two different places to where they are now. The Toffees were in pursuit of Champions League football and finished this season in the fourth Champions League spot for the first and only time ever, while Spurs finished down in 14th the campaign prior.

Nevertheless, the two played out a thriller on New Year’s Day of 2005, as Dean Marney opened the scoring for Tottenham before Reto Ziegler made it 2-0. Tim Cahill brought one back before Robbie Keane and Pedro Mendes made it 4-1. Marney eventually got his second before James McFadden pulled one back late on for Everton.

Tottenham 5-3 Chelsea (2015)

Spurs are back again with what is probably the best New Year’s Day game we have ever witnessed. Much of the reasoning behind this is because the clash involved two of the Premier League’s top sides, but also because of what went down.

The game finished 5-3 in favour of Tottenham, as Harry Kane continued to announce himself as a future Premier League legend with two goals and two assists. Chelsea were also the champions of England after Jose Mourinho’s return to Stamford Bridge the year prior, making the result even sweeter for their London rivals.