Liverpool vs Arsenal heads up huge Premier League games, the Old Firm, crunch Championship clashes, Carabao Cup quarters and Man City’s bid for world domination! Your ultimate Christmas football couch potato guide

• There are dozens of live football games on TV ahead to keep you entertained
• Mail Sport takes you through the pick of the Christmas and New Year action 
• Roy Keane can be a pantomime villain, but you can never accuse him of faking it. He couldn’t hide his simmering irritation – It’s All Kicking Off 

If relatives, Brussels sprouts and terrible presents get you down this Christmas, football can be your salvation.

As always, there are dozens of live matches on television over the festive period as the fixture schedule shows no sign of slowing down.

Whether it’s top-of-the-table clashes in the Premier League, crunch games in the Championship, the Carabao Cup quarter-finals or Manchester City’s bid for world domination, there’s plenty to keep you occupied between now and the New Year.

Mail Sport takes you day-by-day through the pick of the televised action in our couch potato guide.

The top of the table Liverpool vs Arsenal clash is a Premier League highlight of Christmas 

Celtic and Rangers meet in the Old Firm derby on December 30 with the title race alive 

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TUESDAY DECEMBER 19

Treble winners Man City are out in Saudi Arabia as they bid to win the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time.

Tuesday evening sees Pep Guardiola’s slightly-out-of-sorts side take on Japanese club and Asian champions Urawa Reds in the semi-finals (TNT Sports 2, 6pm kick-off).

Closer to home, the Carabao Cup has reached the quarter-final stage. Three of the ties take place on Tuesday night and the screened pick is Chelsea vs Newcastle United (Sky Sports Main Event and Football, 8pm).

Eddie Howe’s team went all the way to the final last season, losing to Manchester United, while Mauricio Pochettino will see this competition as a good chance to win some first-season silverware.

Best of the rest: Bundesliga – Werder Bremen vs RB Leipzig (Sky Sports Mix, 5.30pm); Borussia Dortmund vs Mainz (Sky Sports Mix, 7.30pm); Coppa Italia – Napoli vs Frosinone (Viaplay Xtra, 8pm); LaLiga – Atletico Madrid vs Getafe (Viaplay Sports 1, 8.30pm).

Pep Guardiola and Manchester City will try and round off a superb year at the Club World Cup

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 20

Wednesday’s Carabao Cup offering is Liverpool against West Ham at Anfield (Sky Sports Main Event and Football, 8pm).

Having come this far, both clubs will be eyeing up a Wembley final and this promises to be a competitive game which could go either way.

Chelsea’s women are also in action on Wednesday night when they continue their Champions League group campaign with a visit to Swedish club BK Hacken (TNT Sports 2, 8pm).

The two teams drew 0-0 at Stamford Bridge last week and Hacken currently top Group D, a couple of points ahead of the Blues.

Best of the rest: LaLiga – Barcelona vs Almeria (Viaplay Sports 1, 6pm); Bundesliga – Wolfsburg vs Bayern Munich (Sky Sports Mix, 7.30pm); Scottish Premiership – Rangers vs St Johnstone (Rangers TV, 7.45pm); Coppa Italia – Inter Milan vs Bologna (Viaplay Xtra, 8pm); Ligue 1 – Montpellier vs Marseille (TNT Sports 5, 8pm), Paris Saint-Germain vs Metz (TNT Sports 1, 8pm).

Chelsea head to Sweden to play BK Hacken in the Women’s Champions League this week

Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich head to Wolfsburg in their final game before the winter break

THURSDAY DECEMBER 21

The next round of Premier League fixtures are being strung out over four days and it begins with a clash of bitter rivals in Crystal Palace and Brighton (Sky Sports Main Event and Premier League, 8pm).

The two have played one another 112 times, with Brighton currently on 41 wins and Palace 40, with 30 draws.

Best of the rest: LaLiga – Alaves vs Real Madrid (Viaplay Sports 1, 8.30pm).

FRIDAY DECEMBER 22

Let’s be honest, you won’t be doing any work on Friday….

In-form Aston Villa find themselves in Friday night action against Sheffield United

The Premier League offering sees Aston Villa – who are being taken increasingly seriously as title contenders – hosting struggling Sheffield United (Sky Sports Main Event and Premier League, 8pm).

Unai Emery’s team could enter the weekend top of the table if they win against a Blades side marooned at the bottom of the standings but optimistic after Chris Wilder’s return.

Before that, Manchester City will hope to be going up against Copa Libertadores winners Fluminense, from Brazil, in the final of the Club World Cup in Jeddah (TNT Sports 1, 6pm).

Win that and they’ll be champions of England, Europe and the world all in the same year.

Best of the rest: FIFA Club World Cup third place play-off (TNT Sports 2, 2.30pm); Serie A – Empoli vs Lazio (TNT Sports 3, 5.30pm), Salernitana vs AC Milan (TNT Sports 3, 7.45pm).

SATURDAY DECEMBER 23

The football action really is cheek-by-jowel with Christmas this year with a full programme in England and Scotland on Saturday.

There’s two belting Premier League games on the box. Manchester United make a lunchtime trip to West Ham (TNT Sports 1, 12.30pm) hoping they’ve finally turned the corner following a resilient display at Anfield.

Even better is the teatime offering between title contenders Liverpool and Arsenal (Sky Sports Main Event and Premier League, 5.30pm).

The Gunners are a point ahead of the Reds and the match will determine who is Christmas No 1.

The 3pm games are Fulham vs Burnley, Luton Town vs Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest vs Bournemouth and Tottenham Hotspur vs Everton (Match of the Day, BBC One, 10.25pm).

We have a stellar Championship offering, too, as third-placed Leeds United welcome second-placed Ipswich Town to Elland Road (Sky Sports Main Event and Football, 12.30pm).

The Tractor Boys have established a 10-point gap between themselves in the second automatic promotion spot and Leeds in the top play-off place, so the Yorkshire side really need to win this.

Best of the rest: Serie A – Frosinone vs Juventus (TNT Sports 3, 11.30pm), Inter Milan vs Lecce (TNT Sports 3, 5pm), Roma vs Napoli (TNT Sports 1, 7.45pm); National League – Bromley vs Altrincham (TNT Sports 1, 5.30pm).

Manchester United will hope to build on their point at Liverpool as they head to West Ham

Championship promotion hopefuls Leeds and Ipswich clash at Elland Road on Saturday 

SUNDAY DECEMBER 24

Yep, we even have Christmas Eve Premier League football this year for the first time since 1995.

Chelsea make the trip to Wolves (Sky Sports Main Event and Premier League, 1pm) in a piece of fixture scheduling that caused plenty of controversy.

There’s action north of the border, too, as Rangers make the short trip to Motherwell (Sky Sports Football, 12pm).

The Gers are in flying form under Philippe Clement and with Celtic looking shaky of late, they can really pile on the pressure ahead of the Old Firm with a win at Fir Park.

Chelsea are in Christmas Eve action as they make the journey to Molineux to face Wolves

TUESDAY DECEMBER 26

You’ll have to fend for yourself on Christmas Day but a packed Boxing Day schedule should get you out of a family walk as you nibble leftovers from the fridge.

There are five top-flight games in England and they’re all being shown live on Amazon Prime Video.

We begin bright and early at 12.30 with Newcastle hosting Nottingham Forest. The two 3pm games get live coverage – Bournemouth vs Fulham and Sheffield United vs Luton.

At 5.30pm, it’s Burnley vs Liverpool and the day wraps up at 8pm with Manchester United vs Aston Villa.

While Amazon hog the Premier League action, Sky are showing three games live from the Championship – Preston vs Leeds (12.30pm), Birmingham vs Stoke (5.15pm) and an anticipated match-up of the two pace-setters, Ipswich vs Leicester (7.45pm).

Sandwiched between that is the Scottish Premiership game between Dundee and Celtic at 3pm.

That’s all on Sky Sports Main Event and Football channels.

Best of the rest: National League – Southend United vs Barnet (TNT Sports 1, 3pm).

Newcastle United open up the Boxing Day Premier League action as they host Forest

Championship pace-setters Leicester City take on fellow promotion contenders Ipswich Town

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 27

Want some more? Get over the post-Christmas blues with a trio of Premier League games on the 27th.

Again they’re all streamable through Amazon Prime Video – Brentford vs Wolves and Chelsea vs Crystal Palace (both 7.30pm), followed by Everton vs Manchester City (8.15pm).

Sky, meanwhile, will be showing the Edinburgh derby between Hibernian and Hearts (Main Event and Football, 8pm).

THURSDAY DECEMBER 28

The festive round of Premier League games concludes with a double-header, again on Amazon.

Tottenham make a tricky visit to Brighton as they look to resurrect their title challenge (7.30pm) and after that Arsenal will hope to either return top or at least keep in touch as they entertain West Ham (8.15pm).

Arsenal, who play West Ham on the 28th, will be hopeful of still being top of the table 

FRIDAY DECEMBER 29

We have a full round of EFL action for a Friday night treat, with two matches live on television.

Southampton, who look increasingly like a promotion contender, entertain Plymouth Argyle at St Mary’s (Sky Sports Main Event and Football, 6pm).

Straight after that it’s Leeds making the trip to West Bromwich Albion (Sky Sports Main Event and Football, 8.15pm). The Baggies are also looking pretty good, so this will be another tough test for Daniel Farke’s side.

Best of the rest: Serie A – Fiorentina vs Torino (TNT Sports 3, 5.30pm), Napoli vs Monza (TNT Sports 2, 5.30pm), Genoa vs Inter Milan (TNT Sports 2, 7.45pm), Lazio vs Frosinone (TNT Sports 3, 7.45pm).

Southampton look increasingly like promotion contenders with each passing game

SATURDAY DECEMBER 30

Hurtling fast now towards the New Year and a fresh round of Premier League fixtures gets underway.

It begins with Chelsea making a lunchtime visit to Kenilworth Road to take on Luton (TNT Sports 1, 12.30pm).

A quartet of 3pm games follows: Aston Villa vs Burnley, Crystal Palace vs Brentford, Manchester City vs Sheffield United and Wolves vs Everton (Match of the Day, BBC One, 10.25pm).

The teatime game sees Manchester United head to Nottingham Forest (Sky Sports Main Event and Premier League, 5.30pm).

We’ve also got a huge game in Scotland as Celtic and Rangers clash in the Old Firm with the Premiership title race very much alive (Sky Sports Main Event and Football, 12.30pm).

Best of the rest: Serie A – Atalanta vs Lecce (TNT Sports 2, 11.30am), AC Milan vs Sassuolo (TNT Sports 2, 5pm), Juventus vs Roma (TNT Sports 2, 7.45pm).

Chelsea round off their year with a visit to Kenilworth Road to take on Luton Town

SUNDAY DECEMBER 31

See out 2023 with more Premier League action.

There are two games on but, in the UK at least, just the one on television. That’s Fulham vs Arsenal (Sky Sports Main Event and Premier League, 2pm).

The other game, also kicking off at 2pm, is Tottenham vs Bournemouth.

MONDAY JANUARY 1

New Year’s Day is traditionally a reliable one for football and while there’s only one Premier League match, there is a ton of EFL games on.

The top-flight game is a good one though – Liverpool vs Newcastle United (Sky Sports Main Event and Premier League, 8pm).

Before that, Sky have a hat-trick of EFL matches lined up.

Sunderland vs Preston North End in the Championship (12.30pm), Derby vs Peterborough in League One (3pm) and Sheffield Wednesday vs Hull (5.15pm, all Main Event and Football).

Best of the rest: National League – Chesterfield vs Solihull Moors (TNT Sports 1, 3pm).

Liverpool vs Newcastle is a superb way to kick-off the New Year in the Premier League

IT’S ALL KICKING OFF! 

It’s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.

It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.

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TUESDAY JANUARY 2

Another round of Premier League games is ticked off by West Ham vs Brighton (Sky Sports Main Event and Premier League, 7.30pm).

Scottish action comes before that as Celtic head to Saint Mirren (Sky Sports Main Event and Football, 5pm).

Best of the rest: Coppa Italia – AC Milan vs Cagliari (Viaplay Sports 1, 8pm); LaLiga – Valencia vs Villarreal (Viaplay Sports 2, 8.30pm).

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