Some Pompey Christmas football stats

[meakinsl]

Read an article today all about games that used to played over festive period and Portsmouth came up a few times:

Last Christmas Eve games for league teams
1995 (Sun): top flight: Leeds 3 Man Utd 1
1983 (Sat): 3rd tier: Brentford 3 Wimbledon 4
1979 (Mon): FA Cup 2nd round replays: Portsmouth 3 Wimbledon 3; Halifax 2 Walsall 0
1966 (Sat): top flight: Chelsea 1 Liverpool 2; Newcastle 1 Leeds 2. 2nd tier: Preston 2 Bury 2; Wolves 5 Derby 3
1960 (Sat): 13 league games, including 8 in top flight
1955 (Sat): Last full league programme

Lowest league positions on Christmas Day of eventual champions

Club Position Season
Man City 12th 1936-37
Liverpool 12th 1981-82
Derby 10th 1974-75
Man City 8th 2020-21
Sunderland 7th 1912-13
Portsmouth 7th 1949-50

Portsmouth were seventh and Liverpool top at Christmas in 1949 but they almost swapped places, finishing first and eighth in the table respectively.

The most recent instances of clubs playing on three consecutive days in the top flight happened in 1930, when 18 teams were in action on December 26-28 (Thursday to Saturday). Three players scored on all three days: Jimmy Dunne for Sheffield United, Jack Weddle for Portsmouth and Cliff Bastin for Arsenal. Almost every such example of teams playing three days in a row came when Christmas Day fell on a Thursday.