Last Aston Villa starting XI to win a Boxing Day fixture, where are they now?
Aston Villa have a terrible recent history in Boxing Day fixtures.
Unai Emery’s side are in a superb run of form, so they will be grateful to be missing out on a 26 December fixture this campaign.
Villa are preparing to face Chelsea on 27 December in the hope of making it 11 wins from 11 games across all competitions.
The Blues drew 2-2 with Newcastle last time around, while Villa secured a 2-1 win against Manchester United to cement their Premier League positions ahead of Christmas Day.
The B6 outfit typically struggle in their festive fixtures, so it’s time to look back to 2020 when the Villans last secured a victory on Boxing Day.
Aston Villa secured 3-0 win vs Crystal Palace in 2020
Villa lost 3-0 to Crystal Palace earlier in the season on a dark and gloomy night for the claret and blue faithful in the Midlands.
The scoreline was flipped around five years ago when Dean Smith’s side secured a surprise win on Boxing Day for the second year in a row.
That hasn’t been replicated since, with the irony being that plenty of the squad remain the same even to this point in Emery’s tenure.
Bertrand Traore was the man to open the scoring after just five minutes as he set the home side on their way to a massive win.
Tyrone Mings threatened to derail things when he was sent off before half-time, but the red card didn’t have the expected impact in B6.
Kortney Hause scored a header on 66 minutes before Anwar El Ghazi netted a stunner to make it three in a superb days work for the Villans.
Read more: Crystal Palace blow is Aston Villa’s gain amid Marc Guehi update
Who started for Aston Villa on their last Boxing Day win?
The amazing work of Emery is proven by this starting XI, with five of the team that beat Palace are still regular features in the current squad.
Current squad members like Ezri Konsa and Ross Barkley were also in the matchday squad and made appearances off the bench.
Emi Martinez started in goal and was joined by 2025 stars Mings and Matty Cash, with Matt Targett and Hause making up the back four.
John McGinn started in midfield and was joined by Jack Grealish and Douglas Luiz in a hugely positive midfield three.
El Ghazi featured on the left, while Traore featured off the right with Ollie Watkins featuring from the start in the Midlands.