Premier League's last Christmas Eve game saw Cantona's Man Utd return ruined
The decision from the Premier League to schedule Wolves v Chelsea for Christmas Eve has been a controversial one but not a unique one.
Mauricio Pochettino's Blues face a trip north on a day when many fans and stadium staff might otherwise have been expecting to join family for the festive season. The match is an outlier, with the weekend's nine other top-flight games having taken place on Saturday.
You have to go back more than a quarter of a century for the last time a Premier League match took place on December 24. It didn't require much artistic licence to call it a cracker, either, with fierce rivals Leeds United and Manchester United doing battle at Elland Road.
After winning the final First Division title, Leeds were forced to watch on as Sir Alex Ferguson's team were back-to-back winners at the start of the Premier League era. The success owed a great deal to Eric Cantona, who moved to Old Trafford from Leeds midway through the 1992-93 season, but the Frenchman's ban for kicking a Crystal Palace supporter saw him miss the end of the 1994-95 season as United were pipped to the title by Blackburn Rovers.
Cantona had wasted little time getting back to his best. He scored in his first game back from the ban, in a draw with Liverpool, adding three further goals before mid-December, and was preparing to take on his old employers as part of a line-up that also included the likes of Roy Keane, Gary Neville and David Beckham.
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Even better for the visitors, Leeds were without first-choice keeper John Lukic. That meant Mark Beeney started his first Premier League game in 22 months, with no keeper on the bench for Howard Wilkinson's side, but that didn't stop them frustrating the visitors.
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Eric Cantona failed to get the better of his former side (Popperfoto via Getty Images)
Tony Yeboah scored Leeds' second goal (Getty Images)It was the hosts who struck first, in controversial circumstances. Nicky Butt was penalised for handball and Gary McAllister scored from the penalty spot, much to the frustration of United skipper Steve Bruce and his team-mates.
In the years since Cantona's exit, Leeds had looked for solutions up front, with three forwards involved on Christmas Eve. Brian Deane was one member of the trio, and the former Sheffield United man beat Peter Schmeichel with a chip only to see the ball rebound off the bar, and it briefly looked as though Wilkinson's men would be punished.
It was Andy Cole who found United's equaliser, starting what would be a run of four goals in as many games for the ex-Newcastle man. He wheeled away after his low shot squirmed through Beeney's grasp, but it would not prove to be the start of a rousing comeback - far from it, indeed.
Manchester United were briefly level but fell to a 3-1 defeat (PA)Instead it was Leeds' new hotshot who found the breakthrough. Tony Yeboah had kept up his goalscoring form after joining midway through the previous season, but the Ghanaian's goal was nothing like his eye-catching efforts against Liverpool and Wimbledon.
This time, he captalised on a defensive slip to drive at United's defence before waiting for Schmeichel to advance and lifting the ball over the keeper. Beeney produced a big save from Cole send Leeds in at the break with a lead to protect, and they extended it.
The other two forwards combined for the clincher, as Tomas Brolin sent the ball in from the right and Deane rose highest to head beyond Schmeichel. There was no way back from that, and Ferguson's team would prove to be the ones bearing Christmas gifts.
Manchester United ended the season as double winners (PA)Three points were enough to lift Leeds into the top half, while United's defeat saw them stay 10 points adrift of runaway league leaders Newcastle. The return of Cantona would prove vital in the long run, though.
If Ferguson demanded a response from his team, he got it. They won eight of their next 10 games, the last of those coming against Kevin Keegan's Newcastle, to close the gap to just one point.
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As we all know now, United got over the line despite the daunting task that faced them when the dust settled on Christmas Eve. It might have been close to the end of the year, but it wasn't the end of the world.
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