Hotels for Manchester United v Nottingham Forest

Boxing Day football is its own tradition, squeezed into the calendar when families are already together and grounds fill with a mix of regulars and visiting relatives dragged along for the afternoon. A 3pm kick-off on this date means fans coming straight from Christmas leftovers rather than a normal matchday routine, giving the walk to the ground a slightly festive, half-holiday feel. Fixtures against Forest carry the weight of a fixture between two clubs with serious history, even when league form points elsewhere.

Manchester United began in 1878 as Newton Heath LYR, a team formed by railway workers at the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's Newton Heath depot, and only became Manchester United, in red, in 1902 — the change behind today's Red Devils nickname. The club's history holds both tragedy and triumph: eight players died in the 1958 Munich air disaster, and manager Matt Busby, badly injured himself, rebuilt the team into European champions a decade later, in 1968.

United have since added two more European Cups, under Alex Ferguson in 1999 and 2008, and hold the English record of 20 league titles, a mark shared with Liverpool.

Manchester United's 'Theatre of Dreams' is one of the most famous football grounds on earth and England's largest club stadium, staging Premier League and European nights in the Trafford district southwest of the city centre. The immediate area is more industrial than picturesque, but Salford Quays and MediaCity, with their bars and waterfront restaurants, sit close by.

Metrolink trams and nearby rail link straight into central Manchester. An overnight stay lets you savour the occasion and dodge the matchday transport crush.