“December in English football is the toughest month ever,” former Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp said more than once.
“Stick through it and get results,” was the Premier League winner’s sage advice over the holidays, “then keep your head up and go from there.”
The multitude of fixtures on either side of Christmas Day over the years have required countless early pacesetters, points have been dropped and players have been sidelined through injury. This year’s top flight was again affected as all three teams Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea failed to achieve perfect results during this period.
As always, some got through the festive schedule better than others.
Only two clubs won all four Premier League games between mid-December and the first week of January; Newcastle United And Nottingham Forest.
Not only do Forest have a flawless record, but they haven’t conceded a single goal since December 14th. Nuno Espirito Santo’s confident team completed a perfect Christmas season with an impressive 3-0 win over his former employers Wolves on Monday evening. That sweet triumph also marked the 50th anniversary of Brian Clough’s appointment at the City Ground – but Forest’s current run of six consecutive top-flight wins in a single season was a feat even Nuno’s legendary predecessor never achieved.
Newcastle have scored just one goal, beating Ipswich Town, Aston Villa and Manchester United before coming from behind to beat Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend.
rank | team | Points |
|---|---|---|
1. | Newcastle | 12 |
2. | Nottingham Forest | 12 |
3. | Liverpool | 10 |
4. | arsenal | 10 |
5. | Bournemouth | 8 |
6. | Manchester City | 7 |
7. | Wolves | 7 |
8. | Aston Villa | 7 |
9. | Fulham | 6 |
10. | Crystal Palace | 5 |
11. | Brentford | 4 |
12. | Brighton | 4 |
13. | Ipswich | 4 |
14. | West Ham | 4 |
15. | Chelsea | 2 |
16. | Everton | 2 |
17. | Tottenham | 1 |
18. | Man Utd | 1 |
19. | Southampton | 1 |
20. | Leicester | 0 |
LiverpoolDespite Sunday’s 2-2 draw with United, Manchester United’s lead at the top of the Premier League remains as strong as it was before the winter season. arsenal failed to take advantage of a rare slip-up from Arne Slot’s side as the injury-plagued Gunners found themselves locked in a stalemate with Brighton.
Tottenham And Manchester United are at the other end of the form table. Two representatives of the traditional elite managed to finish at the bottom and collect the same number of points Southampton – one. Chelsea Things didn’t fare much better, as in a theoretically straightforward schedule there were two draws and defeats against Everton (16th in the table), Fulham (9th), Ipswich (18th) and Crystal Palace (15th).
The only club that failed to collect a single point during this period was Leicester City. With Ruud van Nistelrooy’s new coach long forgotten, the Foxes scored ten goals and 54 shots in four games. The Dutch coach’s mid-term decision to change the goalkeeper and replace the experienced Danny Ward with debutant Jakub Stolarczyk did not pay off.
Leicester’s results were perhaps as dismal as the weather, but they tested Liverpool and yielded Manchester City a tremendous horror. Pep Guardiola’s side belatedly slowed their dangerous decline, picking up consecutive wins against the Foxes and West Ham that were liberating but not entirely convincing.
But as Klopp was only too happy to point out, marquee football in England is more about points than performances.