by Tony Attwood
So yes, we made it. Top of the League at Christmas. Of course, we still have a game against Palace before Xmas in the League Cup, but as far as the league itself is concerned, there we are.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 17 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 31 | 10 | 21 | 39 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 17 | 12 | 1 | 4 | 41 | 16 | 25 | 37 |
| 3 | Aston Villa | 16 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 25 | 17 | 8 | 33 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 17 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 29 | 17 | 12 | 29 |
Not quite as good as Christmas 2023, for that year we had played one more game before Christmas. But certainly a bit of an improvement since 2020, when by Christmas Arsenal had actually won four and drawn two. Although we must point out that by Christmas 2022, Arsenal had only played 14 games, and by the time Arsenal had played 17 games, the club had amassed 44 points.
| Pos | Year | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal 2025 | 17 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 31 | 10 | 21 | 39 |
| 3 | Arsenal Xmas 2024 | 17 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 34 | 16 | 18 | 33 |
| 1 | Arsenal Xmas 2023 | 18 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 36 | 16 | 20 | 40 |
| 1 | Arsenal Xmas 2022 | 14 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 33 | 11 | 22 | 37 |
| 4 | Arsenal Xmas 2021 | 18 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 27 | 23 | 4 | 32 |
| 15 | Arsenal Xmas 2020 | 14 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 12 | 18 | -6 | 14 |
Of course, no one talks about Arsenal at Christmas in 2020, but maybe we should, for that year at Christmas, second in the league was Leicester City. And perhaps that was right not to talk about them, because today we have the headline in the Mail (deemed an exclusive although it is in a lot of other places too): “Leicester City say sorry for holding staff salaries until AFTER Christmas – ditching club’s ‘valued tradition’ at short notice.” Apparently, Leicester’s decision to abandon their (and many clubs) more normal approach of paying the end of December pay cheque in mid-December was revealed to staff in a recently dispatched email.
Leicester are still waiting on the question of a points deduction for breaking financial rules – and the media have talked of anything between six and nine points being removed. A nine point dedudction would leave them in 21st position, one place above the relegation spots, one of which is occupied by Sheffield Wednesday, who are currently sitting on minus nine points. (It has got to be a bit of a funny old game of late, this points business).
The Guardian reported yesterday’s Arsenal match as “a slender yet merited win over an Everton team missing several important components.” I suppose one of those was the ability to score goals.
But for Arsenal, this is not the end of the pre-Christmas run, for on Tuesday 23 December at 8pm off we go again with the home a League Cup quarter final against Crystal Palace, a club that has won three and lost three of their last six games, scoring seven and conceding ten. So we might even win it with a reserve team out.
Arsenal’s next league fixture is at home to Brighton on the day after Boxing Day (or if you prefer St Stephen’s Day) – a day which doesn’t seem to have a special name
And even that post-St-Stephen’s fixture isn’t the last game of the year as on Tuesday 30 December we play Villa at home.
What’s more, just to make sure everyone is totally confused, each of the next four fixtures kicks off at different times: 8pm, 3pm, 8.15pm and 5.30pm. It’s enough to make a man turn to a pint of Guinness (or get confused where each game actually is!)
But anyway, Arsenal enter the festive period top of the league, although perhaps wondering why during this spell, when Arsenal have three fixtures before the end of the year, Manchester City have just one. An away match at Nottingham Forest on 27th December. Still, I am sure there is no bias in this, just one of those things that happens.
But it is Christmas, so we must be positive and celebrate the achievements as we approach Christmas, which are…
- Equal top number of wins this season in the Premier League (12)
- Lowest number of defeats this season in Premier League (2)
- Second-highest number of goals scored this season in the league (31)
- Lowers the number of goals conceded in the league this season (10, under two-thirds of our nearest rival)
- Second-highest goal difference, and of course, most points.
There are obviously still a couple of games to be played by four teams to bring them up to the 17 games that most clubs have played, but they are unlikely to make much difference.
So still a few days to go before Christmas, and quite a few games to be packed in. And the gap is “only” two points, but I would sooner have this position rather than last year, when we had six points fewer.
