Has any club failed to win the Premier League after finishing first at Christmas? Liverpool fights against an unwanted history
Liverpool will take on Leicester City on Boxing Day, live on talkSPORT, after celebrating Christmas at the top of the Premier League table.
Rewind five years ago to the last time those two events happened and the reds won the title later that season, so the omens are good.
About being the best at Christmasboss Arne Slot said: “That tells you that we are a very good team.
“There are still three games left to reach the halfway point, but we are a difficult team to beat. If it were easy to win the league, every team would do it.”
It has become a widely accepted trope in English football that the team topping the table at Christmas will win the Premier League.
However, in reality, it has become another myth to add to the script of December 25 – or, at least, it is for some more than others…
Has any club failed to win the title after being the leader at Christmas?
Exactly half of the Premier League's 32 seasons have seen the first-place team on Christmas Day win the trophy.
Liverpool They are largely responsible for the 16 campaigns in which clubs failed to get over the line in the New Year.
This is the seventh time The reds have been at the top of the table on December 25 since the top flight was rebranded in 1992.
The 4-0 away win at Leicester on Boxing Day of the 2019/20 season that preceded the title in Jurgen Klopp It was his only six conversion.
Liverpool is followed by Arsenal, who It topped the table at Christmas for the fourth time last season. but they haven't won the trophy.
Newcastle have failed twice, while Norwich, Aston Villa and Leeds failed to win the Premier League title from first position on December 25.
Christmas number 1 of the Premier League
2008/09: Liverpool – finished second
2009/10: Chelsea – 1
2010/11: Manchester United – 1
2011/12: Manchester City – 1
2012/13: Manchester United – 1
2013/14: Liverpool – 2
2014/15: Chelsea – 1
2015/16: Leicester – 1
2016/17: Chelsea – 1
2017/18: Manchester City – 1
2018/19: Liverpool – 2
2019/20: Liverpool – 1
2020/21: Liverpool – 3
2021/22: Manchester City – 1
2022/23: Arsenal – 2
2023/24: Arsenal – 2
2024/25: Liverpool – to be confirmed
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manchester united They remain the only team to have won and lost the title after being top of the table at Christmas.
By contrast, four clubs have a perfect record when leading the group at this point.
This includes the defending champions. city of manchesterand, Chelsea – more unique winners Blackburn Rovers and Leicester.
pep guardiolaThe men were also the last team to win the Premier League that was the leader at Christmas during the 2021/22 season.
City have come from behind to push Arsenal to the post in each of the last two campaigns, but now it is the Gunners who are behind Liverpool.
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Guardiola can take solace in knowing that his team was also outside the top four at Christmas last year and won the title.
City were fifth at the time, six points behind Arsenal, albeit with a game in hand, before a typical late attack took them to the top.
They made an even more impressive charge from eighth place in 2020-21, with rivals Man United (fifth in 1996-97) and Arsenal (sixth in 1997-98) being the only two occasions in which a club outside the top four At Christmas he won the title.
