Do the team top at Christmas usually win title?
BBC Sport looks at what leaders Liverpool and bottom side Southampton can learn from previous Christmas Day tables.
Liverpool will celebrate Christmas Day top of the Premier League table after a 6-3 win at Tottenham, with Southampton looking up at everyone else from bottom spot.
But who sits where and what can we read into it?
And how often do teams stay in the key slots if they occupy them before Boxing Day matches?
BBC Sport has a look.
How do teams usually fare when they are top?
Exactly half the time – in 16 seasons out of 32 – the team top of the Premier League table on Christmas Day goes on to win the title.
Liverpool’s record though is much, much worse than that.
This is the seventh time the Reds have stood first on 25 December – but their only success since the top-flight’s 1992 rebrand was in 2019-20.
Liverpool have been in this position more than anyone else in English football history – 21 times, winning 11 of the previous 20.
On being top at Christmas, boss Arne Slot said: “It tells you we are a very good team.
“Still three games to go until halfway, but we are a hard team to beat. If it was easy to win the league then every team would do it.”
Going back to the Premier League era, Arsenal led the table over Christmas for a fourth time last season – and, like the previous three occasions, failed to lift the trophy.
In contrast Chelsea and Manchester City – plus one-time winners Blackburn Rovers and Leicester City – have always won the title when they have led the pack at this stage.
On four occasions a team have been outside the top four at Christmas and won the title – including last season. Manchester City were fifth at the time – six points behind Arsenal, albeit with a game in hand, and finished champions for a fourth successive time.
The others to do so were Manchester United, having been fifth in 1996-97, Arsenal (sixth in 1997-98) and Pep Guardiola’s City again (eighth in 2020-21).
Who sits in the European places?
The top four are currently Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and… Nottingham Forest.
Bournemouth, who sit fifth, could land a bonus Champions League place depending on how English teams fare in Europe this season.
Aston Villa are sixth and Manchester City seventh – which could be the Europa and Conference League places, depending on who wins the Carabao Cup and FA Cup.
Last season only West Ham (in sixth) were in the top seven at Christmas, but dropped out of it, with Chelsea (who were 10th) taking their place.
What about the relegation zone?
Ipswich, Wolves and Southampton occupy the relegation slots, with the latter two very recently changing managers.
It is quite rare for the relegation zone to contain the same three teams at Christmas and on the final day – but it did happen last season.
Luton, Burnley and Sheffield United were 18th, 19th and 20th respectively on 25 December and 19 May.
The other seasons the bottom three remained the same (albeit not necessarily in the same order) were 2001-02 (Derby, Leicester, Ipswich), 2012-13 (Wigan, QPR, Reading) and 2020-21 (Fulham, West Brom, Sheffield United).
The odds are similar for the bottom team on Christmas Day staying up – four in 32.
West Bromwich Albion (2004-05), Sunderland (2013-14), Leicester (2014-15) and Wolves (2022-23) were the four teams to manage it.
Southampton are currently in a bad situation, eight points adrift, but who else could be in danger?
Well, two teams have been in the top 10 at Christmas and gone down – Norwich, who were seventh in 1994-95, and Blackpool, who were 10th in 2010-11.
Which team occupy seventh spot now? Manchester City.
