Manchester City arrives at Natal as the leader of the English Premier League. See how much difference you’ve made in recent years

Manchester City leads the Premier League standings, three points behind Liverpool, ahead of the traditional Boxing Day after Christmas

the Manchester He will come to Christmas as the leader of the Premier League. Pep Guardiola’s team opened three points ahead of Liverpool (44 to 41) after two consecutive defeats and scored 11 goals without conceding any nets. the Chelsea It comes close to first place with six points (38).

The difference between first and second positions, of course, is not an insurmountable advantage, after all, it only takes one round for the margin to drop. However, the signs are not good for Liverpool.

Does being a leader at Christmas make a big difference?

The 25 December leaderboard has won the title 53.5% of the time – in 15 of the previous 28 seasons since the Premier League was founded in 1992/93.

However, in two of the past three seasons, the team that topped the table at Christmas failed to win the title. The problem is that both occasions bring bad memories for Liverpool – first, giving up their four-point lead in 2018/19, then a five-point lead in 2020/21, both of which benefit City. Liverpool have topped the Premier League table on December 25 six times since 1992/93, but have only managed to retain the title once: in 2019/20.

Only one club has topped Christmas more times than the Reds, and that’s Manchester United, who finished the first half of the season at the top of the standings with seven chances. The last time was in his last title, in 2012/13.

Manchester City were the leaders in Natal twice and both won the title in 2011/12 and 2017/18.

Incredibly, Chelsea have topped the table at Christmas five times and won the title on five chances, most recently in 2016/17 under Antonio Conte.

Is there hope for Liverpool?

As they look to break free from unfortunate tradition, Liverpool can draw inspiration from striker Mohamed Salah, who has once again been on an incredibly productive stage for the Reds and is sure to have been indispensable to Jurgen Klopp’s squad this year.

In fact, only one player in the history of the Premier League has been directly involved in scoring more goals for his team in the first half of the season: Alan Shearer, the league’s top scorer, who led Blackburn Rovers to an unexpected title with 16 goals and nine goals. Helped in 1994/95.

Records are still broken by the city

Manchester City can boast some impressive new records with Guardiola. By winning the Newcastle In the last round, the club achieved 34 victories in 2021, which is more than any club achieved in the English Premier League and broke the previous record that Liverpool kept for nearly 40 years.

As if that wasn’t already a good omen, Guardiola’s side has now also scored more goals (106) in one year than any other team in Premier League history.

With 17 goals in the last five games, it’s no surprise that City comfortably cross the 100-goal mark in 2021, beating a record they set themselves while at the top of the table at Christmas, en route to the 2017/18 title. .

Again, the difference in ranking is not that great. But Christmas progress brings more security to Manchester City’s title fight than any other contender.