Every club top of the Premier League at Christmas in history

Pundits across the sport love to tell us just how important it is to be top at Christmas, but is it really that big of a deal? Football FanCast takes a look at every club that has been top of the Premier League during the festive period.

It is Arsenal who top the tree for a second year running after their draw against Liverpool at Anfield – with the Gunners edging the Reds and surprise package Aston Villa by a point in a tight title race thus far.

But what are the omens like for Mikel Arteta’s side? Here is a list of every team to lead the way come the 25th – and who ended up champions in the following May…

1992/93 – Norwich City

Eventual champions – Manchester United

The inaugural Premier League season eventually saw Manchester United topple Norwich City at the top of the table to win their first title. Initially, the Premier League was made up of 22 teams. Manchester United won the title with 84 points from 42 games. Norwich finished third, qualifying for the old UEFA Cup despite leading the way on Christmas Day.

1993/94 – Manchester United

Eventual champions – Manchester United

Manchester United made it two for two, winning their second-ever Premier League title after being top at Christmas a whopping 12 points ahead of second-place Leeds United. The Red Devils beat out the rest, winning the title with an impressive 92 points.

1994/95 – Blackburn Rovers

Eventual champions – Blackburn Rovers

Blackburn Rovers spent big money to get their hands on their first and only Premier League title. Manager Kenny Dalglish had Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton up top, forming the famous SAS partnership. They would beat Manchester United by a single point, winning the title with 89 points. This is also the year Eric Cantona kicked that Crystal Palace fan, which may go some way to explaining United’s failure to track Rovers down post-Christmas.

1995/96 – Newcastle United

Eventual champions: Manchester United

“I would love it if we beat them”, Newcastle United boss Kevin Keegan yelled at the Sky Sports cameras in reference to Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United. Unfortunately, they blew their 10-point lead at Christmas, and Manchester United would go on to win their third title in four years. What might have been for the Entertainers…

1996/97 – Liverpool

Eventual champions: Manchester United

Liverpool were hoping to defeat the monopoly their bitter rivals had on the Premier League, but they too would fall away despite being on top at Christmas. This season marked a major change in English football, as Arsene Wenger took charge at Arsenal. His side wasn’t fully formed just yet though, and Manchester United once again won the league despite being down in fifth place, seven points behind the leaders.

1997/98 – Manchester United

Eventual champions – Arsenal

For the first time in Premier League history, Sir Alex Ferguson was worried. Manchester United had established themselves as THE team in the league, but Arsène Wenger had their number in 1997/98. Arsenal won the league by just one point, lifting the trophy with 78 points.

What makes this more remarkable is that while the Gunners had a game in hand at this point, they were a whopping 13 points behind the Red Devils on Christmas morning.

1998/99 – Aston Villa

Eventual champions – Manchester United

Arsenal’s win in the previous season meant Manchester United would spend a lot in the summer to reclaim their crown. Dwight Yorke and Jaap Stam were the two most notable additions. Fergie’s men went on to win their fifth Premier League title, but they cut it close. Arsenal were just a single point behind them, with Manchester United on 79, and Arsenal on 78.

Despite this, it was John Gregory’s Villa that were threatening to make a title charge, but they fell away dramatically as the Villans finished sixth, securing just 19 more points from a possible 60.

1999/00 – Leeds United

Eventual champions – Manchester United

It wasn’t very close this time around. Manchester United’s great treble-winning side trounced the competition to win the league with a massive 91 points. Arsenal finished second and Leeds United rounded off the Champions League places in third.

However, you wouldn’t know it by the time Christmas came around. United were behind by just two points with a game in hand before ending 18 ahead of their nearest challengers.

2000/01 – Manchester United

Eventual champions – Manchester United

We may have entered the millennium, but things in the Premier League remained the same. Manchester United were once again named champions, beating second-place Arsenal by 10 points. This was the first time they would win the Premier League three times in a row, but it wouldn’t be the last.

This one wasn’t exactly a thriller of a title race either, as the Red Devils had amassed a strong lead by the halfway stage.

2001/02 – Newcastle United

Eventual champions – Arsenal

Arsenal were once again the team to break Manchester United’s stranglehold on the league, with the red half of Manchester falling all the way down to third for the first time in the competition’s history. Thierry Henry would end the season as the league’s top goalscorer with 24.

However, Newcastle were the pace-setters at Christmas, though their three-point lead was no match for a relentless Arsenal, who broke the record for successive wins as they saw Liverpool, United and the Magpies off in the new year.

2002/03 – Arsenal

Eventual champions – Manchester United

Unhappy about being displaced once again, Manchester United came back with a vengeance. Arsenal weren’t just top at Christmas, they were top of the table until March. A home draw against Bolton Wanderers and defeat to Leeds United proved pivotal as United won back their crown on the penultimate weekend of the season (Arsenal wouldn’t lose again for some time).

2003/04 – Manchester United

Eventual champions – Arsenal

Perhaps the most remarkable season the Premier League will ever see. This is the year of Arsenal’s Invincibles. Theirry Henry led the charge, scoring an incredible 30 goals to help Arsene Wenger and his lads end the Premier League season without losing a single game. A feat we’re unlikely to ever see again.

Despite this, there was still a title race very much on as we headed towards the peaks of winter, though the three-horse race was ended with four games to spare thanks to the untouchable Gunners.

2004/05 – Chelsea

Eventual champions – Chelsea

The 2004/05 season saw one very special addition. Champions League holder, Jose Mourinho, joined Chelsea, and football was never the same again. The club had been bought out by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich the season before, and he wanted a young and charismatic coach to lead them into their new era. They don’t get more charismatic than Mourinho, and the Portuguese led them to their first-ever Premier League title. Chelsea won the title with a record 95 points, conceding just 15 goals in the process.

It was clear by Christmas that the early signs were very ominous indeed.

2005/06 – Chelsea

Eventual champions – Chelsea

Chelsea and Mourinho’s great form continued with yet another dominant league title win. Ahead by nine points at Christmas, the Blues went on to win the title with 91 points, becoming the first team in the competition’s history to break the 90-point mark two seasons in a row.

2006/07 – Manchester United

Eventual champions – Manchester United

If any team was going to beat Chelsea to the title, it was going to be Manchester United. Again, it was a close race, but Manchester United pulled away from the West London side as Mourinho’s tenure started to crumble. Fergie and co won the title with 89 points after holding on to top spot since the early months of the season.

2007/08 – Arsenal

Eventual champions – Manchester United

With Mourinho now relieved of his duties at Chelsea following a poor start to the season, Manchester United were free to go and win yet another title. Chelsea did go on to finish second, just two points behind the champions on 87 points.

Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal were looking like potential champions at one stage, though, and although their four-point lead at Christmas was by no means undeserved, defeats to Chelsea and United (two of just three that year) contributed to their late-season collapse.

2008/09 – Liverpool

Eventual champions – Manchester United

For the first time in a good long while, Liverpool were looking like they might go and win their first Premier League at Christmas in 2008/09. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be and Rafa Benitez and his captain Steven Gerrard would bottle the league to Manchester United. The winds of change were blowing, however, as Manchester City had just become state-owned.

2009/10 – Chelsea

Eventual champions – Chelsea

Chelsea had finally found Mourinho’s successor in the Italian coach, Carlo Ancelotti. The man with the eyebrows won the league by just one point, beating out Manchester United. The boys in blue also scored a remarkable 103 goals, becoming the first team to break the 100-goal mark. It had always looked a two-horse race (despite Arsenal’s best efforts), but Chelsea’s lead by Christmas would prove pivotal in the end.

2010/11 – Manchester United

Eventual champions – Manchester United

Led by their impressive front line of Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Dimitar Berbatov, Manchester United went on to win their 12th league title after being top at Christmas yet again. More noticeably, this was the first time Manchester City finished in the top four. The beast was twitching, waiting to be awoken.

2011/12 – Manchester City

Eventual champions – Manchester City

As it turns out, money CAN buy happiness. The image of Sergio Aguero wheeling away, mouth agape, waving his shirt in the air will last in the memories of Manchester City and Premier League fans forever.

If there was a game to encapsulate this, it was probably City’s 6-1 thrashing of United at Old Trafford – a result that would see them edge to the top of the Christmas table. There were more twists and turns, of course, but that season marked the most substantial ‘changing of the guard’ the league has ever seen