Sport
CRUCIAL CHRISTMAS
The upcoming festive period can make or break a team’s season and the picture for the title race and the battle to stay up should become a lot clearer.
Premier League clubs face the prospect of four games between December 17 and January 4, offering the opportunity to boost their title hopes or fall by the wayside.
Chelsea are the current leaders six points clear of their nearest rivals after a perfect 10 straight wins to set down the gauntlet to the rest of the league.
The good news for Chelsea is that in each of their four title-winning Premier League seasons, they have topped the table on Christmas Day and they will be top of the pile on December 25 this year.
In fact, 10 of the 21 clubs that have led on Christmas Day since 1995 went on to win the league – and six of the last seven.
There was not much Christmas cheer around Chelsea last year, but fast forward 12 months it is a very different story.
It’s quite a turnaround from this time last year when the Blues were defending champions but found themselves 15th in the league and Jose Mourinho had just been recently sacked.
Antonio Conte has transformed Chelsea’s fortunes in double quick time and it would be a brave man to back against Chelsea not winning the title now from the position they are in even though less than half of the season has been played.
The Christmas period is a real test of endurance with games coming thick and fast and its gruelling nature can see some teams drops crucial points and slip off the pace in the title race and the survival battle.
Chelsea have advantages over many of their rivals not just with the six-point cushion at the top of the table.
They also have one of the strongest and largest squads in the league and along with Liverpool have not been forced to cope with the extra demands of playing in Europe this season and fresh legs in this crucial period could be the difference between winning and losing games.
Results over the Christmas period will no doubt have a big say on the outcome of the title race come the end of the season and on current form with a favourable run of fixtures on paper Chelsea could be over the hill and far away by the turn of the year.
At the other end of the table there might not be much time for Christmas cheer but every team battling to avoid relegation will see this time of the year as an opportunity.
Four fixtures in a short space of time offers 12 valuable points that could make the table look a whole better by the start of 2017.
Teams can go into Christmas written off and struggling, but in the space of seven days you can transform your season and go a long way to securing survival, while in the process dragging other teams further into trouble.
Things might not look to good for the fans of Sunderland, Hull and Swansea right now but the upcoming period gives those teams the opportunity to spread much needed cheer and provide optimism for the New Year.
The festive period is a real physical and metal challenge for all the teams, but the rewards on offer could determine a side’s whole season.
Christmas is a time when they say anything can happen and it could not be more true for the Premier League as all 20 managers will be looking for their Christmas wishes will be granted.
