Has a club failed to win the Premier League after being top at Christmas? Liverpool battling unwanted history

Today at 09:37 AM

Liverpool will face 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.

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.”

It’s become a widely accepted trope in English football that the team top of the table on Christmas will go on to claim the Premier League.

However, in reality, it has just become another myth to add to the December 25 script – or, at least it does for some more than others…

Have a club failed to win title after being top at Christmas?

Exactly half of the 32 Premier League seasons have seen the team in first on Christmas Day go on to win the trophy.

Liverpool are heavily responsible for the 16 campaigns in which clubs have failed to get over the line in the New Year.

This is the seventh time the Reds have been top of the table on 25 December since the top-flight’s 1992 rebrand.

The 4-0 away win at Leicester on Boxing Day in the 2019/20 season that prefaced the title under Jurgen Klopp was their only conversion from six.

Liverpool are followed by Arsenal, who led the table over Christmas for a fourth time last season but have not won the trophy.

Newcastle have failed twice, while Norwich, Aston Villa, and Leeds all failed to win the Premier League title from first position on December 25.

Manchester United remain the only team to have both won and lost the title after being top of the table on Christmas.

In contrast, four clubs boast a perfect record when they have led the pack at this stage.

This includes defending champions Manchester City, and, Chelsea – plus one-time winners Blackburn Rovers and Leicester.

Pep Guardiola‘s men were also the last team to win the Premier League that were top on Christmas during the 2021/22 season.

City have come from behind to pip Arsenal to the post in each of the past two campaigns, but now it’s the Gunners on Liverpool’s tail.

Guardiola can take comfort from the knowledge that his side were 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 surge powered them to the top.

They managed an even more impressive charge from eighth in 2020-21, with rivals Man United (fifth in 1996-97), and Arsenal (sixth in 1997-98) the only two occasions in which a club outside the top four at Christmas have won the title.