Teams top of the Premier League at Christmas: How often do they win the league?

Any Premier League team considering themselves a title challenger wants to be top at all parts of the season, but being top at Christmas seems to carry some added significance.

Similarly, at the other end of the table, nobody wants to be bottom at Christmas, with that often spelling doom. Indeed, only four teams have been bottom at Christmas in the Premier League and stayed up, but how many teams who've been top at Christmas have gone on to win the league? Find out below.

• Teams bottom at Christmas who stayed up

Teams top of Premier League at Christmas and final position

Season	Team top at Christmas	Final position
92/93	Norwich	3rd
93/94	Man Utd	1st
94/95	Blackburn	1st
95/96	Newcastle	2nd
96/97	Liverpool	4th
97/98	Man Utd	2nd
98/99	Aston Villa	6th
99/00	Leeds	3rd
00/01	Man Utd	1st
01/02	Newcastle	4th
02/03	Arsenal	2nd
03/04	Man Utd	3rd
04/05	Chelsea	1st
05/06	Chelsea	1st
06/07	Man Utd	1st
07/08	Arsenal	3rd
08/09	Liverpool	2nd
09/10	Chelsea	1st
10/11	Man Utd	1st
11/12	Man City	1st
12/13	Man Utd	1st
13/14	Liverpool	2nd
14/15	Chelsea	1st
15/16	Leicester	1st
16/17	Chelsea	1st
17/18	Man City	1st
18/19	Liverpool	2nd
19/20	Liverpool	1st
20/21	Liverpool	3rd
21/22	Man City	1st
22/23	Arsenal	2nd
23/24	Arsenal	2nd
24/25	Liverpool	1st

As seen in the table above, the team top at Christmas has only won the league 17 out of 32 times, and only three times in the last seven seasons.

Teams top at Christmas are winning the league more often than they did in the early years of the competition, however, with the financial disparity growing and fewer teams able to be top at Christmas, let alone go on to win the league.

Manchester United won eight of the first 11 Premier Leagues, but were only top at Christmas in three seasons (and only won the league in two of those), with Sir Alex Ferguson making a habit of ensuring his side were raring to go at the business end of the campaign.

Between 2004 and 2017, the team top at Christmas went on to win the league 11 out of 14 times, with Arsenal and Liverpool being chased down by Manchester United in 2008 and 2009, and Liverpool dramatically letting their lead slip at the end of the 2013/14 campaign with Manchester City taking the title.

In the last seven years, we've only seen City top at Christmas once, but Pep Guardiola, like Ferguson, has always made sure his sides finished campaigns strongly.