Despite experiencing their worst defeat of the season on Boxing Day, Arsenal have emerged from the Christmas schedule on top of the Premier League and the possibility of a first title since 2004 could prompt manager Arsene Wenger to rest some of his key players for the FA Cup clash with Sunderland this weekend.
The Gunners took six out of a possible nine points during the festive programme, beating Bournemouth and Newcastle after their 4-0 setback against Southampton, and that has secured them a two-point lead over Leicester, who, as many had predicted, stumbled after spending Christmas Day on top of the table.
The Foxes took just two points from their three festive outings, losing to Liverpool and drawing with Man City and Bournemouth, and now sit second in the table.
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Third-placed Man City, who lost to Arsenal in the week before Christmas, regained some ground with seven points from their three games but will have been frustrated by their inability to beat Leicester. Had they done so they would be only one point behind the leaders.
With Man United struggling for form and results (they managed only four points over Christmas and have just one win in nine games), Spurs have emerged as the other main title contenders. They matched City with two wins and draw from their three games and now sit fourth in the table on 36 points, only six behind their local rivals Arsenal.
At the other end of the table, Newcastle lost all three of their Christmas games and are now in 18th place, two points above Sunderland. Aston Villa, who managed only one point over Christmas remain bottom and are now 11 points from safety and seven points behind Sunderland.
With focus now on the cup competitions until next week the league leaders are set to offer their big names a rest. "The start of Arsenal's FA Cup defence looms but, just as he did at the beginning of the European campaign in September, the Premier League is being prioritised both in the team's preparation and selection," reports the Daily Telegraph.
The paper adds that traditional fears about Arsenal's ability to last the pace in the league could, for once, be unfounded. "That familiar narrative about Arsenal being soft-centred and lacking in proven winners has become increasingly redundant," says the paper. "That Arsenal are learning to win in different ways was repeatedly evident in 2015 in victories over Manchester City, Manchester United and Bayern Munich but then also in both the FA Cup final and their Champions League eliminator against Olympiakos... In [Mesut] Ozil, [Alexis] Sanchez and [Petr] Cech, Arsenal do again have three truly world-class players whose personalities are becoming imprinted on the collective outlook."
