With 15 consecutive wins to their name, it seems that there is little that can stop Manchester City now. They have beaten Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal already. If they beat Tottenham Hotspur this weekend, it seems unlikely that we'll be enjoying a tense title race come May. This year, all the excitement is at the other end of the table.
This season is an oddity for reasons other than City's dominance. At the bottom of the table, there is no isolated whipping boy. Indeed, only six points separate 11th placed Southampton and bottom club Swansea; Huddersfield, who started with back-to-back wins, are just four points from the drop zone. The Christmas fixtures could easily precipitate a dramatic reshuffle of the table.
This didn't seem likely as recently as mid-October when Crystal Palace were flattened 4-0 by Manchester United. Without a point, without even a single goal, their fate looked sealed already. And yet they have been beaten just once in their last eight games, away at Tottenham.
After the sacking of Frank de Boer, Roy Hodgson has settled the Eagles: they look coherent at the back and have the pace and incision of Andros Townsend and Wilfried Zaha. If it hadn't have been for Christian Benteke's act of penalty-spot rebellion -- insisting on taking, and then missing, a stoppage-time penalty in the 2-2 draw against Bournemouth -- they would be 14th now. Hodgson's reputation as a manager, in tatters ever since England's capitulation to Iceland in the Euro 2016 round of 16, is well on its way to restoration. Their fixture against fellow strugglers Swansea on Dec. 23 is an enormous game.
David Moyes is another manager intent on proving people wrong. Having failed with Manchester United, Real Sociedad and Sunderland, it was something of a surprise to see him pop up at West Ham United, a club with a wage bill as high as their aspirations, but one that might have been expected to recruit a more trustworthy name.
Four points from a possible 15 is not a stellar return, but two clean sheets in a 1-0 win and 0-0 draw with Chelsea and Arsenal, seem to indicate that Moyes is having an effect. If he can haul the Hammers away from the drop zone and cement his position at the club, he may find himself with considerable resources in the next transfer window.
Of all the teams in the drop zone, bottom-club Swansea are the side you fear for most. Paul Clement started so well in Wales, but the Swans have only scored nine goals all season and have amassed only 149 shots, the third worst in the league and fewer than half the shots of Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs.
However, their 1-0 victory over West Brom prevented them from being cut adrift and they should be able to shrug off their 4-0 midweek defeat to City on the basis that everyone gets beaten by Pep Guardiola's men this season.
Everyone except Everton of course, who drew 1-1 at the Etihad in the second game of the season and remain the only Premier League team to stop them from claiming three points this season.
Those were in the last happy days of Ronald Koeman's reign, when the Blues had four points from a possible six and high hopes of pushing for a Champions League place. How things change. Koeman had to go when relegation seemed a far more likely possibility and when relegation is a possibility you call for Sam Allardyce. His arrival brought an immediate improvement with Wednesday's 1-0 win at Newcastle making 10 points from a possible 12.
Paul Clement Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Momentum is everything in a relegation battle and 10th-placed Everton seem to have it; others are finding it more difficult: even Southampton who haven't won in four games since a morale-boosting 4-1 win over the Toffees on Nov. 26.
Alan Pardew's concerted efforts to bring a more attacking style to West Brom after the sacking of Tony Pulis have endured a tricky start. His players haven't scored for him in three games.
Newcastle seemed to have wedged themselves into a safe zone, winning enough points to secure the safety of midtable, but they are making far too many mistakes to survive, haven't won since Oct. 21 and Rafa Benitez's side have now been sucked in.
Over at Stoke, confidence in the Mark Hughes regime is fading fast as they have won just twice in nine games since the 7-2 hammering by, you guessed it, City. And, after a solid start, who knows where the season could turn for the recently promoted trio above them in 12th, 13th and 14th place -- Huddersfield, Brighton and Bournemouth.
But for those in peril of the drop, reassurance comes from the knowledge that nothing is certain at this stage of the season. In 2010, Blackpool were 10th on Christmas Day and still went down; in 2008, Phil Brown's Hull City celebrated Christmas in sixth place with 27 points -- they won just once for the rest of the season and stayed up by the skin of their teeth.
The sad truth is that no team in the Premier League is entitled to feel safe until 40 points are amassed. And West Ham supporters will recall that even 42 points wasn't enough in 2003.
With City marching to the title, there's no excitement at the top of the table. But at the bottom, we could be in for the most fascinating dogfight in Premier League history.
Source: espn.co.uk