It's official, Arsenal will be top of the Premier League table at Christmas.
And thanks to capitalising on Manchester City losing at home to Brentford by beating Wolves 2-0 away from home on Saturday night, the north London outfit go into the World Cup break - which begins following the conclusion of the Fulham vs Manchester United fixture - with a five-point lead over Pep Guardiola's side.
As this season is unlike many others that have preceded it due to the upcoming World Cup, because action from the Premier League will stop after this weekend and resume on Boxing Day, it means Arsenal can't be replaced at the top of the table until after Christmas Day at the earliest.
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The incentive for the Gunners to lead the way at Christmas was always simple. In 10 of the last 13 seasons, the team that is number one in the table in English football's top-flight on December 25 has gone on to be crowned Premier League champions. By beating Wolves coupled with Man City's slip-up, they've achieved the first step.
Now, a potential issue for Arsenal is that they have to wait another six weeks to continue their push to lift the Premier League trophy for the first time since the 2003/04 Invincibles campaign. Although, Mikel Arteta is delighted with the progress his side have made up until this point.
"It's great to be where we are and we are enjoying that moment," Arteta said after the win over Wolves. "Now we have a big break and we have to reflect on what we’re doing and be prepared for after the World Cup. Our aim is to play better as a team every day, to have better tools to do what we want to do. I can say it’s been phenomenal to work with these players and staff."
The challenge for the Gunners is to hit the ground running when the season resumes after the World Cup as winning the Premier League would come with a return to the Champions League and potentially a £160m windfall - if last season's prize money is any indication.
However, not all omens regarding being top at Christmas are in Arsenal's favour. In fact, they have led the way at the festive period on five separate occasions in their history but have never gone on to claim the title. The last time they achieved this feat was all the way back in 1948.
Another problem is that in 14 of the Premier League's 30 previous campaigns, the Christmas leaders have been overtaken come the season's end, and most recently, in the 2022/21 season, Man City became the first team in the competition's history to win the title after being as low as eighth on Christmas Day.
The fact that Man City have very recent experience of not being top at Christmas but still overtaking the leaders come May as well as history not exactly favouring Arsenal, simply highlights the size of the task facing Arteta when the season resumes on Boxing Day (December 26).
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