Such is the unique nature of how this Premier League season will unfold, whichever team is top of the table going into the World Cup break will have the honour of being there on Christmas Day too.
With football's biggest tournament getting underway in Qatar on November 20, action from the Premier League will stop after the weekend of November 12 and resume on Boxing Day (December 26). This means after this weekend's round of fixtures, only two more matchdays remain before the break.
As things stand, reigning champions Manchester City lead the way as they replaced Arsenal at the top of the table as a stunning free-kick from Kevin De Bruyne was the difference against Leicester City in Saturday's lunchtime kick-off.
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But the Gunners have the chance to respond on Sunday when they host Nottingham Forest, and Mikel Arteta will be well aware that only a victory at the Emirates Stadium will be enough for his team to reclaim top spot by virtue of having an inferior goal difference to Pep Guardiola's outfit.
Prior to the outcome of Saturday's remaining fixtures, Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United and Chelsea all had a chance of topping the table at Christmas. Following the full-time whistle in their games, they now have a maximum points total of 32, 30 and 27 respectively, whilst Manchester United can reach 29 points before the break if they win their next three games.
This means 33 points will be enough for Arsenal to finish above the aforementioned quartet at the very least, and that can be achieved with one victory and two draws.
Of course, the north London outfit will have eyes on that number one spot, and with Man City facing Fulham and Brentford at home for the break, they are heavy favourites to record back-to-back victories, and if this scenario plays out, they'll head into the World Cup with 35 points on the board.
As a result, the Gunners must reach 36 points to complete the mission, but as they would require another eight points from three remaining games, they'll have to beat Nottingham Forest, Chelsea and Wolves - otherwise, they will need a favour from Fulham or Brentford.
If Arsenal are top of the Premier League table at Christmas, they can take confidence in that the omens look good in their quest to be crowned champions of England for the first time since their Invincible 2003/2004 campaign as in 10 of the last 13 seasons, the team that is No one on 25 December has gone on to lift the Premier League trophy.
Man City have experience doing this, having done so in 2011/12, 2017/18 and 2021/22.
With that said, 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, City became the first team in Premier League history to win the title after being as low as eighth on Christmas Day.
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