Every club top of the Premier League at Christmas in history
Pundits across the sport love to tell us just how important it is to be top at Christmas, but is it really that big of a deal? Football FanCast takes a look at every club that has been top of the Premier League during the festive period.
Liverpool were runaway winners in 2024/25, and even looked imperious by Christmas morning last time around, when the table was a lot tighter.
So what are the omens for those who lead at Christmas? Here is a list of every team to lead the way come December 25th – and who ended up champions in the following May…
1992/93 – Norwich City
Eventual champions – Manchester United
|
Position |
Club |
Games Played |
Points |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Norwich City |
20 |
39 |
|
2 |
Aston Villa |
20 |
35 |
|
3 |
Blackburn Rovers |
20 |
34 |
|
4 |
Manchester United |
20 |
34 |
The inaugural Premier League season eventually saw Manchester United topple Norwich City at the top of the table to win their first title. Initially, the Premier League was made up of 22 teams. Manchester United won the title with 84 points from 42 games. Norwich finished third, qualifying for the old UEFA Cup despite leading the way on Christmas Day.
1993/94 – Manchester United
Eventual champions – Manchester United
|
Position |
Club |
Games Played |
Points |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Manchester United |
21 |
52 |
|
2 |
Leeds United |
22 |
40 |
|
3 |
Blackburn Rovers |
20 |
38 |
|
4 |
Newcastle United |
21 |
36 |
Manchester United made it two for two, winning their second-ever Premier League title after being top at Christmas a whopping 12 points ahead of second-place Leeds United. The Red Devils beat out the rest, winning the title with an impressive 92 points.
1994/95 – Blackburn Rovers
Eventual champions – Blackburn Rovers
|
Position |
Club |
Games Played |
Points |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Blackburn Rovers |
19 |
43 |
|
2 |
Manchester United |
19 |
41 |
|
3 |
Newcastle United |
19 |
38 |
|
4 |
Nottingham Forest |
19 |
35 |
Blackburn Rovers spent big money to get their hands on their first and only Premier League title. Manager Kenny Dalglish had Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton up top, forming the famous SAS partnership. They would beat Manchester United by a single point, winning the title with 89 points. This is also the year Eric Cantona kicked that Crystal Palace fan, which may go some way to explaining United’s failure to track Rovers down post-Christmas.
1995/96 – Newcastle United
Eventual champions: Manchester United
|
Position |
Club |
Games Played |
Points |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Newcastle United |
19 |
45 |
|
2 |
Manchester United |
19 |
35 |
|
3 |
Liverpool |
19 |
34 |
|
4 |
Tottenham Hotspur |
19 |
34 |
“I would love it if we beat them”, Newcastle United boss Kevin Keegan yelled at the Sky Sports cameras in reference to Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United. Unfortunately, they blew their 10-point lead at Christmas, and Manchester United would go on to win their third title in four years. What might have been for the Entertainers…
1996/97 – Liverpool
Eventual champions: Manchester United
|
Position |
Club |
Games Played |
Points |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Liverpool |
19 |
38 |
|
2 |
Arsenal |
18 |
35 |
|
3 |
Wimbledon |
18 |
34 |
|
4 |
Aston Villa |
18 |
33 |
Liverpool were hoping to defeat the monopoly their bitter rivals had on the Premier League, but they too would fall away despite being on top at Christmas. This season marked a major change in English football, as Arsene Wenger took charge at Arsenal. His side wasn’t fully formed just yet though, and Manchester United once again won the league despite being down in fifth place, seven points behind the leaders.
1997/98 – Manchester United
Eventual champions – Arsenal
|
Position |
Club |
Games Played |
Points |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Manchester United |
19 |
43 |
|
2 |
Blackburn Rovers |
19 |
39 |
|
3 |
Chelsea |
19 |
38 |
|
4 |
Leeds United |
19 |
34 |
For the first time in Premier League history, Sir Alex Ferguson was worried. Manchester United had established themselves as THE team in the league, but Arsène Wenger had their number in 1997/98. Arsenal won the league by just one point, lifting the trophy with 78 points.
What makes this more remarkable is that while the Gunners had a game in hand at this point, they were a whopping 13 points behind the Red Devils on Christmas morning.
1998/99 – Aston Villa
Eventual champions – Manchester United
|
Position |
Club |
Games Played |
Points |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Aston Villa |
18 |
36 |
|
2 |
Chelsea |
18 |
33 |
|
3 |
Manchester United |
18 |
31 |
|
4 |
Middlesbrough |
18 |
30 |
Arsenal’s win in the previous season meant Manchester United would spend a lot in the summer to reclaim their crown. Dwight Yorke and Jaap Stam were the two most notable additions. Fergie’s men went on to win their fifth Premier League title, but they cut it close. Arsenal were just a single point behind them, with Manchester United on 79, and Arsenal on 78.
Despite this, it was John Gregory’s Villa that were threatening to make a title charge, but they fell away dramatically as the Villans finished sixth, securing just 19 more points from a possible 60.
1999/00 – Leeds United
Eventual champions – Manchester United
|
Position |
Club |
Games Played |
Points |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Leeds United |
18 |
41 |
|
2 |
Manchester United |
17 |
39 |
|
3 |
Sunderland |
18 |
37 |
|
4 |
Arsenal |
18 |
36 |
It wasn’t very close this time around. Manchester United’s great treble-winning side trounced the competition to win the league with a massive 91 points. Arsenal finished second and Leeds United rounded off the Champions League places in third.
However, you wouldn’t know it by the time Christmas came around. United were behind by just two points with a game in hand before ending 18 ahead of their nearest challengers.
2000/01 – Manchester United
Eventual champions – Manchester United
|
Position |
Club |
Games Played |
Points |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Manchester United |
19 |
43 |
|
2 |
Arsenal |
19 |
35 |
|
3 |
Leicester City |
19 |
35 |
|
4 |
Liverpool |
19 |
33 |
We may have entered the millennium, but things in the Premier League remained the same. Manchester United were once again named champions, beating second-place Arsenal by 10 points. This was the first time they would win the Premier League three times in a row, but it wouldn’t be the last.
This one wasn’t exactly a thriller of a title race either, as the Red Devils had amassed a strong lead by the halfway stage.
2001/02 – Newcastle United
Eventual champions – Arsenal
|
Position |
Club |
Games Played |
Points |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Newcastle United |
18 |
36 |
|
2 |
Arsenal |
18 |
33 |
|
3 |
Liverpool |
17 |
32 |
|
4 |
Leeds United |
18 |
32 |
Arsenal were once again the team to break Manchester United’s stranglehold on the league, with the red half of Manchester falling all the way down to third for the first time in the competition’s history. Thierry Henry would end the season as the league’s top goalscorer with 24.
However, Newcastle were the pace-setters at Christmas, though their three-point lead was no match for a relentless Arsenal, who broke the record for successive wins as they saw Liverpool, United and the Magpies off in the new year.
