Premier League: Do the team top at Christmas usually win title?
Ipswich, Wolves and Southampton occupy the relegation spots, with the latter two having recently changed managers.
It’s fairly rare for three teams to be in the relegation zone at the same time on Christmas and the final day, but it did happen last season.
On December 25 and May 19, Luton, Burnley and Sheffield United were ranked 18th, 19th and 20th respectively.
The bottom three in other seasons remain the same (although not necessarily in the same order), namely 2001-02 (Derby County, Leicester City, Ipswich), 2012-13 (Wigan, QPR) (Watchers, Reading) and 2020-21 (Fulham, West Brom, Sheffield United).
The teams at the bottom of the table have similar odds of staying up on Christmas Day – 4/32.
West Bromwich Albion (2004-05), Sunderland (2013-14), Leicester City (2014-15) and Wolves (2022-23) are the four teams that have managed it.
Southampton are in dire straits at the moment, eight points adrift, but who else is in danger?
Well, there were two teams who were in the top ten at Christmas but have since dropped – Norwich in seventh place in 1994-95 and Blackpool in 10th in 2010-11.
Which team currently occupies seventh place? Manchester City.
