Will Man City use Christmas to haul back United?

Manchester United hold a six point advantage over fierce rivals Man City currently, but as Hannah Duncan explains, that gap can disappear quickly over the busy Christmas period...

Despite it only seeming like yesterday that Sergio Aguero capped an astonishing Premier League season with that last-gasp goal to hand Manchester City their first top-flight title in 44 years, we're already well on the way to another potentially season-defining Christmas period. And what a cracker we have lined up.

 

City currently sit six points adrift of Manchester United at the top of the table and the latter are currently 1.62 favourites to regain the Premier League title in May, but between now and the turn of the year that could all have changed.

 

Both sides have four matches between now and the new year, as the festive fixtures come thick and fast to test sides' resolve and credentials.

 

They then face a week break from league action as the third round of the FA Cup gets underway, before both clubs prepare for massive fixtures on January 13, with City visiting Arsenal and United hosting Liverpool.

 

The defending champions are at 3.15 to finish ahead of their city rivals in the season match bet and could yet find themselves going into the 13th having overhauled their neighbours.

 

The Citizens' next four fixtures read Reading (h), Sunderland (a), Norwich (a) and Stoke (h), while United face a much tougher couple of weeks with Swansea (a), Newcastle (h), West Brom (h) and Wigan (a) on the agenda, proving that as ever the Christmas period can make or break a season.

 

Over the last 10 years, the side who have been Christmas No 1 have gone on to win the title on six occasions, most recently Manchester City last time out, and only twice in that time have the side top of the tree on December 25th finished outside the top two.

 

This demonstrates what a psychological boost topping the charts can be as teams enter the second half of the campaign, but that's not to say it's a done deal.

 

But for Roberto Mancini, he has more than just 90 minutes every few days to concern himself with over the next couple of weeks. The Italian also has to handle a rapidly deteriorating situation with the ever-temperamental Mario Balotelli.

 

The striker is currently taking the club to a Premier League tribunal after he was fined two weeks' wages for his poor disciplinary record last season.

 

Balotelli has netted just three times for City this season and if this latest episode is to mark the beginning of the end of his career at the Etihad Stadium, Mancini may not see it as the end of the world.

 

What Mancini does need, however, is a more consistent goalscorer. The Italian has already lambasted his front-men for not being clinical enough. His side found the back of the net 93 times in the Premier League last season and it proved the difference between a winners and runners-up medal. If they continue at the same rate this campaign, they will score just 74 times before mid-May.

 

Once again Robin van Persie appears to be running away with the golden boot, but this time at Old Trafford rather than the Emirates, which is another cause for concern for Mancini.

 

The Dutchman is the 2.72 favourite to finish as the season's top goalscorer for the second successive year while Balotelli is a massive outsider at 130.0, compared to Aguero at 13.0 and Wayne Rooney at 14.0.

 

But although the race for Christmas No 1 has already been won by Manchester United, the festive fixtures are certainly set to provide fireworks not to be missed.

 

Recommended Bet

Back Robin van Persie at 2.72 to finish as the season's top goalscorer

 

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