Manchester City fans were very happy after winning against Liverpool. When interviewed by the media, they all declared that these 3 points were the best New Year gift.
But the fly in the ointment is that Manchester City still failed to return to the top of the Premier League.
In this round of the league, Chelsea faced Stoke City at home and played 4-2. Conte won quite easily and won the half-time Premier League championship.
Every year around Christmas, the media and fans are keen to discuss the probability of the Christmas champion and the Premier League champion being equal.
Since the establishment of the Premier League, a total of 24 Christmas champions have been born, but only 13 eventually won the championship.
Among all the Premier League teams that won the Christmas championship but failed to win the final, the most famous unlucky one was the Red Army Liverpool.
Liverpool's unluckiness cannot even be described as "possessed by a debilitating god".
The half-time champion of the Premier League in the 2008-09 season was Liverpool, but they failed to have the last laugh.
The Premier League champion that season was Manchester United, who won the Premier League title one round ahead of schedule after drawing with Arsenal in the penultimate round of the Premier League.
This is also the second time that Ferguson has led his team to achieve three consecutive Premier League titles, and Liverpool has become the first team in Premier League history to lose only two league games, but ultimately missed the Premier League championship.
This matter is still used by rival fans of Liverpool to make fun of Liverpool.
But this isn't the only time.
In the 2013-14 season, Liverpool's performance this season under the leadership of Rodgers is unforgettable for every Red Army fan.
That season Liverpool won the Christmas title again, and it was a season that was infinitely close to winning the first Premier League title in team history.
But Gerrard made a slip in that century and directly handed over the Premier League championship to Manchester City.
That year, after 35 rounds of the Premier League, Liverpool ranked first with 80 points, followed by Manchester City with 77 points and Chelsea with 74 points.
As long as Liverpool perform stably in the remaining three rounds, they can win the first Premier League championship trophy in team history.
However, in the 36th round of the Premier League, facing Chelsea, the blue team led by Mourinho, Gerrard, as the captain, failed at a critical moment.
In the 47th minute of stoppage time in the first half, Gerrard received a cross from Sakho, made a mistake in stopping the ball and slipped, allowing Demba Ba to quickly get the ball and get a chance to score alone, and then easily pushed the ball home.
It was precisely because of this mistake that Liverpool lost the game and the initiative to win the championship.
Since then, Liverpool's morale has suffered a huge blow, and the players' mentality has also gone wrong. In the end, Manchester City came from behind and won the Premier League championship that season with 86 points.
This has also become the biggest regret in Gerrard's career. Even now in interviews with the media, he still mentions it and claims that this is his lifelong regret.
This year is no exception. With the 19th round of the Premier League over, whether Chelsea, the Christmas champions, can finally win the championship has become one of the hottest topics in England right now.
Chelsea under Conte are simply too strong this season.
Completely different from the top six teams in the Premier League such as Manchester City, Liverpool, and Tottenham, Chelsea under Conte is in terrifyingly stable form.
For Chelsea fans, it is definitely good news for the team to be crowned Christmas champions.
Because judging from historical data, although only 13 of the 24 Christmas championships established by the Premier League eventually won the championship, the probability is 50-50.
But for Chelsea, it is 100%, because Chelsea has won the Christmas championship four times before, and finally successfully won the Premier League championship.
The reason why Chelsea can soar all the way in the new season is absolutely inseparable from Conte's training.
According to statistics, Conte's coaching data in the league since the 2011-11 season can be described as abnormal.
Including Juventus, the Italian led the team in a total of 129 games, with an astonishing record of 96 wins, 25 draws and 9 losses, scoring 252 goals and conceding only 78 goals.
In addition, Conte's coaching ability has also been well reflected in Chelsea.
Before Chelsea switched to a 3-4-3 formation this season, they scored 10 goals in 6 games and conceded 9 goals.
But after changing to the 343 formation, they scored 34 goals in 13 games and only conceded 5 goals.
As the topic of whether Chelsea, the Christmas champion, can win the final championship becomes more and more popular, more and more football celebrities and media are getting involved.
The "Times" report has a very clear point of view, Christmas champion = Premier League champion, especially for Chelsea.
Although Chelsea currently leads the Premier League with 45 points, the point difference between them and the teams behind them is extremely small.
Judging from the current situation, the four teams Liverpool, Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester City are still competing for the championship.
Especially Manchester City, which is only two points behind Chelsea, and it only takes one game to change.
The points difference between Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal and Chelsea is also within 5 points.
So it is too early to say that Chelsea will win the Premier League title.
The views of "The Times" are recognized by many fans and famous players in English football.
In fact, as the Premier League schedule has been moved back in recent years, although the reference significance of the Christmas championship is still there, it is no longer significant.
Judging from the 50-50 winning data of the 24 Christmas champions born after the establishment of the Premier League, whether the half-time champion can win is determined by whether the opponent is strong and himself.
One is like the unlucky Liverpool, who won the Christmas championship twice, but ultimately lost the championship because their opponents were too strong.
The other one is like Arsenal, who stretched his hips for no apparent reason and ultimately handed the championship to someone else.
This year, judging from the current situation, if Chelsea wants to win the championship, they will not only have to face strong opponents, but also have to fight themselves.
The difficulty can be said to be directly doubled.
Judging from the current standings, Chelsea's main competitors for the championship are mainly four teams: Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham. There is also a temporarily undecided backup player Manchester United.
Let’s talk about Manchester City first. Although Manchester City’s defense is known to be unreliable, Manchester City has Chu Zheng, the premier midfielder in the Premier League.
Now that half of the Premier League has passed, the reason why Manchester City has been able to cling to Chelsea so far is because of Chu Zheng’s stable and efficient performance. It is Chu Zheng who used key assists and key goals to beat the already hanging team again and again.
Manchester City on the taillights of the car was pulled back into the car, and Manchester City did not fall out of the championship.
Just like Liverpool's Suarez in the 2013-14 season, Chu Zheng can now be said to be using his super personal ability to carry Manchester City's ups and downs forward.
This is also the main reason why Chu Zheng's value in the transfer market has continued to rise from the beginning of the season to the present. He is so outstanding that no team would not covet an all-around midfielder.
It's a pity that Manchester City is not short of money, so they are destined to be unable to poach him.
As for Manchester United, as the league progresses, Manchester United, which has recently won 5 consecutive league victories, can be said to be one of the hottest teams in the Premier League recently.
Manchester United is currently ranked 6th in the standings, with 36 points, 9 points behind Chelsea. There is still hope of competing for the championship, but it is difficult.
Under the leadership of Mourinho, Manchester United indeed has a different temperament than before.
The biggest problem with Manchester United under Mourinho this season is that they have too many draws.
In 19 Premier League games, Manchester United has lost only 3 games, one more than Manchester City and Chelsea.
But Manchester United's recent upward trend has been obvious.
Pogba, who has been called a parallel import by Manchester United fans since the beginning of the season, has also found the correct way of playing in Mourinho's tactics. Recently, he has averaged 2.8 dribbles and 3.1 aerial duels per game, and his passing success rate has also improved.
Climb up every quarter and become the first in the team.
The Manchester United players and Mourinho's tactics are getting better and better, so Manchester United still has a chance to win the Premier League in the second half.
Tottenham are the youngest team in the Premier League this season and are currently fifth in the Premier League standings with 39 points, 6 points behind Chelsea.
But the advantage of this age is also Tottenham's disadvantage.
Young players mean unlimited possibilities but also instability.
Although Tottenham are one of the three teams with the least losses in the Premier League this season, they, like Manchester United, have too many draws.
Tottenham, who also play three central defenders, have the best defense in the Premier League. They have only conceded 16 goals since the beginning of the season, one more than Chelsea.
But the offensive end is hard to say.
The performance of Tottenham's forward players is amazing. When these young players play crazy, it is often a big victory. On the contrary, it is hard to get a goal!
Although the state has fluctuated greatly, Tottenham still has a large number of fans who are optimistic about it, and they also hope to compete for the Premier League championship.
As for Arsenal, this season can be said to be their relatively thickest lineup in recent seasons.
In this round of the Premier League, Arsenal defeated Crystal Palace 2-0 at home.
Currently, due to the advantage of goal difference, they have squeezed out Liverpool, which was defeated in this round, and come to third place in the standings.
Although the results are good, Gunners fans are frightened.
Because maybe we don’t know when, Arsenal will suddenly stretch their hips and expel themselves from the championship ranks.
Over the years, Gunners fans have almost become accustomed to it. Every year, they compete for the title at the beginning of the season, compete for the fourth place after Christmas, and at the end of the season, it becomes a guarantee of fourth place.
Therefore, their hearts cannot return to their stomachs until the final round of the league.
In addition, there is Liverpool who likes to capsize in the gutter and specializes in killing strong teams this season, so there is still a lot of suspense about whether Chelsea can win the championship.