Leicester City may have hijack the Premier League title in May, but it’s Chelsea who’s now on top of the table for the 2016 calendar year.
The Foxes boss pulled off one of the biggest surprises in football history to get the crown last season, while defending champions Chelsea finished a turbulent campaign in 10th place.
However, the overall table starting from January to December tells a very different story for both sides.
Premier League leaders Chelsea are currently five points clear in our table for 2016, meaning the Blues are guaranteed to finish as the calendar year’s top side, even if the club slip up against Stoke in their final game of the year on New Year’s Eve.
Claudio Ranieri’s side are down in eighth place for the calendar year after his side dismal start to the 2016/17 season, with a 17-point gap to the Blues highlighting the two sides’ changing fortunes.
Tottenham Hotspur are second after breaking their own record of points in a calendar year following the Spurs 4-1 win at Southampton on Wednesday – and they are sure to finish ahead of Arsenal, with the two north London rival not playing again until New Year’s Day.
Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool are just below the Spurs for the calendar year, although the Reds do rank top for goals scored over the last 12 months, having seen opposition side net 86 times. The Reds have once more chance – against Manchester City on December 31 – to further boost their tally.
Manchester United were pipped to the final Champions League qualification place by Manchester City on goal difference at the end of last season and the arrivals of Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola as managers of the respective clubs in the summer have done nothing to separate the sides in our 2016 table.
City are again relying on their higher number of goals scored so far to edge out their rivals but New Year’s Eve fixtures could yet see them swap places.
At the other end of the 2016 table, it is no surprise to see Aston Villa rooted to the bottom, with just two wins from their 19 top-flight games before relegation.