Villa Park
Villa Park (Image: Getty Images)
Aston Villa are back on track with after taking full advantage of their home double header this week by returning maximum points from meetings with Brentford and Southampton. Villa beat the Bees 3-1 in the week to end a winless run which had been extended to eight matches, before they saw off rock bottom Saints in a tight encounter on Saturday.
As a result, the Lions are back up into the top half of the Premier League table and are still only a couple of points behind those who currently occupy the Champions League places, after Manchester City dropped more points at Crystal Palace on Saturday - their own extensive, troubling, form continues.
The league remains wide open, aside from title chasing Liverpool who have opened up something of a gap to the rest ahead of the festive schedule. Then, from Manchester United in the bottom half to West Ham and Everton another gap is beginning to emerge, too, although the Red Devils are widely considered to be vastly underachieving and will hope for inspiration from new manager Ruben Amorim in 2025.
It's likely to be a telling period, the Christmas schedule, and will likely separate those who have merely begun the campaign well from those who are displaying their intentions of remaining towards the top end of the league table. To that end, this is how the fixtures look around the festive period - from now until the FA Cup - for the dozen sides who are likely to finish either side of Villa come May, in the race for European football.
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The Christmas fixtures
2. Chelsea
Brentford (H), Everton (A), Fulham (H), Ipswich (A), Crystal Palace (A)
3. Arsenal
Everton (H), Crystal Palace (A), Ipswich (H), Brentford (A), Brighton (A)
4. Manchester City
Manchester United (H), Aston Villa (A), Everton (H), Leicester City (A), West Ham (H)
5. Brighton
Crystal Palace (H), West Ham (A), Brentford (H), Aston Villa (A), Arsenal (H)
6. Nottingham Forest
Aston Villa (H), Brentford (A), Tottenham (H), Everton (A), Wolves (A)
7. Aston Villa
Nottingham Forest (A), Manchester City (H), Newcastle (A), Brighton (H), Leicester (H)
8. Brentford
Chelsea (A), Nottingham Forest (H), Brighton (A), Arsenal (H), Southampton (A)
9. Fulham
Liverpool (A), Southampton (H), Chelsea (A), Bournemouth (H), Ipswich (H)
10. Bournemouth
West Ham (H), Manchester United (A), Crystal Palace (H), Fulham (A), Everton (H)
11. Tottenham
Southampton (A), Liverpool (H), Nottingham Forest (A), Wolves (H), Newcastle (H)
12. Newcastle
Leicester (H), Ipswich (A), Aston Villa (H), Manchester United (A), Tottenham (A)
13. Manchester United
Manchester City (A), Bournemouth (H), Wolves (A), Newcastle (H), Liverpool (A)
How many points will Villa get in December? Tell us HERE