Next up, we make the trip up to Manchester, where we will be hosted by Manchester City. Kick-off on Saturday is at the right and proper time of 3pm and as far as I can tell, there are no engineering works on the way up there, though your path may be interrupted by that most irritating of creatures, the once a year drinker. Bah humbug.
So, Manchester City then. Well, I wouldn't say that they were quite back to the levels of a couple of years ago, but they've certainly improved on last season's showing that saw them finish a distant third, 13 points behind PGMOL.
It's not all been plain sailing, however. They lost two of their first three at the start of the season, including, rather embarrassingly, to Tottenham at home. And they also have two further defeats on their record this season, to Villa and to Newcastle both the way.
However, aided by a rejuvenated Haaland and Foden, the latter of whom had a rather indifferent last term, they have started putting together decent runs. Their last 13 games have seen them win 10, draw one away at Arsenal, and the aforementioned defeats at Villa Park and St. James' Park.
All of this has left them in second place, with 34 points from the 16 games they've played so far. Handily placed then to take over at the top when Arsenal bottle it, as they inevitably will. The only fly in the ointment is of course those 115 charges of dubious and dodgy dealings. Those hearings are due to give their verdicts any decade now.
As mentioned last week, Sky have made a complete Horlicks of our broadband whereabouts, cutting us off in our prime in advance of a house move that isn't happening for a few months yet. This means that Daisy has been unable to do her usual bout of research into the new signings with her usual aplomb.
In the meantime, the compensation clock is ticking nicely with my daily charge to Sky building up to a level that may require them to make cutbacks and redundancies. Might I suggest Carragher could go first? I mean, you could down a pint of scotch every time he says something intelligent or insightful during a match. And you could still drive home without bothering the breathalyzer, so it'd hardly be a loss.
Whilst we don't have the usual research on new signings, with some digging about, we have got some injury and absence news from the wires. Kovacic has been missing most of the season. He had an Achilles op in the summer, but although he made a couple of sub appearances back in October he eventually required another trip to the operating table and he's going to be out until the spring.
Doku picks up a muscle strain against Real Madrid and he'll be out until the new year, a piece of news which, without ever wishing injury on a player, will nonetheless be welcome relief to our depleted full-back resources. They'll also be without Rodri, Bob and Stones, all of whom have thigh problems of one sort or another, whilst A. Nouri and Mahmouch will also be on African Cuppa Soup duty.
Let's move on then, shall we, to the wild and wacky world of Association Football. Those of you thinking of popping across the Atlantic for next year's World Cup, well statistically there must be one or two of you who have the resources to pay £4,000 a ticket, may care to note the recent announcement that their immigration department will require five years of social media history from anyone wanting to visit matches in the US.
The implication is that anyone whose record shows anything less than complimentary towards the fat, orange, special needs case who runs the country will not be allowed in. On that basis, they're likely to have a hell of a lot of unsold £4,000 tickets left over, as the supply of likely customers will be reduced to Vladimir Putin and Gianni Infantino - and Infantino will get in for free anyway.
Meanwhile, north of the border, Celtic chairman Peter Lawwell has gotten fed up with all the abuse he's been getting from what is increasingly becoming one of the less pleasant bunch of supporters on these islands. The fan base is apparently fed up with currently sitting in second place in what is usually a one-horse race.
The battle between Celtic and its fans has become increasingly acrimonious in recent times. However, attempts to get Donald Trump into mediate were doomed to failure from the start, due to it being orange.
And so to us. it's disappointing when you play well and get nothing out of a game. We certainly gave Villa more of a game than Arsenal had done the previous week.
I haven't seen the lines drawn yet over Bowen's offside, but I've seen enough of Anthony Taylor over the years to notice this subtle manipulation of the game throughout.
Another fireproof ref who takes full advantage of his status. He probably has an eye on the book deal.
The problem is that any media examination of refereeing in this country always focuses on the blockbuster blunders that happen every week, rather than the general failures that take place almost unnoticed to the unaided eye. There's a prize-winning investigation to be done on PGMOL, if only some journalists could be bothered.
On the injury front, Fullkrug is likely to be available this weekend, though Fabianski's back will still keep him out of contention for the backup slot on the bench. The youth and Wan-Bisasaka's trip to the African Cuppa Soup will keep them out for a little while.
But there may be a question mark over Wan-Bisasaka's participation after Nigeria put in a complaint in an attempt to take Democratic Republic of Congo's place in the World Cup. But I'm guessing any decision in that direction will come far too late to change things in the cup of soup.
Prediction? Well, this is one where we need a performance more than the result almost. There are winnable games ahead, but I'd be fibbing if I said that I thought that this were one of them.
So with a due sense of foreboding, I'll have to put the £2.50 that I'll be saving out of all those £4,000 World Cup tickets I was going to buy and place it instead on a home win. Make it 3-1 to them, please, Mr. Winstone, unfortunately.
Enjoy the game, and apparently I have to say something about the time of year. So may you have a slightly less miserable Christmas than you might otherwise have had.
Please note this does not apply to Sky employees or carol singers.
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