It's a wonderful time of year for football fans, if not necessarily for the players they're watching.
December typically sees the Premier League season accelerate with the fixtures coming thick and fast, squads stretched to breaking point and managers moaning about injustices in the scheduling.
This year promises to be no different. December has opened with a midweek round of top-flight games and there are six more full sets of matches before the month is out.
The festive period is certainly one where the big sides often come unstuck, suffering defeats to opponents they really shouldn't be losing to.