Halloween and its never-to-be-worn-again costumes are done with, and Guy Fawkes-inspired bonfires and fireworks have long since extinguished. The imported commercial bore that is Black Friday is just about lingering on through related sales, but it is now mostly over with, too.
There is no escaping it: Christmas is on the way. Nowhere is that more true than in the Premier League.
Tottenham Hotspur are certainly banking on the period heading into the new year being a bountiful one again. In recent years, they have used the fixture-intensive stretch to good effect, establishing themselves in contention at the upper end of the table.