It might have been all so different when we went 2-0 in front and had we gone on to win the game we would now be 13th and we'd have even been 15th had it been a draw.
Thankfully, the three teams below us all lost, as did both Aston Villa and Sunderland, so you have to go up to 14th in the current table, to West Brom, to find a team that picked up a point.
Up at the other end of the table, Chelsea were shocked to find Man City level with them a couple of weeks ago but they've sorted that out with two wins whilst City have faltered with a draw at Everton followed by a home defeat against Arsenal.
Arsenal winning away against one of the bigger clubs in the Premier League is rare indeed; their previous away wins this season have come at Aston Villa, Sunderland, West Brom and West Ham. They were full value for their win too.
There have, as always, been some talking points, and none more so than Tottenham's late disallowed goal for offside in their 2-1 win against Sunderland at White Hart Lane. The decision from referee Chris Foy, aided and abetted by his assistant Adam Nunn, is about as bad a decision as I've seen all season.
How on earth the two officials could combine to give Jan Vertonghen offside when he's four yards inside his own half takes some believing, but that's what they did, and I don't buy this idea of confusion because the Sunderland goalkeeper had gone up the field for a corner and was out of the equation.
Chris Kamara on Sunday described it as being as bad as the phantom goal at Watford a few years ago. I'm not so sure of that but this was a howler and it will be interesting to see whether either Foy or Nunn feature when the officials are confirmed next Monday for the next round of Premier League games.
I thought Newcastle were denied a clear penalty in the last minute of their 2-1 home defeat against Southampton. They were unlucky but maybe, just maybe, they used up all their luck on New Year's Day.
The talking point from last night's game was nothing down to the officials other than it came about after Michael Oliver awarded Everton a penalty. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it since Andre Bikey (or was he Amougou at the time) tried to wrestle the ball from Ross Wallace when we'd been awarded a free kick against Blackpool, from which Wallace scored.
Leighton Baines was supposed to take the penalty but Kevin Mirallas played baby house and demanded that he take it. It led to some serious discussions with Steven Naismith in particular having his say. Mirallas failed to score the penalty at the end of the first half and failed to show for the second half.
It was funny listening to Naismith and then Roberto Martinez trying to deny any problems when interviewed after the game and even claiming that Mirallas had an injury. Gary Neville, on Sky, described it as despicable and I reckon he was a lot closer to the truth.
Disappointingly, we had the smallest Premier League attendance on Saturday; there's not much we can do when the cricket field stand is left with more empty seats than occupied seats., but on a more positive note it is good to see Danny Ings now appearing in the leading goalscorers list after scoring three in our last three games.
Foy and Nunn - if they are not suspended what's the betting we'll get one or both of them next time out.
The results and stats are below along with the leading goalscorers, each club's red and yellow card count and the next fixtures which will be played on 31st January and 1st February after the break this week for the FA Cup 4th round, and it's a while since we last saw that.
| The Results | |
| Saturday 17th January | |
| ASTON VILLA 0 LIVERPOOL 2 | QPR 0 MANCHESTER UNITED 2 |
| BURNLEY 2 CRYSTAL PALACE 3 | SWANSEA 0 CHELSEA 5 |
| LEICESTER 0 STOKE 1 | TOTTENHAM 2 SUNDERLAND 1 |
| NEWCASTLE 1 SOUTHAMPTON 2 | |
| Sunday 18th January | |
| MANCHESTER CITY 0 ARSENAL 2 | WEST HAM 3 HULL 0 |
| Monday 19th January | |
| EVERTON 0 WEST BROM 0 | |
| The Stats | |
| Biggest Win | CHELSEA 5-0 v SWANSEA (away) |
| Total Goals Scored | 26 (8 home - 18 away) |
| Player Scoring Most Goals | 2 - DIEGO COSTA, CHELSEA (v SWANSEA) ELJERO ELIA, SOUTHAMPTON (v NEWCASTLE) DWIGHT GAYLE, CRYSTAL PALACE (v BURNLEY) OSCAR, CHELSEA (v SWANSEA) |
| Highest Attendance | 49,307 - NEWCASTLE v SOUTHAMPTON |
| Lowest Attendance | 17,782 - BURNLEY v CRYSTAL PALACE |
| Total Yellow Cards | 32 |
| Total Red Cards | 0 |
| Most Cards in a Game | MANCHESTER CITY v ARSENAL (6Y) Ref: MIKE DEAN |
| Leading Goalscorers (League Only) | |
| 17 | DIEGO COSTA (CHELSEA) |
| 14 | SERGIO AGUERO (MANCHESTER CITY) - includes 2 penalties |
| 13 | CHARLIE AUSTIN (QPR) - includes 3 penalties |
| 12 | ALEXIS SANCHEZ (ARSENAL) |
| 9 | SAIDO BERAHINO (WEST BROM) - includes 3 penalties WILFRIED BONY (MANCHESTER CITY) - includes 1 penalty - (9 for SWANSEA) PAPISS CISSE (NEWCASTLE) - includes 1 penalty |
| 8 | CHRISTIAN ERIKSON (TOTTENHAM) EDEN HAZARD (CHELSEA) HARRY KANE (TOTTENHAM) GRAZIANO PELLE (SOUTHAMPTON) WAYNE ROONEY (MANCHESTER UNITED) ROBIN VAN PERSIE (MANCHESTER UNITED) |
| 7 | NACAR CHADLI (TOTTENHAM) DANNY INGS (BURNLEY) - includes 1 penalty DIAFRA SAKHO (WEST HAM) YAYA TOURE (MANCHESTER CITY) - includes 2 penalties LEONARDO ULLOA (LEICESTER) - includes 1 penalty |
| 6 | OLIVIER GIROUD (ARSENAL) NIKICA JELAVIC (HULL) ROMELU LUKAKU (EVERTON) STEVEN NAISMITH (EVERTON) OSCAR (CHELSEA) DAVID SILVA (MANCHESTER CITY) |
| Hat Tricks | |
| Date | Player & Game |
| 13/09/14 | 3: DIEGO COSTA - CHELSEA v SWANSEA (home) |
| 18/10/14 | 4: SERGIO AGUERO - MANCHESTER CITY v TOTTENHAM (home) |
| 20/12/14 | 3: CHARLIE AUSTIN - QPR v WEST BROM (home) |
| Disciplinary Record (League and Cup) | |||||||||
| Club | Y | R | Y | R | Club | Y | R | Y | R |
| League | Total | League | Total | ||||||
| ARSENAL | 48 | 2 | 52 | 2 | MANCHESTER UNITED | 40 | 3 | 43 | 3 |
| ASTON VILLA | 45 | 5 | 48 | 5 | NEWCASTLE | 46 | 3 | 53 | 4 |
| BURNLEY | 40 | 0 | 42 | 0 | QPR | 41 | 1 | 44 | 1 |
| CHELSEA | 41 | 2 | 42 | 2 | SOUTHAMPTON | 35 | 1 | 49 | 2 |
| CRYSTAL PALACE | 39 | 3 | 39 | 3 | STOKE | 46 | 0 | 50 | 0 |
| EVERTON | 41 | 1 | 48 | 2 | SUNDERLAND | 56 | 1 | 61 | 1 |
| HULL | 42 | 4 | 45 | 4 | SWANSEA | 34 | 5 | 41 | 5 |
| LEICESTER | 34 | 4 | 37 | 4 | TOTTENHAM | 45 | 3 | 47 | 3 |
| LIVERPOOL | 42 | 1 | 44 | 1 | WEST BROM | 33 | 1 | 34 | 1 |
| MANCHESTER CITY | 51 | 2 | 52 | 2 | WEST HAM | 39 | 1 | 41 | 1 |
| The Next Fixtures | |
| Saturday 31st January | |
| CHELSEA v MANCHESTER CITY (17:30) | MANCHESTER UNITED v LEICESTER |
| CRYSTAL PALACE v EVERTON | STOKE v QPR |
| HULL v NEWCASTLE (12:45) | SUNDERLAND v BURNLEY |
| LIVERPOOOL v WEST HAM | WEST BROM v TOTTENHAM |
| Sunday 1st February | |
| ARSENAL v ASTON VILLA (13:30) | SOUTHAMPTON v SWANSEA (16:00) |