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Tweet Football - City fans have long associated the festive period with good cheer on the pitch as well as off it, with the Christmas and New Year’s Day fixtures generally producing good results.
Premier League - But are the Blues really one of the best teams in December and how well do we usually start the next calendar year?
The 4-1 win over Hull City on Tuesday started the month off in fine fashion and, the last 50 December matches in all competitions makes very pleasant reading.
For rounding up to a half-century purposes we’ll start with the last game of 2008 when City drew 2-2 with Blackburn Rovers at the Etihad. The 2009/10 season, City racked up five wins in seven matches, scoring 17 goals and conceding 10.
The 2010/11 season saw the Blues fair even better with six wins in eight matches; drawing one and losing one with 17 goals scored again and just five conceded.
Mario Goal
Of course, City secured a first title since 1968 in 2011/12, but, ironically, had a relatively poor December, winning four of seven matches with 12 goals scored and just four shipped.
The 2012/13 campaign didn’t produce a successful title defence, but City did reasonably well with five victories and one draw in nine attempts, scoring 14 goals and conceding 10.
The best December in recent memory came during City’s 2013/14 title triumph as Manuel Pellegrini’s side were in rampant form winning eight out of nine games and drawing the other.
With 26 goals registered and just 12 shipped by the City defence, it was a stellar month that laid the foundation for the two trophies secured in the months ahead.
Last season was yet another stunning final month of the year as the Blues swept all before them, winning eight and drawing one of the nine matches played.
Celebration
With 19 goals scored and just six conceded, it leaves City with some fairly stunning December facts and figures.
In fact, the last team to be the Blues in December was Sunderland, who secured a traditional 1-0 Stadium of Light victory on Boxing Day 2012 – meaning City have remained unbeaten in their last 19 fixtures played this month.
Overall, the last 50 games have therefore produced 36 victories, seven draws and seven losses with City scoring 117 goals in total and conceding 51 goals with New Year’s Day producing four wins out of five and Boxing Day has seen four wins out of six.
Premier League games have produced an impressive 96 points from a possible 126 with seven out of nine cup matches won.
So is December really a good month for the Blues? Judging by the above it has perhaps been the best month of all for the past six years.
Source : @mcfc.co.uk
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