The Christmas period holds more significance in the season than you might think. It’s a period that is symbolic as a yardstick for where teams will end up. On 11 of the last 22 Boxing day’s the team that has been leading has gone onto win the title. Only two teams, Sunderland last year, and West Brom in 2005, have survived having been bottom on the 25th.

With four games usually in the space of about 12 days, the intensity is normally a test of every respective team’s squad depth and fitness. Infamous myths of foreign players’ incredulity when they learn of the busy schedule- a profound opposite to the Winter Break prevalent across most of Europe- normally has some impact too. New arrivals may well slow down (Alexis Sanchez, for example) as burnout becomes prominent. David Silva and Juan Mata started their City and Chelsea careers well in their first season, but dropped off significantly in the New Year.

Here are the five most influential games to look for over the Christmas period…

QPR v West Brom, Saturday 20th, 15:00

Only two teams have survived having been bottom on the 25th – being dealt the deadly ‘bottom at Christmas’ title usually proves fatal. With QPR and West Brom both precariously perched above that deadly spot, their showdown at Loftus Road next Saturday will be huge.

You may argue it’s bigger for the home team, as their away performances have been diabolical and they’re utterly dependent on picking up points in their own backyard. You’d also fear for Alan Irvine’s job if West Brom’s gradual decline continues; a man of small managerial pedigree before landing this job has meant his critics have been more vociferous.

Southampton v Everton,  Saturday 20th, 15:00

This game will act as more of a yardstick for just how good Southampton are at the moment – they’re blistering form at the start of the season was impressive, but not a fair representation of how good they really are.

Their unlucky defeats to Manchester City, Arsenal and United will have knocked their confidence, and Everton’s bracket of finishing just outside the top 4 every year is where Southampton will be looking to settle. With two managers liking to play possession football, it will probably be a good game, too.

Liverpool v Arsenal, Sunday 21st, 16:00

The Rodgers out brigade have been growing in their flock slowly. A premature Champions League exit will have accentuated that process, and a home defeat to Arsenal might be the beginning of the end.

Arsene Wenger’s vindictive meeting with some truly angered Arsenal fans at a Stoke train station last week was an apt example of how he still divides opinion heavily. This could be a hugely significant game for both, although Rodgers looks more vulnerable given the level of Liverpool’s decline.

It will also be interesting see Alexis Sanchez, the man who Liverpool desperately tried to replace Luis Suarez with.

Tottenham v Manchester United, Sunday 28th, 12:00pm

Before you place any context around a Spurs/United game, it always seems to deliver as a mesmerising fixture. Anecdotes of Ferguson’s basic team talks before these games (‘lad’s its Tottenham’) and scorelines producing more than eight goals make it a banker for television companies.

While United have climbed up the table with six straight victories, that form seems a general miss-representation as to how they’re actually performing. In 16 of the 22 completed Premier League seasons, one of the four teams on Boxing Day have dropped out. Could United squander their chance? Spurs are knocking on the top four door again and would be galvanised by any form of victory in this game. Victory for either would be considered a fantastic result.

Tottenham v Chelsea, January 1st, 17:30

Not the match Jose Mourinho will want at the end of an intense period, but having dropped four points against Newcastle and Sunderland in recent weeks, a strong Christmas is paramount for them to maintain their momentum going into 2015.

This will be Spurs’ second big game of that period, and you’d think defeat in both would leave them in no-mans-land, lost from the top four and with little to aim for. Losses in both would have wider reaching ramifications for Maurcio Pochettino, who’s failed to make the big impact he looked to promise. With Daniel Levy infamously inpatient, Pochettino may find himself on a downward spiral.

Defeat away at Burnley in the FA Cup would make their season a pre-ordained failure just four months before the end of the season. A victory over the London rivals would be huge for him, and keep that top four battle open.