While the rest of Europe earns a well earned break during the depths of winter, the Premier League continues to maintain the tradition of going hell for leather over Christmas and the New Year.
So what have we learned from the festive period so far?
Rooney in midfield has some legs
Central midfield was a role that was not totally alien to Wayne Rooney, having filled vacancies in that position under Alex Ferguson.
Even going back to September 2013, Off The Ball's Thursday Night Football pundit John Giles had maintained that Rooney was the answer in midfield.
Louis van Gaal also emphasised that Rooney's place is in midfield for now after the St Stephen's Day win over Newcastle.
Of course, United need a system which makes a deeper role less of a liability defensively. A system with three at the back, as United play now, does allow for more players behind the ball, while the comparative positional discipline of the excellent Michael Carrick gives Rooney licence to roam in a way that is more natural to him.
Rooney's short passing is not always his strongest point, but he does have the vision to spray long passes to the flanks which does suit the wing back system currently used by the club.
In addition, it is noticeable how main strikers Falcao and Robin van Persie often pull wide of each other, leaving space for Rooney to charge into - something which resulted in two goals at home to the Magpies.
The big question for Van Gaal though is how to accommodate Rooney, Mata, Van Persie and Falcao into the same team when Angel Di Maria returns from injury?
Santi arrives just in time for Arsenal
Arsenal's form still appears to be patchy, but the return to prominence of Santi Cazorla has helped them get over the line during narrow wins over QPR and West Ham.
The Spain international had appeared a little subdued earlier in the season as he seemed weighed down by a long goal drought.
But December has seen him score all four of his league goals so far this campaign and culminated in him creating eight chances alone at West Ham yesterday.
With Alexis Sanchez providing the creative spark in recent months due to the absences of Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere, Cazorla's upturn cannot come soon enough as the Gunners try to inject some much needed momentum entering the second half of the season.
David Silva
Last week, I looked at how James Milner's role as a striker helped his midfielders when it came to getting shots away.
One of the main beneficiaries of Sergio Aguero's injury has been David Silva who has scored four in his last three games.
Also partly down to a long injury lay-off, Silva has not provided a single assist since September and upon his return - which coincided with Aguero's trip to the treatment table - his chance creation actually dipped to one per game against Crystal Palace and West Brom, before rebounding to five at home to Burnley yesterday.
Aguero is the focal point when it comes to the art of goalscoring at City (and in the Premier League given that he takes more shots per game than any other player), with Silva one of the main suppliers.
But when that focal point is unavailable, we can see that Silva can step up to the plate when alternative goal sources are needed.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
