Chelsea opened up some daylight between themselves and the chasing pack with their 11th consecutive victory at the weekend (congratulations to Victor Moses, who is the only Premier League player to have achieved such a feat with two different clubs).
Meanwhile, United earned their third consecutive victory while Arsenal again faltered from a winning position, and not much changed near the bottom where most of the bad teams remain quite bad.
Here are the five most surprising stats from the weekend's action:
Same old Arsenal
Per Opta, Arsenal have lost three league games from leading positions this season - more than they did in the whole of 2015-16.
As is dictated by the space-time continuum and other such powerful forces, the closer we get to spring, the more Arsenal Arsenal become. [Also Opta. Nah, just kidding.]
Alas, with the sprouting of the first daffodil in late February, their title chances will surely evaporate.
Not Theo bad
It's not all grim news for Arsenal, however. Theo Walcott is now the club's fifth-highest scorer in Premier League history, overtaking Robert Pires in the charts with 63. He remains 24 behind Dennis Bergkamp in 4th, and 112 behind Thierry Henry in first.
#OneArsenal #ArsenalFC #Arsenal Theo Walcott overtakes Robert Pires to become Arsenal's fifth highest Premier .. https://t.co/LmLy6nFjKF
— Gunners Fans (@arsenalnewsonly) December 18, 2016
Of course add the likes of Cliff Bastin and John Radford, and Walcott is further down the pecking order, but fifth-highest Premier League scorer - ahead of Pires, Ljungberg and other such names - is no mean feat for a player who has never wholly endeared himself to the Gunners faithful.
Hard to believe it's not Scholes...
Yeah, Manchester United are just a smidge better when Michael Carrick starts in their midfield...
Now, the above stats might be somewhat diluted by United's Europa League form, but when you take into account the past three seasons, it does beg a few questions as to why both José Mourinho and Louis van Gaal before him viewed Carrick as a more peripheral figure at times.
60% - @ManUtd's Premier League win percentage with Michael Carrick starting the last three seasons; without him it's 38%. Ticking.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 19, 2016
United's 35-year-old conductor is finally putting the debate as to his effect to rest.
Zlat's more like it
Staying with United, and for all of the grief he's taken from opposition fans and pundits alike this season, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has scored 11 goals in his first 16 Premier League appearances. Only Ruud van Nistelrooy has ever scored more (12) in his first 16 PL appearances for United, although Andy Cole and Robin van Persie also scored 11 on their arrival. [Opta]
Ibra has now scored 16 in all competitions for United - 11 more than any of his teammates. Not bad for a free transfer, eh?
Kanté touch this
As per the Express, Chelsea's N'Golo Kante has - by a considerable margin - the best win percentage of any Premier League player. In his 54 games in the division for both Chelsea and Leicester, Kanté has won 37, giving him an unusually high 68.5% win ratio.
Arsenal's Nacho Monreal is second with 64.6%, with his teammate Petrc Cech (who incidentally has not kept a clean sheet in 8 games - a career first, via Opta) following close behind with 64.5%. Yaya Touré's win percentage is identical to that of Cech's, and City's Ivorian is followed by their Spanish star David Silva in fifth with 64%.
Sergio Aguero, David Luiz, John Terry, Fernandinho and Aleksandar Kolarov respectively round off the Top 10.
