In truth, Manchester United's title chase ended on 10th December when they lost the Manchester derby at Old Trafford.
Since then though, the wheels have come off the wagon for José Mourinho's team, who had, in truth, been making a lot of progress up until then this season.
Over the last week, three draws, to Leicester, Burnley, and Southampton, have left them entering the new year in somewhat a crisis.
With confirmation tonight that Romelu Lukaku will miss some time thanks to a clash of heads early in tonight's game, and that Zlatan Ibrahimovic is also injured again, adding to existing problems for Eric Bailly, Antonio Valencia, Marouane Fellaini and Michael Carrick, there's not a lot that Mourinho can do personnel-wise over such a busy period, but excuses aside, they have enough players, and good enough players, to win these matches.
So why aren't they?
Speaking as a pundit on BT Sport for tonight's game, United legend Paul Scholes seemed perplexed at the general attitude and desire of the players over the last few games, given the results.
They're underperforming. I don't think there's any doubt they're underperforming.
It's just a lack of urgency to me, like I said before, it seems like they're winning 3-0 every game, and they don't need to score a goal. There's no actual fight to them at all?
He especially singled out United's record signing Paul Pogba for particular criticism.
Where's the Paul Pogba we saw at Juventus, the player they bought?
He's all over the pitch, he's tackling, he's fighting, he's sprinting to people, he's scoring goals from 25 yards out.
He's just strolling through a game
Not the kind of assessment you want from a legend of the club who's won everything. Poor form is one thing, but a lack of effort is something that won't be forgiven by the fans of a club, so to come from someone like Scholes, this is incredibly damning.
"Where's the Paul Pogba we saw at Juventus? The player they bought..." ?
Paul Scholes calls out Man Utd's players following Man Utd 0-0 Southampton ? pic.twitter.com/fzqrOm05VJ— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) December 30, 2017
