Nothing says Christmas quite like an infeasible amount of games packed into a miniscule period of time that places ridiculous pressure on managers and players leading to some utterly bizarre results.
But that is festive football in Britain and despite all over the above, it is undeniably a lot of fun and how the Championship table looks now could look very different when the division's 24 teams come out of the other side on January 3.
Leeds United and West Brom are pulling away from the rest of the division but just six points separate Preston North End in sixth and Millwall in 13th so the play-off positions could have a very different looks about them come the first week of 2020.
Forecasting exactly is going to pan out is notoriously difficult and anyone of the league's top 12-14 sides could be considered credible promotion challengers while a club like Derby County could also click into gear and make a late run.
Reknowned American statistician Nate Silver, via his FiveThirtyEight website, is widely considered to have devised the most accurate and comprehensive model for predicting how the current standings will bear out over the remaining 23 games of the season.
Using a number of metrics including current form, strength of future opponents, expected goals for and against and the market value of each respective squad, here is how FiveThirtyEight project the second tier to look on May 2.
Predicted Championship standings
Leeds United - 91 points
West Brom - 88
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Brentford - 78
Fulham - 75
Sheffield Wednesday - 75
Preston - 70
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Swansea - 68
Hull City - 67
Bristol City - 66
Nottingham Forest - 66
Cardiff City - 66
Blackburn - 64
Millwall - 64
QPR - 62
Birmingham City - 57
Reading - 57
Huddersfield - 55
Derby County - 54
Middlesbrough - 52
Stoke City - 50
Charlton Athletic - 48
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Wigan Athletic - 45
Barnsley - 45
Luton Town - 42
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