James Milner hopes champions Manchester City can now seize the initiative in the title race.
City are joint top of the Premier League with Chelsea at the start of 2015 after hitting a rich spell of form.
They trailed the Londoners by eight points in November and their indifferent form was raising questions over the long-term future of manager Manuel Pellegrini.
But many doubts have been swept aside amid a run of 13 games unbeaten in all competitions.
Their only blip during the congested festive programme was a 2-2 draw with Burnley and Milner sees no reason why momentum cannot be maintained throughout a tough-looking January.
City travel to Everton on Saturday before hosting Arsenal the following week and then ending the month with a much-anticipated clash against title rivals Chelsea.
“Hopefully we’ll be looking to open up a little gap of our own,” said Milner, who underlined his importance to the side with a vital double in Sunday’s FA Cup win over Sheffield Wednesday.
“You look at this run (ahead) and people think it is tougher than the games we had over Christmas but – it is an old cliche in the Premier League – there are form teams and out-of-form teams. Every game is difficult.
“You’ve got teams at the bottom who look and think, ‘We’re going to win that game,’ – look at Burnley coming here and how well they played.
“Sometimes it is easier to play against teams who are mid-table and pushing for Europe and are moving it around a lot more. Who knows what an easy game is? It is the Premier League.
“All we can do is concentrate on our games and if we can get the results we want to get, it depends on how Chelsea do.”
Milner feels people were too quick to write City off as Chelsea made all the early running.
But the England international claims there is no satisfaction to be taken from proving them wrong – because the job is not yet completed.
He said: “No, not yet because we are not at the top and you want to be at the top as early as you can.
“We might have been written off but we haven’t won the league. It is all right being in the race in January, but you need to be in there in May.
“But we have been there before and what is said outside the camp is irrelevant to us. We have got that experience. We have been there before.
“We were written off in March or April the first time but we won it, we turned it round. That experience helps.”
Milner’s performance at the weekend emphasised why the club are keen to get him to sign a new contract.
With City trailing 1-0 to the Championship side, midfielder Milner was asked to reprise the centre-forward role he played during December due to injuries.
He responded – on what was his 29th birthday – with the two goals that turned around the third-round tie, with the dramatic winner coming in stoppage-time.
Talks with Milner over a new deal to replace the one that expires this summer have reached an advanced stage, but the player is still to commit.
Pellegrini is hopeful it will be concluded soon but, for now, Milner wants to talk only about events on the field.
And for him, with Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero close to fitness, that might involve another switch of position while central midfielder Yaya Toure is at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Milner said: “We will see what the manager wants to do. Yaya is a big miss for us because of what he has done at the club but we have to deal with that and carry on this run we have been on.”
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LEAGUE CUP QUARTER-FINAL DRAW
Stoke City v Tottenham
Brentford v Newcastle United
Arsenal v Manchester City
Everton v Manchester United
All ties are to be played the week commencing December 21.
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Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Company%20Profile
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Company%20profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher: Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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TOP 5 DRIVERS 2019
1 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 10 wins 387 points
2 Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 4 wins, 314 points
3 Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 3 wins, 260 points
4 Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 2 wins, 249 points
5 Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1 win, 230 points
SPECS
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Company%20Profile
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MORE ON IRAN'S PROXY WARS
Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin
Director: Shawn Levy
Rating: 3/5
SPECS
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The%20Genius%20of%20Their%20Age
%3Cp%3EAuthor%3A%20S%20Frederick%20Starr%3Cbr%3EPublisher%3A%20Oxford%20University%20Press%3Cbr%3EPages%3A%20290%3Cbr%3EAvailable%3A%20January%2024%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
TCL INFO
Teams:
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
Mission%3A%20Impossible%20-%20Dead%20Reckoning%20Part%20One
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