Arsenal will go into the New Year on top of the Premier League table after beating Newcastle United 1-0 at St James' Park on Sunday.
The Gunners secured their 13th win in 19 outings thanks to Olivier Giroud's 65th-minute header from a Theo Walcott free-kick for his eighth of the campaign.
Sitting on 41 points, just one behind Arsenal, are premiership favourites Manchester City who are on a winning run of four and an unbeaten streak of eight after edging Crystal Palace 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
Edin Dzeko scored the only goal of the match when slotting home Jesus Navas' low cross in the 66th minute.
Third place at the end of 2013 belongs to Chelsea after they came from behind to defeat Liverpool 2-1 with the Reds dropping to fifth after their second straight loss.
Martin Skrtel put the Merseysiders ahead inside four minutes before Eden Hazard and Samuel Eto'o allowed the Blues to stay in touch with the top two, as they sit two points in arrears of Arsenal.
Everton maintained their impressive beginning to the season by getting the better of Southampton 2-1 at Goodison Park to move up to fourth, having lost just twice thus far.
Seamus Coleman and on-loan striker Romelu Lukaku scored either side of Gaston Ramirez's 71st-minute equaliser.
Elsewhere, Manchester United made it four wins in a row when edging Norwich City 1-0 at Carrow Road thanks to Danny Welbeck's second-half goal, Aston Villa and Swansea City drew 1-1 at Villa Park as bottom-of-the-table Sunderland scored twice late to force a 2-2 draw at Cardiff City.
19th-placed West Ham United twice blew a lead to be held to a 3-3 draw by West Bromwich Albion in a fascinating encounter highlighted by a brace from Nicolas Anelka, Hull City turned it on with an emphatic 6-0 demolition job of Fulham at the KC Stadium to move to tenth as seventh-placed Tottenham recorded their first home win in five outings by comfortably accounting for Stoke City 3-0.
2013/14 Barclays Premier League scores
West Ham United: 3 (Joe Cole 4', Modibo Maiga 65', Kevin Nolan 67') West Bromwich Albion: 3 (Nicolas Anelka 40'/45+1', Saido Berahino 69') Upton Park, London - 34,946
Aston Villa: 1 (Gabriel Agbonlahor 7') Swansea City: 1 (Roland Lamah 36') Villa Park, Birmingham - 37,028
Hull City: 6 (Ahmed Elmohamady 49', Robert Koren 60'/84', George Boyd 63', Tom Huddlestone 67', Matt Fryatt 74') Fulham: 0 KC Stadium, Kingston-upon-Hull - 23,925
Manchester City: 1 (Edin Dzeko 66') Crystal Palace: 0 Etihad Stadium, Manchester - 47,107
Norwich City: 0 Manchester United: 1 (Danny Welbeck 57') Carrow Road, Norwich - 26,851
Cardiff City: 2 (Jordon Mutch 6', Fraizer Campbell 58') Sunderland: 2 (Steven Fletcher 83', Jack Colback 90+5') Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff - 27,247
Everton: 2 (Seamus Coleman 9', Romelu Lukaku 74') Southampton: 1 (Gaston Ramirez 71') Goodison Park, Liverpool - 39,092
Newcastle United: 0 Arsenal: 1 (Olivier Giroud 65') St James' Park, Newcastle-upon-Tyne - 52,161
Chelsea: 2 (Eden Hazard 17', Samuel Eto'o 34') Liverpool: 1 (Martin Skrtel 3') Stamford Bridge, London - 41,614
Tottenham: 3 (Roberto Soldado (p) 37', Mousa Dembele 65', Aaron Lennon 69') Stoke City: 0 White Hart Lane, London - 36,072
