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Kane matches Shearer's Premier League record
Harry Kane matched Alan Shearer's record of 36 Premier League goals in a calendar year with a hat-trick in Tottenham's 3-0 victory over Burnley.
England striker Kane opened the scoring at Turf Moor from the penalty spot in just the 7th minute, adding two more in the space of 10 minutes.
The 24-year-old consequently moved past Robin van Persie's 35-goal haul in 2011 and drew level with Shearer, who set the record while at Blackburn Rovers in 1995.
Kane has the opportunity to set a new benchmark when Tottenham entertain Southampton at Wembley on Boxing Day - their final outing of 2017.
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Austin gets 3-match ban
Southampton striker Charlie Austin has been banned for 3 games by the Football Association after being charged with violent conduct.
Austin scored his fifth goal in 7 appearances as the Saints were held to a 1-1 draw by Huddersfield Town on Saturday before limping off with a hamstring injury that could sideline him for up to 4 weeks.
But he also courted controversy when he appeared to kick Terriers goalkeeper Jonas Lossl as the Dane came out to gather a throughball.
Austin accepted the charge but his argument that a 3-game ban was excessive was rejected by an independent regulatory commission, according to a statement released by his club.
The 28-year-old will therefore miss Premier League trips to Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United over the next week, as well as the home game against Crystal Palace on 2 January.
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Manchester City vs The Invincibles
How Premier League leaders measure up to Arsenal heroes
It promises to be a very merry Christmas for Manchester City fans as they toast a first half of the season that has seen them build up a record advantage over second place Manchester United in the Premier League.
Having gone 19 matches without defeat, talk of Pep Guardiola's side going the full season unbeaten has inevitably grown in volume.
Arsenal are the only club to have achieved the feat in the Premier League era - doing so in 2003-2004.
But how do the two sides compare ? Here, we crunch the numbers.
A RECORD LEAD
Arsenal's midway tally of 45 points was only enough to earn them second spot in early January - a point behind Manchester United - and they would be a daunting 10 adrift of the current City side.
6 draws from their opening 19 matches of an unbeaten season meant that, while Arsenal were impossible to beat, they struggled to truly take control of the campaign.
City, by contrast, have been held just once - a 1-1 draw with Everton in their second match of the season - and have opened up a 13-point lead over United at the summit.
That gap is the biggest at Christmas in top flight history and City have embarked on a 17-match winning run since their draw with Everton - an English league record.
Arsenal's biggest win in the first half of the 2003-2004 season was a 4-0 victory at Middlesbrough, while this City side have matched or surpassed that winning margin on 6 separate occasions.
GOALS GALORE
With results like that it is no surprise to learn that City are some way clear of Arsenal when it comes to goals scored.
City's 60 goals from 19 matches sees them a whopping 25 better off than Arsenal's 2003-2004 contingent at the same stage, helping them surpass 100 in 2017 - the first side since Liverpool in 1982 to achieve that feat.
Their goal difference also dwarfs that of Arsene Wenger's side of 14 years ago - +48 compared to Arsenal's +23.
Individually, Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero lead the way for Guardiola's side with 12 goals apiece, ahead of Gabriel Jesus on 8 and the ever-present Kevin De Bruyne on 6, alongside Leroy Sane.
Thierry Henry's half-season total for Arsenal matches that of Sterling and Aguero but he carried more of the goalscoring burden alone, with Robert Pires Arsenal's next best on 7, ahead of Gilberto Silva on 4.
CITY CLOSEST TO DEFEAT
While City dominate most of the comparisons, it is Guardiola's men who have actually come closest to losing in the first half of the season.
The latest equalising goal scored by Arsenal was in the 69th minute of an eventual 2-1 victory over local rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
City, meanwhile, had to wait until the 82nd minute for Sterling to salvage a point in their solitary draw against Everton.
But Guardiola's side have since been peerless, defeating every team in their path to tee up a potentially historic second half of the season.
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Kane breaks Shearer record
Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane broke the record for goals scored in the Premier League in a calendar year with his effort against Southampton.
The 24-year-old took his tally for 2017 to 36 with his hat-trick in the 3-0 win over Burnley on Saturday, drawing level with the record set by Alan Shearer for Blackburn Rovers in 1995.
And Kane's close-range header after 22 minutes against the Saints on Boxing Day saw him surpass the tally set by the Rovers, Newcastle and England great to claim a personal slice of Premier League history.
Kane then added a second effort inside the first half that saw him move past Lionel Messi as Europe's top scorer since January, with 55 goals for club and country.
The England international's record-breaking goal, his 37th, came in only his 36th top flight appearance in 2017, giving him a better goal-per-game ratio than Shearer managed 22 years ago, when he scored 36 in 42 matches.
In fact, it is the best record for the player with the most number of goals in a year since Luis Suarez scored 29 in 28 games for Liverpool in 2013.
Kane, who was the leading marksman in 2015 with 27 goals in 38 games, is also the first English player to end a calendar year as the top scorer in the Premier League since Wayne Rooney in 2009.
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Kante beats Mbappe to French Player of the Year award
Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kante capped a fine 2017 by being named France Football's French Player of the Year.
Kante beat Paris Saint-Germain star and fellow France international Kylian Mbappe to the award on Tuesday.
The 26-year-old, who succeeded last year's winner Antoine Griezmann, edged Mbappe by 5 votes, while Real Madrid's Karim Benzema finished third.
Kante, who led Leicester City to a remarkable Premier League title success 2 seasons ago, helped Chelsea to the top flight crown in 2016-2017.
His exploits for Chelsea saw him crowned Premier League Player of the Season, PFA Players' Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year.
Kante, who finished eighth in the Ballon d'Or behind record-equalling winner Cristiano Ronaldo, also took out Chelsea's Players' Player of the Year award.
In 2017-2018, Kante has made 17 appearances and scored once as Chelsea sit third in the table, 13 points behind runaway leaders Manchester City.
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Wenger 811 - The Arsenal manager's most memorable moments
Arsene Wenger will surpass Alex Ferguson's record number of Premier League matches when he leads Arsenal for the 811th time at West Bromwich on Sunday.
The Frenchman took over at Highbury in 1996 and has won 10 major trophies during his time at the club, most recently lifting last season's FA Cup.
Such a long spell at Arsenal has produced numerous memorable moments, both good and bad, but Wenger's status as a club legend - despite a clear split in the current opinion of fans - is secure.
Here, we look at 5 of the best moments from Wenger's reign.
THE DOUBLE
Wenger became the first foreign manager to win the double in England when he led Arsenal to Premier League and FA Cup success in 1997-1998, his second season at the helm.
The title was a stunning triumph, with Arsenal overcoming a 13-point deficit to Manchester United in order to be crowned champions.
From Boxing Day, Arsenal won 15 and drew 3 in an 18-match span. The run culminated in the title being won with a memorable 4-0 home win over Everton, captain Tony Adams scoring the 4th goal.
Arsenal went on to seal the double with a 2-0 FA Cup Final victory over Newcastle, Marc Overmars and Nicolas Anelka scoring at Wembley.
SIGNING THIERRY HENRY
Arsenal suffered a massive blow when Anelka was granted his wish to join Real Madrid for a reported £23 million in 1999.
Wenger had planned to sign Thierry Henry to pair with Anelka in attack but instead the arrival from Juventus would have to replace his compatriot, with his task seemingly made all the more daunting by the fact that he cost half the price (£11,5 million).
The signing of Henry proved to be a Wenger masterstroke, however.
In 8 seasons, the forward scored 174 Premier League goals and 226 in all competitions, passing Ian Wright to become the top scorer in the club's history and earning himself a statue outside Emirates Stadium in the process.
Henry was sold to FC Barcelona in 2007, a move which more than recouped his initial transfer fee, before returning to the club for a loan spell in 2012, adding another 2 goals to his tally and cementing his place in Arsenal fans' hearts.
OLD TRAFFORD WIN SEALS SECOND DOUBLE
Arsenal had gone 3 full seasons without a trophy before Wenger led them back to top of English football with his second double in 2001-2002.
With Henry leading the league's goalcoring charts, the Gunners only lost 3 Premier League matches all season en route to the title.
They ultimately took the crown from defending champions United by winning the penultimate game of the season at Old Trafford, a 1-0 victory given to them by Sylvain Wiltord's famous second half finish past Fabien Barthez.
4 days earlier, Arsenal had beaten rivals Chelsea in the FA Cup Final in Cardiff, late goals from Ray Parlour and Freddie Ljungberg proving decisive.
THE INVINCIBLES
Wenger orchestrated the most famous season in Arsenal's history in 2003-2004, as his "Invincibles" team went through the whole Premier League season without defeat to win the title.
Arsenal won 26 games and drew 12, conceding just 26 goals in their 38 unbeaten matches.
The Gunners were the first top flight team to achieve the feat since Preston North End had managed it 115 years prior and the first to do so in the 38-game era.
Henry scored 30 goals to be named PFA Player of the Year for the second straight year, while captain Patrick Vieira was also nominated for the accolade, with Ashely Cole, Sol Campbell, Lauren and Robert Pires all joining them in the Team of the Year for a campaign Arsenal fans will never forget.
FA CUP WIN ENDS 9-YEAR TROPHY DROUGHT
Arsenal won the FA Cup in the year after their "Invincibles" season but went through 9 years without silverware after that, piling intense pressure on Wenger.
That made victory in the same competition in 2014 a huge milestone for the manager.
Success was far from straightforward, though. Arsenal beat Tottenham Hotspur, Coventry City, Liverpool and Everton to reach the semi-finals, where they were hot favourites for glory.
But they needed a penalty shoot-out to beat Championship side Wigan Athletic in the last 4 and then had to come from 2 goals down to eventually defeat Hull City in extra-time of a dramatic Final that ended the club's trophy drought.
Arsenal went on to make it back-to-back FA Cup triumphs by winning the 2015 competition, too. It was Wenger's 6th winners' medal, and his 7th in 2016-2017 made him the most successful manager in the competition's history.
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