Manchester United are slowly but surely building up momentum for this season, with Jose Mourinho seemingly getting his personnel and the balance between attack and defence right. Having picked up three wins in a row, the next step will be to keep that run going when the festive fixtures come calling in the Premier League.
The first of those will be on Boxing Day, against relegation-threatened Sunderland. It is never easy playing a team battling for Premier League survival and you add the fact that the Black Cats have been pretty decent of late and also that they are currently managed by David Moyes, the former United manager, this match becomes that little bit more difficult.
Moyes, no doubt, will like nothing better than to get one over his former club and Mourinho will be wary of Sunderland going into this Boxing Day fixture.
If they do manage to win that match at Old Trafford – which, they should, even with the various subplots – Manchester United will hope to make it five wins in five with a positive result over Middlesbrough on New Year's Eve.
Boro have been quite difficult to score against this season, so the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba and Wayne Rooney, if he plays, will need to be at their best for this match, a second home game in the festive season.
The final Premier League match before we switch over to the FA Cup for a week will be against West Ham, who, by then could either be mired in a relegation battle or moving upwards with a few positive results.
Either way, it will be another difficult game – as most Premier League games are – but if Manchester United manage to overcome that hurdle as well, they could find themselves well placed for a top four finish this season, which will make Mourinho feel even more at home than he does at the moment.
"Here, I have felt people with open arms," Mourinho said. "It's not just a very calm and intelligent board and owners, they know what they want, they have big experience already and they're very calm and pragmatic, I have good conditions to work.
"The players and people that surround me, I felt some sadness because people that love football obviously want to be successful and everyone tries to help to go in the same direction.
"Expectations are high, results are up and down, and we are in a position where we don't want to be. I have passion for my work, passion for my new work. I'm feeling really happy here."
Three more wins on the bounce and so will the fans.
Manchester United festive season schedule:
Monday, December 26, Boxing Day: Manchester United vs Sunderland (3pm GMT, 8.30pm IST, 10am ET) at Old Trafford.
Saturday, December 31: Manchester United vs Middlesbrough (3pm GMT, 8.30pm IST, 10am ET) at Old Trafford.
Monday, January 2: West Ham United vs Manchester United (5.15pm GMT, 10.45pm IST, 12.15pm ET) at London Stadium.
