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LONDON — The 20-game mark has been reached in this enthralling English Premier League soccer season and whether you think it has been the best ever or the worst in history, no-one can deny that it has gripped fans.

No team has been able to establish a grip on the top of the table, even though current champions Chelsea, who dominated last year, are already out of contention by January. Arsenal are the only side ever to win the English Premier League title after being outside the top five at this stage (they were sixth at this point on their way to winning it in the 1997 /98 season.)

Sportsmail has taken a look at the five main title contenders and analysed where each team will win it or lose it.

FIRST: Arsenal — 42 points

Arsene Wenger’s side were in imperious form until the crushing 4-0 defeat by Southampton on Boxing Day.

That is the only match they have not won in the past seven, but the result irked supporters who were starting to believe that this was their season. They are two points clear of Leicester at the top and likely to be more important come the end of the season, three ahead of Manchester City.

Arsenal must maintain consistency if they want to win it this year. They are always among the title contenders, Wenger is an expert at keeping with the pack, but the fact they are top at the midway stage and still not considered favourites by the bookies shows the public perception of them as a side who aren’t quite good enough.

KEY PLAYER: Mesut Ozil.

STAYING POWER: We are into the 12th season since Arsenal last won the league title. Between 1998 and 2005 they won it three times and did not finish outside the top two for eight seasons in a row, but the club have not ended the season as runners-up in a decade now and have lacked the stamina to go all the way.

POTENTIAL JANUARY TRANSFERS: Mohamed Elneny (Basle), Havard Nordtveit, Granit Xhaka (Borussia Monchengladbach), Aleksandr Kokorin (Dynamo Moscow), Lucas Perez (Deportivo), Victor Osimhen (Ultimate Strikers Academy).

NEXT FIVE LEAGUE FIXTURES: Liverpool (A), Stoke (A), Chelsea (H), Southampton (H), Bournemouth (A).

BETTING ODDS: 11 /8 (All odds William Hill).

SECOND: Leicester — 40 points

They are the season’s feel-good story. Jamie Vardy’s record-breaking scoring run, Riyad Mahrez the £350 000 signing taking the league by storm, beating team after team when everyone expects results to slip away eventually . . .

Then they drew 0-0 with Manchester City over Christmas and fans realised Claudio Ranieri’s side might just have staying power. Can they win the title? It would need a miracle. It would need them to ignore the outside world, to blot out the hype, to cope with the pressure of becoming title contenders and play with the freedom that has made them one. It would also need Vardy and Mahrez — two of the league’s top scorers with 15 and 13 goals respectively — to keep up their strike rate. A tough task.

KEY PLAYER: Riyad Mahrez.

STAYING POWER: They have learnt how to win titles in recent times: they were Championship winners two seasons ago, League One table-toppers in 2009. But the top flight is a completely different sphere and you have to look back to 1963 to see the last time they even finished inside the top four.

POTENTIAL JANUARY TRANSFERS: Charlie Austin (QPR), Nigel de Jong (AC Milan), Demarai Gray (Birmingham), Aleksandar Dragovic (Dinamo Kiev), Pione Sisto (FC Midtjylland), Andy Delort (Caen), Lovre Kalinic (Hajduk Split), Pedro Pereira (Sampdoria).

NEXT FIVE FIXTURES: Tottenham (A), Aston Villa (A), Stoke (H), Liverpool (H), Manchester City (A).

BETTING ODDS: 25/ 1.

THIRD: Manchester

City — 39 points

Wounded by Jose Mourinho when his Chelsea side brushed them aside on their way to taking the Premier League title from them last season, Manchester City won their first five matches of this campaign, scoring 11 goals and conceding none. It appeared they were back and stronger than ever following a £100million spend in the summer.

But Manuel Pellegrini’s side became beatable — destroyed by Liverpool, stunned by Stoke, out-manoeuvred by Arsenal. They are the most likely of the teams to go on to lift the trophy.

They have strength in depth that far eclipses their rivals and man-for-man their squad is better than any of the others. But they need to avoid injuries to key players, which occurs all too often and can mean the difference between winning the title and finishing second.

KEY PLAYER: Sergio Aguero.

STAYING POWER: Winners twice and runners-up twice in the past four seasons, they are the most successful Premier League side of the past four years and favourites to win it this time around.

POTENTIAL JANUARY TRANSFERS: Andrija Zivkovic (Partizan Belgrade), Isco (Real Madrid).

NEXT FIVE FIXTURES: Everton (H), Crystal Palace (H), West Ham (A), Sunderland (A), Leicester (H).

BETTING ODDS: 6 /5.

FOURTH: Tottenham Hotspur — 36 points

They have lost just twice in the league all season and set a club record run of unbeaten games from their opening day defeat by Manchester United. That would have stretched until the present day had their other loss not been an out-of-character performance against relegation-threatened Newcastle. Harry Kane has coped well with pressure building from struggling to score in the early stages and already has 11 in the league. There is a feel-good factor about the place, permeating the football club from manager Mauricio Pochettino who is, simply, a really nice bloke.

If they can turn a few of their draws (nine so far this season) into wins, they really could win the title, however odd that sounds.

KEY PLAYER: Harry Kane.

STAYING POWER: Third is their highest-placed finish in the top tier in the past 26 years. Six finishes inside the top six during the last six years have made them a consistent side, but still one lacking the know-how to win the title.

POTENTIAL JANUARY TRANSFERS: Saido Berahino (WBA), Sandro Ramirez (Barcelona), Laurent Depoitre (Gent), Michy Batshuayi (Marseille).

NEXT FIVE FIXTURES: Leicester (H), Sunderland (H), Crystal Palace (A), Norwich (A), Watford (H).

BETTING ODDS: 10/ 1.

FIFTH: Manchester United

— 33 points

Manager Louis van Gaal has survived a rocky ride in December. Reports that he would be sacked if they lost to Stoke proved unfounded when they lost to Stoke. The Premier League beast bucked and reared but he held on for dear life and is probably looking at the league table now having come through it and feeling that nine points off first-place Arsenal is nowhere near as bad as it could have been.

Wayne Rooney has to rediscover his form if they are to stand any chance of keeping up with the rest and making a late charge. He showed a glimpse of that, with a wonderful back-heel flick to win the match against Swansea — their first victory in eight games.

He needs help from Anthony Martial and Memphis Depay too.

KEY PLAYER: Wayne Rooney.

STAYING POWER: Thirteen Premier League title wins since the league’s inception in 1992 makes them the most qualified of any team — by a long way — to win it.

Under Alex Ferguson they did not finish outside the top three, but times have changed and they have ended the season seventh and fourth in the last two.

POTENTIAL JANUARY TRANSFERS: Felipe Anderson (Lazio), Yoshinori Muto (Mainz), Riyad Mahrez (Leicester), Goncalo Guedes (Benfica), Rafa Silva (Braga), Lucas Moura (PSG), Moussa Dembele (Fulham), Saido Berahino (WBA), Benjamin Mendy (Marseille), Adriano (Barcelona), Ryan Bertrand (Southampton), Sadio Mane (Southampton).

NEXT FIVE FIXTURES: Newcastle (A), Liverpool (A), Southampton (H), Stoke (H), Chelsea (A).

BETTING ODDS: 20 /1.— Mailonline.