There must have been something in the air around the Barclays Premier League last Saturday.41 goals were scored in 8 matches, with score-lines redolent of a bygone age, and the kind of swashbuckling, cavalier football that delights fans and causes managers to reach for their angina pills.
8 goals were scored at Goodison Park, as Everton beat Blackpool.
8 more went in at St James' Park as Newcastle produced the greatest comeback in Premier League history to earn a point against Arsenal; and the DW Stadium witnessed a magnificent 7, as Wigan hit 4 at home, having produced a measly 12 in their previous 13 games.
While statistics are all very interesting, they do little to reflect the spirit of the day and the compelling nature of the games in a league that has had its fair share of negative publicity in the past.
The Barclays Premier League has been accused of being elitist (so sue it...) and guided in its actions and directives purely by money, but there was something about the ‘hammer and tongs' nature of the way teams went at one another last Saturday that reminded us all of what joy football can bring when it sticks to its core values of providing excitement and entertainment to spectators.
Presenting the live football for ESPN on Saturday night, I was very nearly left speechless as Cheik Tiote scored Newcastle's 4th goal to grab the unlikeliest of draws against Arsenal, who were 4-0 up at half-time.
While that was happening, Everton were scoring 3 goals in the space of 14 minutes at Goodison Park, to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 win.
You simply couldn't take your eyes off anything, as goals were applied to the Premier League scoreboard with the apparent abandonment of Jackson Pollock's paint on a splatter work. Not only could you not take your eyes off anything, but you also didn't know which way too look - all deliciously problematic.
Although it was the highest scoring Saturday in Premier League history, it pales into insignificance when compared to Boxing Day in the top flight of English football back in 1963.
In those days, professionalism was not exactly at its peak, and players were not the finely toned athletes that we see today. It's fair to assume that any number of individuals had hit the Christmas turkey and brandy pudding with gusto the previous day, and may even have been hung-over come kick-off time.
Players of the era will refute such suggestions, and point to the more attack-minded tactics of yesteryear, when defending was incidental, goalkeepers were not expected to do much, and teams often started with 5 up front.
Perhaps that would explain Fulham's 10-1 win at home against Ipswich Town, Liverpool's 6-1 win against Stoke, a 4-4 draw at West Brom, and 3-3 draws at Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday and Wolves.
66 goals were scored in the 10 games that day, a record that one suspects will be very difficult to beat, especially in this day and age. While we'd love to see it happen again (and again) we have to accept that it was an anomaly, and things will get back to normal this coming weekend, especially looking at the key fixture that sees Manchester United hosting Manchester City.
If their previous encounter this season is anything to go by - a turgid 0-0 draw at Eastlands in November - we'll be lucky to get a single goal, never mind the 8 conjured up at Goodison and St James'.
If anything though, Saturday's early kick-off between the two Manchester rivals will be even more intense this time round, bearing in mind it is a game that neither side can afford to lose if they want to keep their title aspirations on track.
Sir Alex Ferguson and Roberto Mancini may well settle for a bore draw again at the weekend, but who else would not want to see a score-line that reads Manchester United 5 Manchester City 5?