By Opta Analyst | Created at 2026-09-29 07:26:01 | Updated at 2026-09-29 08:25:40
1 hour ago
Manchester City may have started the season with five wins from five, but as the Premier League has proved many times in the past, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
The first international break of the season always gives us time to take stock and try to make sense of what’s happened in the early matchdays of the season.
Of course, 2026-27 isn’t much different to usual, but this time around clubs have got longer to stew on whether they’ve started well or struggled given the extended September/October pause.
Sitting at the top of the Premier League table, Manchester City are the only team to have won all five of their matches in 2026-27, with the club starting life after Pep Guardiola in the best way possible on the pitch.
They’ve already opened up a three-point gap over biggest title rivals Arsenal, but does their fast start necessarily mean a first Premier League title in three years is expected for City?
Now, there’s obviously the small matter of City reportedly being found guilty of 114 of the 115 financial rule breaches they were charged for and which they deny, but for the purposes of this article, we’ll try to ignore all the potential ramifications of that.
Premier League Winning Starts
Enzo Maresca’s side became the 15th different team to win their opening five games of a Premier League season, and it’s the fourth occasion City have managed it.
They have only won the title in one of the three previous seasons they’ve made a 100% winning start from five games, though. They won the league in 2023-24 but failed to capitalise on five wins from five to start both 2015-16 and 2016-17.
That follows a wider trend across the league when looking at teams to win their opening five matches of a season.
Only four of the 14 teams to win their first five matches of a Premier League season have gone on to win the title that season (29%): Man City in 2023-24, Liverpool in 2019-20 and Chelsea in both 2009-10 and 2005-06.
Perhaps most importantly, all four teams went on to add to their winning streak to start those seasons. Chelsea in 2009-10 and Man City in 2023-24 extended their run by another game (six wins), while Liverpool (8 wins in 2019-20) and Chelsea (9 wins in 2005-06) went on the two longest winning runs by a club to start a Premier League season.
Tottenham hold the record for the most consecutive wins to start a top-flight league season, winning their first 11 games in 1960-61. Unsurprisingly, they won the title that campaign.
But a winning start doesn’t guarantee success, as Manchester United found in 1985-86. Despite winning their first 10 games that season (and remaining unbeaten in their first 15) under Ron Atkinson, the Red Devils collapsed and ended the season in fourth place.
Five from Five
It must be said, City’s start this season has been helped by having one of the easiest five-game openings for the 2026-27.
According to the Opta Power Rankings, City had the second-easiest start this season, with their opponents having an average Opta Power Rating of 91.2. Only Liverpool (91.1) were handed a simpler start to the season by the Premier League fixture computer.
However, as many say, there are no easy games in the Premier League, so maybe City’s start shouldn’t be downplayed.
One stat to potentially worry City is that none of the previous seven clubs to start a Premier League season with exactly five wins have gone on the win the title in that campaign.
The most recent of those was Liverpool last season. Arne Slot’s reigning champions won games against Bournemouth, Newcastle, Arsenal, Burnley and Everton to open the 2025-26 Premier League campaign with five wins from five before losing four in a row. The fact Liverpool won four of their first five games with goals scored after the 83rd minute or later pointed to their run being slightly unsustainable, and so it proved.
Question marks about City’s defensive qualities in their opening five games this season have pointed to the possibility of this being another case of an unsustainable winning run. Their credentials will be tested upon the return to Premier League action on MD6 when they head to Anfield to play Liverpool, who are still unbeaten under new boss Andoni Iraola.
The lowest position a team have finished after winning their first five games of a Premier League season is sixth (Newcastle United in 1994-95), although that did come in a 42-game campaign.
Looking back across all English top-flight history, City’s current streak is the 40th different occasion of a team winning their first five games in a season. Just 14 of the previous 39 have gone on to win the league title (36%).
Eventual Premier League Champions
The average points won by Premier League champions from the first five games across the previous 34 Premier League campaigns is 11.3, which is above the total secured by Arsenal en route to their first Premier League title in 22 years last term.
The Gunners won 10 points from their first five games in 2025-26, dropping three in a defeat to Liverpool at Anfield on MD4 before drawing 1-1 at home with Man City on MD5.
Mikel Arteta’s side have started this season better, winning 12 points from a possible 15, with their only blemish the shock 3-0 loss at Brighton on MD5.
The fewest points eventual Premier League champions have won from their first five games was in the inaugural 1992-93 season. Man Utd won only seven points (W2 D1 L2) from their first five matches, but with an additional four games to play due to the 22-team makeup of the division, Alex Ferguson’s side had time to recover and win the title.
No team have won a Premier League title in a 38-game season after winning fewer than eight points from their first five matches. United have won the league four times after winning exactly eight points from their opening five games of a campaign (1998-99, 2002-03, 2007-08 and 2008-09), with City replicating that feat in 2020-21. What we’re trying to say is, Hull City and Newcastle fans, it’s still possible!
The most astonishing turnaround by title winners in English top-flight history has got to be Sunderland’s effort in 1912-13, though.
The Black Cats failed to win any of their first seven games that season, drawing two and losing the other five, but they went on to win the First Division title. With just two points for a win back then, it was easier for teams to recover from a run of poor results; a monumental comeback nevertheless.
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