While the world of Football continues to debate if Arsenal can maintain their title challenge, the history books suggests they can.
While winning 9 out of our first 10 fixtures is the Gunners best ever start to the Premiership, it’s actually something that has only happened 4 times in the history of the competition.
Here’s what happened every time ….
Chelsea 2005-2006
Chelsea officially made the best ever start to a campaign, winning their first 9 games.
It’s a standard they kept up winning 20 out of their first 22 matches, meaning they had won the title by xmas.
This allowed them to take their foot off the pedal in the second part of the season.
This was Jose Mourinho proving you could win the Championship essentially based on how you came out of the traps, setting such a pace no one could keep up.
Man city 2011-12
On the other hand, this version of Man City are an example of how a great start isn’t always enough.
Mancini’s side won 13 of their first 16 games yet when they lost at the Emirates in April, they found themselves 8 points behind Man United in the title race.
That left them having to win their remaining 6 fixtures, including the Manchester Derby, famously winning their first ever Prem on goal difference in the last seconds of the whole season.
Man City 17-18
This was the beginning of an era where based on how you started a season, while you couldn’t win the title by xmas, you could lose it.
City won an incredible 20 out of their first 22 games, meaning their rivals couldn’t afford to drop any points if they wanted to compete. Between them and Liverpool, it’s a standard that hasn’t been dropped since.
Maybe not surprising given their winning sequence, City are the only team in Prem history to record 100 points, zero teams winning it as early as they did.
Liverpool 2019-20
Liverpool incredibly got to February having won every Prem Fixture, drawing just one.
In the history of the ‘big 5 leagues ‘it remains the greatest ever start to a season (79 out of 81 points).
This led to talk of could they match our Invincible season. Of course, once they couldn’t, suddenly the media went back to saying going unbeaten didn’t matter
As you can see, we are in esteemed company, some of the greatest Champions this country has ever produced.
Every team who has won 9 out their first 10 Prem fixtures went on to be that season’s Champions.
Will Arsenal be the exception to the rule or are we witnessing something special?
Dan
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