Perfect Starts and Premier League Titles: Is There Any Correlation? Analyst

Manchester City may have started the season with five wins from five, but as thePremier Leaguehas 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.