At the time of writing, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City have posted five wins from their first five matches of the 2023/24 season. If they win one more, they’ll equal their best-ever start to an EPL campaign, and the way they are playing, they might well surpass it. They face Forest next, then Wolves, before a tough test away at Arsenal, so who knows when their run will end.
But they still have some way to go to break the record for the most consecutive wins at the start of a Premier League season. So, let’s take a look at which team holds that honour as we examine the 10 best-ever starts to an EPL season. Note that for the purposes of this article we are looking at the most consecutive wins from the start of the season, rather than the most points after a certain number of games.
Top 10 Best EPL Starts
| Team | Season | Consecutive Wins | Finishing Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | 2005/06 | 9 | 1st |
| Liverpool | 2019/20 | 8 | 1st |
| Newcastle | 1994/95 | 6 | 6th |
| Chelsea | 2009/10 | 6 | 1st |
| Manchester City | 2016/17 | 6 | 3rd |
| Liverpool | 2018/19 | 6 | 2nd |
| Arsenal | 2004/05 | 5 | 2nd |
| Manchester United | 2011/12 | 5 | 2nd |
| Arsenal | 2022/23 | 5 | 2nd |
| Manchester City | 2023/24 | 5* | TBD |
*And counting…
Given Man City’s dominance in recent years, it might surprise a few people that they are only joint-third on the list (for now at least!). But let’s take a closer look at how the best of these brilliant starts materialised… and whether the teams in question were able to maintain their early momentum.
Chelsea – 2005/06 (9 Wins)
Teams Beaten: Wigan Athletic, Arsenal, West Brom, Tottenham, Sunderland, Charlton, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Bolton Wanderers
Finishing Position: 1st
Chelsea came into the 2005/06 season on a high having just won their first top-flight league title for 50 years. Blues boss Jose Mourinho could do little wrong at the time, and it really was a special time for the club as they got off to a blistering start that included some impressive victories (such as the 4-1 victory over Liverpool at Anfield and the 2-0 win at Spurs).
It was Everton who eventually brought Chelsea’s 100% start to an end as the Toffees earned a 1-1 draw at Goodison. But Chelsea maintained their fine form and only lost one game (1-0 at Man United) until February. They won the league by eight points from Man United, though it would have been a more handsome margin had the Blues not lost their last two matches with the title already in the bag (to Blackburn and Newcastle).
Liverpool
Teams Beaten: Norwich, Southampton, Arsenal, Burnley, Newcastle, Chelsea, Sheffield United, Leicester City
Finishing Position: 1st
In a season that will be long-remembered for being interrupted by the global health crisis, for Reds fans, it marked their first Premier League title. And they got off to an astoundingly good start with eight consecutive victories. They only managed a draw against Man United in their ninth match, but then put together a record-equalling run of 18 consecutive victories that essentially put the title to bed. Put another way, they won an incredible 26 of their first 27 games, taking 79 points out of 81!
At one point there was a real danger the season might have to be abandoned altogether (a prospect that Everton and Man United fans probably thought made perfect sense!). But in the end, there was merely a delay and Liverpool won the title by a whopping 18 points ahead of Man City. Liverpool’s total tally of 99 points was just one short of Man City’s record of 100 (set in 2017/18).
Newcastle United
Teams Beaten: Leicester City, Coventry City, Southampton, West Ham United, Chelsea, Arsenal
Finishing Position: 6th
Just to show that a brilliant start doesn’t always translate into a Premier League title, Newcastle could only manage a sixth-place finish in 1994/95 despite winning their first six matches. Kevin Keegan was at the helm at the time and after 11 games, his side were unbeaten in the league, had dropped just four points and were sitting pretty at the top of the table. They were still top going into November, but then a truly terrible run of just one win in their next 11 games saw them slip off the top of the pile.
After a rather mixed second-half of the season, Newcastle ended up back in sixth position, 16 points before champions Blackburn Rovers, with even the likes of Leeds United and Nottingham Forest finishing ahead of them. We can’t see the same happening to City in 2023/24 somehow!
Chelsea
Teams Beaten: Wigan Athletic, Arsenal, West Brom, Tottenham, Sunderland, Charlton, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Bolton Wanderers
Finishing Position: 1st
Another entry for Chelsea on the fast-starters list, this time with Carlo Ancelotti in the dugout. The Blues hadn’t won the title since the 2005/06 season mentioned above, and the fans were getting restless. But Ancelotti brought the winning mentality back to Stamford Bridge and led the side to 12 wins from their first 14 league matches of this campaign.
That run included wins in each of the first six games, though it’s fair to suggest it wasn’t a bad run of fixtures with which to open the season: Hull, Sunderland, Fulham, Burnley, Stoke and Spurs. Still, Chelsea made the most of it and went on to win the title by a massive 10 points from Arsenal, scoring a massive 103 goals in the process.
Manchester City
Teams Beaten: Sunderland, Stoke City, West Ham United, Manchester United, Bournemouth, Swansea City
Finishing Position: 3rd
Man City haven’t featured as many times on this list as some might have expected. And it is also surprising that their best start in a Premier League season (at least at the time of writing) didn’t translate into the Citizens winning the title. In fact they only finished in third place in 2016, behind Chelsea and Tottenham.
They did at least get a win against local rivals United within their opening six victories. Pep Guardiola wouldn’t have been happy that his side couldn’t maintain their good start. But he’d no doubt have settled for the consolation of winning five of the next six Premier League titles!
Liverpool
Teams Beaten: Wigan Athletic, Arsenal, West Brom, Tottenham, Sunderland, Charlton, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Bolton Wanderers
Finishing Position: 2nd
The final side to have won at least their first six games of a Premier League season was Liverpool in 2018/19. Jurgen Klopp’s men were determined to mount a serious title challenge and they got off to a great start, beating West Ham, Crystal Palace, Brighton, Leicester, Spurs and Southampton to propel themselves to the top of the table.
Unfortunately for the Reds, Pep’s Man City were also firing on all cylinders. This made for one of the most exciting title races in years as the two sides alternated between first and second throughout the campaign. Liverpool only lost one match all season… but crucially, that was against Man City and it was the Citizens who pipped Liverpool to the title by a single point!