London: Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City set a new English top-flight record on Wednesday by registering a 15th consecutive victory with an emphatic 4-0 success at Swansea City.
Here are the longest winning streaks since England’s top division was relaunched as the Premier League in 1992:
11 wins
Four teams have recorded sequences of 11 wins: Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United between December 2008 and March 2009, Chelsea from April to September 2009 (under Guus Hiddink and then Carlo Ancelotti), Brendan Rodgers’s Liverpool between February and April 2014 and Manuel Pellegrini’s Manchester City between April and September 2015. Ferguson’s United and Ancelotti’s Chelsea both finished as champions, in 2009 and 2010 respectively, but Liverpool missed out on the title in agonising fashion in 2014 after Steven Gerrard’s infamous slip condemned them to a fatal defeat against Chelsea. City’s winning streak bridged seasons in which they finished second and fourth.
12 wins: Manchester United (March-August 2000)
United roared to the finish line in the 1999-2000 title race, winning their final 11 games and ending the campaign with a record 18-point advantage over nearest rivals Arsenal. They scored 37 goals in the process, including a 7-1 demolition of West Ham United in which Paul Scholes claimed a hat-trick. The following season began with a 2-0 win over Newcastle United and would once again end with United top of the pile.
13 wins: Chelsea (September 2016-January 2017)
The seeds for this storming run of wins were sown during Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat at Arsenal in September 2016, when new manager Antonio Conte switched to his preferred 3-4-3 formation. It proved the catalyst for a stunning upturn in fortunes, with Chelsea notably beating Tottenham Hotspur (2-1), Manchester United (4-0) and Manchester City (1-3). Their run came to an end in a 2-0 defeat at Tottenham last January, but they finished the campaign as champions.
14 wins: Arsenal (February-August 2002)
Arsenal set a record for the most wins within a single Premier League season (13) and the most successive wins in the English top flight (14) — both since beaten by City — as they romped to a second league and FA Cup double under Arsene Wenger. Fourth in the table in early February, Arsenal tore to the front with a run of 11 wins on the spin before securing the title with a 1-0 success at the home of title rivals Manchester United. They finished the season by beating Everton 4-3 at Highbury and opened their title defence with a 2-0 win over Birmingham City before drawing 2-2 at West Ham United.
15 wins: Manchester City (August-December 2017)
City manager Guardiola endured a mixed first season in English football, but he has made up for lost time in his second campaign, his team streaking clear at the top of the table thanks to some of the most scintillating attacking football England has ever seen. City have dropped just two points since the start of the season — in a 1-1 draw at home to Everton in their second game — and have scored a staggering 52 goals in their 17 games to date. Propelled by Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva, Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero, they have destroyed Stoke City 7-2, won 6-0 at Watford, thumped Liverpool and Crystal Palace 5-0 and claimed impressive victories over title rivals Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United.
