Nine wins, and nobody has come close since
Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea were already champions when the 2005-06 season kicked off, and they spent the first two months of it making the rest of the division look slow. Nine straight league wins to open a campaign. That record has stood for two decades.
Wigan Athletic, Arsenal, West Brom, Tottenham, Sunderland and Charlton Athletic went down first, which pulled Chelsea level with the existing mark of six. A Frank Lampard double then turned a 2-1 comeback against Aston Villa into a new record, and the run stretched further with a 4-1 win over Liverpool and a 5-1 hammering of Bolton Wanderers.
Everton stopped it at Goodison Park on Matchday 10, holding Chelsea to a 1-1 draw. Manchester United handed them a first defeat in early November. By May the title was back at Stamford Bridge with eight points to spare over Sir Alex Ferguson’s side.
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Liverpool got within one match
The closest anyone has come is Liverpool in 2019-20, with eight. Norwich City were beaten 4-1 on the opening day and Jurgen Klopp’s side did not even fall behind in a match until Matchday 5, when Jetro Willems put Newcastle ahead at Anfield. Sadio Mane scored twice before half-time and Mohamed Salah finished it 3-1.
The eighth win, 2-1 at home to Leicester City, needed a James Milner penalty in the 95th minute. The ninth never arrived. Adam Lallana rescued a 1-1 draw at Manchester United and the record survived. Liverpool then won 18 top-flight games in a row and ended a 30-year wait for the league title.
A flying start settles nothing
Newcastle United were the first side to win their opening six Premier League games, back in 1994-95. Kevin Keegan’s team scored freely and defended badly, keeping one clean sheet across those six matches while beating Coventry 4-0, Southampton 5-1, Chelsea 4-2 and Arsenal 3-2 at Highbury. They managed six more league wins between late September and the end of January, and finished sixth.
Pep Guardiola opened his Manchester City career the same way in 2016-17, six wins from six, before Tottenham beat them 2-0 at White Hart Lane. City finished third, 15 points behind Chelsea.
Chelsea’s nine is not even the English record. Tottenham won their first 11 in 1960-61, and Manchester United won their first 10 in 1985-86.
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