Most Premier League clubs are now four games into their 2023-24 campaigns, but how do their starts compare to previous seasons? We assess the historic data.
Arsenal
Record so far: P4 W3 D1 L0 – 10 points
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal have started the season unbeaten before the first international break, with 10 points from a possible 12 in their opening four games. The only slight blemish on their record was the 2-2 home draw against 10-man Fulham on Matchday 3, but their 3-1 win over Manchester United on 3 September kept them among the chasing pack looking to hunt down league-leaders Manchester City.
Their 10-point tally is fewer than last season’s excellent start of maximum points from their opening five games before they eventually lost at Man Utd on MD 6. It is, however, one of just six Premier League seasons that Arsenal have reached double-figures for points in their first four games of a Premier League season – the previous five have seen them secure a top-four finish at the end of the campaign.
Last season saw Manchester City win the Premier League title after collecting 10 points from their opening four games of the season…
Aston Villa
Record so far: P4 W2 D0 L2 – 6 points
It’s been a strange start to the season for Aston Villa. Impressive wins against Everton and Burnley have been bookended by defensive capitulations at Newcastle and Liverpool – both seeing Villa deploy a high line in defence that was ruthlessly punished.
Six points is par for the course for Villa in Premier League history after four games – they’ve won more in 11 seasons and collected fewer in 13. What will be alarming for Unai Emery, however, is their tally of nine goals conceded in their opening four games matches their record at this point of a Premier League season (1997-98). Having said that, they have also scored eight times themselves – only in 2020-21 (12) have they netted more often in the opening four matches of a PL season.
Unsurprisingly considering the above, no Premier League season has seen more goals scored in Villa’s first four games than in 2023-24 (17).
Bournemouth
Record so far: P4 W0 D2 L2 – 2 points
Andoni Iraola is still yet to win a Premier League match following his appointment as Bournemouth manager this summer. The Spaniard came closest to sealing all three points in a 2-2 draw at Brentford on MD 4, with Bryan Mbeumo’s equaliser in added time seeing the points shared. Their other point came on the opening weekend in a 1-1 home draw against West Ham. Their next fixture sees them host an out-of-sorts Chelsea, which maybe offers a greater opportunity to pick up their first win of the season.
Bournemouth’s two-point tally is their second worst start to a Premier League season after four games, with only their record in 2017-18 (zero points) lower. However, they ended that campaign in 12th place, perhaps giving Iraola confidence that he could potentially turn it around at the Vitality Stadium.
Brentford
Record so far: P4 W1 D3 L0 – 6 points
This is Brentford’s eighth season as a top-flight league club, but the first in which they have remained unbeaten in their opening four games. They mostly have forward Mbeumo to thank for that, with his 93rd-minute equaliser on MD 4 against Bournemouth salvaging a point – it was his fourth goal in as many league games to start the 2023-24 season.
Thomas Frank’s side are now unbeaten in seven Premier League games (W4 D3) overall but will have to avoid defeat in their next five matches to equal their record unbeaten run in the competition (12 games), set between October 2022 and March 2023 (W6 D6).
Brighton and Hove Albion
Record so far: P4 W3 D0 L1 – 9 points
Following 4-1 victories over Luton Town and Wolves across the opening two weeks of the season, Brighton found themselves top of the English top-flight table at the end of a day for the first time in their history. They went on to suffer a disappointing defeat at home to West Ham on MD 3, but made up for it with an excellent 3-1 win against Newcastle on 2 September, powered by an Evan Ferguson hat-trick.
With three wins and a loss, their record is slightly worse than their start under Graham Potter last season – they won three and drew the other across their opening four games in 2022-23. However, with 12 goals scored in four games, this is their best goalscoring return in a top-flight season at this stage. It took them 12 games to reach this goal tally in their first ever Premier League season back in 2017-18.
Burnley
Record so far: P3 W0 D0 L3 – 0 points
Burnley currently sit bottom of the Premier League table courtesy of their –8 goal difference. They have, however, played one game fewer than 18 other sides, and they are one of only two clubs yet to win a point – an honour they share with Luton, who they face in their game in hand.
This is just the second time that Burnley have lost each of their opening three games in a Premier League season, after doing so in 2020-21 under Sean Dyche. That year, they recovered to avoid relegation with a 17th-place finish.
Granted, it’s been a tough start with games against Manchester City and Spurs at home in their opening three matches, but their 11 goals conceded is their second worst at this stage of a top-flight season. The only one of their previous 59 top-flight campaigns to see more goals conceded after three games was their first, in 1888-89 (12).
Burnley’s previous longest run without a win from the start of a top-flight season was in 1889-90 when they went their opening 17 games without a victory, while their longest losing run to start a top-flight season was in 1927-28 (five games).
Chelsea
Record so far: P4 W1 D1 L2 – 4 points
With four points from four games, this is Chelsea’s worst start to a Premier League season since 2015-16 (also four points). Only in 1992-93 and 1995-96 (three points) have they won fewer from their opening four matches in a Premier League campaign. In each of the Premier League seasons that Chelsea have taken four points or fewer in their opening four games, they’ve never finished above 10th.
Last season, they sacked manager Thomas Tuchel after six Premier League matches (and a UEFA Champions League loss to Dinamo Zagreb), having collected 10 points. Mauricio Pochettino will need to lead Chelsea to wins against Aston Villa and Fulham to even match this in the opening six games of 2023-24.
More worrying for Chelsea is that they have the easiest start of any Premier League side, based on the Opta Power Rankings.
Crystal Palace
Record so far: P4 W2 D1 L1 – 7 points
Crystal Palace have been quietly going about their business since Roy Hodgson returned to the club as manager. Since his first game back on 1 April, Palace have won 25 points from 14 games – only four teams have a higher points-per-game average (1.79), while their record is exactly the same as title-challenging Arsenal. They have also conceded the same number of goals as title-winners Man City (15).
So far this season, they have won seven points. Only in 2015-16 (nine points) have they won more from their opening four games of a Premier League season.
Any slight worry of relegation that Palace fans may have might be eased by the fact that only five teams in Premier League history have been relegated after winning as many as seven points from their first four games, although one of those sides were Leeds United last season.
Everton
Record so far: P4 W0 D1 L3 – 1 point
Everton started the 2023-24 Premier League season with zero points and zero goals scored from their first three games. Things got slightly better on MD 4, as they secured their first point in a 2-2 away draw at Sheffield United.
This start is their joint worst in Premier League history, level with 1994-95 when they also had one point and a goal difference of -6.
This start is so poor that even last season, a campaign where they stayed up on the final day following a 1-0 win over Bournemouth at Goodison Park, saw them take more points in their opening four fixtures (W0 D2 L2).
Everton’s longest run without a win at the start of a Premier League season stands at 12 games, which was set in 1994-95 (W0 D4 L8).
Fulham
Record so far: P4 W1 D1 L2 – 4 points
Fulham enjoyed a 1-0 win at Everton on the opening day of the 2023-24 season, but their following three Premier League games have seen them collect just one point. They have one point fewer than at this stage last season, while in only three Premier League seasons (2007-08, 2011-12 and 2020-21) have they collected fewer from their first four matches.
Since that clean sheet at Goodison Park on MD 1, Fulham have conceded 10 goals in the Premier League. Only in 2020-21 (11) have they conceded more goals in their opening four matches to a Premier League campaign.
Liverpool
Record so far: P4 W3 D1 L0 – 10 points
Liverpool have collected double the tally of points from their opening four games of the 2023-24 Premier League season (10) as they managed in 2022-23 (5). The only two seasons that they have performed better in the opening four games of an EPL season were in their title-winning 2019-20 campaign and in the year before in 2018-19, when they finished second (both W4 D0 L0). Last season saw Liverpool collect 10 points from their opening eight games.
Jürgen Klopp’s side still have some way to go to replicate their longest unbeaten start to a Premier League season – they didn’t lose a game until MD27 in their successful 2019-20 campaign.
Luton Town
Record so far: P3 W0 D0 L3 – 0 points
Luton’s first top-flight league campaign since 1991-92 hasn’t started too well. Without a point in their opening three games, they are second from bottom only on goal difference. They saw their MD 2 home game against Burnley postponed due to work on their Kenilworth Road stadium, so they do have a game in hand on 18 other sides.
The longest losing run to start a Premier League season is currently set at seven games, with both Portsmouth in 2009-10 and Crystal Palace in 2017-18 doing this – Palace didn’t even score a goal in their seven matches that season.
Sheffield United started 2020-21 without a win in their opening 17 games on the way to relegation (W0 D2 L15) – a Premier League record that Luton will hope to avoid breaking.
Manchester City
Record so far: P4 W4 D0 L0 – 12 points
Manchester City’s quest for a record fourth English top-flight title in succession has got off to the perfect start. They are the only team to have won all four of their matches and therefore top the Premier League table going into the international break.
They are the 26th different team to start a Premier League season with four wins from their opening four games – of the previous 25, only eight (32%) have gone on to win the title.
Only one of Man City’s seven Premier League title wins have arrived after they won their opening four games to a season (2011-12). Their longest winning run to start a season came in 2016-17, where they won their first six games before losing the seventh and finishing the season in third place.
The longest winning run at the start of a Premier League season is a record held by Chelsea in 2005-06 under José Mourinho, who led them to nine successive wins.
Manchester United
Record so far: P4 W2 D0 L2 – 6 points
Manchester United are already six points off the top of the table – and rivals Man City – with two wins and two losses in their opening four games of the season. This record is exactly the same as last season, which was Erik ten Hag’s first in charge of the club.
In fact, this is just the fifth Premier League season that Man Utd have lost half of their first four games in a season, while they have only scored fewer goals than this season (five) on six occasions.
Should Manchester United lose their next game against Brighton, it’ll be their joint-second worst start to a Premier League season alongside 2004-05. Only in 2014-15 under Louis van Gaal (five points) would they have started worse.
Newcastle United
Record so far: P4 W1 D0 L3 – 3 points
Newcastle fans may be disheartened by their return of just three points from their opening four games, especially after starting with a 5-1 win over Aston Villa, but as we pointed out on the eve of the 2023-24 campaign, they did have the toughest start to the Premier League season. It took them 24 games to lose three Premier League matches last season.
Three successive defeats versus Manchester City, Liverpool and Brighton have seen the club lose three in a row for the first time since April 2022, with the home loss against Liverpool the most disappointing having held a 1-0 lead against 10 men until the latter stages.
The only previous seasons when they have lost as many as three games in their opening four of a Premier League season are 1999-00, 2005-06, 2018-19 and 2021-22.
Nottingham Forest
Record so far: P4 W2 D0 L2 – 6 points
Nottingham Forest have only started one of their previous six Premier League seasons with more points from their opening four games than they have this season (six) – that came in 1994-95, when they started with three wins and a draw (10 points) on the way to a third-place finish.
Across Premier League history, just 16 teams have been relegated after winning as many as six points from their opening four games in a season, but Leeds did it last season having collected seven. They are the only club since 2018-19 to have suffered this fate.
Sheffield United
Record so far: P4 W0 D1 L3 – 1 point
Sheffield United collected their first point of the Premier League season on MD 4 with a 2-2 home draw against Everton at Bramall Lane. Only in 2020-21 (zero points) have they started a Premier League season worse. That season in 2020-21 saw them set a Premier League record of going their opening 17 matches without a win on the way to relegation – something this current side will look to avoid replicating.
The one positive could be that they are the only one of the newly promoted sides to collect a point so far.
However, together with Luton and Burnley, the promoted sides have no wins in 10 matches – this is the second longest such run at the start of a season after 2004-05 (opening 22 games combined without a win).
Tottenham Hotspur
Record so far: P4 W3 D1 L0 – 10 points
The Ange Postecoglou era at Tottenham has started excellently, with Spurs unbeaten in their opening four games of the season and just two points off league leaders Man City.
Only in 2009-10 – when they ended the season fourth – have Spurs won more points from the opening four games of a Premier League season (12) than they currently have (10). They have also only scored more goals in their first four games to a campaign on one occasion – they scored 12 in 2020-21, which is a goal more than this season.
Tottenham’s longest unbeaten start to a Premier League season came in 2016-17, when they won six and drew six of their opening 12 games on the way to finishing second – their best-ever finish in the competition since it began in 1992-93.
One statistic of caution: Spurs also started last season with exactly the same record (W3 D1 L0), and we all know how that turned out…
West Ham United
Record so far: P4 W3 D1 L0 – 10 points
The Hammers should be happy. With 10 points collected from their opening four games of the Premier League campaign, they have equalled their highest points tally at this stage of a season – level with 1999-00.
The UEFA Europa Conference League champions have dealt well with the departure of captain and star player Declan Rice to Arsenal, winning three and drawing one of their four games. They have even scored nine goals, which they’ve only bettered at this stage of a Premier League season on one occasion (2021-22: 10 goals).
West Ham’s best-ever points tally in a Premier League season came in 2020-21, when they secured 65 points. They’ve already got a four-point head start on that campaign (six points after four games in 2020-21).
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Record so far: P4 W1 D0 L3 – 3 points
Considering the upheaval on the eve of the season with Julen Lopetegui’s departure and Gary O’Neil’s late appointment, Wolves’ start to the season could have been much worse. Even in losses to Manchester United, Brighton and Crystal Palace, Wolves performed well in stages and probably deserved to earn at least a point across those fixtures.
The 1-0 win over Everton at Goodison Park on MD 3 means they have one more point than at this stage last season (two), but worryingly conceding goals has been an issue. Their eight conceded in four games this season is surpassed only by 2003-04 (20 after four games) across 10 seasons as a Premier League club.
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