With 11 games of the season played, Liverpool sit pretty at the top of the Premier League, five points ahead of Manchester City.
That means that we can officially declare that Arne Slot’s men are definitely massive bottlers if they don’t go on to win the title, because only five other teams have held at least a five-point lead at this stage of a Premier League season – and all five of them have gone on to win the title.
We can’t say the same thing about a four-point lead, incidentally, Liverpool having ruined that themselves already back in 2002/03, when they ended up finishing fifth – but here’s how the rest of the 5+ Club (as we’re all definitely calling it) have got on in years gone by.
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Manchester United 1993/94 (7 points ahead)
How it started:
Having started the previous season indifferently before bucking their ideas up and ultimately eased to the inaugural Premier League title, Manchester United were right at it from day one in 1993/94.
A draw against Newcastle and a 1-0 defeat away to Chelsea were the only blots in Alex Ferguson’s copybook after 11 games, allowing them to create an unassailable lead at the top of the table and hold onto it all the way through to the end of the season.
How it finished:
You know it’s a different era when it was Norwich they led after 11 games and finished up eight ahead of Blackburn.
Chelsea 2005/06 (6 points ahead)
How it started:
Jose Mourinho’s reputation has suffered over the past decade or so, but he really did make the Premier League look incredibly easy.
Only a 1-1 draw away to Everton kept Chelsea from making a perfect start to their title defence in the Portuguese’s second season at the club; even losing to Manchester United in game 12 only cut down the gap to then third-placed (and eventual runners-up) United to seven points.
Who was second after 11 games, then? Newly-promoted Wigan Athletic, of course. Didn’t go on to do a Leicester, though, did they. Bottlers.
How it finished:
Mourinho’s Fergie-botherers ended up eight points clear of United. And as for Wigan? Tenth. The same fate which surely now awaits Man City.
Manchester City 2011/12 (5 points ahead)
How it started:
Liverpool beware: the only side with specifically a five-point lead at this point are, unsurprisingly, the ones who came closest to letting it slip. Roberto Mancini’s side opened up a five-point lead over Manchester United early on with ten wins and a draw, including a 6-1 derby demolition at Old Trafford in late October.
City sat top of the table for much of the season, never losing back-to-back games – but United’s form was even better, allowing Sir Alex Ferguson’s side to nudge a point ahead with ten games to go.
But over the final few weeks of the season, United lost 1-0 to Wigan, let a 4-2 lead turn into a 4-4 draw at home to Everton, then lost to City again in the derby to send us into the final day with City back on top of the table on goal difference alone.
How it finished:
You know what happened next: Agueroooo and all that.
Manchester City 2017/18 (8 points ahead)
How it started:
Why does everyone keep drawing with Everton on this list? City did it in 2017/18 too – but that was the only time they dropped points not just in the first 11 games of the campaign, but the first 20. At this stage they were already eight points ahead of Manchester United and Tottenham; the title was already a formality.
How it finished:
City remained virtually flawless. Their first loss came away to Liverpool in January, and just one more defeat followed – at home to United – as City became the first (and still only) Premier League side ever to claim 100 points, a massive 19 points clear of their local rivals. A fact Jose Mourinho remains weirdly keen to brag about.
Liverpool 2019/20 (6 points ahead)
How it started:
A genuinely brilliant Liverpool had been frustrated in their title challenge by City being even better in 2018/19, with Pep Guardiola’s side pipping Jurgen Klopp’s by 98 points to 97.
That left neither side room for error going into the 2019/20 season with another two-way ding-dong expected. Liverpool lived up to their end of the bargain, with a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in game nine incredibly standing as the only time they dropped points until late February.
City meanwhile suffered early-season losses to Norwich and Wolves, then were beaten at Anfield in game 12 to hand the Reds an even bigger lead.
How it finished:
By the time City returned the favour with a 4-0 victory at the Etihad following the post-covid hiatus, it was completely immaterial; Liverpool had already been confirmed champions a week before with seven games still to go.
