A list of the teams who scored a record amount of goals in their opening five fixtures, including Newcastle United, Manchester City and Arsenal.
Newcastle forward Andy Cole during the match between Newcastle United and Sheffield Wednesday.
On the basis of what we've seen thus far, 2017-18 should be a hotly contested season in the Premier League. Manchester City and Manchester United, in particular, look to be the form teams at this early stage – they've played excellent attacking football as well as keeping things tight at the back.
Both Manchester United and Manchester City have managed sixteen goals in their opening five games, which seems like it must be some sort of record for Premier League goals scored in the Greater Manchester area in the opening weeks of a Premier League season. And yet, strangely enough it isn't.
Incredibly, there has been a more prolific first month of football for both teams in the same year. You can check out our list of the record holding teams and corresponding seasons – which also includes Chelsea, Arsenal and Newcastle United – below.
Joint 5th: Arsenal (2009-10), Manchester City (2011-12) - 17 goals
Andrey Arshavin of Arsenal celebrates scoring the opening goal against Manchester United at Old Trafford on August 29, 2009.
Two teams have managed to score seventeen goals in their opening five games. The first to do it were Arsenal in the 2009-10 season – helped on their way by an incredible away win at Goodison Park (scoring 6 goals on the opening day of that season), before a 4-1 thrashing of Portsmouth in the following fixture. The seventeenth goal was scored in that game against Portsmouth by none other than club captain Cesc Fabregas.
Arsenal were joined on this list only two seasons later, as Manchester City managed the same feat in 2011-12. The arrival of Sergio Aguero from Atletico Madrid certainly helped: he scored eight of those seventeen goals, including a hat-trick at home to Wigan on only his fourth league outing for the club. It was, of course, the year they made Premier League history by winning the title thanks to goal difference – scoring was evidently something they made a habit of early on.
Joint 3rd: Newcastle United (1994-95), Arsenal (2004-05) - 19 goals
22 Oct 1994: Peter Beardsley of Newcastle United skips over a Sheffield Wednesday tackler.
Kevin Keegan's attack-focused brand of football meant that Newcastle enjoyed their best ever league start in the 1994-95 season. They won their six opening games, and scored an incredible nineteen goals in the process thanks to sizeable home wins against Coventry City (4-0) and Southampton (5-1). Andy Cole chipped in with six of those goals, and their decline in form after his shock transfer in January 1995 was perhaps inevitable. The early promise of that start couldn't hold as they finished the season in 6th place.
Thierry Henry scores for Arsenal against Norwich City at Carrow Road on August 28, 2004.
Arsenal managed a strong start to their title defence at the beginning of 2004-05. A big away win (once again at Goodison Park) on the opening day of the season (scoring four goals courtesy of Bergkamp, Reyes, Ljungberg and Pires) set them off well, and away wins at Carrow Road (1-4) and Craven Cottage (0-3) kept up the momentum of their home form. (Thierry Henry's contribution was surprisingly modest, considering he went on to be that year's top goalscorer - only putting away four goals in that opening five). Those high-scoring victories weren't enough to outdo Chelsea however, who only lost one game all year, as Arsenal finished in second place.
Joint 1st: Chelsea (2010-11), Manchester United (2011-12) - 21 goals
Chelsea's Ivorian striker Didier Drogba celebrates his goal against Stoke City at Stamford Bridge.
Getting off to a running start in the Premier League doesn't always ensure a title at the end of the season. If proof were needed, just look at how Chelsea (and Carlo Ancelotti) fared in 2010-11. Back-to-back 6-0 victories in their first two games against West Bromwich Albion and Wigan Athletic saw them rush to the top of the table on goal difference. (Drogba scored a hat-trick on the opening day against the Baggies, whilst Florent Malouda scored a brace in two separate games). A comfortable 4-0 win at home to Blackpool saw them set a new record for goals scored in a season's opening games, and yet they still finished in second place that year: missing out to an imperious Manchester United.
Ashley Young of Manchester United and Carl Jenkinson of Arsenal battle for the ball at Old Trafford.
As if to prove the point – that it's not how you start the season, it's how you end it – Manchester United equalled Chelsea's record set the year before by scoring twenty-one goals themselves in the 2011-12. Wayne Rooney managed to score nine of those goals, which included back-to-back hat-tricks in the 8-2 demolition of Arsenal at Old Trafford and a 0-5 away romp at Bolton Wanderers only two weeks later.
Yet, unbelievably, they would not finish the season as champions. A huge 8-2 victory against Arsenal at Old Trafford may have set them on their way to the top of this table, but they were outdone at the last gasp by a Manchester City side who themselves had scored for fun all year long.
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