Manchester City have currently won 52 out of a possible 54 points so far this season, with a record of W17 D1 L0. As we near the halfway point of the season, there have been various claims that the current Manchester City team could finish this season unbeaten, and repeat the astonishing feat of the 2003-04 Arsenal ‘Invincibles’ team, who finished the season with a record of W26 D12 L0. I will compare the current Manchester City team to previous Premier League winners, including the ‘Invincibles’ Arsenal team of 2003-04.

There are three sections to this article. In each section, I visualise and compare a different aspect of Manchester City’s season so far:

Points scored by Manchester City this season

Goals scored by Manchester City this season

Goals conceded by Manchester City this season

1. POINTS SCORED

Let’s look at the first graph:

The graph shows the cumulative points per game of the five most recent title-winning teams, along with the points of the current Manchester City team. It visualises just how impressive Manchester City have been this season. We are currently at the GW18 mark of the season, and the current Manchester City team have 14 more points they did in 2013-14, when they went on to win the Premier League (52pts v 38pts).

Looking at the five most recent champions, the Chelsea 2016-17 team had the biggest points total, winning an impressive 93 points. During that 2016-17 season, Chelsea broke the record for most wins in a season, with an impressive 30 wins (along with 3 draws, 5 losses).

Let’s look at the next graph:

It is the same as the previous graph, with a further two title-winning teams added. The new red line is the ‘Invincibles’ Arsenal team from 2003-04. They ended that season on 90 points, and they are of course remembered for being the first English team in modern football history to complete a season unbeaten, with a final record of W26 D12 L0. The new blue line shows the Chelsea team from 2004-05. This team is notable for many reasons (it comes up again later); one reason is that it holds the record for most points won in a single Premier League season. This was achieved in Jose Mourinho’s first year as manager of Chelsea. They won 95 points that season, out of a possible 114.

There are a few interesting things to notice in the graph. The 2016-17 Chelsea team won more points than the Arsenal ‘Invincibles’ team from 2003-04. Chelsea got 93 points in 2016-17, compared to the 90 points won by the ‘Invincibles’.

Now let’s study the current Manchester City team. Once again, you’ll notice a clear gap between the current Manchester City team, and the added Chelsea and Arsenal teams from previous years. At this point of the season, Manchester City currently have 52 points, the Chelsea 2004-05 team had 43 points, and the ‘Invincibles’ Arsenal team had 42 points. Manchester City are currently 9 points better than the record Chelsea team of 2004-05.

2. GOALS SCORED

Using the same five title-winning teams, I will now look at the amount of goals this current Manchester City team are scoring. Let’s look at at a ‘Total Goals Scored’ graph:

At this point in the season, the current Manchester City team have scored more goals than the previous champions had. They have currently scored 56 goals in 18 games. Unlike the ‘total points’ graph, the current Manchester City team aren’t quite so far ahead of everyone else; the 2013-14 Manchester City team had scored 53 goals by this point in the season.

Out of the five previous winners, it was the 2013-14 Manchester City team that scored the most goals in total, ending the season on 102 goals. Leicester City in 2015-16 scored the fewest goals in total, ending the season on 68 goals scored.

Just like in the previous section, I am going to add a further two teams to the graph:

I have again added Arsenal’s 2003-04 ‘Invincibles’ team. The ‘Invincibles’ ended their season with 73 goals scored. The other team added, once again, is Chelsea, but this time from their 2009-10 season. This 2009-10 team is notable for currently holding the record for most goals scored in a Premier League season. It was Carlo Ancelotti’s first season in charge, and Chelsea scored an impressive 103 goals that season.

You’ll notice that for the majority of the 2013-14 season, Manchester City were actually above the 2009-10 Chelsea team in total number of goals scored. It was only at the end of the 2009-10 season when Chelsea started scoring freely, with notable results being 5-0 at GW31 (Portsmouth, away), 7-1 at GW32 (Aston Villa, home), 7-0 at GW36 (Stoke City, home), and 8-0 at GW38 (Wigan Athletic, home).

Let’s again study the current Manchester City team. Once again, they are massively clear of both the record Chelsea 2009-10 team, and the Arsenal 2003-04 ‘Invincibles’ team. After 18 Gameweeks, Manchester City this season have scored 56 goals, the record Chelsea 2009-10 team had scored 43 goals, and the ‘Invincibles’ had scored 34 goals. At this point of the season, the current Manchester City team have scored 13 more goals than the record 2009-10 Chelsea team had scored. However, it is worth bearing in mind that at this point, the 2013-14 Manchester City team had also scored 10 more goals than Chelsea in 2009-10, yet still didn’t break the record. This should be remembered when predicting if the current Manchester City team will break the ‘Total Goals Scored’ record.

3. GOALS CONCEDED

The final statistic I will look at is the goals conceded by the current Manchester City team. Study the following graph:

It shows the total goals conceded by the current Manchester City team, along with the five previous title-winning teams. Manchester City have conceded 12 goals in 18 games this season. Obviously, the lower the team in the graph, the better the team is defensively.

Out of the five most recent title-winning teams, the 2014-15 Chelsea team conceded the fewest goals in total, conceding 32 goals that season. The Manchester United 2012-13 team conceded 43. Notice the massive spike in the final game of Manchester United’s 2012-13 season. They conceded 5 goals in GW38 that season, with a 5-5 draw against West Brom.

This is the first graph in which the current Manchester City team have not beaten previous title-winners. At this point in the season, the current Manchester City team have conceded more goals than Chelsea did when they won the league in 2016-17. Eventual champions Chelsea had conceded 11 goals in their first 18 games in 2016-17, compared to the 12 in 18 record of the current Manchester City team.

I will once again add two further seasons to this graph:

Again, the added red line is the Arsenal ‘Invincibles’ team of 2003-04. They ended that season with 26 goals conceded.

The new blue line is, once again, the Chelsea 2004-05 team. This team is notable as it currently holds the record for fewest goals conceded in a Premier League season. Chelsea ended that season conceding 15 goals. 15 goals conceded, in 38 games of football, is an absolutely astounding achievement, and the graph visualises just how amazing it is. They conceded almost a third of the goals Manchester United did when they won the title in 2012-13 (15 v 43). They conceded almost half the goals of the ‘Invincibles’ 2003-04 season (15 v 26). The plateau in the middle of the 2004-05 season visualises Petr Cech breaking the record for most minutes without conceding a goal, where he played 1,025 minutes of football without conceding (10 consecutive clean sheets, until Leon McKenzie of Norwich City scored in the 60th minute of the 11th game). This record was subsequently broken by Edwin Van der Saar in 2008-09, who went 1,311 minutes without conceding (14 consecutive clean sheets).

This season, Manchester City have conceded the same amount of goals that the ‘Invincibles’ had at this point in 2003-04 (12). Chelsea in 2004-05 had conceded 8. Furthermore, the current Manchester City team need to concede 3 goals in the remaining 20 games this season to equal the current record set by Chelsea in 2004-05. This is unrealistic. However, this is not due to an under-performing defence this year; that 2004-05 record is not going to be beaten any time soon. I consider this record by Chelsea in 2004-05 to be more impressive than all other records they broke that season, including their record point tally.

Thank you for reading. Feel free to read other articles on my website, including my recent article on Lukaku’s record against ‘Top 6’ opposition, and follow me on Twitter, @AFootballPanel, to keep up to date on all articles I produce.

For future readers, this article was written after GW18 of 2017-18 season (after Manchester City beat Tottenham 4-1 on 16th December 2017).