Our 1-0 win against Hull City moved us into the international break five points clear at the top of the Premier League, continuing a blistering start we've only seen once in our 140-year history.

The quest to win back-to-back league titles for the first time since the 1930s is firmly on track after an incredible nine wins from our first 10 games, and a dip into the record books shows how rare the heights we've been achieving are.

It was only four years ago that we created a new club benchmark by recording 27 points from our opening 10 top-flight fixtures, when Mikel Arteta’s 2022/23 squad began showing their title credentials. Many of that team have now replicated their previous exploits, although they’ll hope to go one step further than that first title tilt and end the campaign with our name engraved on the silverware.

Our best start to a top-flight season after 10 games

In the Premier League era, only Chelsea in 2005/06, Manchester City in 2011/12, Manchester City in 2017/18 and Liverpool in 2019/20 have registered more than our current points tally, all hitting 28 and going on to lift the championship.

However, looking further back, there have only been 14 occasions of a team reaching 27 points after 10 games in England’s top-flight since league football began in 1888 (adjusting totals to reflect three points for a win). Interestingly, only eight of those went on to follow up their excellent start by finishing top of the table:

Most points after 10 games of a top-flight season

This is the third time we’ve boasted such a healthy advantage at the top of the league after 10 games in our history. The first came back in 2013/14 when we recorded eight wins and a draw to move five points clear, but Manchester City would ultimately claw back the deficit. Meanwhile after 10 games last season, we actually held a six-point lead over City, despite earning two fewer points than the current crop.

Our defensive solidity has provided the backbone for our dominant start, with seven of our nine victories coming with a clean sheet. In English top-flight history, only Leeds United in 1970/71, Birmingham City in 2003/04, Chelsea in 2004/05 and Manchester United in 2017/18 have hit eight after 10 games, with the west Londoners the only one of those to win the title.

There have been 18 occasions when a team hit seven shutouts from their first time, and the only other times we’ve achieved that came back in 1987/88 under George Graham, although we would only finish sixth that year, and last season’s title-winning campaign.

Back then, David Raya was remarkably beaten only three times by the end of matchweek 10, the meanest defensive start we’ve ever enjoyed at the start of a campaign. But his current exploits mean it is just the seventh campaign in our history we’ve let in five or fewer after 10 games, and the first time we’ve ever done it back-to-back.