The Premier League’s Record Longest Unbeaten Runs

The Premier League is one of the most challenging competitions in world football. The quality of the teams involved is such that sides regularly take points off each other, with even financially advantaged sides like Manchester City prone to losses against sides that you’d assume they’d be able to beat relatively easily. As a result, it’s interesting to take a look at the top-flight sides that have gone on the longest unbeaten runs since the move away from the Football League and the foundation of the Premier League in 1992.

There’s also the fact that teams can make their home stadiums into something of a fortress, keeping the invading forces at bay for many matches in a row. It isn’t always the case that the team with the longest run without a loss will go on and win the title, but the longer a side can go without an ‘L’ against their name in the form guide, the more chance there is that they’ll be in the conversation for silverware at the end of the season. Unbeaten runs can span seasons, but not necessarily lead to anything being won.

The Arsenal Invincibles

It is impossible to discuss the longest period without losing a match in Premier League history without talking about the Arsenal side that went an entire campaign without losing a game. The so-called ‘Invincibles’, who mirrored the achievement of Preston North End in the 1888-1889 season, made it through the season with 12 draws and 26 wins. That saw them win the Premier League title with 90 points, one of the highest totals of the pre-Sheikh Mansour era. Even Alex Ferguson’s all-conquering Manchester United side only bettered that points total twice.

Of course, when you’re achieving something that no other side in the modern era has been able to pull off, something has to give. So it was that the Gunners couldn’t make it past the semi-final stages of the FA Cup and the League Cup, whilst being knocked out in the quarter-final of the Champions League. Not to take anything away from the London club, though. It was an incredible achievement and one that will live long in the record books. The fact that only two teams have managed it in all of English football tells you just how impressive a feat it actually is.

The Longest Unbeaten Runs

It is perhaps no surprise that Arsenal’s unbeaten league campaign saw the club achieve the longest run without losing a match in Premier League history. The Gunners lost to Leeds United on the fourth of May 2003, but defeated Southampton 6-1 three days later and Sunderland 4-0 four days after that to kick-start an unbeaten run that would last for 49 matches. It involved those two games, the 38 of their unbeaten season and the first nine matches of the 2004-2005 campaign. They eventually succumbed to Manchester United in a game that was given the moniker of ‘the Battle of the Buffet’.

As an aside, many watching the game felt that Mike Riley, the match referee, was extremely lenient towards Manchester United’s players, allowing them to get away with countless different yellow and red card challenges without receiving a booking. Riley would later go on to become the head of the Professional Game Match Officials during a time when the referees were often criticised for their appalling officiating of matches. No one would ever suggest that the men in the middle were corrupt, but many believed they were incompetent.

Here’s a look at the ten longest unbeaten runs during the Premier League era, with all of them spanning more than one season:

Premier League’s Longest Unbeaten Runs

Team	Matches	Start	End
Arsenal	49	7th May 2003	16th Oct 2004
Liverpool	44	12th Jan 2019	24th Feb 2020
Chelsea	40	23rd Oct 2004	29th Oct 2005
Arsenal	30	23rd Dec 2001	6th Oct 2002
Manchester City	30	4th Apr 2017	2nd Jan 2018
Manchester United	29	26th Dec 1998	3rd Oct 1999
Chelsea	29	23rd Dec 2007	26th Oct 2008
Manchester United	29	11th Apr 2010	5th Feb 2011
Manchester United	25	29th Oct 2016	7th May 2017
Nottingham Forest	25	26th Feb 1995	18th Nov 1995

The only anomaly in that group is Nottingham Forest, not because of the football club involved but because the 1994-1995 season involved 22 teams and 42 games apiece. Given their general success during the Premier League era, it is perhaps no surprise to see Manchester United appear on the list so many times. Two of those runs came under Alex Ferguson, whilst the most recent one was thanks to José Mourinho.

Did The Unbeaten Teams Win The Title?

The most obvious question to ask about the teams that enjoyed the ten longest unbeaten runs in the Premier League is whether or not their refusal to lose matches actually led to success. In all but one instance, the unbeaten runs spanned two different seasons, with only Arsenal’s run seeing an entire campaign take place without a defeat. Here’s a look at the seasons spanned and whether or not either of them ended up in a title win:

Final League Positions During Record Unbeaten Runs

Team	Season One	Season Two
Arsenal	2nd (2002-2003)	Champions (2003-2004)
Liverpool	2nd (2018-2019)	Champions (2019-2020)
Chelsea	2nd (2003-2004)	Champions (2004-2005)
Arsenal	Champions (2001-2002)	2nd (2002-2003)
Manchester City	3rd (2016-2017)	Champions (2017-2018)
Manchester United	Champions (1998-1999)	Champions (1999-2000)
Chelsea	2nd (2007-2008)	3rd (2008-2009)
Manchester United	2nd (2009-2010)	Champions (2010-2011)
Manchester United	6th (2016-2017)	N/A
Nottingham Forest	3rd (1994-1995)	9th (1995-1996)

The Arsenal run that lasted for 49 games actually spanned three seasons, but the Gunners only won the title in the middle one. Whilst they did so in incredible impressive style, it is still worth pointing out. Manchester United’s 25 game unbeaten run was entirely in the 2016-2017 season, when they finished back in 6th position under Jose Mourinho. They, Nottingham Forest and Chelsea were the only teams to have a noteworthy unbeaten run and not end up winning the Premier League title during one of the seasons involved.

Home Unbeaten Records

The man often credited with creating the modern day Liverpool Football Club, Bill Shankly, once said that he wanted to turn the club’s home ground of Anfield into a ‘bastion of invincibility’. He recognised the importance of winning your home matches for a team that was looking to challenge for the title, but how many Premier League teams have followed the Scots lead? Here’s a look at the best unbeaten home records and whether or not they resulted in the team that managed them winning the top-flight:

Premier League’s Longest Home Unbeaten Runs

Once again, Manchester United’s appearance on an unbeaten list not once but twice is testament to the genius of Alex Ferguson. Whilst the Scot had a pretty much free-run at the Premier League title until the emergence of Arsenal, Chelsea and, latterly, Manchester City, he still needed to get his players over the line and he did it by making them extremely hard to beat at Old Trafford. Five title wins were at least partially thanks to the Red Devils not losing a game at home across seasons, which is incredibly impressive.

Away Unbeaten Records

Winning at home is the bread and butter for Premier League teams, but being able to go away from home without suffering a defeat can add the fairy dust to a title challenge. The names that appear on our list of unbeaten teams on the road are once that you’ll mostly recognise, but it’s interesting to see that titles didn’t necessarily follow:

Premier League’s Longest Away Unbeaten Runs

Out of the five teams that notched up impressive away records without losing a match, Manchester United and Chelsea were the only two not to win the Premier League during that time. For United, it always felt as though their away record was papering over the cracks for manager Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, given that the Red Devils lost seven home games during the same period. Even so, that is one record that the former forward will always have to his name during a trophyless spell with the club.