Reigning WSL champions Manchester City are the only team with a 100% record after five matchdays of the 2026-27 season. Is there any stopping Andrée Jeglertz’s side?
Manchester City’s impressive 4-2 victory over Arsenal in Sunday’s Women’s Super League clash at the Etihad Stadium continued their 100% start to the 2026-27 league campaign.
It’s now five wins from five for the reigning WSL champions, and Andrée Jeglertz’s side hold a two-point lead at the top of the table over Chelsea heading into the first women’s international break of the season.
But how often does a fast start lead to a team winning the WSL title? We look across history to see if it’s mattered or not.
WSL Winning Starts
Man City have become the 10th team in WSL history to win their first five games of the season.
The more surprising statistic is that only three of the previous nine sides have followed up their fantastic start to the season with a WSL title at the end of that campaign; one apiece for Man City, Arsenal and Chelsea.
The most recent example was Chelsea in 2024-25. In what was Sonia Bompastor’s first season at the club, the Blues enjoyed a phenomenal start, winning each of their first nine games in the WSL before going on to lift the league title for the sixth successive season.
That nine-game winning streak at the start of the campaign equalled the best-ever start by a team in a WSL season, set by Arsenal in 2018-19 on the way to lifting the league title.
The third occasion of a team winning the top-flight title after winning their first five games of the season came in 2016 via Man City under Nick Cushing.
The Citizens went on to extend their winning start to six games in 2016 before securing the title in a 16-game season by five points over Chelsea.
City went one game better at the start of 2017-18, winning their first seven WSL matches that season, but then won just five of their final 11 games and finished second to Chelsea.
Arsenal are the only side to finish outside the top two places in the WSL table after winning all of their opening five games in a season – and they did it twice. They won their first five games in both 2020-21 and 2022-23 before eventually finishing in third.
Eventual WSL Champions
Excluding the 2017 Spring Series, only one of the previous 15 WSL champions have gone on to lift the title after taking fewer than 10 points from their opening five matches, with Liverpool’s remarkable 2014 triumph the sole exception.
That season, the Reds collected just six points from their first five games (W1 D3 L1) before mounting a remarkable turnaround to finish level on points with Chelsea and claim the title on goal difference.
Man City, meanwhile, are already in stronger territory than they were during their title-winning 2025-26 campaign. They lost one of their opening five matches last season (W4 L1), collecting 12 points before going on to secure a second WSL crown. Indeed, City are one of only six champions in the competition’s history to have lost any of their first five league games, while no team has ever won the WSL after losing more than once in that span.
With 21 games still left to play in 2026-27, there will be more twists and turns in the WSL title race, but Man City have made the perfect start in their quest to win back-to-back crowns for the first time in their history.
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Winning Starts and WSL Titles: Are Manchester City on Course to Retain Their Crown in 2026-27? Opta Analyst.
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