Seven games. Seven wins. Twenty-one points. A new Premier League record. And a six-point lead over the champions. Manchester City under Enzo Maresca have not just started the season well — they have started it with a kind of ruthless, record-breaking efficiency that suggests the post-Guardiola era might not be a step back after all.
On Saturday, City beat Ipswich Town 3-2 at the Etihad, a result that was harder than the scoreline suggests but which maintained their 100% start to the 2026-27 campaign. In doing so, Maresca became the first manager in Premier League history to win his first seven games in charge of a club, surpassing the six-win starts of Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti, and Ole Gunnar Solskjær.
City have scored 19 goals and conceded just six in those seven matches. They have beaten Manchester United at Old Trafford, thrashed Sunderland 5-3, and dismantled Liverpool 3-0 at Anfield. They have won in a variety of ways — through positional control, direct attacking, high-scoring exchanges, and even a spell with ten men at Old Trafford.
The question now is not whether City are good. It is whether anyone is capable of stopping them.
The Maresca Effect: Evolution, Not Revolution
The most striking thing about City’s start is not that they are winning. It is how they are winning.
Maresca was appointed to continue Guardiola’s work, and the core principles remain: positional play, numerical advantages in build-up, five vertical lanes, rest defence. But there are distinct differences. Maresca’s City build in a 3-2-2-3 shape, with wingers instructed to stay high and wide rather than drifting infield. The press is more man-to-man, more aggressive than Guardiola’s zonal mid-block.
Crucially, Maresca appears less emotionally attached to the method than his predecessor. Guardiola’s later City sides sometimes looked committed to finding the most sophisticated solution even when a simpler one was available. Maresca is willing to define control according to the match. That flexibility has allowed City to win games that did not look like “City games” — grinding out results, defending leads, and adapting to the opposition.
It is early, and six matches cannot outweigh a decade. But the early evidence suggests Maresca has not merely reproduced Guardiola’s game plan efficiently. He has made City comfortable switching between several versions of themselves.
The Rivals: A Chasm, Not a Race
The table tells a stark story.
| Pos | Team | P | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man City | 7 | 21 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 6 | 15 |
| 3 | Brighton | 6 | 13 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 7 | 13 |
| 5 | Liverpool | 7 | 12 |
Source: Xinhua, October 18, 2026
City are six points clear of Arsenal, though the Gunners have a game in hand. They are eight points clear of Liverpool, who were considered a genuine title contender before the season began.
The underlying numbers are equally ominous. A supercomputer prediction from earlier in October gave Arsenal a 43.36% chance of winning the title and City a 42.82% chance — a virtual toss-up. But that prediction was made before City’s 3-0 win at Anfield and their seventh consecutive victory. The gap between the two favourites is now measured in points, not probabilities.
Arsenal remain the most credible challenger. They have a game in hand, a squad built for a title race, and the experience of winning the league last season. But they have already lost once, and City have not. Liverpool’s defeat at Anfield exposed the fragility of their midfield. Chelsea and Brighton are promising but unproven. Manchester United are 14th.
For now, the title race is City’s to lose.
The Elephant in the Room: The 115 Charges
No discussion of City’s season can ignore the verdict that has hung over the club since September.
City were found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League. They have appealed, and the appeal process is expected to conclude between the end of 2026 and early 2027. The potential sanctions range from a fine to a points deduction to expulsion from the league.
Maresca has been defiant. He insists the club’s titles are “not tainted” and has praised his players for ignoring the noise. “The players need to be worried about people inside the club and about me,” he said. “They are not worried about people that judge them from outside”.
But the uncertainty is real. If City are docked points — potentially enough to derail their season — the table could look very different by the spring. If they are expelled, the entire campaign becomes a footnote. The players have been remarkable at blocking out the noise. But the noise is not going away.
For now, City are winning. Whether they are allowed to keep those wins is a question for a courtroom, not a football pitch.
The Injury Warning
There is one note of caution amid the perfection.
Erling Haaland limped off after his brace against Ipswich, and Antoine Semenyo was also seen limping after the match. Mateo Kovacic, Matheus Nunes, and Nico O’Reilly all picked up knocks, though Maresca said the first two indicated they were fine. Haaland himself said he was “OK,” but the club is awaiting further assessment.
City’s squad is deep, but Haaland is irreplaceable. He has been the focal point of the attack, the finisher of the chances Maresca’s system creates. If he is out for any significant period, the dynamic changes. City have the resources to cope, but no team in world football has a like-for-like replacement for a striker of Haaland’s quality.
It is a warning, not a crisis. But it is a reminder that perfection is fragile.
Manchester City have
made the best start to a Premier League season of any team in the competition’s history under a new manager. They have beaten their rivals, scored goals for fun, and kept clean sheets when it mattered. Enzo Maresca has evolved Guardiola’s system without dismantling it, and the results have been immediate and emphatic.
The title race is not over. Arsenal are too good, and the season is too long. The 115 charges could still reshape everything. Injuries could bite. Form could dip.
But for now, the question is not whether City are the best team in England. It is whether anyone can prove otherwise.
Seven games. Seven wins. The answer, so far, is no.
Can anyone stop Manchester City this season?
