LONDON: The Premier League title race is all but run. Manchester City have dropped only two points in their 17 games so far, they’ve scored 52 goals and their lead is 11 points. Tottenham, who came second last year, are fourth, 18 points behind — they are closer to second bottom than they are to City. The question no longer seems to be whether City will win the league but by how much, and to try to assess whether they might be the greatest Premier League team ever.
Already the records have begun to tumble. Their victory over Swansea on Wednesday was their 15th in a row; the previous record had been the 14 consecutive wins Arsenal racked up between February and August 2002. The record number of points won in a Premier League season is the 95 points tallied by Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea in 2005. If they keep winning points at the present rate, City would amass 110. That, surely
won’t happen, but equally it already feels as though it would take a major downturn for them not to break the 95-point mark, and 100 is very much within their sights.
Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea of 2009-10 hold the record for the most goals in a season with 103. City have 52 from their 17 games so far; projected out, that would take them to 116, not just beating the record but destroying it. There is an odd coda to that detail, though, which is that until Wednesday they had scored fewer goals at the same stage of the season than Roberto Mancini’s City of 2011-12 and the Italian ended up being sacked at the end of that season.
The biggest winning margin in Premier League history, meanwhile, is the 18 points Manchester United won it by in 1999-2000. That is under serious threat. Most wins in a season is the 30 managed by Antonio Conte’s Chelsea last season; with 16 wins in 17 games, City are well on course to beat that. In every metric of dominance, City are threatening to set new records.
There’s a strange sense now that they may almost be too dominant. In his first season at Bayern, Guardiola won the league with seven games to spare. Intensity dropped, and they ended up being hammered 5-0 by Real Madrid in the Champions League semifinal. It’s an odd problem to have and perhaps the best that can be said of it is that Guardiola is at least forewarned now of the dangers.
But the greatness of this City goes beyond numbers. They are a thrilling side to watch. They play football of astonishing beauty. Six players have scored five goals or more for them this season: it is not just that they score brilliant goals and lots of them, it is that you can’t even predict where they’re coming from. This is not about great players, or not just about great players, but about the unit. City fulfil the requirement of Arrigo Sacchi that tactics should have a multiplicatory effect, the efforts of all players contributing to make each player better.
Greatness in general, in fact, is not just about numbers: Such things are subjective, of course, but there’s a good argument that the greatest team in Premier League history was Manchester United’s Treble winners of 1998-99, less because of any record they racked up, than because they competed so thrillingly and so successfully on three fronts at once at a time when that was very unusual.
There has been some sneering that this City cannot, after less than half the season, really even be considered as one of the greatest Premier League sides and, of course it is true that if they were to collapse they would immediately fall out of the conversation. But the truth is that this is not just a sudden run of brilliance as, for instance, Liverpool enjoyed under Brendan Rodgers in 2014-15. There is a context: The sense that this is the culmination of an eight-year plan instituted when Sheikh Mansour took over the club, that the whole structure of the modern club was created to create an environment for Guardiola to thrive.
With Premier League records falling, with football of glorious virtuosity, the only thing that might hold City back is Europe. But for now, they look majestic.
Manchester City’s record run only tells half the story — they are already among the greats
Manchester City’s record run only tells half the story — they are already among the greats
A powerful rivalry: Sabalenka and Svitolina set for Australian Open semifinal showdown
- Top-ranked Sabalenka, who is seeking a third title in four years in Australia, is from Belarus
- Players from Ukraine do not shake hands with players from Russia or Belarus at the net after matches
MELBOURNE: Naturally there’ll be attention on the backstory when Aryna Sabalenka and Elina Svitolina meet in the Australian Open women’s semifinals.
Top-ranked Sabalenka, who is seeking a third title in four years in Australia, is a 27-year-old from Belarus. She’s popular on TikTok for her humorous posts and dance routines.
Svitolina is a 31-year-old Ukrainian who will be returning to the Top 10 next week for the first time since returning from a maternity break she took in 2022. She reached her first Australian Open semifinal with a lopsided win over No. 3 Coco Gauff, needing only 59 minutes to end her run of three quarterfinal losses at Melbourne Park.
They’re both regularly asked questions relating to Russia’s war on Ukraine. Both have regularly said they want the focus to be on tennis. Svitolina is trying to bring joy to the people of Ukraine, of course. Sabalenka said she supports peace.
“It’s very close to my heart to see a lot of support from Ukrainians,” she said. “So I feel like (I) bring this light, a little light, you know, even just positive news to Ukrainian people, to my friends when they are watching.”
Players from Ukraine don’t shake hands with players from Russia or Belarus at the net after matches. It’s accepted on both sides.
They’re both on 10-match winning streaks so far in 2026 and entered the season’s first major with titles in warmup tournaments — Sabalenka in Brisbane, and Svitolina in Auckland, New Zealand, her 19th career title. That was Svitolina’s first foray back after an early end to the 2025 season for a mental health break.
Sabalenka, who has 22 career titles including back-to-back Australian championships in 2023 and ‘24 and back-to-back US Open triumphs in 2024 and last year, is 5-1 in career meetings with Svitolina. She is into the final 4 at a major for the 14th time, and has made the final seven times.
“It’s no secret that she’s a very powerful player. I watched a little bit of her (quarterfinal) match. She was playing great tennis, and I think, the power on all aspects of her game is her strengths,” Svitolina said of Sabalenka. “She’s very consistent. For me, I’ll have to ... try to find the ways and the little holes, little opportunities in her game.
“When you play the top players, you have to find these small opportunities and then be ready to take them.”
Svitolina is playing her fourth semifinal at a major — 2019 and 2023 at Wimbledon and the 2019 US Open — and aiming for her first final.
Sabalenka played her quarterfinal against 18-year-old Iva Jovic before the searing heat forced organizers to close the roof of the Rod Laver Arena stadium on Tuesday. She was long gone before Svitolina and Guaff played under the roof at night. At that stage, she didn’t know who she’d next be playing, but was sure “it’s going to be a battle.”
“Because whoever makes it there, it’s an incredible player,” she said. “I think my approach going to be the same. Doesn’t matter who I’m facing.
“I’ll just go, and I’ll be focused on myself and on my game.”
Rybakina-Pegula, 5 vs. 6
Sixth-seeded Jessica Pegula completed the final 4 when she held off fellow American Amanda Anisimova 6-2, 7-6 (1) to move into a semifinal against 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
Pegula beat 2025 champion Madison Keys in the previous round before ending Anisimova’s run of back-to-back Grand Slam finals.
The sixth-seeded Pegula is hoping to emulate Keys’ run here last year and claim her maiden Grand Slam title in Australia.
“I’ve been waiting for the time when I can kind of break through,” Pegula said. “I feel like I really play some good tennis here and I like the conditions.”
With a 7-5, 6-1 victory in the center court opener Wednesday, Rybakina, the 2023 Australian Open runner-up, ended No. 2-ranked Iga Swiatek’s bid to complete a career Grand Slam — at least for this year.
Rybakina, who was born in Russia but represents Kazakhstan, said she’d focus on the lessons she’d taken from previous trips to the deciding end of the majors.
“Now I’m more calm. In the beginning, when it’s the first final and you go so far in the tournament, of course you are more emotional,” she said. “Now I feel like I’m just doing my job, trying to improve each day. So it’s kind of another day, another match.”
