Man United have spent the most days top of the Premier League followed by Blues

Brighton currently sit atop the Premier League table, but which teams have historically been the league leaders in England?

The back-to-back 4-1 wins across the opening two matchdays saw Brighton end Saturday night (19 August 2023) top of the Premier League, a position they will remain in until at least next Saturday (26 August) when they play again.

This is the first time in Brighton’s league history that they have led the English top flight table, despite the weekend victory being their 398th match and 2023-24 their 11th season in the top tier.

In doing so, they became the 31st different team to lead the Premier League table for at least one night since it began in 1992, and the 53rd side to be top at the end of a day in English top-flight history.

Manchester United have ended the most days top of the Premier League table (within seasons), spending 2,362 nights as the team in first place. The bulk of those came under the management of Sir Alex Ferguson, however – 96.7% of them, in fact. Since his retirement at the end of 2012-13 – United’s last league title – the Red Devils have spent only 78 days at the summit of the league, with this being the 11th season since his departure. Two of those days were the opening two of the 2013-14 season under David Moyes, following an opening day 4-1 win at Swansea City – this wasn’t a sign of things to come, however.

Since 2013-14, Man Utd have ended fewer days in season as the team in first place than Manchester City (892), Liverpool (605), Chelsea (602), Arsenal (414) and under half the tally of Leicester City (175).

That first Premier League season without Ferguson as a manager saw United’s rivals City secure their second Premier League title – they spent just 15 days top of the league that season, which is the fewest of any Premier League title winner.

The opposite can be said of Arsenal last season, with the Gunners breaking the all-time English top-flight record for the most days spent top of the league without winning the title (248).