Manchester City and Arsenal are separated by five points at the top of the Premier League table across the calendar year of 2026, with the reigning champions leading the way.

Arsenal were the best team across 2025, as they also were in 2024 despite not winning the Premier League title in either year.

Mikel Arteta’s Gunners were crowned champions last season, but City have kept pace with them across 2026, albeit having played one game more. Both are miles clear of the rest.

It’s a small sample size, obviously, but it suggests they could be the closest challengers going forward, with Enzo Maresca making a strong start after succeeding Guardiola in the City dugout this summer.

Manchester United are third, with 48 points from 28 games, and have scored just two goals fewer than the reigning champions.

Michael Carrick’s side have been one of the biggest stories of 2026, although their dreadful start to the new season has taken the shine off their earlier progress. United have won just one of their opening nine Premier League matches in 2026-27, a remarkable downturn after the optimism of last season.

Liverpool are sixth with 43 points, having drawn 10 and won just 11 of their 29 league games across the calendar year. It’s hardly been a vintage 2026 by their standards, but they’re still five points ahead of Chelsea.

The Blues have had a rotten 2026, appointing Liam Rosenior in January before watching that fall apart and then sacking him in April.

There is some promise under new boss Xabi Alonso, but the wider lens picture of the table of the year is telling. They’re languishing way down in 9th in the table of 2026, a long way back from sides with considerably less resources.

Tottenham are down in 16th with just 28 points from 29 games. Spurs have won only six league matches across the calendar year, although their strong finish to last season was enough to keep them in the Premier League.

The three Bs – Bournemouth, Brighton and Brentford – all continue to punch above their weight across the calendar year. Brighton are fourth with 47 points from 28 games, Bournemouth are fifth with 46 from 28 and Brentford seventh with 41 from 29. All three of them continue to show the value of smart recruitment and data-led strategy.

The achievements of Leeds are also worth noting, with Daniel Farke’s side sitting eighth on 38 points, level with Chelsea and Aston Villa. This sustained run of form suggests that a push for European football might not be beyond them in 2026-27, although their recent lack of wins raises questions.

Aston Villa, meanwhile, are struggling by comparison. They sit 10th with just 38 points from 28 games, despite finishing last season in the Champions League places. Their form had stuttered a bit at the back end of last season, while they’ve started this season slowly too.

West Ham are another interesting case. The Hammers were relegated at the end of 2025-26, but picked up enough points in the back end of the campaign to sit 18th across the calendar year, just one point behind Crystal Palace despite playing 10 fewer matches.

The promoted and relegated clubs are unsurprisingly clustered around the bottom, which is to be expected given the number of games played, but what’s remarkable is that Hull City have already picked up more Premier League points than Burnley in 2026 – despite playing 10 fewer matches.

Here’s how the table stacks up since the turn of the year.

Note: to create this table, we’ve used our sister site Football365 and their brilliant Premier League Tables resource – a goldmine for creating and exploring custom tables.

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