Manchester City are doing it again.
The 2-1 away win over Arsenal on New Year's Day 2022 was an 11th consecutive Premier League victory for Pep Guardiola's side, extending their lead at the top of the table to 11 points, at least temporarily until Liverpool and Chelsea play each other on Sunday.
This is the kind of winning run that has defined each of City's five previous Premier League title triumphs over the last 10 years, with the sky blues either coming into peak form at exactly the right time or blowing away the competition earlier in the season.
11 April 2012 - 13 May 2012 (6 games)
Man City hit form in the crucial final weeks of 2011/12 | Matthew Lewis/GettyImages
City actually looked like they had blown their chance of ending 45 years of hurt in the spring of 2012 after successive draws against Stoke and Sunderland, followed by a defeat to Arsenal, handed the initiative in the title race to Manchester United.
But with six games to go, starting with a 4-0 win over West Brom, City got themselves into gear, did what they could and hoped for a slip up from their local rivals ahead of them.
Five wins in a row and United's stumbles against Everton and Wigan ensured it was City's to lose on the final day of the campaign. Despite a scare against QPR, Sergio Aguero eventually got the decisive goal with virtually the final kick of the season.
21 April 2014 - 11 May 2014 (5 games)
Man City won the 2013/14 Premier League title | PAUL ELLIS/GettyImages
City hadn't been top since the opening weekend of the season until they surged through in the final weeks of the 2013/14 campaign to take the title ahead of Liverpool.
While Brendan Rodgers' Reds faltered against Chelsea and Crystal Palace, City showed no such signs of wilting under the pressure and took full advantage with their run of five wins against West Brom, Crystal Palace, Everton, Aston Villa and West Ham to finish the season top.
It wasn't actually their longest winning streak in the Premier League that season, having put together eight consecutive victories across December and January. But it was the one at the end of the campaign that proved to be decisive.
26 August 2017 - 27 December 2017 (18 games)
18 consecutive wins ended the 2017/18 title race before New Year | Stu Forster/GettyImages
One year into Pep Guardiola's reign, City were uncatchable virtually from the start of the 2017/18 season, which would eventually see them become the first club in Premier League history to achieve an astonishing 100 points in a single campaign.
City won their first game of the season against newly promoted Brighton but were then pegged back by Everton. However, a 97th minute winner against Bournemouth in the next game was followed by a 5-0 thrashing of Liverpool, with the wins just coming and coming.
By the time City dropped points against Crystal Palace on New Year's Eve 2017, they had won 18 in a row - a Premier League record - and the title race was already over. At that stage, it was only about maintaining their huge advantage in the second half of the season.
3 February 2019 - 12 May 2019 (14 games)
Vincent Kompany played a vital role in 2018/19 | OLI SCARFF/GettyImages
City retained the Premier League title in 2018/19, although they were pushed all the way to the final day by Liverpool and had to win 14 consecutive games to get over the line.
After a shock defeat to Newcastle at the end of January, the decisive title-winning run began with victory over Arsenal and soon came to include a 6-0 thrashing of Chelsea, before going top after Liverpool drew with Everton in early March.
City didn't look back after then, knowing any slip up would have been punished. They won out the season, with Vincent Kompany's long-range piledriver in a 1-0 win over Leicester in one of his final games for the club a particularly iconic moment.
19 December 2020 - 2 March 2021 (15 games)
Man City were on fire in the middle portion of 2020/21 | Marc Atkins/GettyImages
City put in the work to win the 2020/21 Premier League games during the busy middle portion of the season, a time when squad depth and the ability to rotate and keep players fresh while rivals dropped points meant the lead opened up quickly.
City actually endured a poor start to the season by their usual recent standards, winning only five of their opening 12 league games. They were languishing in ninth place and eight points off the lead before the winning run began. By the end of the midweek fixtures that saw the team win a 15th straight game, they were top of the table and 14 points clear of second place Manchester United.
Despite several defeats in the final three months of the season, the lead that had already been built up during the winter was too big for anyone to catch them.
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Source : 90min