Man City won 5-0 in a match between EPL Manchester City (Man City) and West Bromwich Albion (West Brom) in the 2020-2021 season held at the Hawthornes Stadium in West Bromwich on the 27th (hereinafter Korean time). Man City climbed to the top of the league with 41 points (12 wins, 5 draws, 2 losses). According to the EPL, Man City is the ninth team to take first place as of the end of the match day this season. This is the highest EPL record ever.
Earlier, in the 1998-1999 season, the 2001-2002 season, the 2002-2003 season, and the 2007-2008 season, eight different teams took first place.
However, this season, the championship race is more fierce than any other year, so that the ninth top-ranked team comes out with only half of the season for each team.
Everton and Leicester City took the lead, starting with Arsenal in September, when the new season started, followed by Liverpool in October, Southampton and Tottenham in November, and Chelsea in December. In the new year, Manchester United (Man U) took the lead, and on that day, Manchester City jumped to the top.
Currently, only 4th place West Ham United and 9th place Aston Villa are the only teams that have not been ranked 1st out of 10th out of 20 EPL teams this season. It is the 18th time that the number one place has changed this season. Leicester City, third place, with a difference of three points from the leading Man City, climbed to the top four times the most, and then repeatedly pushed back.
As one of the backgrounds for this phenomenon, EPL picks the league schedule. EPL interpreted that the league schedule, which had to play games on multiple days for fans watching games on TV at home as a restriction due to the Corona 19 epidemic, affected the frequent changes of the first place team to some extent.
Reporter Jinsik [email protected] Yonhap News