After twenty six games; how are we doing?

As things stand in the title race, United are in second place with 61 points. The leaders, City, have 63. Third placed Spurs have 53 points while both Arsenal and Chelsea are level on 46 points each. But how does this season compare with previous years?
Below is the Premier League table as it was after 26 games in the 2007/08 season; the year United won a league and European cup double; and it is quite similar to today's
(The table is in the format Total p w d l f a, Home p w d l f a, Away p w d l f a, gd pts)

1	Arsenal	26		19	6	1	54	18		12	2	0	31	8		7	4	1	23	10		+36	63
2	Manchester United	26		18	4	4	50	14		12	1	1	32	5		6	3	3	18	9		+36	58
3	Chelsea	26		16	7	3	38	17		8	5	0	23	8		8	2	3	15	9		+21	55
4	Everton	26		14	5	7	41	23		8	2	3	24	11		6	3	4	17	12		+18	47
5	Liverpool	25		11	11	3	40	17		5	6	1	26	9		6	5	2	14	8		+23	44
6	Aston Villa	26		12	8	6	48	34		8	2	4	24	17		4	6	2	24	17		+14	44
7	Manchester City	26		12	8	6	34	29		9	3	1	21	11		3	5	5	13	18		+5	44
8	Portsmouth	26		11	8	7	36	26		3	7	2	15	10		8	1	5	21	16		+10	41
9	Blackburn Rovers	26		10	9	7	32	33		5	4	4	13	13		5	5	3	19	20		-1	39
10	West Ham United	25		10	7	8	30	23		5	5	3	16	13		5	2	5	14	10		+7	37
11	Tottenham Hotspur	26		8	8	10	48	41		6	2	4	33	22		2	6	6	15	19		+7	32
12	Middlesbrough	26		7	8	11	23	38		4	4	5	14	18		3	4	6	9	20		-15	29
13	Newcastle United	26		7	7	12	29	47		5	5	3	17	18		2	2	9	12	29		-18	28
14	Sunderland	26		7	5	14	26	45		7	3	3	17	13		0	2	11	9	32		-19	26
15	Bolton Wanderers	26		6	7	13	26	35		5	4	5	17	12		1	3	8	9	23		-9	25
16	Wigan Athletic	26		6	5	15	24	42		5	2	5	15	14		1	3	10	9	28		-18	23
17	Birmingham City	26		5	7	14	25	38		3	4	5	13	14		2	3	9	12	24		-13	22
18	Reading	26		6	4	16	30	53		6	1	6	14	19		0	3	10	16	34		-23	22
19	Fulham	26		3	10	13	25	44		3	5	5	18	22		0	5	8	7	22		-19	19
20	Derby County	26		1	6	19	13	55		1	3	9	8	24		0	3	10	5	31		-42	9

The team that year included Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez, Owen Hargeraves, Paul Scholes, Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand. The reds had Edwin Van Der Saar in goal and could call upon the likes of Ryan Giggs, Nani and Anderson too. It was a team good enough to  beat Barcelona and to win the Champions League; and yet at the same stage of that season, United were three points worse off than they are today, while the league leaders, Arsenal at the time, had the same record the City have now.

The next table shows the state of play after 26 games in 2009

1	Manchester United	26		19	5	2	46	11		12	1	0	30	5		7	4	2	16	6		+35	62
2	Liverpool	26		15	10	1	43	18		7	6	0	20	8		8	4	1	23	10		+25	55
3	Chelsea	26		15	7	4	45	15		6	5	2	21	7		9	2	2	24	8		+30	52
4	Aston Villa	26		15	6	5	40	25		5	6	2	18	13		10	0	3	22	12		+15	51
5	Arsenal	26		12	9	5	38	25		7	4	2	18	11		5	5	3	20	14		+13	45
6	Everton	26		11	8	7	34	28		4	5	4	18	16		7	3	3	16	12		+6	41
7	Wigan Athletic	26		9	8	9	26	24		6	4	3	13	11		3	4	6	13	13		+2	35
8	Fulham	25		8	9	8	24	22		8	3	1	21	9		0	6	7	3	13		+2	33
9	West Ham United	26		9	6	11	32	34		6	1	6	18	17		3	5	5	14	17		-2	33
10	Manchester City	26		9	5	12	43	35		8	0	5	28	12		1	5	7	15	23		+8	32
11	Sunderland	26		8	7	11	27	33		5	2	6	15	15		3	5	5	12	18		-6	31
12	Bolton Wanderers	26		9	3	14	29	38		5	2	6	13	15		4	1	8	16	23		-9	30
13	Hull City	25		7	8	10	31	46		3	3	6	13	25		4	5	4	18	21		-15	29
14	Newcastle United	26		6	10	10	33	42		4	6	3	19	20		2	4	7	14	22		-9	28
15	Portsmouth	26		7	7	12	29	43		5	2	6	18	21		2	5	6	11	22		-14	28
16	Tottenham Hotspur	25		6	7	12	26	31		4	5	4	11	9		2	2	8	15	22		-5	25
17	Stoke City	26		6	7	13	23	42		6	4	3	15	13		0	3	10	8	29		-19	25
18	Blackburn Rovers	25		5	8	12	28	42		3	4	6	15	21		2	4	6	13	21		-14	23
19	Middlesbrough	26		5	8	13	18	36		3	6	4	10	15		2	2	9	8	21		-18	23
20	West Bromwich Albion	26		6	4	16	24	49		5	2	6	18	24		1	2	10	6	25		-25	22

A year on and United are top after 26 games, a point worse off than City are now. Liverpool were second on 55 pts; 2 points ahead of the current 3rd placed team, Spurs. As we know, United won the league by four points that season, with Liverpool runners up.

2009/10

1	Chelsea	26		18	4	4	61	22		12	1	0	39	8		6	3	4	22	14		+39	58
2	Manchester United	26		18	3	5	62	21		11	1	1	36	8		7	2	4	26	13		+41	57
3	Arsenal	26		16	4	6	61	30		10	1	2	36	14		6	3	4	25	16		+31	52
4	Manchester City	25		12	9	4	48	33		9	3	0	30	14		3	6	4	18	19		+15	45
5	Liverpool	26		13	5	8	43	27		9	2	2	31	11		4	3	6	12	16		+16	44
6	Tottenham Hotspur	26		12	7	7	45	26		8	2	3	28	8		4	5	4	17	18		+19	43
7	Aston Villa	25		11	9	5	32	19		6	5	2	18	8		5	4	3	14	11		+13	42
8	Birmingham City	25		10	7	8	24	26		6	5	2	12	8		4	2	6	12	18		-2	37
9	Everton	25		9	8	8	35	36		6	5	2	20	16		3	3	6	15	20		-1	35
10	Fulham	26		9	7	10	30	28		8	2	3	19	8		1	5	7	11	20		+2	34
11	Stoke City	25		7	10	8	24	28		6	4	3	19	14		1	6	5	5	14		-4	31
12	Blackburn Rovers	26		8	7	11	26	43		7	4	2	18	12		1	3	9	8	31		-17	31
13	Sunderland	25		6	8	11	32	42		5	5	2	19	14		1	3	9	13	28		-10	26
14	Wigan Athletic	25		6	7	12	26	49		3	5	4	11	15		3	2	8	15	34		-23	25
15	West Ham United	25		5	9	11	32	40		4	4	4	20	20		1	5	7	12	20		-8	24
16	Wolverhampton Wndrs	25		6	6	13	21	42		4	3	6	10	17		2	3	7	11	25		-21	24
17	Hull City	26		5	9	12	25	51		5	5	3	18	20		0	4	9	7	31		-26	24
18	Bolton Wanderers	25		5	8	12	29	46		3	5	5	17	23		2	3	7	12	23		-17	23
19	Burnley	25		6	5	14	25	50		6	4	2	17	12		0	1	12	8	38		-25	23
20	Portsmouth	25		4	4	17	20	42		3	2	7	15	18		1	2	10	5	24		-22	16

Both United and Chelsea had relatively poor records after 26 games in 2009/10. It was the Londoners who were to end the season champions with United a point behind.

Now to last year;

1	Manchester United	26		16	9	1	57	25		13	1	0	39	9		3	8	1	18	16		+32	57
2	Arsenal	26		16	5	5	56	27		9	1	3	29	12		7	4	2	27	15		+29	53
3	Manchester City	27		14	7	6	43	24		8	3	2	21	10		6	4	4	22	14		+19	49
4	Tottenham Hotspur	26		13	8	5	37	28		7	5	1	19	10		6	3	4	18	18		+9	47
5	Chelsea	26		13	6	7	46	22		8	2	2	24	8		5	4	5	22	14		+24	45
6	Liverpool	27		11	6	10	35	32		8	4	2	23	11		3	2	8	12	21		+3	39
7	Sunderland	27		9	10	8	33	33		6	5	3	18	14		3	5	5	15	19		0	37
8	Bolton Wanderers	27		9	9	9	38	37		7	5	2	25	17		2	4	7	13	20		+1	36
9	Newcastle United	27		9	8	10	42	38		4	5	4	30	19		5	3	6	12	19		+4	35
10	Stoke City	26		10	3	13	31	33		7	2	4	19	14		3	1	9	12	19		-2	33
11	Blackburn Rovers	27		9	5	13	34	42		6	4	4	17	11		3	1	9	17	31		-8	32
12	Fulham	27		6	13	8	28	28		5	6	3	17	14		1	7	5	11	14		0	31
13	Everton	26		6	12	8	33	36		4	5	3	19	18		2	7	5	14	18		-3	30
14	Birmingham City	26		6	12	8	25	35		4	7	3	13	15		2	5	5	12	20		-10	30
15	Aston Villa	27		7	9	11	31	46		5	5	3	18	15		2	4	8	13	31		-15	30
16	Blackpool	26		8	5	13	39	50		3	3	6	19	23		5	2	7	20	27		-11	29
17	West Bromwich Albion	27		7	7	13	35	52		5	5	4	22	23		2	2	9	13	29		-17	28
18	Wigan Athletic	27		5	12	10	27	45		3	6	5	16	26		2	6	5	11	19		-18	27
19	West Ham United	27		5	10	12	30	48		3	4	6	14	20		2	6	6	16	28		-18	25
20	Wolverhampton Wndrs	27		7	4	16	27	46		6	2	5	17	19		1	2	11	10	27		-19	25

United had an identical points total after 26 games in 2010/11 as they had the year before; 57. They are 4 points better off this season despite a crippling injury list. In fact, since the 2007/08 season, the reds have maintained remarkable consistency. 58, 62, 57, 57 and 61 are the points won after 26 games in each of the past five seasons; a variance of just 5 points. This year is no different.

Finally, here is the current table;

1	Manchester City	26		20	3	3	67	19		13	0	0	40	6		7	3	3	27	13		+48	63
2	Manchester United	26		19	4	3	63	26		10	1	2	37	15		9	3	1	26	11		+37	61
3	Tottenham Hotspur	26		16	5	5	51	30		10	2	1	29	10		6	3	4	22	20		+21	53
4	Arsenal	26		14	4	8	53	37		9	2	2	29	11		5	2	6	24	26		+16	46
5	Chelsea	26		13	7	6	47	31		8	2	3	30	19		5	5	3	17	12		+16	46
6	Newcastle United	26		12	7	7	38	38		7	4	2	20	14		5	3	5	18	24		0	43
7	Liverpool	25		10	9	6	29	23		4	8	0	14	8		6	1	6	15	15		+6	39
8	Norwich City	26		9	8	9	38	43		5	4	4	20	17		4	4	5	18	26		-5	35
9	Sunderland	26		9	6	11	34	30		5	4	4	20	13		4	2	7	14	17		+4	33
10	Everton	25		9	6	10	26	27		5	3	5	14	13		4	3	5	12	14		-1	33
11	Fulham	26		8	9	9	32	36		6	4	3	24	19		2	5	6	8	17		-4	33
12	Stoke City	26		9	6	11	26	38		5	4	4	17	14		4	2	7	9	24		-12	33
13	West Bromwich Albion	26		9	5	12	33	35		3	2	8	13	16		6	3	4	20	19		-2	32
14	Swansea City	26		7	9	10	28	34		5	6	2	18	10		2	3	8	10	24		-6	30
15	Aston Villa	26		6	11	9	29	34		3	4	6	14	17		3	7	3	15	17		-5	29
16	Wolverhampton Wndrs	26		5	7	14	30	51		3	2	8	17	28		2	5	6	13	23		-21	22
17	Queens Park Rangers	26		5	6	15	27	45		2	4	7	13	21		3	2	8	14	24		-18	21
18	Blackburn Rovers	26		5	6	15	37	59		4	0	9	19	26		1	6	6	18	33		-22	21
19	Bolton Wanderers	26		6	2	18	29	54		2	2	9	15	27		4	0	9	14	27		-25	20
20	Wigan Athletic	26		4	8	14	23	50		1	6	6	11	22		3	2	8	12	28		-27	20