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The stat that reveals why Chelsea may already be out of the title race - and why Jose Mourinho is wrong

No team has even managed to win the Premier League title after taking just one point from their opening two games

Jack de Menezes
Friday 21 August 2015 15:03 BST
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Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho

If your name is Jose Mourinho, your occupation is a Premier League manager and you have won enough silverware throughout your career to fill a treasure chest, you may want to stop reading now.

Because the below information reveals how no Premier League champion in the history of the competition has won the title having taken just one point from their opening two games.

Chelsea battled their way to a 2-2 draw with Swansea in their opening league match of the season, although they could have easily come away with nothing having seen goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois sent-off and an impressive Swans side take the game to the reigning champions.

But nothing prepared the squad for the 3-0 humbling they suffered at the hands of Manchester City last weekend, where goals from Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany and Fernandinho secured what was an eye-opening result for officials at Stamford Bridge.

That result may have triggered the move for Barcelona forward Pedro, though from Mourinho’s words today we’ll never know as he refused to reveal whether that defeat prompted Chelsea into the market for a marquee signing.

What is clear though is that no team has ever recovered from a draw and a defeat in their opening two league games to win the title. That said, one team has managed to win after losing both matches – Manchester United did in the inaugural Premier League season back in 1992/93 – but since then every Premier League winner has managed to at least draw both matches.

Specialist sports website Sportingintelligence has collated the results of all 23 Premier League champions to date across the first two matches of the season.

Unsurprisingly, the eventual champions have got off to a double-winning start eight times, while another eight have remained unbeaten with a win and a draw to their name.

Four clubs have managed to recover from an early defeat and go on to win the title having taken three point from their first two matches, but it’s the interesting point that no club has ever won the top flight when suffering a draw and a defeat. Could this be the year of change?

Mourinho certainly believes so. Rather than looking at the record of clubs when he has got off to such a start, he has chosen to look at his past seasons when he has opened a campaign with a 2-2 draw where he has, he claims, gone on to win the treble.

Unfortunately for ‘The Special One’, he’s not quite right. It’s true to say that after beating Belenenses in August 2002, Mourinho’s Porto side went on to win the Primeira Liga, Taca de Portugal and the Uefa Cup, but his 2009/10 treble-winning Inter Milan side actually beat Bari 1-1 in August 2009.

The Blues sit five points behind leaders Manchester City, who are expected to pose the fiercest challenge to Mourinho's side and have strengthened since they beat Chelsea last weekend with the addition of Nicolas Otamendi and expected capture of Kevin De Bruyne.

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