Manchester United top Premier League table for longer than Liverpool in 2021/22

Manchester United spent more days at the top of the Premier League this season than title challengers Liverpool, PA news agency analysis reveals.

The Red Devils topped the table for 14 days across the 2021-22 campaign, while Jurgen Klopp’s men only did so for 11 days.

This is based on standings at the end of each day.

It might seem a long time ago, but United started the season reasonably well under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Bruno Fernandes scored a hat-trick on the opening weekend in a 5-1 thrashing of Leeds, which put United top on goal difference. They returned to the summit in mid-September, as Cristiano Ronaldo marked his second debut with a brace against Newcastle.

Liverpool’s only prolonged spell as league leaders came at the end of September. They were top overnight on a couple of occasions in April and May, only for Man City to win the following day and push them down to second.

Champions Manchester City were league leaders for more than half of the season.

They first reached the summit in December on the back of a 3-1 win at Watford. From that point on City were relentless, ending all but two of the remaining days of the season at the top of the table (168 days).

Brentford were surprise leaders after day one of the season, by virtue of their win over Arsenal being scheduled on a Friday night, before other fixtures took place over the weekend.

The other three teams to top the table over the course of the campaign were Chelsea, Tottenham and West Ham.

The Blues were in title contention for much of the first half of the season and led the way throughout October and November. Spurs spent 13 heady days as league leaders under Nuno Espirito Santo, during the September international break, while West Ham were top briefly