Four games into the new Premier League season, the early-summer optimism surrounding several clubs has given way to concern, though history suggests panic may be premature for Coventry, Tottenham and Aston Villa.
Coventry City, back in the top flight for the first time since 2001 following their Championship title triumph, are the only side in the division without a point after four matches, and they have yet to score a goal. Two of those fixtures came against Arsenal and Manchester City, arguably the league's two strongest teams, and Frank Lampard's side were competitive in the latter contest. However, a 1-0 home defeat to fellow promoted club Hull and a 5-0 mauling by Brighton have exposed the gulf in quality at this level. Taiwo Awoniyi's second-half red card against Brighton compounded matters, though Coventry were already trailing 2-0 by that point.
Coventry become the eighth promoted club to lose their opening four Premier League fixtures. History is not kind to that group: only Southampton, in 2012-13, managed to survive relegation among the previous seven. Still, when broadening the sample to all teams — promoted or otherwise — that dropped their first four games, eight of eighteen sides stayed up, including Everton as recently as 2024-25.
A more direct source of hope for Coventry could be Crystal Palace's 2017-18 campaign. Under Frank de Boer, Palace went five games without a point or a goal before he was dismissed and replaced by Roy Hodgson. The winless, scoreless run actually stretched to seven matches in total, yet Palace recovered remarkably to finish 11th that season.
Tottenham's situation carries its own weight of history. Roberto De Zerbi's side narrowly avoided relegation last term and were backed in the transfer market over the summer, yet they have failed to score in any of their first four league games this season — a first in the club's history. Spurs have collected two points via goalless draws with Nottingham Forest and Everton, but it has now been 407 minutes since they last found the net in the Premier League, their longest such drought in a single season start since September 2006.
Encouragingly for Tottenham, only Palace's 2017-18 side have gone longer without scoring at the start of a Premier League campaign. Five other teams have previously failed to score in their opening four matches of a season — Sheffield Wednesday in 1994-95, Newcastle in 2005-06, Swansea in 2011-12, and Aston Villa last season — and none were relegated, with the worst finish among them being 13th.
Villa's own recent history offers a blueprint for turning things around. Unai Emery's side failed to score until their fifth game last season before rallying to finish fourth and win the Europa League. This year, however, Villa have taken just one point from four games — a goalless draw at Hull — following losses to Brighton, Arsenal and Forest, leaving them in the relegation zone and a point worse off than at this stage last season. It marks the fourth time Villa have failed to win any of their opening four league games, following similar starts in 1992-93 and 1997-98. There was at least a sign of life on Saturday, as Alysson's equaliser against Forest represented Villa's first league goal of the campaign.
Elsewhere, Fulham's difficult start was eased slightly by a hard-fought draw at Liverpool, their first point of the season after opening defeats to Chelsea, Sunderland and Crystal Palace under Álvaro Arbeloa.
With 34 games still to play, there remains ample time for these clubs to turn their fortunes around. For Coventry, a first win would be transformative; for Tottenham, simply finding the net could unlock a much-needed shift in momentum.
Based on reporting from Guardian Football (Opta Analyst).