Nice article from David Walsh on Unai's impact

[Luis Anaconda]

City and Liverpool have had two of the best starts to a season in the history of English football and we are only 7 and 8 points back so the league is still very much on. Under Wenger we were usually out of it by now. And we're one of three teams within 2 points of each other battling for 3rd. And we're on a pace for 81 points, last year we finished with 63. That with a new manager, new style of play and relatively little net investment.

Hard to understand how anyone can't see this as a huge step forward at this point.

Comparative positions for this date over the past five seasons
2017/18 5th 17 points from the leaders but only one point off 4th and 2 off third
2016/17 1st (level on points)
2015/16 1st (1 point clear)
2014/15 6th 13 from leaders 2 from fourth and third
2013/14 1st (five points clear)

Only two of those seasons back up your claim and three tell a very different story at this stage