Form Watch: Manchester City and Hull perfect, Tottenham and Palace pointless

The Premier League form guide has taken a clear shape after the opening rounds, though the numbers carry an asterisk: several sides have played only once. With that caveat in mind, here is who is riding a streak — for better or worse.

The perfect starts

According to the Premier League table, Manchester City and Hull City AFC are the only teams with a 100 per cent record after two matches.

City sit top on six points, ahead of Hull on goal difference alone, plus four to plus three, with six goals scored and two conceded. The Tigers have matched that maximum haul with a tighter formula: three goals scored and none against.

Hull are, according to the standings, the only side to have played twice without conceding — a defensive base underpinning second place.

A cluster of teams have won their only outing so far — Brighton & Hove Albion, Arsenal, Brentford and Chelsea among them, according to the table — and could yet join the perfect pair.

Pointless after two

At the other end, three teams have nothing to show for their opening two fixtures: Crystal Palace, Coventry City and Tottenham Hotspur.

Tottenham's start is the bleakest on paper. The table shows Spurs have lost both games, scored none and conceded five — a goal difference of minus five matched only by Palace, who have one goal at the right end and six against, the most any side has conceded so far.

Coventry are also goalless after two defeats, shipping four. Among sides to have played twice, only Tottenham and Coventry are still waiting for a first goal.

Unbeaten but not winning

Liverpool are the division's early curiosity: unbeaten and winless. Two draws from two, with four goals scored and four conceded, according to the standings, leave them eleventh on two points.

Newcastle United and Everton are also yet to lose, each sitting on four points from a win and a draw.

One-match warnings

The sharper concerns may involve sides with a single game played. Manchester United and Aston Villa both opened with defeats and neither scored, United losing by two goals and Villa by four. Fulham and Sunderland also began with one-goal defeats, the table shows.

Form at a glance

• Maximum points from two games: Manchester City, Hull City
• Zero points from two games: Crystal Palace, Coventry City, Tottenham Hotspur
• Unbeaten without a win: Liverpool

Early days

Form lines this short prove little on their own, and the picture will shift once every side has completed two fixtures. Still, momentum counts for something: City and Hull take perfect records into their next matches, while Tottenham, Palace and Coventry carry the division's only two-match losing streaks — and the pressure that comes with them.