REPORT: After CRYSTAL PALACE wining their championship their head coach Steve Coppell was suspended because of ……

Whatever the record is, it could be about to be broken. Arsenal’s win over Chelsea on Tuesday night means they have been top of the table for 248 days, but Manchester City (16 days) have two games in hand and are odds-on favourites for the Premier League title.

The current holders of this unwelcome record are Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle, who led the way for 212 days in 1995-96 before they were reeled in by Manchester United. Newcastle beat Coventry 3-0 on the opening day of the season and went top of the fledgling table. Barring two days in August (on each occasion, the leaders Leeds had played a game more), Newcastle were top until Eric Cantona scored an injury-time equaliser at QPR on 16 March 1996. Less than two months earlier, Newcastle had been 12 points clear.

Keegan’s team went back to the top two days later, beating West Ham 3-0 in one of their two games in hand on United. That put them ahead on goal difference – but only for five more days. At 3.03pm on 23 March 1996, the Scottish centre-back Scott Marshall headed Arsenal ahead at Highbury, and Newcastle slipped below United in the as-it-stands table. Ian Wright completed a 2-0 win with an insouciant finish, and Newcastle dropped off top spot for the final time that season.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s team did it again in 2002-03, extinguishing Arsenal’s hopes of retaining the title for the first time since the 1930s. Arsenal, playing some of the best football ever seen in this country, led the table for most of the season, including an uninterrupted spell from mid-November to mid-April. But things started to get hairy, particularly away from home – this was when Ferguson coined the phrase “squeaky-bum time” – and Ruud van Nistelrooy went into overdrive. He scored 13 goals in the last eight games, and United won the title by five points. Arsenal had been top for 189 days of the season.

Arsenal and Manchester United swapped roles in 1997-98. A young United side, playing some of the best football ever seen in this country, led the table for most of the season, including an uninterrupted spell from late-October to mid-April. But when the going got tough they desperately missed Roy Keane, who was out for the season after injuring himself while trying to leave one on Erling Haaland’s future dad.

Most people thought United had the title wrapped up at the start of March, and one publicity-shy bookmaker even paid out, but Arsenal had a number of games in hand. Their quietly emphatic 1-0 victory at Old Trafford in mid-March meant the title was in their hands and out of United’s, even if they still weren’t top of the league. Arsenal kept winning and finally went top – still with two games in hand – after thrashing Wimbledon 5-0 on 18 April. United had been top for 175 days consecutively and 187 across the whole season. Arsenal’s awesome, unprecedented run of 10 straight victories culminated in a title party against Everton, when Tony Adams summed it all up.