Huddersfield Town sit in the Premier League relegation zone after five matches of the 2018/19 season.

The Terriers have chalked up three defeats and two draws in their opening fixtures, results good enough to put David Wagner 's men 18th in the table.

Town fans would have been more comfortable with a few extra points on the board, and may look back at the home clashes with Cardiff City and Crystal Palace as matches they should have exploited more.

But we are only five games in and supporters should not be braced for disaster just yet.

Just look at last season's table after five matches.

Town joined Newcastle United and Burnley in the top seven, with all three sides ahead of Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool in the race for European football.

Arsenal were even down in 12th in Arsene Wenger's last campaign at the helm, while Everton , who finished ninth, occupied the same spot Town find themselves in a year later (18th).

AFC Bournemouth took up 19th spot after claiming their first points of the season with a win over Brighton & Hove Albion in their fifth match, but nine more wins over the course of the season led Eddie Howe's side to a 12th-placed finish.

And Crystal Palace had failed to score and had lost every league match under the tutelage of Frank de Boer, leaving them rock bottom of the ladder.

The Eagles, who beat Town at the John Smith's Stadium last weekend, were written off at that point and even went on to lose two more matches before claiming their first points of the campaign against Chelsea .

But, come May 13, after their final-day victory over West Bromwich Albion, Palace were in 11th and riding high after a miraculous turnaround under Roy Hodgson.

None of the eventual bottom three of Stoke City, West Brom and Swansea City were in the relegation zone and the Baggies were even level on points with Town, Tottenham Hotspur, Burnley, Liverpool, Watford and Southampton and were in the top half.

Stoke and Swansea had accumulated five points by this stage and all three of the bottom three sides earned at least a point in their opening clash of the season.

Of course, it is important to pick up points early on in the term, as Town discovered last year, but it is more important to do so at regular intervals, curtailing any winless run as quickly as possible.

Only one side went on a longer winless run than one of the bottom three last term, with Southampton failing to win in 12 matches between November 26 and February 3.

That is a worse record than Swansea's nine-match streak from March 3 to the end of the season, but better than Stoke's 13-game spell without victory from January 20 to the final day.

West Brom, who ended rooted to the foot of the table, were doomed after their winless run lasted for 20 (yes, twenty) matchdays from August to January, while another 10-match spell without a victory followed.

In comparison, Town's longest stint without a win lasted eight matches, while Brighton and Watford's lasted seven.

The Terriers are not in an ideal scenario at the beginning of the 2018/19 campaign, but as last year showed, the Premier League is a marathon, not a sprint.

Alarm bells may start to ring if another three matches follow without that first victory, but the Palace performance has brought hope that results will soon begin to turn.

Whether that starts at Leicester City this weekend we will have to see, but supporters should not be at panic stations just yet.