All Time Premier League Points Table

Although football was not necessarily invented in 1992, the Premier League was and with 31 complete seasons now in the history books, it has given number crunchers an incredibly rich and varied dataset to work with.

One that not only looks at who lifted the trophy each year but also offers many statistical insights at the same time and although Manchester City have nearly had it all their own way in recent years, that may not be the case in our latest deep dive.

Because in this article we are going to see what the all-time Premier League table looks like and with some teams playing a considerable number of matches more than their counterparts, we also need to level the playing field somewhat.

A playing field that comes in the shape of points per game or PPG as it will otherwise be known and with this being able to provide a metric to each of the 50 teams that have tasted life in the Premier League, we will be able to see who the have and have nots truly are.

THE EPL EVER PRESENTS

While a good a place to start as any is a look at those clubs who have been ever-present in the Premier League since its 1992 inception and with a maximum of 1,190 matches played at the time of writing, only six clubs have never tasted demotion to the second tier during this era. 

Which means with a half-dozen outfits having an unlimited membership to the Premier League as things stand, here is what things look like from a PPG point of view:

Perhaps unsurprisingly is the fact that Manchester United top the pile and although they have not lifted the Premier League trophy since 2013, the weight of history manages to keep them clear from a PPG point of view. 

Not only that, but the Old Trafford outfit is the only side to average more than two points per Premier League game and they also find themselves 0.181 points ahead of Arsenal who currently lie in second.  

However, the Gunners do not find themselves second by much at all and with Chelsea just 0.036 points behind in third place. The Gunners may have missed out on the Premier League title, but they have reinforced their standing as the team with the second highest average PPG.

While due to Arsenal’s ability to grind out results, they have also managed to put some further distance between themselves and Liverpool. The Merseyside men are not quite hitting the high notes, but they are eating into Chelsea’s gap above – just 0.005 points at the end of 2022/23.

23 points separated the two clubs in the final Premier League table of last season and had that gap been recorded at 30, it would have seen the two change positions. The Reds are just six points behind the Blues, the gap could change rather quickly at the start of 2023/24. 

While Tottenham find themselves all but on their own in fifth, as they are 0.282 points behind fellow London rivals Chelsea and with a 335-point gap between the two teams, it is going to take at least another couple of decades for a change to be made.

While Everton’s ever-present membership was nearly rescinded at the end of last season and there is every chance the same could happen at the end of this. They are 0.199 points behind Tottenham, and they are the worst performing outfit to have never been relegated.

WHO ARE WE MISSING?

Which means when we look at teams that never been relegated from the Premier League, we also manage to make a glaring omission and that comes in the shape of a Manchester City side who have suffered the drop on two separate occasions.

Then again, even though relegations in both 1996 and 2001 has meant a gap in terms of top-flight existence, it is fair to say that they have more than made up for it in the past decade, especially when we look at the PPG table in its purest form.

Because even though Manchester City have missed five seasons of Premier League participation, they still find themselves lying fifth in the all-time PPG table and sandwiched neatly between Liverpool and Tottenham.

A position that has come about due to their recent success and were it not for five Premier League titles in the space of six years, the Etihad outfit would not find themselves with such an impressive standing.

While with City also making up for lost time, it means that the big six lock out each of the first half dozen rankings in the PPG table. Something that signifies that as always, the cream will eventually rise to the top.

However, the story starts to get rather more interesting in the rest of the top 10 and especially when you look at Leeds. The Elland Road club have featured in less than 50% Premier League matches when compared to the top four and still find themselves seventh overall.

Something that can be explained by their impressive run of seasons before the turn of the millennium and only because their decline out of the Premier League was rather swift, it meant that there was not a great deal of damage to their overall PPG record.

However, they will not be adding to that tally anytime soon. Relegation to the EFL Championship is their remit for the upcoming 2023/24 campaign. Their seventh place standing could be under threat by a number of current Premier League outfits. 

Although the most interesting top 10 entry is that of Blackburn and with them being the only non-Premier League team in this upper echelon (as of the end of 2022/23), their run of title contenders or European qualifiers in the 1990s has held up rather well in modern times.

In joint ninth we see both Newcastle and Brentford squeeze past Everton into the top 10. The Magpies own PPG average was given a substantial boost after Eddie Howe’s men finished fourth Brentford’s refusal to succumb to the drop has seen them quickly become a top 10 average team.

EPL TEAMS THAT HAVE AN LESS THAN 1 POINT PER GAME AVERAGE

Suppose that highlights those who are the very best in the Premier League. In that case, it is time to look at the very worst and with a half-century of outfits playing at least one season in the competition, we are increasing our focus on an unwanted group of eight.

A group that all have managed to average less than a point per top-tier league outing since 1992 and it is a PPG table that looks as follows.

One of the things that stands out the most here is the variation in matches played and with West Brom edging close to 500 outings in the Premier League, they have still managed to score less than one point per game.

However, a large number of matches at this level is something that Barnsley and Swindon could only dream of and with them both having just one single season in the Premier League, they also failed to hit the magic marker of 1.000.

Something that Watford have also failed to achieve, as the now Championship outfit are only 44th in the PPG Premier League and with Cardiff, Bradford and Huddersfield all succumbing to second-season syndrome, they also failed to score 76 total points or more during their top tier stints.

THE 2022/23 CAMPAIGN

Of course, now that the 2022/23 season has ended, we can also rank each of the 20 Premier League in terms of overall PPG:

It does make good reading if you are a Bournemouth supporter. The Cherries may have seen off any threat of relegation at the end of last season, but they currently have the worst PPG record of the 20 teams that contested the 2022/23 Premier League season.

While it is Wolves and Crystal Palace who find themselves in this relative relegation zone. Both the Molineux and Selhurst Park outfits did well to eventually steer clear of the bottom three but if this points average does not improve, they could find themselves in a whole host of upcoming problems.

Problems that Leeds, Leicester and Southampton will not have to deal with by virtue of their demotion to the Championship. The first of this trio are a top 10 team, the Foxes and the Saints are 12th and 15th respectively.

THE REAL TOP 20 ALL PREMIER LEAGUE POINT SCORERS

Of course, another way to compare and contrast the data is by taking the all-time PPG top 20 and seeing how many of next season’s Premier League clubs also find themselves in this table and the one lying above:

While the answer to that question is 12 and although Blackburn’s impressive standing has been explained above, we must also give honourable mentions to the quartet of Sheffield Wednesday, Wimbledon, Stoke and Charlton.

Each of these clubs have played six or more Premier League seasons since 1992 and although they eventually suffered the drop and even a change of moniker in Wimbledon’s case, they more than held their own when competing in the division. 

This means with all of the 20 teams above generating more than 1.000 points on average, it also highlights just how important the 40-point marker is and especially when it comes to warding off relegation.

Not to mention if you reach this and more on a rather consistent basis, you will also be one of the Premier League’s mainstays and with the current trajectories of the two Manchester clubs, who knows when City will eventually surpass United at the very top of the standings. 

Other Premier League Statistics Articles you May Like

We have a whole range of statistical articles that may interest you, either browse the blog section or use one of the handy links below

• The most sought after free transfers in football
• How much does it cost to follow each EPL team?
• Which EPL team travels the most?
• What would the Premier League look like if games were only 60 minutes?
• Average age of teams in the Premier League

Methodology and Editorial Information

Data from Wikipedia – correct as of 1st August 2023

This article was researched and fact-checked by Dan Tracey who also then added the words - Dan is a multi-talented writer, data analyst and podcaster whose six-year career in the sports data sphere has seen incredible successes. From helping UEFA create their annual technical reports to writing articles for Sports Betting Websites, including sites like TheLinesUS and Goal