All Time Premier League Points Table

Step into our latest deep dive exploring the all-time Premier League table, where we balance the playing field using a points-per-game metric. Discover the true running of the 51 teams that have graced the Prem, beyond the surface level of trophy wins.
All Time Premier League Points Table

Thomas McAtee//shutterstock

Dan Tracey
Dan Tracey Data Scientist and Football Editor

Writer, analyst, podcaster, Spurs fan. Three out of four is not bad. If there is a data angle, I will find it.

Although football was not necessarily invented in 1992, the Premier League was and with 32 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.

Premier League All-Time Rankings in Focus ⚽️📊🏁

We're diving deep into the all-time #PremierLeague table🏆⚽️! With uneven game counts, we're switching to a points-per-game (PPG) basis for fair play👀📊. This new lens will shed light on all the 51 teams that have graced the Prem, revealing the real victors & strugglers⬆️⬇️🧐

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 51 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 1,228 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:

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsPPG
Manchester United122874426921523001167113325012.037
Arsenal12286732952602196122097623141.884
Liverpool12286523022742182123594722581.839
Chelsea12286473042772088123585322451.828
Tottenham12285402933951889156232719131.558
Everton122843934144815651589-2416501.344

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 0.152 points ahead of Arsenal who currently lie in second.  

However, the Gunners do not find themselves second by much at all with rivals Liverpool just 0.045 points behind in third place and because of the Merseyside's men last title tilt under the watchful eye of German Jurgen Klopp, they have managed to recently switch positions with Chelsea.

The Premier League PPG Rundown 🔍⚽️📊

No shocker here - Man United tops the PPG pile in the all-time Premier League table, averaging over 2 points/game 🥇⚽️📊. Arsenal, though trophy-less, secures second place, just 0.045 points above Liverpool in third. 😯. The battle between the giants keeps heating up! 🔥🏆

The Blues were led by Mauricio Pochettino but even though the Argentine managed to lead the Stamford Bridge outfit to sixth and a return to Europa League football next season, it was not enough to keep the former Tottenham and PSG boss in gainful employment.

With their being a 19-point gap between Liverpool in third and Chelsea in sixth, this was enough to see the two big six members switch places in our list of ever-presents, with the gap now 0.011 points in the Reds favour. Can the Blues swing it back in their direction next time around?

While Tottenham find themselves all but on their own in fifth, as they are 0.270 points behind fellow London rivals Chelsea and with a 328-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, they are still members of the top tier. They are 0.214 points behind Tottenham, and they are the worst performing outfit to have never been relegated.

Exploring Premier League Standings: Tottenham and Everton’s Positions 🏁⚽️📊

Tottenham stands lonely in fifth, 328 points behind Chelsea. Requires decades for a possible shake-up 🔮⏳⚽️. Meanwhile, Everton dangerously dangles on the edge, 0.214 points behind Tottenham and as the lowest performing never-relegated team😬💔

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.

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsPPG
Manchester United122874426921523001167113325012.037
Arsenal12286732952602196122097623141.884
Liverpool12286523022742182123594722581.839
Chelsea12286473042772088123585322451.828
Manchester City10385292222871848113571318091.743
Tottenham12285402933951889156232719131.558
Leeds58222315120879378498201.409
Blackburn696262184250927907209701.394
Newcastle1110419284407153015121815411.388
Everton122843934144815651589-2416501.344

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 Chelsea and Tottenham.

A position that has come about due to their recent success and were it not for six Premier League titles in the space of seven 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.

The Intriguing Tale of Leeds in Premier League 🏁⚽️🔍

An intriguing twist in the tale🔀📖! Leeds, appearing in less than 50% of Premier League matches compared to the top four, steals the seventh spot overall 😯⚽️🎉. The Elland Road club showing strength doesn't always come from quantity. 💪🦉

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.Tthe EFL Championship is their remit for the upcoming 2024/25 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 other non-Premier League team in this upper echelon (as of the end of 2023/24), 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 squeeze past Everton into the top 10. The Magpies own PPG average was given a substantial boost after Eddie Howe’s men finished fourth and seventh in the past two Premier League season and they are 0.044 points better off than Everton who round out the list.

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 ten.

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.

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsPPG
West Brom494118136240510772-2624900.992
Sheffield United2365657123222374-1522250.953
Watford3047366165310518-2082850.938
Barnsley38105233782-45350.921
Hull1904148101181323-1421710.900
Cardiff7617134666143-77640.842
Bradford7614204268138-70620.816
Swindon425152247100-53300.714
Huddersfield7612174750134-84530.697
Luton3868245285-33260.684

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.

At the same time, the pair of Sheffield United and Luton are now a part of this unwanted list and because the former's Premier League campaign was so bad for 2023/24, their average has slipped below 1.000.

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 2023/24 CAMPAIGN

https://www.olbg.com/blogs/next-luton-town-manager-betting-odds-and-historyOf course, now that the 2023/24 season has ended, we can also rank each of the 20 Premier League in terms of overall PPG:

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsPPG
Manchester United122874426921523001167113325012.037
Arsenal12286732952602196122097623141.884
Liverpool12286523022742182123594722581.839
Chelsea12286473042772088123585322451.828
Manchester City10385292222871848113571318091.743
Tottenham12285402933951889156232719131.558
Newcastle1110419284407153015121815411.388
Everton122843934144815651589-2416501.344
Aston Villa111439231141113921460-6814871.335
Brentford114383046162167-51441.263

It does make not 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 2023/24 Premier League season (excluding those teams that have been relegated to the Championship for 2024/25).

Premier League's Relative Relegation Zone: Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest, and Crystal Palace?

Tough read for Bournemouth fans 😔. Despite avoiding relegation last season, the Cherries hold the fourth-worst PPG for 2023/24 🍒⬇️⚽️. Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace also hover nervously over this relative relegation zone🐺🦅. They'll need to up their game to avoid future problems🔝💪

While it is Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace who find themselves with little to get excited about either. Both the City Ground and Selhurst Park outfits did well to eventually steer clear of the bottom three - especally the latter after the arrival of Oliver Glasner as manager but if this points average does not improve, they could find themselves in a whole host of upcoming problems next time around.

Problems that Luton, Burnley and Sheffield United will not have to deal with by virtue of their demotion to the Championship. They finished 18th, 19th and 20th respectively in this particular list and now have to worry about trying to return to the top tier once again.

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:

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsPPG
Manchester United122874426921523001167113325012.037
Arsenal12286732952602196122097623141.884
Liverpool12286523022742182123594722581.839
Chelsea12286473042772088123585322451.828
Manchester City10385292222871848113571318091.743
Tottenham12285402933951889156232719131.558
Leeds58222315120879378498201.409
Blackburn696262184250927907209701.394
Newcastle1110419284407153015121815411.388
Everton122843934144815651589-2416501.344

While the answer to that question is 14 and although Leeds and Blackburn’s impressive standings have 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. 

Methodology and Editorial Information

Data from Wikipedia – correct as of 8th July 2024

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



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