Since the start of the Premier League era in the 1992-93 season, the average points tally required to win the league has been close to 86 points. That average is dragged up significantly by Manchester City over these last two seasons, who won 100 points in 2017-18 and 98 points in 2018-19, the highest and second highest points tallies in the history of the division.
Today we’re interested in the worst teams to have won the Premier League though, purely mathematically speaking. That is to say the seven Premier League winning sides with the lowest number of points since that inaugural 92-93 campaign. In the first three Premier League seasons there were 22 teams in the division, but points tallies are still higher now than then despite teams playing fewer games, as the league becomes increasingly unequal season upon season.
I had some reluctance about making this video, particularly since Manchester United have been so dominant in the Premier League era that they are equally dominant in this seven. However, it was the top comment on previous videos on multiple occasions with requests from multiple subscribers, so you rather left me with no choice.
Here are the 7 worst Premier League title winners in terms of points:
7. Manchester United 1995-96 – 82 Points
Our first entrants in this seven and also the earliest chronologically speaking, the 1995-96 season was a transitional one for Manchester United, as Sir Alex Ferguson looked to bring through some exceptional young talent and assimilate them with some of the old guard. Following a 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa on the opening day, United were written off by the press, with Alan Hansen infamously declaring “you’ll never win anything with kids”. They trailed league leaders Newcastle United by seven points on January 1st 1996, before going on a fantastic run of form. Kevin Keegan declared that he would love it if Newcastle beat Manchester United in an infamous rant, but they could do no such thing. United’s kids won 25, drew 7 and lost 6 of their 38 league games, giving them a final title winning points tally of 82.
6. Leicester City 2015-16 – 81 Points
The most extraordinary season in Premier League history, Leicester City were 5,000/1 outsiders going into the 2015-16 Premier League season. The bookies no longer offer such incredibly long odds, and that is because Claudio Ranieri’s men did the unthinkable. Although it seemed like they won every week looking back, the Foxes actually had a pretty low points tally by Premier League title winning standards, not that any Leicester fan would care! Very impressively, the Foxes only lost three games all season, but they did draw 12. That’s a lot of dropped points, which gave them a final tally of 81 points, not great by Premier League standards but still enough to give them a 10 point cushion over runners-up Arsenal that season.
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5. Manchester United 2010-11 – 80 Points
It’s actually a tie in joint fourth between two sides who won the league with 80 points, but I’ve decided to split them by goal difference. As a result, with a +41 goal difference, coming in at fifth is the Manchester United side of the 2010-11 season. Looking at the United side of 2010-11, it’s easy to see why they didn’t romp to the league title, with the likes of Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes getting reduced game time as they aged. Dimitar Berbatov and Javier Hernandez were the star men in many respects, as United – like Leicester – drew a lot of games but still won the title. The Red Devils only won 23 of their 38 games, giving them a final points tally of 80, but runners-up Arsenal never gave them too many scares.
4. Manchester United 2000-01 – 80 Points
It was a tie between Manchester United and – you guessed it – Manchester United in fourth place, with two United sides exactly a decade apart winning the league with 80 points. Having fallen to Bayern Munich in the Quarter-Finals of the Champions League, United were actually very dominant in the Premier League this season. Their relatively low points tally was down to the fact they lost all of their last three league games, the same number as they had lost in all 35 league games up to that point. Teddy Sheringham was the star that season, winning the PFA and FWA Player of the Year awards as United’s top scorer, but Fergie exposed his ruthless streak once again by allowing the veteran striker to rejoin Tottenham the following summer.
3. Manchester United 1998-99 – 79 Points
Don’t say I didn’t warn you that this seven would be very Manchester United heavy, and low and behold, it’s only Manchester United again in third place. The 1998-99 season is probably the most famous season in the history of Manchester United, and it is often regarded as the finest in the history of English football. United won the treble, and it was a perfect treble, in the sense that the Premier League, Champions League and the FA Cup are the three biggest trophies available to an English club. As was often the case though, Ferguson endured a slow first half of the season, and United drew a whopping 13 games. They finished the season with 79 points, which was one more than runners-up Arsenal, and enough to guarantee that they made history.
2. Arsenal 1997-98 – 78 Points
Speaking of Arsenal, so often the team trailing these lowly title winners, they make their first entry in their own right in second place here. The 1997-98 season was Arsene Wenger’s first full season in charge of Arsenal, and he rather made a mockery of those in the press who exclaimed ‘Arsene who?!’ when he had arrived at Highbury. The Frenchman brought in the likes of Marc Overmars and Emmanuel Petit to join earlier signings like Patrick Vieira, and the Gunners won their first league title of the Premier League era. It was an incredibly closely fought contest between Arsenal and Manchester United, both of whom won just 23 of their 38 league games, but Arsenal drew 9 and lost six, putting them one point above the Red Devils as a new rivalry was born in the English game.
1. Manchester United 1996-97 – 75 Points
Given the manner in which Manchester United dominated the Premier League era up until Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure, and the way in which they have totally dominated this seven, I suppose it is only fitting that they should take top spot. Making it five out of the seven possible entries in this seven, the 1996-97 Manchester United side is officially the worst title winning side ever in terms of points won. New signing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was an immediate success, scoring 19 goals, and this was the only season in which he was United’s top scorer.
David Beckham starred, as did Eric Cantona, before the enigmatic Frenchman shocked the footballing world by announcing his retirement at the end of the season. Despite winning the Premier League title with relative ease, seven points clear of runners-up Newcastle, United’s record wouldn’t have won them the league in any other season. They won just 21 games, they drew 12 and lost 5, finishing on 75 points. For context, United’s 1996-97 points tally and goal difference wouldn’t even have given them a top four finish in the 2017-18 season.
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