Lowest Premier League Points Totals
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Lowest Premier League Points Totals

19/03/25 18:26

The Lowest Premier League Points Ever

This year’s Premier League bottom three are set to be the group of relegated teams with the lowest accumulated points total ever and with Southampton set to record one of the lowest points ever in Premier League history. Football Park is taking a look at the ten teams with the worst Premier League points totals on record.

It’s worth mentioning that Portsmouth’s 2009/10 season has not been included on this list, despite finishing on 19 points, Pompey earned 28 that season but faced a nine-point deduction making their inclusion seem unfair. The list also starts from the 1995/96 season, when the 38 game season was introduced. Here is the concise list, but read on to find out what may have caused each team's abysmal seasons:

  • Sheffield United - 2020/21 - 23 Points
  • Watford - 2021/22 - 23 Points
  • Norwich City - 2021/22 - 22 Points
  • Norwich City - 2019/20 - 21 Points
  • Sunderland - 2002/03 - 19 Points
  • Aston Villa - 2015/16 - 17 Points
  • Huddersfield Town - 2018/19 - 16 points
  • Sheffield United - 2023/24 - 16 points
  • Sunderland - 2005/06 - 15 points
  • Derby County - 2007/08 - 11 points

10 - Sheffield United (23 points, 2020/21)

Kicking the list off with the worst start to a Premier League season ever. The Blades faced one of the biggest cases of second-season syndrome the Premier League has ever seen. The 2019/20 season was the first time in 12 years that they were back in the top-flight and they capped it off by finishing five points off a European spot. In fact, with three games to go, they were on point off sixth. The next season it all came crashing down as after 17 match weeks Sheffield United had two points, however seven wins in their last 20 games saved them from any more embarrassment than they’d faced. It’s also notable that the Blades’ 20 goals that season meant that they joined Derby County in having the lowest goal tally in a single Premier League season.

9 - Watford (23 points, 2021/22)

Joining Sheffield United on 23 points is Watford a season later. The Hornets place higher on this list as they didn’t break any records this season like the Blades had in the prior campaign. Watford started the season relatively well picking up almost a third of their points (7) in their first six games. However, without a win in their final 14 games, the Hornets slumped to 19th and back down to the Championship at the first time of asking where they have remained since. Watford had an abundance of talented forwards that season with the likes of Emmanuel Dennis, Cucho Hernandez, Josh King, Joao Pedro and Ismaila Sarr all scoring a handful of Premier League goals each yet none of Xisco Munoz, Claudio Ranieri or Roy Hodgson could get the most out of them.

8 - Norwich City (22 points, 2021/22)

2021/22 was not a good season for relegated teams and it could’ve looked worse if Newcastle United hadn’t been taken over midway through the season. This was the Canaries’ second shot at the Premier League between the years of 2019 and 2022 and was the year that Delia Smith finally had enough of Daniel Farke. Dean Smith’s arrival at the club led some to believe that things were finally changing in Norfolk as Norwich went on a four-game unbeaten run. Teemu Pukki proved that he could do it in the Premier League for a final time with 11 goals but just like Watford, that season looks like the last time we’ll see Norwich in the Premier League for a while.

7 - Norwich City (21 points, 2019/20)

Seventh on the list is… Norwich again! City have been relegated from the Premier League four times since 2013/14 but this was by far their best effort at being comically bad. Two wins in their first three home games moved the Canaries up to 12th but that would be as far as Norwich could go that season. Spending October to May in the relegation zone, the pandemic did no favours for the Yellow and Green Army as their record in June and July was nine games, nine losses, 23 goals conceded and one goal scored, a run that Farke somehow survived as head coach.

6 - Sunderland (19 points, 2002/03)

The earliest entry on this list, Sunderland were the trend-setters for low point totals, setting the record back in 2003. The Black Cats also set the record for the most consecutive Premier League losses that season with 15, a title they still hold today. On Christmas Day 2002, Sunderland were three points clear of the relegation zone on 18 points, they would then go on to pick up a single point in their next 19 games, one of the worst spells in the club's history.

5 - Aston Villa (17 points, 2015/16)

From the Championship to Champions League quarter finals Aston Villa have been on some journey in the last decade. After going down with half the points that 19th-placed Norwich City had and a squad consisting of Micah Richards, Jack Grealish, Jordan Ayew, Jordan Veretout and Idrissa Gana Gueye. The Villans’ relegation ended a 28-year stay in the top flight with it taking them three seasons to get back to the top in the years following. Villa would win their opening game of the season, before going on a winless run of 19 lasting until January, by the new year it already seemed too late with the club 11 points from safety, and two more wins in the final 18 games of the season did them no favours. The moral of the story in this scenario? Don’t sell Christian Benteke.

4 - Huddersfield Town (16 points, 2018/19)

Huddersfield did the unthinkable in 2017/18 and managed to survive a Premier League season, a similar scenario to if Luton Town were to have survived last year. Incomings from Germany, France and the Netherlands over the summer of 2018 gave many Terriers fans hope that they would stay another year. Huddersfield suffered the joint earliest relegation in Premier League history, becoming the second team with Derby County to be relegated in March. However, two draws to round of the season saved them from an embarrassingly low 14 points total. The Terriers picked up six of their 16 points against Wolves that season but overall struggled to produce goals. With Huddersfield in need of inspiration come January, the club called upon Jason Puncheon of all people in an attempt to save their season. Although Karlan Grant’s January deadline-day signing was the highlight of their season, he went on to finish as the club’s top scorer with four goals in 13 games.

3 - Sheffield United (16 points, 2023/24)

The last recent name on the list, the Blades appear for a second time but place higher than Huddersfield as they conceded 104 goals last season, a Premier League record. Chris Wilder returned to the club after he was sacked during their relegation campaign two years earlier but could not help the circumstances. Sheffield United look like they will be back again again next campaign making it five years since the Blades were in a league for more than a season, will they suffer the same fate for a third straight Premier League season or shock the world?

2 - Sunderland (15 points, 2005/06)

Sunderland become the third team to make two appearances on this list, after their aforementioned relegation in 2003, it took just two seasons for the Black Cats to return although unfortunately, they were straight back down again breaking their own record set a few years before. Mick McCarthy who was appointed at the end of their relegation season had stayed with them in the Championship, but with the club sitting 16 points from safety with 10 games to go, his time was up as was Sunderland’s.

1 - Derby County (11 points, 2007/08)

The infamous Derby County were relegated from the Premier League in 2008 and have been too embarrassed to return ever since. As each year passes fans believe that it will finally be the season someone achieves a lower record, but achieving just one win all season seems almost an impossible task. Their singular win came against Newcastle United on matchday six back in September 2007. The Rams would have to wait 362 days for another league win, treating the 32,000+ fans that attended Pride Park on average that season to just two games where they scored more than once. Derby rounds off this list with a final figure four points lower than anyone else, will Southampton claim the unwanted record that has been held over them for 17 years this season? Or will the Rams continue to hold the record that no one wants?

Benji Kosartiyer
Journalist
James McLeish

Writer

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