9 awful Premier League teams who still got more points than 2024-25 Man Utd
Manchester United are enduring their worst Premier League season ever and have collected fewer points than some truly awful teams from the competition’s past.
United’s record of 39 points from 36 matches should never be forgotten, even if they win the Europa League final later this month.
We’ve trawled through the archives and picked out some terrible teams, including those who were relegated, that collected the same or more points than Ruben Amorim’s men.
Chelsea (2022-23)
Before United and Tottenham redefined the genre this year, Chelsea’s season two years ago was the benchmark for just how low a modern superclub could fall.
The Blues started the season with Thomas Tuchel and a host of big-name signings, but the German was sacked in September despite acquiring 10 points from the opening six matches.
An ill-fated dalliance with Graham Potter saw the Blues sink into the bottom half, and re-appointing Frank Lampard as an interim manager unsurprisingly failed to improve matters.
Chelsea ended the season 12th with 44 points and just 38 goals despite a £500million transfer spend. Yikes.
Manchester City (2006-07)
Pre-takeover City were often bottom-half merchants, but Stuart Pearce’s 2006-07 side were offensively boring as well as unthreateningly mediocre.
Finishing 14th with 42 points, City scored just 10 league goals at home and none after New Year’s Day.
Their 29 goals, home and away, was only matched by rock-bottom Watford and City had to wait until the final month of the season to secure their Premier League status.
Everton (2003-04)
There was a reason Wayne Rooney was so keen to leave Everton for Old Trafford back in 2004; the Toffees were dire, ageing and only saved from relegation by the paucity of the teams below them.
Several big clubs struggled in 2003-04, with Tottenham and Manchester City also flirting with the drop, but David Moyes’ outfit finished below both after winning just nine matches all season.
A final day 5-1 hammering at City left the Toffees marooned in 17th place on 39 points.
Just a year later, after selling Rooney, they’d qualified for the Champions League. Perhaps 2025 United can take some inspiration…
Newcastle (2012-13 & 2014-15)
Far from the Saudi-backed awakening giant of today, Newcastle were twice left scrambling for safety in the years before their eventual relegation in 2016.
Fresh from finishing fifth in 2011-12, Alan Pardew’s side slumped to 16th the following season and needed a late victory over relegated QPR to reach 41 points and the safety of 16th.
Lessons were not learnt two years later as Newcastle won three of their first 19 league matches and endured a run of eight straight defeats in the spring under caretaker John Carver.
A last-day victory over West Ham, with cancer survivor Jonas Gutierrez scoring a life-affirming goal, secured their survival on 39 points.
West Ham (2002-03)
Getting relegated on 42 points seems impossible today when the bottom three are lucky to reach 30, but West Ham’s 2003 vintage dropped with a host of stars in their squad.
The Hammers boasted Paolo Di Canio, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, David James, Jermain Defoe and more, but were squeezed out of the top-flight by Sam Allardyce’s Bolton.
But a late-season rally masked a multitude of sins, including failing to win a home game until the end of January and picking up six points from 12 matches in a bleak mid-winter.
United won the title in 2002-03; they need at least one victory to match the tally recorded by the 18th-placed team that season 22 years on.
READ: ‘Too good to go down’: Unravelling the mystery of West Ham’s 2003 relegation
Blackpool (2010-11)
A side managed by Ian Holloway and bulked out with free transfers and Football League journeymen have achieved the same points tally as Manchester United’s 2024-25 squad.
Nobody expected Blackpool to survive in 2010-11, but a fast start to the season raised hopes of an improbable dodging of the drop.
Sadly, gravity did its trick after Christmas and the Seasiders were relegated on the final day of the season after a 4-2 defeat at title-winning United.
Fourteen years on, the sheer poverty of the relegated sides have denied neutrals the most delicious of relegation battles.
Birmingham (2010-11)
Forget Birmingham’s improbable League Cup triumph in 2011 and their 2010-11 team was unforgivably dire.
With Alex McLeish at the helm, defence was the priority at the expense of attack as Birmingham scored just 38 goals and won eight league matches all season.
Relegation was confirmed through defeat at Tottenham on the final day, with McLeish’s men joining Blackpool in being relegated on 39 points.
Sunderland (2001-02)
A Sunderland team that scored 29 Premier League goals despite boasting Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn, finished 17th and were knocked out of both domestic cups at the first opportunity still racked up 40 points.
What is Amorim’s excuse?
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