If Every EPL Season for the Last 10 Years Counted as 1, Who Would Be the Top 20?
What were you doing 10 years ago?
Whatever it was, you were likely to have been watching the action unfold in the Premier League. But have you ever thought about what a table made up of the last decade of results would look like?
Using statistics from Statto.com, we've taken every single result from the past 10 years of EPL football—i.e. the beginning of the 2005/06 season up to the present day—and made up a table of the decade.
Who'll come out on top? Will there be a few surprises?
20. Southampton
1 of 20
P: 127 W: 47 D: 36 L: 44 Points: 177
Southampton fans might be a little dismayed to see their team at the bottom of our decade-long division, but the fact they are even in it at all is testament to how well they've done.
Playing at least one full season less than every other club in our top 20, the Saints have become a Premier League force since earning promotion back to the top flight under Nigel Adkins in 2012, and they continue to go from strength to strength.
19. Swansea City
2 of 20
P: 165 W: 53 D: 46 L: 66 Points: 205
Entering the Premier League a season earlier than Southampton in 2011/12, Swansea City have become one of the division's most attractive teams thanks to the football played under managers Brendan Rodgers, Michael Laudrup and Garry Monk.
Sticking to the "Swansea way"—possession-based footballhas helped the club protect their principles, and they continue to impress as they close in on rising one place in this table.
18. Portsmouth
3 of 20
P: 190 W: 57 D: 47 L: 86 Points: 209
Sitting in 18th are Portsmouth, despite the club currently playing its football in League Two.
Relegated from the Premier League amid financial difficulties in 2010, Pompey's position in our table comes from their results in their five top-flight seasons before that—during which they finished eighth in 2007/08 and won the FA Cup under manager Harry Redknapp that same season.
17. West Bromwich Albion
4 of 20
P: 279 W: 77 D: 71 L: 131 Points: 302
Playing in seven of the last 11 Premier League seasons including this one, life in the top flight hasn't always been easy for West Bromwich Albion, but they are now accustomed to battling against relegation.
They've gone down twice in the past decade and enjoyed a best Premier League finish of eighth in the 2012/13 campaign, when they were powered by 17 goals from the on-loan Romelu Lukaku.
16. Bolton Wanderers
5 of 20
P: 266 W: 83 D: 62 L: 121 Points: 311
Relegated in the 2011/12 season, Bolton Wanderers had developed a reputation as one of the toughest places to go in the Premier League in the decade prior to that, largely thanks to characters such as manager Sam Allardyce and maverick players such as Nicolas Anelka and, before him, Jay-Jay Okocha and Ivan Campo.
The traditional big clubs would never relish a trip to the Reebok Stadium, as it was then known, and the Trotters would more than hold their own against sides with much bigger budgets and reputations.
15. Wigan Athletic
6 of 20
P: 304 W: 85 D: 76 : L: 143 Points: 331
Wigan Athletic were ever presents in the Premier League from 2005/06 all the way through to 2012/13, when their relegation was softened by the fact they remarkably won the FA Cup.
The Latics were often derided during their time in the top flight because of low attendances and what was perceived as an undeserved place among the elite, but their story really was a feelgood one, and they deserved more credit than they got for consistently upsetting the odds.
14. Blackburn Rovers
7 of 20
P: 266 W: 91 D: 65 L: 110 Points: 338
Like Bolton, Blackburn Rovers were relegated from the Premier League in 2011/12, but they were a force in the division before that.
Powered by goals from the likes of Benni McCarthy (18 league strikes in 2006/07) and Roque Santa Cruz (19 in 2007/08), Rovers were a strong mid-table outfit who made Ewood Park one of the places other Premier League clubs would never relish going to.
13. Stoke City
8 of 20
P: 279 W: 89 D: 81 L: 109 Points: 348
Ever presents in the Premier League since their promotion to the division under Tony Pulis in 2008, Stoke City have long since become bywords for a tough, often physical test that many clubs would find difficult to overcome.
All of the big boys have fallen at the Britannia Stadium at one point or another, with the Potters supporters frequently creating one of the best atmospheres in the division. Mark Hughes led Stoke to a ninth-place finish last season with a record haul in the Premier League of 54 points.
12. Sunderland
9 of 20
P: 355 W: 85 D: 95: L: 175 Points: 350
Jermain Defoe's late winner at Crystal Palace on Monday took Sunderland above Stoke in the decade-long table, although the Mackems have played for two whole seasons more than the side from the Potteries.
No Premier League team has lost more often than Sunderland in the past decade, which began with relegation under manager Mick McCarthy following a disastrous 2005/06, which brought just 15 points from 38 matches—the worst total in the past 10 years bar Derby County's 11 in 2007/08.
11. Fulham
10 of 20
P: 342 W: 101 D: 95 L: 146 Points: 398
The highest-ranked side not currently in the Premier League, Fulham were relegated from the division at the end of the 2013/14 season, ending a long run in the top flight that had began under Jean Tigana in 2001/02.
At their best, the south west Londoners were a lively, strong presence in the division capable of excellent results and good football, but a couple of underwhelming managerial appointments led to their relegation 18 months ago.
10. West Ham United
11 of 20
P: 355 W: 111 D: 85 L: 159 Points: 418
In the top half and closing in on ninth place are West Ham United, who began this 10-year study by reaching the FA Cup final under Alan Pardew and then shocking the football world by signing Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano in the summer of 2006.
They stayed up against the odds the following season, with their worst campaign of the period we're interested in coming in 2010/11, when they finished bottom of the table and were relegated. They bounced back and earned promotion straight away under Sam Allardyce and have impressed this season under Slaven Bilic.
9. Newcastle United
12 of 20
P: 355 W: 114 D: 86 L: 155 Points: 428
Ten points ahead of West Ham are Newcastle United, although the gap between the pair continues to shorten because of the Magpies' disappointing start to the season.
Indeed, the past 10 years have seen Newcastle regress from being a side that always contested at the top end of the table to one that frequently struggles, with relegation in 2008/09 meaning they missed out on a season of Premier League football. Their fifth-place finish under Alan Pardew in 2011/12 has since proved to be nothing more than a flash in the pan.
8. Aston Villa
13 of 20
P: 393 W: 121 D: 123 L: 149 Points: 486
Only seven teams have played in every single season of the Premier League, and those seven teams find themselves in our top eight.
Unsurprisingly, bringing up the rear of the group are the division's current bottom side, Aston Villa, whose form these days is a far cry from the three consecutive sixth-place finishes they enjoyed under Martin O'Neill between 2007/08 and 2009/10, with things going downhill for the Midlands club pretty much ever since.
7. Everton
14 of 20
P: 393 W: 163 D: 120 L: 110 Points: 609
A massive 123 points ahead of Villa in seventh are Everton, with the Merseyside club having long established themselves as one of the division's toughest nuts to crack, largely thanks to the hard work of David Moyes before he left for his ill-fated spell at Manchester United in 2013.
The Blues have more often than not been in the top half for all of the past 10 years, and although they have been unable to improve on the fourth-place finish they earned just before our study started, they remain a club all of the sides higher up in this table are wary of facing.
6. Tottenham Hotspur
15 of 20
P: 393 W: 184 D: 100 : L: 109 Points: 652
It will surely come as no surprise that sixth is where Tottenham Hotspur have ended up, as that is pretty much been their average final league position over the past 10 years.
Spurs did manage the holy grail of a top-four finish in 2009/10, when Harry Redknapp's side pipped Manchester City to a place in the Champions League, but their run to the quarter-finals of that competition the following year would prove to be as good as it would get for the club, with several talented incarnations of their team going close since. Maybe this is their season?
5. Manchester City
16 of 20
P: 393 W: 203 D: 77 L: 113 Points: 686
Champions in 2011/12 and 2013/14, Manchester City started this 10-year period under the stewardship of Stuart Pearce, finishing 14th in the Premier League following what was a struggle against relegation.
We all know what happened a little further down the road, of course, with City recovering from results such as May 2008's 8-1 hammering by Middlesbrough to go on and become probably the strongest side in the division, with manager Manuel Pellegrini targeting the club's third title in five seasons this term.
4. Liverpool
17 of 20
P: 393 W: 205 D: 97 L: 91 Points: 712
Liverpool's 4-1 win at Manchester City last time out didn't just serve as the statement display of Jurgen Klopp's time at the club thus far, but it also strengthened their hold on a top-four position in this table.
Second-place finishes in 2008/09 and, unforgettably, 2013/14 are the best it has got for Liverpool over a period that began with Rafael Benitez in charge of the European champions and ends with Klopp, whose instant impact at the club has got supporters living in hope again.
3. Arsenal
18 of 20
P: 393 W: 221 D: 93 L: 79 Points: 756
Sitting comfortably in third are Arsenal, who failed to win the league title over the past 10 years but were never outside of a top-four finish.
The Gunners were still at Highbury at the start of our look back through the years, with the move to the Emirates Stadium failing to generate much success until back-to-back FA Cup triumphs in 2014 and 2015. Arsene Wenger, a constant throughout this period, will be eyeing this season as the perfect chance to add league glory to that list.
2. Chelsea
19 of 20
P: 393 W: 246 D: 83 L: 64 Points: 821
They'd just won their first league title under Jose Mourinho, and Chelsea were about to win their second at the start of our look back, with further successes under Carlo Ancelotti in 2009/10 and Mourinho again last year making for a pretty impressive period.
Indeed, with 2012's Champions League success thrown into the mix, you could say Blues supporters have never had it so good regardless of this season's struggles.
1. Manchester United
20 of 20
P: 393 W: 261 D: 70 L: 62 Points: 853
With five Premier League titles to their name since 2005, there should be little surprise it is Manchester United who sit 32 points clear at the top of the table, with the sterling work of Sir Alex Ferguson still making its presence felt.
David Moyes and Louis van Gaal might have found the Scot's shoes difficult to fill, and it is a testament to everything Ferguson did at the club that United are where they are today.
