As modern football continues to evolve, the standard of Europe’s elite leagues gets increasingly higher. England’s top tier is no different, with the nation’s wealthiest and most well-established clubs able to invest and improve year after year. With that in mind, here is a look at the top three highest point totals in the history of the Premier League.
98 points – Manchester City, 2018-19
The 2018-19 season had two prime entries for total points amassed, with Liverpool finishing the season with 97 points but still having to settle for second. That is because Pep Guardiola’s rampant Manchester City didn’t let up all season, not only totaling a point more than their Merseyside counterparts but also scoring a whopping 95 goals with a mere 23 conceded in turn. Guardiola’s side won their last 14 games on the bounce, with standout results including a 6-0 demolition of Chelsea and a 4-1 victory over Brighton on the final day.
This year, City entered the international break second in the league and five points behind Mikel Arteta’s high-flying Arsenal. However, fans placing an online bet will still find Guardiola’s men at 2/5 to go on and be victorious once again. The team’s strength in depth and experience at the highest level means that they are many pundits’ sports predictions to be top of the Premier League at the end of the season, despite the Gunners starting so strongly. If City finishes the 2022-23 campaign as they did in 2018-19, Arsenal may not even stand a chance.
Only one point separates Liverpool and Man City since the start of the 2018-19 season 🤯 pic.twitter.com/TxBh1eqzdG
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 17, 2022
99 points – Liverpool, 2019-20
While Liverpool’s 97 points were only good enough for second place the season before, their sum of 99 a year later was enough to hand them the first Premier League title in their history. Klopp’s side lost just three games all season, totaling 32 wins and scoring 85 goals in the process. While the blue side of Manchester led the way in terms of goal difference – 67 compared to Liverpool’s 52 – Jurgen Klopp’s men went on to finish top by a staggering 18 points, a stark contrast to the season before.
In 2019-20, the Reds’ amassed an unbeaten record spanning until late-February, when a 3-0 defeat away was their first point dropped in a whopping 27 games. Across the course of the season, stand-out results included a 5-3 thriller against Chelsea on a penultimate day, 4-0 drubbings of Crystal Palace, Southampton, and Leicester, as well as a comprehensive 5-2 win against Everton in the first Merseyside derby of the season. A complete performance from start to finish from Klopp’s men that was crowned with a deserved Premier League title.
2016-17: Man City 3rd, Liverpool 4th
2017-18: Man City 1st, Liverpool 4th
2018-19: Man City 1st, Liverpool 2nd
2019-20: Liverpool 1st, Man City 2nd
2020-21: Man City 1st, Liverpool 3rd
2021-22: ❓The sixth season of Klopp vs Guardiola in the Premier League 🍿 pic.twitter.com/ySyFwRWcLM
— GOAL (@goal) August 13, 2021
100 points – Manchester City, 2017-18
While impressive, that total is still not enough to win the top spot on this list. That record was set again by City in a season in which Guardiola’s nearest opponents were their Manchester rivals. Jose Mourinho led United to second place – a feat he would later argue was his most impressive as a manager – although they were a staggering 19 points off Guardiola’s men in first.
In 38 games, City won 32 of them, drawing four and losing just two. A whopping 106 goals were spread largely between the club’s top scorer Sergio Aguero (21), followed by Raheem Sterling (18) and Gabriel Jesus (13). Notable capitulations at the hands of the Sky Blues included a week in September which saw successive 6-0 and 5-0 wins against Watford and Palace, respectively, while they also put seven goals past Stoke. With a multitude of goals spread between a significant number of players, City’s ‘Centurion’ points total in 2017-18 is yet to be beaten.
Man City have scored 100+ goals across all competitions in each of Pep Guardiola’s four seasons:
2016/17: 107 goals
2017/18: 143 goals
2018/19: 169 goals
2019/20: 100 goals*The Centurions for a reason. 😉 pic.twitter.com/3FXG2oDwEV
— Squawka (@Squawka) January 26, 2020
The recent nature of these three entries reflects a heightened impetus on attacking football in recent years, but also suggests that the Premier League is starting to be dominated by one or two teams. However, it remains to be seen whether Arsenal can take favorites City all the way this season, and even top the league’s points total whilst they’re at it.
