While some Premier League clubs thrive, winning games and trophies, certain clubs are simply out of their depth in the English top flight and become the whipping boys of the whole division.
These teams tend to struggle in defence and attack, which can cause them to end a season with poor goal difference.
However, which clubs have the worst goal difference in the history of the Premier League?
Derby County (-69 goal difference in season 2007/08)
The Rams’ woeful Premier League campaign has gone down in legend for its sheer ineptitude. The men from the Midlands picked up a league-low tally of 11 points after winning just one of their 38 matches in the English top flight.
Every season, if a club is struggling in the depths of the Premier League and can’t pick up points, the question is always, “Will they get fewer points than Derby in season 2007/08?”
County were simply out of their depth, illustrated by the fact that they conceded six goals against Liverpool, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Arsenal.
Derby really were woeful at both ends of the pitch. They scored just 20 league goals all season while conceding a mammoth 89 times.
The poor defensive record and impotent attack meant that Derby finished the season with a goal difference of -69, which is unsurprisingly the joint worst in Premier League history.
Sheffield United (-69 goal difference season 2023/24)
Like Derby County before them, Sheffield United were not good enough to make the step up from the Championship to the Premier League in season 2023/24. They were relegation favourites at the start of the campaign following promotion from the second tier.
Almost from the start of the campaign, the Blades struggled to find form and to gain results in the English top flight.
The Yorkshire outfit ended up earning up just five more points than Derby, finishing the season with a points tally of just 16. They also recorded three wins in the whole of the top-flight campaign.
When they suffered a 5-1 defeat against Newcastle United at the end of April, their fate was sealed. United went down with a whimper, too, as they lost their final seven league games of the season.
They also conceded at least two goals in 11 of their final 12 matches in the Premier League.
Sheffield United may have claimed more points than County, but by the end of the season, the Blades had conceded an incredible 104 goals, the most conceded by any team in top-flight history. They also scored a modest 35 goals.
They also achieved an unwanted record in March, as they became the first club in Premier League history to concede at least five goals in three straight matches on home soil.
Norwich City (-61 goal difference in season 2021/22)
The Canaries had dominated the Championship to win promotion back to the Premier League. The Norfolk team had a habit of yo-yo-ing between English football’s top two divisions at that point.
They were too good for the second tier but didn’t have enough quality for the Premier League.
Like many of the teams on our list, they started the season as one of the relegation favourites. Unfortunately for everybody associated with the club, their status turned out to be justified.
An early sign that City lacked the quality to survive in the top flight came when they suffered defeats in their opening six Premier League games of the season.
Unsurprisingly, Norwich finished bottom of the table, picking up just 22 points, having recorded five victories in their 38 Premier League outings.
City had problems at both ends of the pitch, finding the net just 23 times. However, it was their defensive record that really dragged their goal difference down, as they conceded 84 times, and in the end, the team had a goal difference of -61.
Ipswich Town (-57 goal difference in season 1994-95)
Ipswich Town in season 1994/95 couldn’t quite match their bitter-rivals Norwich in the goal difference ineptitude, but they gave it their best shot
The Tractor Boys finished bottom of a 22-team Premier League, picking up just 27 points from their 46 outings in the English top-flight.
Town scored just 36 goals in the league, but it was the 93 goals that they conceded that took their goal difference down to a woeful -57 at the end of the season.
Huddersfield Town (-54 goal difference in season 2018-19)
The Terriers had beaten the drop from the Premier League in season 2017/18 against all odds.
However, they were not so lucky the following campaign, as they finished the season bottom of the Premier League table, having picked up just 16 points from their 38 league outings.
The fans saw their team record just three wins in the English top flight and suffer a massive 22 defeats.
Their biggest problem in the season 2017/18 was scoring goals, as they survived by scoring a measly 28 goals. That lack of goals trend continued into the 2018/19 campaign.
In fact, Town scored just 22 goals. Coupled with the fact that the Yorkshire outfit had conceded 76 goals, it was a recipe for goal-difference disaster.