The Premier League is widely considered to be one of the best divisions of football in the world. For those that play in it, that can be seen as a really great thing, given the fact that the players and managers are operating at the top of the sport. What it also means is that it usually takes quite a high points total to achieve anything in the English top-flight, such as winning the title or managing to keep your very position in the league.
Here, though, we will have a look at what the lowest totals have been for various metrics, which might give teams something of an indication for the future.
What We’re Looking At
| What | When | Which Team(s) | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| To Win the League | 1996-1997 | Manchester United | 75 |
| To be Relegated | 2007-2008 | Derby County | 11 |
| To Avoid Relegation | 2023-2024 | Nottingham Forest | 32 |
| To Get a Champions League Place | 2003-2004 | Liverpool | 60 |
| To Get a European Place | 2001-2002 / 2012-2013 / 2008-2009 | Ipswich Town / Wigan Athletic / Fulham | 36** / 53 |
| To Finish in the Top-Half | 2017-2018 | Newcastle United | 44 |
| To be Top at Christmas | 2010 / 2020 | Manchester United / Liverpool | 34 / 31* |
| Between First & Second | 2011-2012 | Manchester City & Manchester United | 0 (Goal Difference) |
| Achieved by All 3 Relegated Teams | 2024-2025 | Leicester City / Ipswich Town / Southampton | 59 |
- The required points total to be top at Christmas in 2020 was significantly lower than during any other season on account of the fact that the Premier League season began much later than usual after the delayed finish to the 2019-2020 campaign. As a result, Liverpool had only played 14 matches.
** In the 2001-2002 season, Ipswich Town were relegated with 36 points but qualified for the UEFA Cup. In 2012-2013, Wigan Athletic were relegated with 36 points but qualified for the Europa League.
Here is a look at the things that we’re most concerned with on this page, as well as the actual lowest points totals that have been needed in order to secure them. We will then look at each of them in more detail, but it is helpful to have this quick-look information to refer to.
It is worth noting that this information was correct as of the end of the 2024-2025 Premier League season, in which Liverpool ended up as champions and the three promoted teams of Leicester City, Southampton and Ipswich Town were all relegated straight back down.
Lowest Points to Win the Premier League – 75
Ask any Liverpool supporter about the season in which they missed out on the Premier League title to Manchester City having garnered 97 points and they will be quick to point out the fact that Manchester United never once achieved that many points during the Premier League. That is perhaps best indicated by the fact that the Red Devils won the 1996-1997 title with 75 points, which remains the lowest points total on record for a win since the launch of the rebranded English top-flight. Not that the players nor supporters will care, of course, given the fact that it still counts.
Lowest Points to Be Relegated – 11
Any team that has a poor season in the Premier League, one of the first questions that will be asked is if they will break Derby County’s record for the worst performance in the division. That took place in 2007-2008, with the Rams ending the season on just 11 points. Not only is it the worst campaign any team has ever had, no other side has even come all that close to it. They notched up the fewest wins, having only achieved one, the most defeats with 29, the fewest goals scored at 20 and the most goals conceded in a 38-game season with 89. All in, a miserable campaign.
Lowest Points to Avoid Relegation – 32
Anyone who knows anything about the Premier League will be able to tell you that 40 points is the magic number in terms of avoiding relegation. That isn’t quite true, with numerous teams having been able to stay up after getting lower than that mark. It is Nottingham Forest that hold the record for getting the fewest points whilst still avoiding relegation, however. In the 2023-2024 season, Forest managed to earn just 32 points, but it was still enough to keep their top-flight status thanks to the awful state of the three promoted teams, who all went straight back down. The closest was Luton Town with 26 points.
Lowest Points to Get a Champions League Place – 60
Liverpool are a club that is associated with European football, thanks to the fact that the Merseysiders have won the Champions League more than any other British team. They won it for the sixth time at the end of the 2018-2019 period, having also made it to the competition’s final on numerous other occasions. One of their most famous wins came at the end of the 2004-2005 season, coming back from 3-0 down to AC Milan to win on penalties in what has been labelled as the ‘Miracle of Istanbul’. That all happened thanks to their qualification for the competition with a record low of 60 points the year before.
Lowest Points to Get a European Place – 36 / 53
It is fair to say that there is some controversy around this topic. Teams can qualify for Europe via all sorts of methods other than their league finish, which is demonstrated by the fact that Ipswich Town got just 36 points in the 2001-2002 season but made it into the UEFA Cup thanks to their finishing top of the Premier League’s Fair Play table. Fast forward 11 years and Wigan Athletic were also relegated with 36 points, but made it into what was then known as the Europa League thanks to a famous 1-0 win over Manchester City in the FA Cup final.
Of course, the spirit of the question is really about how low a team’s point tally can be and still see them make it into Europe courtesy of their league position. The actual position in the table that will receive European football can change from year to year, but it was Fulham that were the beneficiaries of a spot at the end of the 2008-2009 campaign when they ended up finishing seventh in the Premier League with 53 points. Because the FA Cup finalists in Chelsea and Everton as well as the League Cup winners, Manchester United, qualified for Europe through the league, their places were pushed down the division.
Lowest Points to Finish in the Top-Half – 44
The Premier League had 22 teams in it when it first launched, meaning that you would need to have finished 11th in order to be considered to have finished in the top-half of the table. You might think this would be the era in which the lowest points total for that accomplishment was achieved, but the actual year was 2017-2018 when Newcastle United managed it with only 44 points. What makes it even more interesting is that that was three years before the Magpies became part of the Saudi Arabian sports-washing project, showing they don’t really need blood money for success.
Lowest Points to Be Top at Christmas – 31 / 34
Get to the top of the Premier League in time for people to sit down to eat their sprouts and turkey and you will end up as champions. That is what the old adage is, even though it has been proven to be incorrect numerous times over the years. Technically, the lowest points total for this was 31, which Liverpool achieved on Christmas Day of the 2020-2021 season. The problem is that the Reds had only played 14 games by that date, on account of the fact that the campaign began late after the later finish of the 2019-2020 season in the wake of the health crisis of the time.
The true lowest points total managed by a Premier League club to be top at Christmas, therefore, is the 34 points that Manchester United boasted ten years earlier. The Red Devils had played one game fewer than Arsenal, yet sat two points clear of them. When the final game reached its conclusion, Sir Alex Ferguson’s side had extended that lead over the Gunners to 12 points, whilst also being nine points clear of Chelsea as they took home their 19th top-flight title, putting them one clear of Liverpool in the race for the most English titles in the history of the sport.
Lowest Points to Win the Title By – 0
Sometimes, a team absolutely romps home and wins the title at a canter. Both Liverpool and Manchester United ended up 18 points clear of second place in 2019-2020 and 1999-2000 respectively, whilst Manchester City hold the record with a 19-point gap in 2017-2018. It is also City that have the record for the lowest points total to win the title by, having won their first of the Premier League era by goal difference back in 2012. The first title of the Abu Dhabi sports-washing era was made all the sweeter by the fact that they pipped their city rivals United to the post thanks to a +64 goal difference against United’s +56.
Lowest Points to Be Racked up by All Three Relegated Teams Combined – 59
When Town, Burnley and Sheffield United went straight back down to the Championship at the end of the 2023-2024 season, they became just the second set of teams to be relegated the season after being promoted. They did so with a mere 66 points between them, which was the lowest combined total at the time. Step forward Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton, who followed suit by making it the third time all three promoted teams were relegated, sharing just 59 points across the side. Leicester did the best with 25 points, whilst the Hatters got 22 and Southampton came close to challenging that awful Derby County side with 12.