2021 League Table: Premier League & EFL combined by points won per game

In this article, we take a look at a league table for 2021 with the Premier League & EFL combined by points won per game.

It shows just how dominant Manchester City were, as seen with a glance at the calendar year table for the top four divisions in England.

Pep Guardiola’s side have once again broke away from those trying to challenge them for the top spot this season, breaking records along the way, too.

After lifting the Premier League title in May, the Citizens now look to be on course to repeat it, after establishing an eight point lead at the top of the table as we head into 2022.

PA’s Head of Data Analysis Ben Mayhew put the performance charts together and it shows that Man City earned 110 points from the 44 matched played.

It includes 36 victories in the Prem – a record in English top-flight history and they also managed 113 goals, which is the most in PL history and the most scored by a top-flight side since 1960.

In total, City picked up on average 2.5 points every game they played, over 0.5 more than any other of the 92 sides in England’s top four divisions.

Behind them in the table were Chelsea, who managed 83 points from 42 points matches they played from January through December.

Liverpool were third, with Jurgen Klopp’s side earning 77 points from 41 matches – an average of 1.88 points per game.

MORE OBSERVATIONS FROM BEN MAYHEW

Manchester City have been streets ahead of the rest in 2021, earning a whopping 2.5 points per match. While this is ridiculously good it falls short of Liverpool‘s 2.65 points per match in 2019 – the Reds only lost once in the league that year, nine fewer times than they did this time around.

Premier League clubs make up the top four places, with Chelsea falling just short of the two points per game mark in second, Liverpool third and Arsenal finishing an all-too-familiar fourth.

League 1 leaders Sunderland are the highest-placed EFL team in fifth – their big win over Sheffield Wednesday this evening nudged them ahead of Sutton United, who have carried their momentum from the National League into a strong League 2 debut.

Top flight teams bookend this table, with Burnley slipping to the bottom of the pile after tonight’s defeat to Manchester United, below fellow strugglers Newcastle. The Clarets won just seven games this year, with only one victory since mid-May.

It’s been quite the swing for Doncaster, who were sixth out of 92 in the 2020 version of this table but sit eighth from the bottom this year with one of the worst per-game goal differences (-0.84 goals per game). Only Southampton (-0.88 goals per game) have a worse record in this respect.

A special mention should go to Brighton for managing a perfectly symmetrical record this year: 12 wins, 12 defeats and a goal difference of zero.

Twitter users gave their reaction after seeing the 2021 League Table: Premier League & EFL combined by points won per game…

@DaveMHillman: 86th in 2020, 90th in 2021. Supporting Bristol Rovers has not been a fun couple of years…

@hill_josh: How the fuck are Burnley still in the Prem.

@JohnK1892: Fancy sacking a manager as good as Steve Bruce!!

@geordiepaulc: But… but…. Steve Bruce has done a sensational job…. according to some media pundits… The stats don’t lie, we were awful under Bruce #NUFC

@Jack_Lovering: How anybody can defend Joey Barton’s performance as Bristol Rovers Manager, I’ll never know. Under his management we have been objectively awful over two seasons, vast majority overseen by him, going nowhere. And the court cases. It’s absolutely mental he’s still here.

@TheParkChair: Warburton is a genius @QPR #QPR

@mslater75: An eye opener to all those pundits who said Bruce was doing a good job at #nufc

@pes_kleptocracy: Fantastic year for our boys. We really need to lower our expectations for 2022 #nufc

@Taster77: The absolute state of football in Bristol 😩

@boltonian011: 16th out of 92 and some people are saying Evatt out 😂 Probably the best year we’ve had since the EPL days

@DaveOufc: Boring boring oxford @IpswichTown

@dm055y: Hats off to Sutton United, what a fabulous year 2021 has been for them 👏👏👏

@lukelongstaffxo: SECOND BOTTOM OF THE WHOLE FOOTBALL LEAGUE YOULL NEVER SING THAT

Thanks and yes here are the top 10 risers:

Bolton +68 (84 to 16)
QPR +66 (75 to 9)
Burton +64 (88 to 24)
West Ham +56 (66 to 10)
Tranmere +56 (69 to 13)
Wycombe +53 (85 to 32)
MK Dons +51 (65 to 14)
Blackpool +50 (67 to 17)
Hull +48 (74 to 26)
Mansfield +44 (79 to 35)

— Ben Mayhew (@experimental361) December 31, 2021