Klopp bows out of Premier League with another mentality monsters title to his name
One of our absolute favourite stats, this. Very simple: how many points each team has won after falling behind. We love it because being near the top of this list is both good and bad; good because you’re overturning deficits, bad because you keep facing deficits.
It’s not a perfect indicator, but generally speaking the nearer the team is to the top of this list the more fun they are to watch. Liverpool leading the way from Spurs offers some support for this hypothesis, but just look at that Manchester City chaos.
Liverpool’s final tally of 28 points from losing positions this season is the most by a Premier League team since Manchester United racked up 31 in 2020/21.
20) Burnley – 3 points
27 deficits, 3 draws, 24 defeats
What we knew about Burnley from last season is that they were very, very good at beating Championship-standard teams. What we have learned about Burnley this season is that they are very bad at beating Premier League-standard teams. Sure, they can still beat Your Lutons and Your Sheffield Uniteds and nab a point at The Nottingham Forests Of This World, but in almost all games against better teams they fell behind and failed to salvage a single bloody thing out of it. Until Fulham caved in. And then Chelsea. Because Chelsea. And then Manchester United. Because Manchester United.
19) Sheffield United – 4 points
32 deficits, 4 draws, 28 defeats
They got off the mark with a point against Everton in a game they trailed 1-0 and led 2-1, which seemed to happen to a lot of teams this season. Brighton, West Ham and Chelsea should also hang their heads in shame at squandering leads to this historically bad team.
18) Everton – 4 points
20 deficits, 4 draws, 16 defeats
A perhaps surprising third team who went all season without a single win after falling behind, given that on-field results place Everton firmly mid-table and no victories at all from behind is very much a relegation battler’s tactic.
Still, though: recovering a 10-point deficit in the space of four games is a comeback nobody else on this list can claim.
17) Fulham – 6 points
21 deficits, 1 win, 3 draws, 17 defeats
On the face of it, bit of a disappointing effort from a team that has provided so much daft entertainment this season. But drill down a bit, and these seemingly mediocre numbers are actually very funny indeed.
Led early and trailed late at the Emirates before emerging with a commendable draw that definitely belongs in the ‘one point gained’ pile rather than ‘two points lost’ in Yet Another 2-2 Draw Where Both Teams Led. Then inflicted a first come-from-behind defeat on Arsenal in absolutely ages in a New Year’s Eve belter, which means four of these six points have come at the Gunners’ expense. Very funny all round that, really: Fulham’s only win from behind all season was Arsenal’s only defeat from ahead.
16) Crystal Palace – 10 points
21 deficits, 2 wins, 4 draws, 15 defeats
Haven’t really needed to do much salvaging during a stunning run of form to close out the season. But Jeffrey Schlupp’s tap-in earned a draw at Fulham.
15) Newcastle United – 10 points
20 deficits, 2 wins, 4 draws, 14 defeats
Mainly just a bit of tish and fipsy, this feature. Bit of fun about games that are a bit of fun. But occasionally it does throw up a team that has been conspicuously poor in these games and it becomes quite easy to built a case for how a whole season could have looked very different. Two wins from 20 deficits is just a poor return when you place it alongside Newcastle’s most direct rivals in the league table. Man United and Villa both won four from 20, Chelsea five from 20 and Tottenham seven from 23.
If you want to be brutally stark about it, Newcastle finished eight points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa having won 10 points fewer from the 20 games in which they fell behind.
14) Nottingham Forest – 11 points
27 deficits, 2 wins, 5 draws, 20 defeats
This is what happens when you lose seven games 3-2. Daft.
13) Brentford – 11 points
26 deficits, 2 wins, 5 draws, 19 defeats
Either trailed and led or led and trailed in draws against Spurs, Bournemouth, Chelsea and Aston Villa. Trailed and won 3-2 against both Forest (obviously) and West Ham.
12) Arsenal – 11 points
10 deficits, 3 wins, 2 draws, 5 defeats
Overall numbers may place Arsenal only mid-table here but the key number for the Gunners is really the 10 for overall deficits. They just didn’t have to do anything like as much scrambling as anyone else. City trailed 13 times and Liverpool 18, while absolutely everyone else made it to 20 deficits at least.
11) Bournemouth – 12 points
22 deficits, 3 wins, 3 draws, 16 defeats
Bournemouth’s victories from behind came against relegation candidates in Burnley and Nottingham Forest, which neatly underlines how they are better than the worst and still some way from the best.
You might say the same about their 4-3 win over Luton but we have to give any team who comes from 3-0 down the biggest props there are.
10) Luton – 13 points
33 deficits, 2 wins, 7 draws, 24 defeats
Numbers that show they’ve at least given it a go despite being so very outmatched. Trailed in all but five games this season – more even than Sheffield United but fought and scrapped their way to salvaging half their final points tally from losing positions.
Those late, result-altering goals really did keep them going for ages. Only Liverpool (27) and Manchester City (21) scored more than Luton’s 20 goals in the 75th minute or later. It’s not been enough to save them, but their fighting qualities are what kept them in it for so long.
9) Wolves – 13 points
25 deficits, 3 wins, 4 draws, 18 defeats
Those wins from behind were against Bournemouth – admittedly less funny – but also Spurs with two stoppage-time goals and Chelsea thanks to a Matheus Cunha hat-trick.
8) Manchester United – 14 points
20 deficits, 4 wins, 2 draws, 14 defeats
Managed to make the best of falling 2-0 down inside four minutes at home to Nottingham Forest, but it’s not really a policy we’d necessarily encourage others to follow.
Scott McTominay engineered some stoppage-time madness against Brentford and the revival at home to Aston Villa was wonderful, while Manchester United somehow found themselves both 1-0 and 2-1 down at home to Sheffield United before Bruno Fernandes rode to the rescue as he so often does to lead them to… eighth in both this table and also, less importantly, the actual one.
7) Brighton – 15 points
23 deficits, 3 wins, 6 draws, 14 defeats
Here at least is one league table where Brighton were European contenders. The sweetest of those points from behind was likely the 82nd-minute Danny Welbeck equaliser in a Selhurst Park draw, while the Seagulls also 3-2’d Forest having been losing.
6) Aston Villa – 20 points
20 deficits, 4 wins, 6 draws, 10 defeats
Not bad at all from Unai Emery’s side, who only lost half the time they went behind. Some of those losses were really quite stark, especially if they happened to play Newcastle. But still.
5) Chelsea – 19 points
20 deficits, 5 wins, 4 draws, 11 defeats
Led, trailed and won increasingly ludicrous games against Nottingham Forest and Manchester United. That second one, obviously inspired by Cole Palmer, was just one of the stupidest matches of the season.
4) West Ham – 23 points
25 deficits, 6 wins, 5 draws, 14 defeats
Were, along with Manchester City, the only side not to go behind for the first month of the season. Then they played Manchester City and that status changed. They also went ahead on the day, but very much not after the champions started throwing their weight around.
Victory over Luton from 1-0 down in the season’s penultimate game meant only Liverpool, City and Spurs won more games from behind.
3) Manchester City – 24 points
13 deficits, 7 wins, 3 draws, 3 defeats
Only Arsenal went behind in fewer games this season yet no team won more matches from losing positions than Manchester City, who were victorious more often than they were eventually held or beaten when trailing at any point. And that really is just quite ridiculous from a side which knows when to turn it on.
2) Tottenham – 25 points
23 deficits, 7 wins, 4 draws, 12 defeats
Spiritually came from behind to valiantly beat nine-man Liverpool after Luis Diaz’s significant human error. Had an attempt to come from behind v Chelsea with nine men.
Completed an absurd triumvirate of uncomfortably late seat-of-the-pants 2-1 home wins from behind against the promoted/relegated trio with success against Burnley on the penultimate weekend to leapfrog City into second place.
Spurs’ position in this table is rendered even more impressive by the fact they are the only team that don’t get the opportunity to pick up the easy points on offer for coming from behind against Spurs.
1) Liverpool – 28 points
18 deficits, 7 wins, 7 draws, 4 defeats
Mentality monsters and chaos merchants. An absolutely magnificent combination personified spectacularly by Darwin Nunez at Newcastle. They won only three games from behind all last season and more than doubled that to bid Jurgen Klopp farewell.