We’ve looked at who wins the most points from losing positions, so it stands to reason we’d follow that up by having a gander at who spaffs points away from winning ones. The answer is mainly Leicester, who have already managed to lose a genuinely absurd five games after going in front. Oh, Brendan.
Manchester United were flawless in this regard until very recently. They are no longer remotely flawless.
That other scrambly Spursy ranking list is here…
20. Leicester – 19pts dropped
14 leads, 7 wins, 2 draws, 5 defeats
Christ that’s mad. Nobody else has lost more than three games having taken the lead, and Leicester have racked up five. Half of the games in which they go ahead end in a draw or defeat. But at least they held on against Aston Villa after coming from behind twice and against Spurs after leading 4-1. That we applaud.
19. Bournemouth – 17pts
12 leads, 5 wins, 4 draws, 3 defeats
Can draw some comfort from the fact they were neither the first nor (it immediately turned out) last team to fall for Antonio Conte’s Spurs and their rope-a-dope chicanery, but losing from two goals up in back-to-back games was a tactic Gary O’Neil and his team wisely abandoned against Everton, who they simply thrashed twice in four days instead. Then embraced the tactic of never taking the lead to ensure that it can’t be thrown away but arrogantly, hubristically abandoned that safety-first approach against Nottingham Forest and were duly punished by a late equaliser. At least they didn’t do the exact same thing the literal next time they were ahead against Newcastle. Oh. Still, holding on against Wolves is a massive boon. It had been a while. Then came that Arsenal game. Why on earth did you go 2-0 up, you fools? What did you think was going to happen?
18. Leeds – 15pts
11 leads, 5 wins, 3 draws, 3 defeats
Leeds arguably deserve greater punishment here having lost the lead against Spurs three times in the final game before the World Cup. We haven’t checked, obviously, but are confident this represents some kind of record. Losing a game in which you lead 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 can’t happen that often, can it? And although getting a draw at Manchester United is to be applauded, getting a draw when 2-0 up is absolutely not.
17. Wolves – 15pts
13 leads, 7 wins, 3 draws, 3 defeats
They took the lead against West Ham and held on. Glory be. And then they did it in style against Liverpool and Southampton. Screwed it v Fulham but pulled Spurs’ pants down magnificently.
16. Everton – 13pts
10 leads, 5 wins, 2 draws, 3 defeats
Alex Iwobi made the classic error of scoring too early against Manchester United, who duly hit back to beat Frank Lampard’s Everton 2-1, while Brentford and Leeds pegged the Toffees back in the space of four days in August. The pressure beginning to mount on Frank Lampard certainly wasn’t reduced by conceding a last-gasp winner to Wolves on return to action in a game they had led in the early stages. They have wisely decided to abandon the tactic and appoint Sean Dyche, who absolutely knows how to keep a lead. He did it against Arsenal and then crucially against Leeds.
15. Nottingham Forest – 12pts
11 leads, 6 wins, 3 draws, 2 defeats
Back-to-back 3-2 home defeats to your fellow promoted clubs after taking the lead must be considered an unorthodox and in-all-likelihood unsuccessful approach to trying to remain in the Premier League. Going 1-0 up against Liverpool and staying 1-0 up was a much better plan, albeit one swiftly and foolishly abandoned in their next game at Arsenal. But since then they have taken and kept the lead against Southampton, Leicester and Leeds. Clever.
14. Crystal Palace – 12pts
11 leads, 6 wins, 3 draws, 2 defeats
The moral of this story is not to switch off Crystal Palace games after the first goal assuming that all is now known. Only Spurs have won more points from losing positions, but Palace have been profligate when getting their noses in front. Allowing Brentford to equalise after 96 minutes is a new low.
13. Manchester City – 11pts
23 leads, 18 wins, 4 draws. 1 defeat
Only getting a point at Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa seems an unduly negligent piece of Manchester City behaviour, and it’s easy to forget that the comeback from 3-1 down at Newcastle actually came in a game they’d led 1-0 early doors. A draw at home against a piss-poor Everton side was bad and defeat to Manchester United after going ahead potentially violently costly. And now a draw at Nottingham Forest as well. So, so careless.
12. Chelsea – 11pts
14 leads, 9 wins, 4 draws, 1 defeat
Taking the lead after 23 minutes against Southampton and still being behind at half-time is daft behaviour and meant Champions League winner Thomas Tuchel frankly deserved to get sacked. The Manchester United draw was obviously annoying, but the Tottenham one in a game Chelsea thoroughly dominated was utterly absurd. And now Graham Potter has contrived to throw away leads against Nottingham Forest and West Ham, which is sub-optimal.
11. West Ham – 11pts
10 leads, 6 wins, 1 draw, 3 defeats
Entitled to feel mighty aggrieved about the nature of the first blot on their record at Chelsea. And they certainly did feel mighty aggrieved. Also lost having led 1-0 against Palace, who somewhat quirkily have trailed in four of the five games they’ve won this season, and then started the second half of the season by foolishly, recklessly going 1-0 up at the Emirates. An absurd error duly punished. Allowed Leeds to equalise the other week but at least held on for the draw so small mercies and all that.
10. Southampton – 11pts
10 leads, 6 wins, 1 draw, 3 defeats
Traditional powerhouses in this particular field, but have sought to address the issue by very rarely taking the lead. This must be considered no more than a middling start for the south coast’s irredeemable point-spaffers and yet it has nonetheless proved sufficient to cost Ralph Hasenhuttl his job. Made a glorious start to the season by managing to lose 4-1 at Spurs after going in front, and the speed with which a 1-0 lead became a 2-1 defeat to Everton was pretty spectacular even by the Saints’ lofty standards.
Hanging on v Chelsea is something akin to a miracle, against Leicester less so. That potentially priceless Leicester win also saw Southampton became the 20th and last Premier League team to take the lead in 10 games this season. Well done, lads.
9. Aston Villa – 9pts
13 leads, 10 wins, 0 draws, 3 defeats
Villa led 1-0 and 2-1 in both of their last two home games and gone on to lose both of them 4-2, which must be pretty rare. And also bad. The Leicester one was awful, the Arsenal one potentially seismic. But then they went and won at Everton and overall it’s not too bad a record. No draws is unusual. Everyone else has got at least one of those.
8. Brighton – 9pts
15 leads, 11 wins, 3 draws, 1 defeat
Their first defeat from ahead was also Villa’s first win from behind. The danger of scoring in the first minute, I guess. Silly Alexis Mac Allister. Daft World Cup winner. Otherwise very decent.
7. Tottenham – 8pts
17 leads, 14 wins, 1 draw, 2 defeats
Spurs winning a bunch of points from losing positions and losing them from winning positions feels very on brand. We’ve mentioned it before, but whenever people start chatting ‘interesting stats’ we like to wheel out our favourite Premier League stat: that in the history of Our League, Spurs have both won most points from losing positions and lost most points from winning positions. People generally like it. Has a nice Spursy ring to it. Thing is, we’ve got absolutely no idea if it’s true. But it feels right, doesn’t it? It absolutely feels right. We have no interest in checking because we don’t want to find out we’re wrong. This season was going terribly on this front until recently, with horrendous thrashings from 2-0 up and 1-0 up against City and Leicester respectively feeling just right. The Leicester one was particularly good, because by the end it was sufficiently bad to make a case that Spurs had once again finished third in a two-horse race with the, er, Foxes.
But since then they have kept leads v West Ham and Chelsea so, well, f*** knows.
6. Fulham – 8pts
14 leads, 11 wins, 1 draw, 2 defeats
Really, really very impressive from a newly promoted side.
5. Newcastle – 7pts
13 leads, 10 wins, 2 draws, 1 defeat
Failing to hold a 3-1 lead against Manchester City is irritating, but Newcastle are not the first and won’t be the last to suffer that particular annoyance. Pretty unlucky to get turned over by Liverpool at Anfield as well. But throwing away two points at home to West Ham was very poor. The fact they’ve won the same number of games overall as Aston Villa feels like a nonsense.
4. Brentford – 6pts
11 leads, 8 wins, 3 draws, 0 defeats
One of only three sides yet to lose a game having taken the lead, which is a phenomenal record in a phenomenal season. Also one of only three sides yet to win a game having fallen behind, the quirky so and sos.
3. Manchester United – 5pts
17 leads, 15 wins, 1 draw, 1 defeat
Took a maximum 36 points from the first 12 games in which they led this season, but they were struck down by LATE DRAMA in two games, first thanks to Michael Olise’s late, late equaliser for Palace and perhaps more significantly for everyone (apart from Palace) Eddie Nketiah’s late winner at the Emirates. Held on v Palace and Leeds and Leicester at Old Trafford to buck that unpleasant trend.
2. Arsenal – 4pts
22 leads, 20 wins, 2 draws
Arsenal fans might consider the win which turned into a draw against Brentford to be points dropped due to VAR, which is not a ranking any sane individual wants to undertake. That was only the second instance this season in which the Gunners led but did not emerge victorious, the first obviously being against Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Southampton.
1. Liverpool – 2pts
12 leads, 11 wins, 1 draw
It is a fine record of holding leads for sure, but it is also a pitiful number of leads for a club of Liverpool’s standing. How are you taking the lead in only half your games, lads? And how is one of them against Manchester City, you dafties? Still, it’s a resilience that, combined with widespread incompetence outside the top three, keeps the top four a possibility.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has only registered 3 shots on target in the Premier League this season; the last one came at the end of October against Brighton