So here we are, on the eve of the 19th season of the Premier League, and Manchester United hold a lead in the all-time points table big enough to ensure they will remain top dogs even if they lose every game this campaign.
They need just six more points to reach 1,500, and they sit a cool 183 points clear of their nearest rivals, Arsenal. As one of my statistical colleagues said to me the other day: “That’s a lot of points, Brian.” And I said: “Yes it is, Brian.”
United have never finished outside the top three in any of the completed Premier League seasons; the last time that happened was in 1990-91, when they finish sixth.
United have lost just 100 games from 696 played in the Premier League, with most defeats inflicted by Chelsea (12), then Arsenal and Liverpool (12 each), and the Blackburn, Man City, Middlesbrough and Southampton (five each).
Five teams who will play in the Premier League in 2010-11 have never beaten United home or away in the revamped top flight: Birmingham (in 12 attempts), Wigan (10), West Brom (8), Stoke (4) and Wolves (4). Of those, Wigan and Stoke haven’t even won a point.
The table below is self-explanatory; the seven ever-present clubs are unsurprisingly the seven top clubs in total points – and the logos of those seven are shown in order of points total on the left of the table.
