Football is all about winning, losing, or drawing. But which Premier League teams are spending most time in those game states in 2025-26? We look at the numbers.
Game state is a stat few talk about, but it impacts football significantly.
Whether a team is winning, losing or drawing obviously usually plays a huge part in their tactical setup, and can therefore also provide meaning for other data outputs.
For example, as any responsible expected goals (xG) enthusiast will tell you, game state is an onion in the ointment when it comes to analysing one-off matches. One team having a higher xG than another doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve been better, it could just be that one team was trailing for most of the game, so had a greater need to attack more.
It is also arguably one of the metrics that most indicates game management ability, something that is often discussed in football but rarely with more than just suggestions that a team ‘looks comfortable’.
With all that in mind, we wanted to see how Premier League teams were doing in terms of game state this season, and to what extent it reflects their position in the table.
With everyone 11 games in, who are the best at going ahead and staying ahead, who have been falling behind and struggling to recover, and which teams are spending the most time with games on a knife edge? Let’s find out.
In It to Win It
The most important thing is being ahead when the final whistle blows, so in theory how long you’re actually ahead in games doesn’t matter all that much.
However, it does seem easier to just get in front early and stay there.
After Matchday 11 of the 2025-26 Premier League season, Manchester City are the team to have spent the longest time ahead in games, and by some distance. Pep Guardiola’s men have led for 55.4% of their games (610 minutes and 47 seconds), the only team to have been ahead for more than half of their game time.
While the leaders in this category won’t surprise many, you may raise a quizzical eyebrow when we tell you that their neighbours, Manchester United, are second.
Ruben Amorim’s men may not have ended as many games as they’d like ahead, but they have been in front for 44.7% of their game time (496 mins, 5 secs). If they can just learn to protect those leads better, they might be in business, having dropped six points from winning positions.
Remarkably, after just 11 games, United have already been ahead for 140 minutes and 25 seconds longer than they led across their 27 matches under Amorim last season (355 mins, 40 secs). They’re only 53 minutes and 32 seconds off overtaking their total for the entirety of 2024-25 (549 mins, 37 secs).
Premier League leaders Arsenal come next, having been ahead for 44.3% of their games. The Gunners have actually led for a longer period than United by 18 seconds (496 mins, 23 secs) but have also played more football, so percentage-wise the Red Devils are ahead.
Bournemouth (39.5%) and Chelsea (38.2%) come next, while it might surprise some to see Brentford – a team many tipped for a relegation fight this season in the summer – sixth highest (37.9%).
Champions Liverpool have struggled to keep pace at the top this season, sitting in eighth place after already losing five games, and linked to that is their comparatively low minutes holding an advantage. Only seven Premier League teams have been ahead for a lower percentage of their games than Arne Slot’s side (24.1% – 269 mins, 35 secs). Even rivals Everton have been ahead for longer (27.7% – 303 mins, 37 secs).
That might not be a surprise to many given Liverpool spent the early weeks of the season scoring late winners, but it’s surely something they will want to address, especially after leading the rankings last season for time spent ahead (45.6%) on their way to winning the Premier League title.
Bringing up the rear are West Ham, despite having won their last two games. They have been ahead for just 9.2% of their total game time this season, though the vast majority of that has come in those recent home victories over Newcastle and Burnley (78 mins, 1 second). Prior to that, the Hammers had led for just 25 minutes and seven seconds across their first eight games.
Premier League game state Nov 2025
The Biggest Losers
Crystal Palace have had a largely impressive start to the season and proven themselves a hard nut to crack.
That is shown by the fact OIiver Glasner’s side have been behind in games for the shortest amount of time in the Premier League this season, only losing for 12.9% of their match time (143 mins, 13 secs). That is quite an improvement on last season’s 25.8% (10th lowest).
The Eagles have only trailed in three of their 11 games, at Everton (10 mins), at Arsenal (60 mins, 45 secs) and at home to Bournemouth (72 mins, 28 secs).
In fact, only 11 teams across the top five European leagues this season have been losing for a lower proportion of time in 2025-26 than Palace.
Game states Euro top five leagues 2025-26 lowest losers
While they might not feel as consistent as others, Chelsea have generally been very good at not falling behind in games, trailing for only 13.1% of their match time (146 mins, 21 secs), and 93 and a half minutes of that was in their 2-1 defeat at Man Utd. Other than that loss, when they were reduced to 10 men after just five minutes, Enzo Maresca’s side have only been behind for 52 minutes and 51 seconds.
The top two of Man City (14.3%) and Arsenal (16.9%) are third and fourth respectively, while despite sitting in 14th place after their loss at Brentford on Sunday, only four teams have been behind for a shorter percentage of their game time than Newcastle (17.8%). Their two very late losses at home to Liverpool and Arsenal partly explain that, but the Magpies could really do with working on seeing out games more often. No Premier League team have lost as many as their nine points from winning positions this season.
Premier League Points Dropped from Winning Positions in 2025-26
If you thought Liverpool’s unfamiliarity with leading this season was notable, then the fact they have been behind for a whopping 36.9% of their game time (413 mins, 4 secs) may raise those eyebrows higher still, as should the additional note that only West Ham (47%) and Wolves (57.8%) have been losing for a greater percentage of their matches.
That means even 17th-placed Burnley (36.4%) and 19th-placed Nottingham Forest (32%) have had less time in losing positions than the Reds across their first 11 games.
It also means Liverpool have been behind for 143 minutes and 29 seconds longer than they’ve been winning. That surely cannot last with the quality they have and a slightly kinder set of fixtures on the horizon, but it shows quite a drop-off for a team who were only behind for 615 minutes and one second in the whole of last season, a total they’re already three quarters of the way to just 11 games into this season.
Other notable strugglers include Brighton, who have been behind for 34.7% of their match time, while Tottenham (32.4%) have actually trailed for more time than both Forest and Leeds United (32%), despite Spurs having double the points of the former (18-9) and seven more than the latter.
Level Headed
Football matches are generally low-scoring affairs, so in contrast to most other sports, we see a lot of time spent where both teams are level. It can lead to tense moments, and participants struggling with the choice of whether to stick or twist.
If you’re a fan of that, head to the north east of England. Sunderland have been drawing games for longer than any other team this season, with the Black Cats caught in a stalemate for 59.3% – almost 11 hours (657 mins, 44 secs) – of their match time in their first season back in the top flight.
Coupled with the fact they have only been behind for 20.9% of their games, the sixth-smallest percentage in the Premier League, we can see just how difficult teams are finding it to break Regis Le Bris’ side down despite them being pre-season favourites for relegation.
Sunderland have shown that steel even when falling behind, winning nine points from losing positions, more than any other team in the Premier League.
Staying in the north east, Newcastle are second in terms of percentage of game time spent level, so it should be a close Tyne-Wear derby when they meet at the Stadium of Light on 14 December.
It is particularly interesting that Newcastle have been drawing more than most as they have also played the most Premier League minutes this season (1,125 mins, 15 secs), while they are one of three teams, along with Brighton (7) and Liverpool (8), to have conceded as many goals when level as they have scored (7).
Eddie Howe’s men are also the only Premier League team who haven’t been more than two goals ahead or behind this season, meaning they have never seen a game get away from them too much, though they also haven’t been able to pull away from opponents.
The only other teams to have spent more than half of their game time drawing this season are Crystal Palace (56.2%) – who have drawn more matches than any other Premier League team this term (5) – Fulham (52.1%) and Nottingham Forest (52%).
Manchester United don’t seem to like being tied, only drawing games for 28.9% of the time, while Manchester City (30.3%) also haven’t been level for long.
Brentford are the one team in the Premier League for whom drawing is their rarest game state. The Bees have been level for just 29.9% of their overall match time, compared to 32.1% behind and 37.2% ahead.
Wolves are another who haven’t been drawing for long (30.5%), largely thanks to falling behind so often, while Liverpool have been tied for 39% of their match time, despite being the only Premier League team yet to have drawn a game this season.
Make of all that what you will. It should be considered that some teams have had tougher starts than others, and so, like most numbers, they perhaps won’t take on significant meaning until we’re 19 games in and everyone has played everyone.
What is always most important is where everyone is sat when the music stops, but ideally, teams will always be looking to get ahead.
Premier League Stats Opta
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