Matchday 16 of 2025-26 sees bottom side Wolverhampton Wanderers travel to table-topping Arsenal in the Premier League. It’s not often the team in 20th wins against the league leaders, but Wolves have shocked us before…
Arsenal host Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday night, as top play bottom in the Premier League. Despite just 15 matchdays being played this season, there’s already a huge 31-point gap between the sides going into the match, as Wolves sit bottom having made the worst start in the competition’s history.
With 12,936 matches played in Premier League history as we head into the 16th matchday of the 2025-26 season, it may come as a surprise to learn that only 41 of those have been between teams who started the day in first and last place.
Less surprising is the fact that the top-placed teams have come out victorious most often. But there have been four shock results that Rob Edwards’ side can look back on for inspiration ahead of this weekend, including two memorable displays from Wolves sides of the past.
While none of the last 16 top-versus-bottom clashes have seen the team propping up the league win, Wolves can take some heart from two previous wins over league-leading Manchester United while sitting bottom of the standings.
Back in January 2004, they enjoyed a 1-0 victory over Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United before doing it once again in February 2011, also by a one-goal margin (2-1).
To gives Wolves fans some hope of their side producing one of the biggest Premier League shocks in recent memory, here we look back at the four times a bottom-placed team have come out on top against the league leaders.
Top vs Bottom Premier League Matches
Oldham Athletic 1-0 Manchester United9 March 1993
When Manchester United travelled to Boundary Park to face Oldham in a midweek Premier League clash in March 1993, the Red Devils sat top of the table, a point above Aston Villa with 11 games to play.
A game at bottom-of-the-table Oldham looked to be a great opportunity for United to stay top of the pile, but Joe Royle’s side had other ideas. Neil Adams’ 26th-minute goal was the difference as he headed past Peter Schmeichel from close range following a corner.
Royle was one of only 11 managers who oversaw a win over Alex Ferguson at more than one club in the Premier League, adding another victory as Everton boss in February 1995.
Oldham’s win started a revival that eventually led to them surviving on the final day, despite being sat six points from safety on the morning of this match. Across their final 12 games, Oldham picked up 21 points – the fourth most in the Premier League.
This defeat started a sequence of poor results for Man Utd, as they drew three consecutive games following this match. However, a run of seven successive wins to finish the season saw United pick up the inaugural Premier League title and their first league crown in 26 years.
**Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 Manchester United**17 January 2004
Heading into this clash at Molineux, Man Utd were top of the Premier League and 35 points better off than bottom side Wolves. Alex Ferguson’s side had the meanest defence (14 goals conceded), while Wolves had the leakiest (43) and Man Utd had dropped just two points in their previous seven league games (W6 D1 L0). Naturally, this led to a shock Wolves win.
Kenny Miller scored the only goal of the game in the 66th minute, one of only two he netted across 25 Premier League games for the club, and his first in the competition after starting his Wolves career with a 12-game scoreless run in the top flight.
This was one of just seven league victories for Wolves in 2003-04, all of which came in front of their own fans. That makes them one of just six teams to fail to win a single away match in a full Premier League season, and they could still replicate that unwanted feat this season.
United’s form plummeted following this loss. Including this game, they won just 25 points from their final 17 games of 2003-04, half the total they’d won in their opening 21 matches of the season (50), and 16 fewer than eventual champions Arsenal (41).
**Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Liverpool**1 November 2008
No, it’s not an error. Spurs were bottom of the Premier League when they faced Liverpool at White Hart Lane in November 2008.
A dismal start to the 2008-09 season under Spanish boss Juande Ramos saw Spurs pick up only two points from their first eight matches (W0 D2 L6) before he was dismissed. It was Tottenham’s worst ever start to a league season.
Harry Redknapp was given the task of rescuing the club a week before this Liverpool clash and had already begun to turn their fortunes around. He guided Spurs to a 2-0 home win over Bolton before a sensational late comeback in a midweek north London derby saw them earn a point from a 4-4 draw at the Emirates against Arsenal.
Liverpool headed to White Hart Lane on a 10-game unbeaten start to the 2008-09 Premier League season under Rafael Benítez. With 26 points from a possible 30, the Reds had made their best start to a league season since 1990-91 (28 points), but their run came to an end in London.
A Dirk Kuyt goal after only three minutes would have had most people expecting Liverpool’s great form to continue, but an own goal from Jamie Carragher on 70 minutes was followed by an injury-time winner from striker Roman Pavlyuchenko, lifting Spurs off the bottom of the Premier League table.
For Carragher, it was one of seven own goals he scored in the Premier League – only Richard Dunne (10) has scored more. In fact, he scored as many own goals in favour of Spurs (three in 28 games against them) in the competition as he managed goals for Liverpool in 508 matches.
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 Manchester United5 February 2011
This was one of those Premier League days that lives long in the memory. Not only were 41 goals scored, making it the second-highest tally of goals on a single day of Premier League action, it was the day that witnessed the only four-goal comeback in the history of the competition. Newcastle’s 4-4 draw at home to Arsenal had seen the Magpies 4-0 down with 22 minutes remaining.
Wolves vs Manchester United was the final match of the day. United travelled to Molineux with a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League and were on a 29-game unbeaten run – their best run of results in the league since September 1999. They hadn’t lost in eight months and knew a victory in this game would see them go 30 league games without defeat for the first time in their history as a top-flight club.
An injury to Rio Ferdinand in the warm-up didn’t help, but following Nani’s third-minute goal it seemed as if a routine United victory would follow. Mick McCarthy’s Wolves had other ideas, however.
Ferdinand’s absence was felt as Wolves scored two goals from set-pieces – via George Elokobi and Kevin Doyle – before half-time. They then held on to their lead to secure a memorable win.
The victory helped Wolves avoid relegation by a single point, while United quickly got this defeat out of their system and went on to win the Premier League title by a margin of nine points.
Premier League Stats Opta
Enjoy this? Subscribe to our football newsletter to receive exclusive weekly content. You can also follow our social accounts over onX, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.