Not all Premier League teams can be successful – sometimes, teams just don’t have what it takes to succeed at the very highest leverl.
The Premier League is an incredibly demanding competition. If you aren’t equipped to deal with its challenges, things can rapidly spiral out of control.
Today, we’ll be looking at five hapless outfits who accumulated the five lowest points totals in Premier League history. With the Premier League as it is Wolves are drifting into territory no club wants to be in as they look like they could actually rival Derby County’s record low points total. On to the clubs who Wolves are unfortunately being compared to on current form…
Huddersfield Town – 2018/19
Huddersfield Town’s journey to the Premier League was a real Cinderella story. Despite lacking the finances to compete with the big hitters in the division, a combination of strong recruitment and excellent management led them to England’s top division in 2017.
After barely surviving their first season in the top flight, the writing was on the wall in their second season after they failed to adequately bolster their squad in the summer transfer window.
The manager who dragged them into the Premier League, David Wagner, was sacked in January – by the end of the campaign, they had won just three games from 38 and accumulated a meagre 16 points.
Sheffield United – 2023/24
From one under-equipped Yorkshire outfit to another – Sheffield United were promoted back to the Premier League after finishing second in the Championship, but the funds simply weren’t available for them to make the necessary improvements.
Only Gustavo Hamer had any sort of impact – the likes of Auston Trusty, Anis Ben Slimane and Bénie Traoré were practically dead on arrival.
By the end of the season, the Blades picked up a total of 16 goals, conceding a whopping 104 goals along the way.
Sunderland – 2005/06
The tone was set early on in Sunderland’s dismal 2005/26 campaign, as they lost their first five opening games of the season, scoring just a single goal along the way.
A win over local rivals Middlesbrough appeared to steady the ship, but a run of nine straight defeats after this sucked whatever life they had left out of them.
The Black Cats would win just twice more after this, finishing the season with 15 points. To make matters worse, bitter enemies Newcastle United did the double over them, which included a 4-1 pasting at the Stadium of Light.
Southampton – 2024/25
Southampton’s problem in 2024/25 wasn’t their lack of resources – it was how they decided to use them in the summer. Instead of purchasing Premier League-ready talents, Southampton opted to build for the future – without there being a solid base in place.
Russell Martin’s cavalier style of football did little to help matters, as the Saints were often left hopelessly overrun at the back. When Martin was sacked, his successor, Ivan Juric, fared no batter.
After all was said and done, Southampton could only muster 12 points over the course of the season, winning just two games from 38.
Derby County – 2007/08
Derby County’s 2007/08 season is synonymous with failure in professional football. The Rams were hopelessly outclassed in the Premier League after scraping through the playoffs – their team was a veritable ‘Dad’s Army’, with a smattering of green prospects.
Not only could Derby not stop conceding goals, they also couldn’t score them. Their top goalscorer at the end of the season was Kenny Miller, who found the back of the net on just four occasions.
After notching up just 11 points, one win and a mammoth 29 defeats, Derby’s humiliation seemed to be over. Sadly, it wasn’t – they lost their first game back in the Championship in 2008/09 against newly-promoted Doncaster Rovers.