How do Sheffield United compare to the Premier League's worst ever teams?
Sheffield United have badly struggled in 2020/21, picking up just two points from a possible 45 on offer to start the season. The Blades have lost 13 games so far and haven’t actually won in the Premier League since hammering Chelsea during last season’s ‘Project Restart’.
Only one team in Premier League history has gone longer at the start of a season without recording a single victory and relegation to the Championship is staring Sheffield United in the face unless results turn around soon.
Taking into account every team that has finished a season with 25 points or fewer (excluding Portsmouth in 2009/10, whose low tally was the result of a points deduction for entering administration), this is how Sheffield United compare to the worst teams in Premier League history at this stage of the season (15 games)…
11. Wolves (2011/12)
Record after 15 games: W4, D2, L9 – 14 points
Final tally: 25 points
Wolves had put five points between themselves and the bottom of the table by 15-game mark of the 2011/12 season.
Despite struggling to get wins, they picked up quite a few points in December and it wasn’t until the final stretch of the campaign that they irreversibly slipped to the bottom of the table.
10. Sunderland (2002/03)
Record after 15 games: W3, D5, L7 – 14 points
Final tally: 19 points
In 2002/03, Sunderland became the first club in Premier League history to finish a season with fewer than 20 points. But by no means did it start as badly as it finished.
The Black Cats were hardly thriving after 15 games, yet they had 14 points and were above the relegation zone. It was later that things turned pear-shaped, taking only one point from 57 available in 19 games in the second half of the season.
9. Sunderland (2016/17)
Record after 15 games: W3, D2, L10 – 11 points
Final tally: 24 points
After consistently flirting with drop zone year on year, Sunderland finally gave up the ghost in 2016/17 and succumbed to relegation to the Championship for the first time in a decade.
At the 15 game mark, the Black Cats, although bottom, were still in touch with the clubs above them thanks to three quick-fire wins in November and December. But they won only twice after Christmas to seal their fate.
8. Watford (1999/00)
Record after 15 games: W3, D2, L10 – 11 points
Final tally: 24 points
Watford’s first spell in the top flight in the Premier League era was a short one that ended after just one season. But their record, particularly in the first eight games, was respectable early on.
Sheffield Wednesday were far worse than the Hornets at the 15-game stage of the 1999/00 season. But while they were eventually relegated as well, the Owls pulled themselves together a little bit more.
7. Norwich (2019/20)
Record after 15 games: W3, D2, L10 – 11 points
Final tally: 21 points
Daniel Farke’s naive Norwich were not actually bottom of the table after 15 games and had at one stage been as high as 12th after a shock win over then champions Manchester City.
The real rot that contributed to one of the lowest final points tallies in Premier League history set in at the end and the Canaries didn’t take any points from their final 10 games.
6. Huddersfield (2018/19)
Record after 15 games: W2, D4, L9 – 10 points
Final tally: 16 points
Huddersfield got significantly worse as the 2018/19 season wore on and were actually (just) out of the relegation zone after the first 15 rounds of fixtures.
The Terriers were already starting to crumble, however. Eight defeats in a row from the start of December to the start of January was the killer blow and they only took six points from a possible 75 on offer from game 14 onwards.
5. QPR (2012/13)
Record after 15 games: D6, L9 – 9 points
Final tally: 25 points
Only QPR from 2012/13 have gone longer at the start of a Premier League season than the current Sheffield United side, with the Hoops waiting until game 17 for their first victory.
QPR were rarely played off the pitch that season and regularly lost only by a single goal. But it was their inability to win games – just four in 38 – that did the damage.
4. Aston Villa (2015/16)
Record after 15 games: W1, D3, L11 – 6 points
Final tally: 17 points
Despite winning on the opening day of the season, Aston Villa were utterly woeful for much of 2015/16, which culminated in their first-ever relegation in the Premier League era.
Having only narrowly stayed up the season before, Villa gambled in the transfer market and spent big on too many players who were either not good enough or too raw and inexperienced.
3. Derby (2007/08)
Record after 15 games: W1, D3, L11 – 6 points
Final tally: 11 points
The infamously bad Derby side of 2007/08 set a new Premier League record for lowest ever points tally, just barely scraping into double figures.
But the Rams, who lost 29 of their 38 games, had already picked up their only win by this stage of the season – a narrow victory over Newcastle only a few weeks into the campaign.
2. Sunderland (2005/06)
Record after 15 games: W1, D2, L12 – 5 points
Final tally: 15 points
Having broken new ground as the worst in Premier League history three years earlier, Sunderland lowered their own bar in 2005/06 with another record points tally.
Mick McCarthy had brought the club back into the top flight and actually kept his job until February. But Sunderland were bottom of the table for all but five rounds of fixtures in total.
1. Sheffield United (2020/21)
Record after 15 games: D1, L13 – 2 points
No team in Premier League history has been this poor at this stage of a 38-game season as Sheffield United of 2020/21, which is in stark contrast to the Blades in 2019/20 when they overachieved.
Defensive injuries and the loss of on-loan goalkeeper Dean Henderson have been a hammer blow to the club, with defeats eating away at confidence week after week.
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