Premier League Records | Opta Analyst

Get the lowdown on the key team, player and manager records from the Premier League and check back here throughout the 2024-25 season.

Premier League Records: Contents

Team Records

••• Most Titles ••• Most Points in a Season ••• Fewest Points in a Season ••• Best/Worst Starts ••• Biggest Wins ••• Longest Unbeaten Runs ••• Longest Losing Runs •••

Player Records

••• Most Goals ••• Most Appearances ••• Most Goals in a Season ••• Most Hat-Tricks ••• Longest Scoring Runs ••• Fastest to 50 Premier League Goals ••• Oldest Players ••• Youngest Players •••

Manager Records

••• Most Titles ••• Most Games ••• Oldest Managers ••• Youngest Managers
••• Earliest Sackings •••

Team Records

Most Premier League Titles

Manchester United have won the most Premier League titles, with their 13 crowns five more than any other club. In fact, all the other teams to have played in the competition since its 1992 inception have only accumulated 19 titles combined.

However, all 13 of United’s Premier League titles came under the guidance of Sir Alex Ferguson; since his retirement in 2013, they’ve not won it once and have instead had to watch rivals Manchester City become the dominant force since Pep Guardiola’s arrival in 2016.

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Most Points in a Season

Manchester City hold the record for the most points won in a single Premier League campaign after they won the 2017-18 title with a haul of 100 points.

Had Gabriel Jesus not scored a stoppage-time winner on the final day of the season, we would still be waiting for a team to break the 100-point barrier in the Premier League. City’s 32 victories that campaign also set a new record, which they then replicated a year later (albeit managing two points fewer).

Before Guardiola’s arrival on English shores, the record had belonged to his one-time nemesis José Mourinho, whose legendary Chelsea side of 2004-05 accumulated 95 points.

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Worst Team in Premier League History

No team has ever won fewer points in a Premier League season than Derby County did in 2007-08, when they managed to tally just 11. As such, they are widely considered to be the worst team in the competition’s history, for obvious reasons.

The 2023-24 campaign wasn’t far off seeing a repeat of that level of haplessness, though; Sheffield United could only amass 16 points as they were relegated back to the Championship just a year after earning promotion.

Only six teams have ever finished a Premier League season with fewer than 20 points without being dealt a points deduction.

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Best/Worst Starts to a Premier League Season

Chelsea’s run of nine wins to begin the 2005-06 season remains the best start to a campaign in Premier League history. Before their achievement, the record stood at six – it was a landmark they ultimately cruised past.

Liverpool in 2019-20 went closest to equalling the Blues’ record. In the season that finally saw them win a first Premier League title, the Reds began with eight victories on the bounce before being held to a 1-1 draw by Manchester United.

At the other end of the scale, Crystal Palace started 2017-18 with seven defeats in a row to equal the record for the worst start to a Premier League season, set eight years earlier. Their first four losses were under Frank de Boer, who paid the price and was sacked. His successor Roy Hodgson then lost three on the trot as well but ultimately steered them to an 11th-place finish.

Portsmouth were the team they matched with that dreadful start. Pompey, however, weren’t as fortunate as Palace in the long run; they were relegated (not helped by a nine-point deduction) and haven’t been seen back in the top flight since.

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Biggest Premier League Wins

The biggest win in Premier League history is 9-0 and it has occurred four times; Manchester United are the only team to win 9-0 more than once, while Southampton are the only team to lose 9-0 more than once.

United beat Ipswich and Saints by nine, and Southampton also lost by that scoreline to Leicester City; the most recent 9-0 was inflicted on Bournemouth by Liverpool in August 2022.

There have been seven matches separated by an eight-goal margin, however.

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Longest Premier League Unbeaten Runs

The record for the longest unbeaten run in Premier League history of course belongs to Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’, who went 49 games without defeat from May 2003 to October 2004.

That run encompassed their remarkable 2003-04 title-winning campaign, during which they didn’t lose a single match; they are the only side in Premier League history to go a full season without losing.

Liverpool almost matched the Gunners’ unbeaten run a few years ago, but a shock 3-0 defeat at Watford in February 2020 saw the Reds’ undefeated streak end at 44.

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Longest Premier League Losing Runs

Sunderland lost 20 Premier League matches in a row between January 2003 and September 2005, which remains the longest losing run in the competition. Fifteen of those defeats came in the final months of the 2002-03 season, which unsurprisingly culminated in relegation; they then lost five on the spin upon their return for the 2005-06 season.

Norwich City are the club to go closest to equalling the record. The Canaries lost 16 in succession between March 2020 and September 2021.

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Player Records

Most Premier League Goals

Alan Shearer holds the record for the most Premier League goals with 260; it’s an accolade that’s belonged to him, astonishingly, since December 1993 when he went past Teddy Sheringham in the competition’s formative years.

Shearer scored his last Premier League goal in 2006 and, following Harry Kane’s departure for Bayern Munich in 2023, looks destined to retain his place atop the leaderboard for a few more years yet at least.

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Most Premier League Appearances

With 653 Premier League appearances to his name, Gareth Barry has played more games in the competition than any other player. Barry represented Aston Villa, Manchester City, Everton and West Brom across his long career, playing for the last time in the top flight in 2018.

James Milner was the only active player in the top 20 going into the 2024-25 season, but the 38-year-old Brighton midfielder (637) could soon surpass Barry having gone beyond Ryan Giggs (632) in 2023-24.

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Most Premier League Goals in a Season

Erling Haaland scored 36 in his incredible debut season of 2022-23 – that is the record for the most goals in a single Premier League campaign by a player.

The Norwegian arrived in England with huge expectations on his shoulders and he had no problem meeting – and arguably surpassing – them as he fired Manchester City to a historic treble.

Previously, the record had belonged to Shearer, who scored 34 goals in 1994-95, though that was in a 42-game season rather than a 38-game one.

Prior to Haaland, Mohamed Salah had scored the most goals in a single 38-game Premier League season, netting 32 times for Liverpool in 2017-18.

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Most Premier League Hat-Tricks

Sergio Agüero scored 12 hat-tricks as a Premier League player, more than anyone else in the competition’s history – one ahead of Shearer.

If he stays in England long enough, though, this looks to be another record Haaland will have his sights set on. Despite only playing just over two seasons in the Premier League, the Man City talisman already has eight hat-tricks to his name.

That’s more than the likes of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Robin van Persie and Andrew Cole.

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Longest Premier League Scoring Runs

Jamie Vardy scored in 11 successive Premier League games between 19 August 2015 and 28 November 2015, which is the longest scoring run in the competition’s history.

Vardy’s remarkable scoring streak came during Leicester City’s iconic Premier League title-winning season, with the striker’s total of 24 goals seeing him play an instrumental role in their success.

Before him, Van Nistelrooy had held the record (10 games) since August 2003 – he and Vardy are the only two to reach double figures for successive scoring appearances.

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Fastest to 50 Premier League Goals

Erling Haaland reached 50 Premier League goals in astonishingly quick fashion, needing just 48 matches. He could have endured a 16-game barren run before his 50th goal and still have taken the record, that’s how much quicker than anyone else he got to the milestone.

Andrew Cole had held the record for a whopping 28 years before Haaland; he reached 50 Premier League goals in his 65th match, one quicker than Alan Shearer.

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Oldest Premier League Players

John Burridge was 43 years, 162 days old on 14 May 1995 when he played in goal for Manchester City against QPR; he remains the oldest player in Premier League history.

Unsurprisingly, it’s a list that’s dominated by goalkeepers, with the eight oldest Premier League players ever all operating between the sticks.

Teddy Sheringham holds the record for the oldest outfielder to feature in the Premier League; he was 40y, 272d old when he faced Man City for West Ham in December 2006.

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Youngest Premier League Players

Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri is the youngest player to ever appear in the Premier League. He was 15 years, 181 days old when he came off the bench for the Gunners away to Brentford in September 2022.

He’s the only player under the age of 16 to play in the competition and smashed the record previously held by Harvey Elliott, who had been 16y, 30d old when he first appeared for Fulham in May 2019.

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Manager Records

Most Premier League Titles

Sir Alex Ferguson is the manager with the most Premier League title wins, having guided Manchester United to 13 during his glittering spell in charge at Old Trafford.

When he retired in 2013, no other manager had won more than three. Of course, things have changed a fair amount since then with Pep Guardiola enjoying a rather fruitful time in England, though Ferguson is still clear of him by seven.

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Most Premier League Games Managed

Arséne Wenger holds the record for the most Premier League matches managed, remarkably with all 828 of those games in charge of the same team: Arsenal.

The Frenchman, who retired in 2018, overtook Sir Alex Ferguson (810) during his final season and will hold on to the record for a while yet – though David Moyes isn’t too far behind on 697 after leaving West Ham at the end of 2023-24. If he gets back into work soon, he could be only a few years away from surpassing Wenger.

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Oldest Premier League Managers

Roy Hodgson is the oldest manager in Premier League history; he was 76 years, 187 days old when he took charge of his final match at Crystal Palace in February 2024.

He stepped down in February 2024 after a difficult run of form and was replaced by Oliver Glasner. While not beyond the realm of possibility, it seems unlikely Hodgson will return to Premier League management.

It’s also difficult to imagine Hodgson’s record being broken anytime soon given he was nearly five years older than the second-oldest manager to take charge of Premier League game (Sir Bobby Robson – 71 years, 192 days).

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Youngest Premier League Managers

Aged 29 years, 312 days old when he was caretaker manager for Tottenham for the first time in April 2021, Ryan Mason is the youngest person to manage a team in a Premier League game.

He’s the only person in Premier League history to be manager for at least one match while under the age of 30.

New Brighton boss Fabian Hürzeler didn’t break Mason’s record, but he does now slot in ahead of Attilio Lombardo after taking charge of the Seagulls for the first time on the opening weekend of 2024-25; he’s 31 and won’t turn 32 until February.

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Earliest Premier League Manager Sackings

Just nine days into the 2004-05 season, Southampton dismissed Paul Sturrock as their manager – that is the earliest into a Premier League campaign that a coach has left their post.

He’s the only manager to last less than 10 days into a season, with the next shortest run into a new season belonging to Peter Reid, who was shown the door by Manchester City just 12 days into the 1993-94 season.

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