Premier League Winless Runs: Southampton Become Just Sixth Club to Go 20 Without Victory

After their 3-1 defeat against Arsenal on Saturday, Southampton became only the sixth different club to go 20 consecutive games without a win in the Premier League.

Southampton’s return to the Premier League has been tough, and it continued in that vein on Saturday with a 3-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

Saints actually went ahead in the second half after frustrating the Gunners before the break, but Arsenal battled back well. Bukayo Saka set up Kai Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli before getting a goal of his own to finish off the visitors.

Not only does that mean they’re on just one point from seven matches this season, but it also extended their Premier League winless run to 20 games in a sequence that stretches back to their relegation campaign of 2022-23.

Twenty without a win is a new club record for Saints in the Premier League and equalled their all-time top-flight record, which was set between August and December 1969.

They’re just the sixth different club in Premier League history to go 20 consecutive games without winning, while only three have gone beyond that mark.

This is the company they’re keeping…

Derby County – 32 Without a Win
22 September 2007 to 11 May 2008 (Ongoing)

If you’d had one guess as to which club held the record for longest Premier League winless run, Derby County of 2007-08 – the worst team to ever grace (probably the wrong word here) the competition – would’ve been the safe bet. It’d obviously also have been correct.

Derby began that season with one point from their first five games and then beat Newcastle on 17 September; that was not a precursor to a survival bid, however, winning none of their remaining 32 matches and losing 25 of them.

Their 11 points and one victory remain the smallest totals ever in the Premier League, and their 29 losses is also a competition record.

This winless run is still technically ongoing because Derby haven’t been back in the Premier League since.

Sunderland – 26 Without a Win
12 December 2002 to 17 September 2005

Sunderland struggled throughout the 2002-03 season, but it wasn’t until December 2002 that their slide back to the second tier picked up a head of steam. They beat Liverpool on 15 December and then didn’t win again that campaign, losing all of their final 15 matches.

This run continued into the 2005-06 season, their first back in the top flight, eventually stretching to a Premier League record 20 successive defeats.

The winless run ended with a 2-0 defeat of Middlesbrough at the Riverside, but it was another dismal campaign for the Black Cats, their 15 points fewer even than the 19 they’d managed in 2002-03 and a Premier League record until Derby came along a couple of years later.

Norwich City – 21 Without a Win
1 April 1995 to 13 November 2004

Norwich began the 1994-95 season in satisfactory fashion, losing only five times before Christmas, but their form quickly nosedived. While a 3-0 defeat of bitter rivals Ipswich Town in March 1995 ended an 11-match winless run, they went on to lose seven and draw once in their final eight games, suffering relegation.

It took them nine seasons to win promotion back to the top tier, and they didn’t get their first win of 2004-05 until November against Southampton. That meant they’d gone 21 games across 1994-95 and 2004-05 without winning.

Despite an encouraging run of four wins – including a 2-0 defeat of Manchester United at Carrow Road – in their final six games, the Canaries were relegated with a 6-0 hammering by Fulham on Matchday 38.

Norwich City – 20 Without a Win
7 March 2020 to 31 October 2021

Norwich’s second entry on this list, though at least they didn’t go the better part of a decade between Premier League appearances for this one.

The Canaries became the first club to endure Premier League relegation five times in 2019-20, losing their final 10 games of the campaign after beating Leicester at the end of February.

They went straight back up the following season but then began the 2021-22 campaign winless in their first 10 games, a run that included 7-0 and 5-0 defeats to Chelsea and Manchester City respectively.

A 2-1 win over Brentford prevented them equalling their club record of 21 Premier League games without a win, though it was scant consolation as they still ended up getting relegated again.

Sheffield United – 20 Without a Win
16 July 2020 to 2 January 2021

Although the Blades ended 2019-20 with three successive defeats, it was actually a commendable campaign on the whole as they finished ninth in the Premier League.

Suffice to say, however, the dreadful ‘Second Season Syndrome’ then reared its head with a vengeance; it took Sheffield United until MD 18 to get their first victory of 2021-22, a Premier League record, losing an astonishing 15 times by that point.

A 1-0 defeat of Newcastle on 12 January 2021 saw the Blades finally win, and they did go on to add another six victories, but the other 14 games ended in losses and they finished 16 points adrift of safety.

West Brom – 20 Without a Win
27 August 2017 to 2 January 2018

West Brom began 2017-18 well enough, winning each of their opening two games of a top-flight season for the first time since 1978-79.

But they then didn’t win again until 13 January when they beat Brighton 2-0 at the Hawthorns. While their 20-match winless run comprised an even split of draws and defeats, the Baggies’ form didn’t exactly change for the better after beating Brighton.

They lost nine of their next 10 games, with those defeats all coming in succession, and West Brom ultimately finished bottom on 31 points despite winning three and losing one of their last six.

Southampton – 20 Without a Win
12 March 2023 to Present (Ongoing)

Saints were battling relegation throughout the 2022-23 season and their fate was sealed by going winless in their final 13 games of the campaign, their 25 points leaving them 11 from safety.

Incredibly, that run saw Southampton score three or more goals in four matches, yet they won none of them, drawing 3-3 with Tottenham and Arsenal, and 4-4 with Liverpool, while also losing 4-3 to Nottingham Forest.

They could only wish for such attacking potency at the moment, however. They’ve not scored more than once in a league game yet this term and have only four in total.

On the evidence of their first seven games in 2024-25, this could be another long season for Saints.

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