Arsenal and Liverpool head a host of big names as the English league’s top-performing teams of 2024.
Here, the PA news agency looks at the calendar-year league table for the 92 current Premier League and EFL clubs.
Top Gunners
The table ranks teams by average points per league game in 2024, with ties broken by per-game goal difference. It excludes the play-offs for the teams involved and does not consider any points deductions.
Arsenal may not have a title to show for their efforts, finishing second last season to Manchester City and trailing this term’s runaway leaders Liverpool, but their consistency sees them top of the 12-month table.
Mikel Arteta’s side lost only three times in the league all year, the fewest in the four divisions, and averaged 2.36 points per game.
Liverpool were their closest challengers with 2.30ppg – they won only three of Jurgen Klopp’s final eight league games in charge but had been impressive prior to that and have won 14 out of 18 under Arne Slot to lead this season’s table by eight points.
City’s form prior to their recent slump keeps their 2024 average at 2.16ppg, third of the 92 clubs.
Leeds rank fourth with 2.13ppg – their 96 points were the most of any club. Wrexham, with 90 from 45 games, were the other team to hit the 2ppg mark.
Wycombe are next ahead of resurgent Chelsea with Doncaster, Walsall and Stockport completing the top 10, the latter with 1.77ppg.
The rest of the hypothetical Premier League would be comprised of Birmingham, Lincoln, Bolton, Newcastle, Chesterfield, Mansfield, Reading, MK Dons, Bradford and Crewe.
Basement boys
Ten teams failed to reach a point per game in 2024, with the full table propped up by Carlisle with 31 from 44 games – 0.70ppg.
The Cumbrians were relegated from League One last season and have continued to struggle, climbing off the bottom of the EFL by beating Accrington in their final match of the year but occupying that spot in our table.
Burton are just ahead of them on 0.73ppg with Rotherham on 0.81.
Luton, relegated from the Premier League and struggling in the Championship, rank fourth worst with 0.84pgg, behind Cambridge on goal difference after conceding 89 league goals – nine more than any other team in England this year.
Shrewsbury come next with Wolves the only current Premier League team in our bottom 10, taking 34 points from 37 games (0.92ppg). Just 0.01 ahead of them are Plymouth, who ended the year by relieving former England captain Wayne Rooney of his managerial role.
Swindon and Accrington are the other teams below a point per game, Stanley managing 41 in 42 games for an average of 0.98.
Sharp shooters
Erling Haaland has been subdued during Manchester City’s run of two wins in 14 games in all competitions but – having won last season’s Premier League Golden Boot and started the new campaign with nine in five games – he still ends the calendar year as the English league’s top scorer.
His 27th league goal, against Leicester on Sunday, took him one clear after former team-mate Cole Palmer was unable to respond as Chelsea lost to Ipswich on Monday.
Alexander Isak scored his 25th in Newcastle’s win over Manchester United, with Mohamed Salah scoring 23 for Liverpool.
Will Grigg completed the top five with 21 for Chesterfield, albeit with more than half of those coming in the National League during the first half of the year. Middlesbrough’s Emmanuel Latte Lath, Bromley’s Michael Cheek and Danilo Orsi, who joined Burton from Crawley in the summer, scored 20 apiece.
There were 1,849 different goalscorers in the four leagues this year, excluding own goals.
