By Opta Analyst | Created at 2025-01-23 16:28:04 | Updated at 2025-01-23 19:47:49
3 hours ago
Which teams have been in winning positions for the longest and who seem to have got used to losing? We look at Premier League game states in 2024-25.
“You only sing when you’re winning!”
If that’s true, then based on the opening 22 matchdays of the 2024-25 season, Manchester United fans will have been very quiet so far.
United have led for just 15% of their Premier League games this season, higher only than bottom two clubs Leicester City (14%) and Southampton (11%).
Overall, the Red Devils have been in a leading position for just 317 minutes and 56 seconds of Premier League match time in 2024-25, and they have been losing for more than double that time (693:25).
But when they have been in a winning position this season, they’ve performed well. They have held a lead in 10 different Premier League games and not lost any of those (W7 D3), but perhaps the fact that they have been in a leading position for under eight minutes (including added time) in half of those (5) has played a part in that.
Their rivals Manchester City have somewhat surprisingly been in a winning position for the highest proportion of match time (45%) in the Premier League this season, although getting into a lead isn’t their problem; it’s keeping hold of them.
No Premier League side has failed to win more games across all competitions in which they have been leading this season than Pep Guardiola’s side (9), while in Premier League games alone they have dropped 14 points from winning positions already. That total is already more than in any single Premier League season since 2008-09 (20).
No team has held a lead at some point in more Premier League matches this season than Nottingham Forest (19 games), with Nuno Espírito Santo’s side losing for just 14% of match time overall – only less than Arsenal (9%).
Ruud van Nistelrooy’s first game in charge of Leicester City against West Ham on 3 December saw Jamie Vardy open the scoring after just two minutes before they eventually won 3-1. They held the lead for 102 minutes and 35 seconds overall that day (including added time), the longest a team have been in a winning position in a Premier League match in 2024-25.
Leicester’s 3-2 win over Southampton on 19 October holds the record for the shortest amount of time a team has been leading in a game to end up victorious. Jordan Ayew’s added-time winner came so late in the match that the Foxes led for only two minutes and two seconds at St Mary’s after previously being behind in the match for 68 minutes and 40 seconds.
Leicester edge out Bournemouth, who led for two minutes and four seconds in their 3-2 win over Everton at Goodison Park in August. That saw Everton squander a two-goal lead despite being in front as late as the 87th minute. It was the latest in Premier League history that a team has led by two clear goals in a game they went on to lose.
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