Football is a funny game. One minute you're convinced you know exactly how the season will end, and the next, you’re staring at the English Premier League table 2024 25 wondering if you’ve actually been watching the same sport.
It’s January 2026. The 2024-25 season is long gone, yet people are still debating the chaos that unfolded. If you look back at that final May 2025 standing, it tells a story of a power shift that most of us didn't see coming when the first whistle blew in August.
The English Premier League table 2024 25 and the Liverpool Resurgence
Everyone thought Manchester City would just sleepwalk to another title. Seriously. But Arne Slot had other ideas. Liverpool didn't just win the league; they basically reclaimed their identity. They finished the 2024-25 campaign with 84 points, four ahead of Arsenal.
The Gunners, bless them, were so close. Again. Mikel Arteta’s squad finished with 74 points, which sounds decent until you realize they were actually ten points behind the Reds by the time the dust settled.
City? They stumbled. They looked human. 71 points and a third-place finish felt like a crisis in East Manchester. Honestly, seeing Pep Guardiola’s side drop nine games in a single season was the kind of thing that makes you question the simulation we're living in.
Who Actually Made the Top Four?
If you were betting on the Champions League spots, you probably lost money. Chelsea somehow found a way to stop the bleeding and grabbed fourth with 69 points. It wasn't pretty. It was actually kind of chaotic, but Cole Palmer carrying the team on his back for 38 weeks straight eventually paid off.
Behind them, the "best of the rest" was a scrap.
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- Newcastle United: 66 points (5th place)
- Aston Villa: 66 points (6th place, lost out on goal difference)
- Nottingham Forest: 65 points (Wait, what?)
Yeah, you read that right. Forest in 7th. Nuno Espírito Santo turned the City Ground into a fortress. While everyone was looking at Manchester United or Spurs, Forest was busy grinding out results.
Speaking of the big names, the 2024-25 table was brutal to the traditional giants. Manchester United finished 15th. 15th! They had 44 points. They were closer to the relegation zone than they were to Europe. It’s the kind of season that gets books written about it, for all the wrong reasons. Tottenham didn't fare much better, finishing 17th—just one spot above the drop. They only survived because the teams below them were historically bad.
The Heartbreak at the Bottom
Relegation is a lonely place. For the second year in a row, the promoted teams found out that the gap between the Championship and the Prem is more like a canyon.
Southampton were the first to go. They were basically doomed by March. They finished with a measly 12 points. Two wins. That’s it. It’s actually painful to look at their stats: 26 goals scored and 86 conceded.
Leicester City joined them with 25 points. They tried to make a fight of it after Ruud van Nistelrooy took over, but the damage was already done. Ipswich Town rounded out the bottom three with 22 points. They played some brave football, sure, but bravery doesn't get you points when you’re facing Erling Haaland or Mohamed Salah every other week.
Golden Boot and Individual Brilliance
Even though City finished third, Erling Haaland still did Haaland things—at least for a while. He ended up with 22 goals. But the real king of the English Premier League table 2024 25 season was Mohamed Salah. 29 goals. 18 assists. The man was a machine.
Alexander Isak also had a monster year for Newcastle, hitting 23 goals. If he could stay fit for a full 38 games, he’d probably be pushing for 30.
Goalkeeping-wise, David Raya and Matz Sels shared the Golden Glove with 13 clean sheets each. Seeing a Nottingham Forest keeper at the top of that list tells you everything you need to know about how weird that season actually was.
Real Talk: What We Learned
The 2024-25 season proved that the "Big Six" is a dead concept. When Aston Villa and Newcastle are consistently outperforming United and Spurs, the hierarchy has officially shifted.
If you're looking to understand why the current 2025-26 table looks the way it does—with Arsenal currently leading and Sunderland surprisingly sitting in 10th—you have to look at the foundations laid in 2024-25.
The smart money now is on teams that have a clear tactical identity rather than just a massive transfer budget. Liverpool found it with Slot. Forest found it with Nuno. United are still looking for it.
Actionable Insights for the Current Season:
- Watch the "Average" Teams: Don't ignore the mid-table grinders like Brighton or Fulham. They are the ones who decide the title race by stealing points from the top four.
- Health is Wealth: Arsenal’s 2024-25 collapse was largely due to injuries to key players like Ødegaard. Depth is now more important than a star-studded XI.
- Goal Difference Matters: As we saw with Villa and Newcastle, three or four goals can be the difference between a flight to Madrid for the Champions League and a Thursday night in the Europa Conference League.
Keep an eye on the current January 2026 standings to see if these patterns hold. Arsenal is currently on 49 points after 21 games, looking to finally bury the ghosts of the 2024-25 season.