While some have criticised a lack of quality in the Premier League this season, there’s an argument the 2025-26 campaign was one of the most competitive ever.
That’s a wrap.
The 2025-26 Premier League season is over. A long campaign concluded on Sunday with Arsenal lifting the trophy for the first time in 22 years, and West Ham joining Burnley and Wolves in being relegated to the Championship.
It can be difficult summarising a full season’s worth of football, but there was one overriding sensation that was there every step of the way in 2025-26: competitiveness.
Here, we outline what made 2025-26 one of the most competitive seasons in Premier League history.
The ‘Bunched Middle’
If we’re talking about competitiveness, probably the best place to begin is by looking at the table and how many (or few) points separate particular positions.
Beyond the bottom two and the top two, the Premier League table this season has been tight.
We’ve seen several teams dramatically transform their fortunes within a matter of weeks, and not always for the better.
And then, even into the final days of the campaign, there has been plenty still to play for. It was fairly recently that Everton, Newcastle and Fulham were still in contention for European football – they ended up finishing 13th, 12th and 11th respectively.
But can we quantify the tightness of the league? Well yes, we can.
The final Premier League table had just 13 points separating sixth and 16th. Bournemouth came sixth with 57; Nottingham Forest finished 16th on 44.
That is the joint-smallest points gap separating sixth and 16th at the end of a Premier League season, equalling the record set in 1998-99 when sixth-placed Aston Villa accumulated only 13 points more than Wimbledon 10 places below them.
Mighty Tottenham Struggle Again
Most people probably thought 2024-25 was a one-off, that Tottenham’s lowly final position of 17th was heavily influenced by them concentrating on the Europa League – which they won – in the second half of the campaign.
Think again.
Tottenham once again finished 17th in the Premier League, though this time relegation was a real possibility, unlike in 2024-25, only confirming their survival at the expense of West Ham on Matchday 38.
While Spurs’ struggles obviously say a lot about their own errors and issues, the fact the team ranked ninth in the Deloitte Football Money League 2026 (published in January) can finish 17th in successive seasons must, to some degree, be reflective of the league’s competitiveness.
Lifting the Curse of the Promoted Teams
The relegation battle that dominated Tottenham’s season was also notable for the fact that it didn’t lure in all three of the promoted teams.
Granted, Burnley went down without much of a fight, but Leeds eventually finished 14th, eight points clear of the bottom three, and Sunderland remarkably came seventh.
It was a refreshing change of pace when you consider that all three of the promoted teams went straight back down in the two prior Premier League campaigns. And beyond that, none of those six teams (Sheffield United, Burnley and Luton Town in 2023-24, Southampton, Ipswich Town and Southampton in 2024-25) managed more than 26 points.
Those sides weren’t only relegated, they were comfortably the worst teams in the division.
Not this time, however. The theory that promoted teams can’t compete has been well and truly doused this term, and the Premier League has been a richer place for it.
Sunderland’s Memorable Premier League Return
We can’t just give Sunderland a solitary mention – they are absolutely deserving of focus here because they have confounded all expectations.
For starters, they finished 24 points behind the Championship’s top two last season as they went up via the play-offs, requiring stoppage-time winners in both the semi-finals and final.
Their points total (76) was – at the time – the joint lowest of any team promoted to the Premier League since Crystal Palace (72) in 2012-13, and so they were largely written off as soon as their promotion was confirmed.
But Sunderland took to the Premier League like a duck to water. Their relative pragmatism stood them in good stead, with Régis Le Bris prioritising making them difficult to beat.
They may not have been the league’s great entertainers, but only five teams suffered fewer than their 12 defeats, while just Brighton (46), Manchester City (35) and Arsenal (27) conceded fewer goals than them (48).
At no point did they look to be in danger of relegation, and they ended up securing European football for just the second time in their history, and first time since the 1970s, via a seventh-place finish.
Now, we ought to point out that, according to Opta’s expected points model, Sunderland have overperformed to a significant extent. Expected points isn’t bulletproof but does provide a decent barometer of team performance because it’s powered by expected goals for and against.
Sunderland should be in the bottom three according to that model, though they ultimately concluded 2025-26 with 54 points, which has only ever been bettered by six promoted teams during a 38-game Premier League season.
Similarly, just once before (Ipswich Town in 2000-01, fifth) have a promoted side finished higher than seventh.
Europe to Welcome Unfamiliar Names
Sunderland’s achievement of qualifying for the Europa League is marvellous and it makes for a compelling story, but they aren’t the only Premier League side heading for a rare sojourn into Europe.
They will join Bournemouth in the Europa League, the Cherries having never played continental football before.
Bournemouth finished the top-flight season sixth, making it their best campaign ever when it comes to league position, with that just another way Andoni Iraola has excelled on the south coast.
European football will also be played by Brighton next season.
They were still in contention for a Europa League place on MD38 but were comfortably beaten 3-0 by Manchester United, allowing Sunderland to move above them and forcing Fabian Hürzeler’s side to settle for eighth and a spot in the Conference League.
That shouldn’t be taken for granted, however. Brighton’s only previous venture into Europe was in 2023-24 when they played in the Europa League.
While it shouldn’t be forgotten that there are more opportunities to play in Europe these days than in many prior seasons, having three unfamiliar names playing European football feels like another mark of the league’s competitiveness.
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