The fall of Manchester? Manchester City & Manchester United heading for worst ever combined PL points total

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Manchester derby Sunday 

©TM/IMAGO

London might be the capital of England, but in recent decades it’s the Northern city of Manchester that has been the most dominant in the Premier League era. A city famous for it’s music, culture and also it’s football. Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United were the commanding side of the 2000’s, and whilst the club have seriously fallen since the Scotsman retired in 2013, their city rivals Manchester City have taken over as the Premier League’s most trophy-glittered side under Pep Guardiola. As illustrated in the graphic below, since the year 2000, clubs from Manchester have won 35 major trophies (Premier League, FA Cup, EFL Cup and Champions League) which is more than any other city, including London (26).

Nevertheless for the first time in a long while, this season, there will be no Manchester club in the Premier League title race. Man United’s league campaign has stumbled from one disaster to the next, with the club languishing in 13th position. Man City have also fallen way off their mighty standards under Guardiola, and are in fourth place, 22 points behind league leaders Liverpool. The last time there was no Manchester club in the top two was the 2016/17 season, and it’s only happened four times since City were promoted in 2002. Nevertheless, ahead of the Manchester derby this Sunday at Old Trafford, the clubs are heading for the worst projected combined points total since the Sky Blues came up to the top-flight. 

Based on Man City’s current points total of 51 points from 30 games, they are projected to finish the season on 65 points. Based on United’s 37 points from 30 matches, they would finish on 47 points. If we then combine the two, it means the Manchester clubs would have a combined 112 points this term. As highlighted in the graphic below, that means it would be the worst combined season for the city rivals since the Sky Blues were promoted to the Premier League for the 2002/03 campaign. The next lowest being 116 points in the 2003/04 season.

A city usually a force to be reckoned with in English football have both majorly underperformed this season, and trips to Manchester have come with far less fear than usual for the rest of the country’s teams. When we flip the coin and look at the best performing seasons for the Manchester clubs, once again based on their combined Premier League points totals, then six of the top 10 campaigns came in the last eight seasons. Basically since Guardiola arrived.

The best ever season points-wise for the Manchester duo was the 2017/18 campaign, where City won the league as Centurions with 100 points, whilst the Red Devils finished second on 81 points. Meaning a combined total of 181 points. In second is the infamous 2011/12 ‘[Sergio] Agüerooooo’ season in which City beat their rivals in the final minutes of the last game to the league title on goal difference, each on 89 points. That moment felt like the crossroads, where the Sky Blues began to wrestle the mantle from United as England’s dominant club. The Old Trafford side won one more title since, the following year, but then Ferguson left, and the rest is history.