Manchester Metropolis slumped to yet one more defeat on Saturday because the defending Premier League champions fell to a 2-1 loss at Aston Villa that, simply to rub salt into the wound, noticed their opponents leapfrog them within the desk.
The four-time reigning champions of England are discovering their bid for a fifth consecutive crown robust going. Pep Guardiola’s facet have gained simply one in all their previous eight league video games, that run extending to at least one in 12 matches in all competitions. Having performed 17 league video games, Metropolis are sixth within the desk with 27 factors (9 behind leaders Liverpool, who play one in all their two video games in hand on the champions on Sunday) as we head into the Christmas interval and towards the midway mark of the marketing campaign.
Nevertheless, dejected Metropolis followers would possibly be capable of take coronary heart in the truth that, on the identical level of final season, they have been in fourth place and 5 factors behind leaders Arsenal, and so they nonetheless roared again to win the title. And their 2024-25 travails aren’t even near being the among the many worst Premier League title defences on document.
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There have been some underwhelming Premier League defences over time (Manchester United in 2013-14 and Blackburn Rovers in 1995-96, for instance) however the twin disasters staged by Chelsea as reigning champs in 2015-16 and Leicester Metropolis’s the next season should rank as the 2 worst.
Right here we take a look at varied totally different standards by which you would verify are the worst-ever Premier League title defence — first by taking entire seasons under consideration, after which by judging the culprits on their information after their 17 league video games, the purpose the place Metropolis are of their present marketing campaign.
Full seasons
Defending champions with lowest end by desk positionLeicester Metropolis (2016-17): twelfth
Nonetheless the low-water mark in relation to Premier League title defences, Leicester went from the euphoria of successful the title in 2015-16 regardless of preseason odds so long as 5000-1, solely to lodge the worst-ever ending place for a defending champion the season after. The Foxes may need completed twelfth, however they fell as little as seventeenth in February — ensuing within the sacking of heroic supervisor Claudio Ranieri — just for a flurry of 5 consecutive wins via March and April to haul them up and out of the relegation mire.
Defending champions with greatest factors hole to new championsLeicester Metropolis (2016-17): 49 factors
After struggling their very own annus horribilis as defending champions in 2015-16, Chelsea returned to the summit the next marketing campaign as Antonio Conte marshalled them again to the highest. The Blues completed with 93 factors on the board, virtually double the tally of the faltering Foxes.
Greatest drop-off in factors whole from title-winning seasonChelsea (2015-16): minus-37 factors (87 to 50) Leicester Metropolis (2016-17): minus-37 factors (81 to 44)
Chelsea and Leicester are neck-and-neck in relation to the discount of their post-title factors tallies, with each side someway managing to haemorrhage 37 factors down throughout the fallow seasons their adopted their respective league triumphs.
Greatest drop-off in targets scored from title-winning seasonChelsea (2010-11): minus-34 (from 103 to 69)
That is the one stat level that does not come from the interval between 2015 and 2017, although Chelsea are nonetheless accountable for registering the most important drop-off in targets scored after successful the title the earlier season. It is a bit harsh, however the Blues’ failure to re-create their huge three-figure tally on the best way to claiming the 2009-10 Premier League title (by “solely” scoring 69 targets and ending as runners-up behind Manchester United the next 12 months) goes down as the most important post-title objective deficit on document.
Greatest drop-off in general objective distinction from title-winning seasonLeicester Metropolis (2016-17): minus-47 (from plus-32 to minus-15)
As soon as once more, Leicester win the wood spoon for the most important swing in objective distinction after their 2015-16 title run noticed them end with plus-32 (which is the slimmest objective differential of any Premier League champion) solely to plummet spectacularly down into adverse fairness the next 12 months.
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After 17 video games
After falling to their sixth league defeat of the season (and their fifth of their previous seven league video games), Metropolis at the moment are simply 4 factors above midtable after 17 matches.
In contrast with final season’s document on the identical juncture, Pep Guardiola’s facet are considerably off the tempo — which can be barely regarding seeing as they have been solely fourth and trailing 5 factors behind league leaders Arsenal at this level final 12 months.
Metropolis have been in a position to rally from the flip of the 12 months, and an unbeaten second half of the season was sufficient for them to claw again into rivalry. They beat West Ham United on the ultimate day of the marketing campaign to pip the Gunners to the prize and seal their fourth title on the bounce, the primary time that feat has been achieved within the English high flight.
Man Metropolis 2023-24 title-winning season after 17 gamesPosition: 4thPoints: 34Gap to leaders: 5 factors (Arsenal high with 39)Targets scored: 40GD: 20
Man Metropolis 2024-25 title defence after 17 gamesPosition: 6thPoints: 27Gap to leaders: 9 (Liverpool high with 36, with two video games in hand as of Dec. 21)Factors drop off from final season: minus-7Goals scored drop off from final season: minus-11GD drop off from final season: minus-16
In terms of the worst title-defending information after 17 video games of the season, the identical two culprits re-emerge: Chelsea in 2015-16 and Leicester Metropolis in 2016-17.
Defending champions with lowest desk place after 17 gamesLeicester Metropolis (2016-17): fifteenth, 17 pointsChelsea (2015-16) have been additionally fifteenth after 17 video games however had amassed 18 factors by the identical juncture — another level than Leicester
Defending champions with greatest factors hole to leaders after 17 gamesLeicester Metropolis (2016-17): 26 factors
Greatest drop-off in factors whole from title-winning season after 17 gamesChelsea (2015-16): -24 factors (+42 right down to +18)
Greatest drop-off in targets scored from title-winning season after 17 gamesChelsea (2015-16): -17 targets (+38 right down to +21)
Greatest drop-off in objective distinction from title-winning season after 17 gamesChelsea (2015-16): -31 swing in general GD (from +25 to -6)
