Every August, a manager or pundit says 90 points will win the league, and most of us just go along with it. I have done it myself. Then May arrives and a team wins it with 85, and we all quietly pretend we meant something else.
So what does it really take? If you have been testing scenarios in our Premier League table calculator, you’ll know that the answer changes depending on who you’re fighting. Here’s what history says, and what I think it means for this season.
How Many Points Does It Take to Win the Premier League Today?
Around 85 to 90 points wins most titles, and over the last ten seasons, from 2016-17 to 2025-26, the average champion finished on 91.8.
It doesn’t have to be 90, though. Liverpool won the league with 84 in 2024-25, and Arsenal took last season’s title with 85.
My own view is that 90 is a nice round number that pundits love, and not a real requirement. What you actually need is to be better than whoever is chasing you.
How many points on average do you need to win the Premier League?
Across all 34 Premier League seasons, the average champion has finished on 87.6 points. But that average hides a big shift. The ten champions between 2005-06 and 2014-15 averaged 87.4 points. The ten between 2016-17 and 2025-26 averaged 91.8.
The reason is simple. Pep Guardiola arrived in 2016, and City turned winning into a habit. When one team collects 98 or 100 points, the rest of the title contenders have to match that pace or finish second, which pushes the whole top of the table upwards.
But look at the last two years. Liverpool won with 84 and Arsenal with 85, and neither needed to get near 90. That suggests the era of automatic 90-point titles may be coming to an end.
Champions and Runners-Up: The Last Ten Seasons
Here is how many points it took, and how close the race was:
| Season | Champions | Points | Runners-up | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-17 | Chelsea | 93 | Tottenham | 86 |
| 2017-18 | Manchester City | 100 | Manchester United | 81 |
| 2018-19 | Manchester City | 98 | Liverpool | 97 |
| 2019-20 | Liverpool | 99 | Manchester City | 81 |
| 2020-21 | Manchester City | 86 | Manchester United | 74 |
| 2021-22 | Manchester City | 93 | Liverpool | 92 |
| 2022-23 | Manchester City | 89 | Arsenal | 84 |
| 2023-24 | Manchester City | 91 | Arsenal | 89 |
| 2024-25 | Liverpool | 84 | Arsenal | 74 |
| 2025-26 | Arsenal | 85 | Manchester City | 78 |
The most interesting row is 2018-19. Liverpool finished with 97 points, the most any team has ever collected without winning the league, and they came second. That total would have won the title in all but three of the Premier League’s seasons. It tells you everything about how much the standard has risen.
Did Liverpool get 99 points?
Yes, in 2019-20. Jurgen Klopp’s side won 32, drew three and lost three, finishing 18 points clear of Manchester City. They wrapped up the title on 25 June 2020, with seven games still to play, which is the earliest any club has ever clinched the Premier League.
It came a year after Liverpool’s insane 97 points finished second, so across two seasons they collected 196 points and won one title. For me, that’s the most remarkable pair of seasons in the league’s history. Most clubs would kill for one 97-point season, and Liverpool had to produce a 99 just to get over the line.
The only sad part is that it was won during the pandemic, with the run-in played behind closed doors. Thirty years of waiting, and the fans couldn’t be inside Anfield to see it.
Lowest points to win Premier League all time
The lowest total ever to win the title is 75, by Manchester United in 1996-97. Arsenal won it with 78 the following season and United with 79 the season after that, so for three years running the champions finished below 80.
A team on 80 in those early years could expect to be champions, and Leicester won their famous title in 2015-16 with 81. Since 2016-17, though, nobody has won the league with fewer than 84.
Is 83 points enough to win the Premier League?
Sometimes. I went through every 38-game season since 1995-96, and 83 points or fewer has won the title eight times in 31 seasons:
| Season | Champions | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1995-96 | Manchester United | 82 |
| 1996-97 | Manchester United | 75 |
| 1997-98 | Arsenal | 78 |
| 1998-99 | Manchester United | 79 |
| 2000-01 | Manchester United | 80 |
| 2002-03 | Manchester United | 83 |
| 2010-11 | Manchester United | 80 |
| 2015-16 | Leicester City | 81 |
Seven of those eight came in 2010-11 or earlier, and none since Leicester. In the modern era, 83 usually leaves you short.
Last season was the exception that proves the rule. Arsenal clinched the title on 82 with a game to spare, because City could only finish on 81 at best, so 83 would have been enough. My view is that 83 wins it only when the chasing pack has an off year, and you can’t plan a title challenge around hoping your rivals slip up.
Most points to win Premier League
Manchester City hold the record with 100 points in 2017-18. Here are the ten highest title-winning totals in Premier League history:
| Rank | Champions | Season | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 2017-18 | 100 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 2019-20 | 99 |
| 3 | Manchester City | 2018-19 | 98 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 2004-05 | 95 |
| =5 | Chelsea | 2016-17 | 93 |
| =5 | Manchester City | 2021-22 | 93 |
| 7 | Manchester United | 1993-94 | 92 |
| =8 | Manchester United | 1999-00 | 91 |
| =8 | Chelsea | 2005-06 | 91 |
| =8 | Manchester City | 2023-24 | 91 |
Six of the ten have come since 2016, which backs up everything earlier in this article about the standard rising. United’s 92 in 1993-94 also came in a 42-game season, so on points per game it’s a long way behind the rest.
The one I think gets forgotten is Chelsea’s 95 in 2004-05. It was Jose Mourinho’s first season in England, it stood as the record for 13 years, and they conceded just 15 goals along the way. Everyone remembers City’s 100 and Liverpool’s 99, but that Chelsea side set the bar the modern greats had to clear.
Has a Premier League team ever got 100 points?
Only once. Manchester City reached 100 in 2017-18, with 32 wins, four draws and two defeats, a 19-point margin over United and a league-record 106 goals. It was probably the most dominant season any English team has produced, and it’s why that side is still called the Centurions.
What people forget is how that season was built. City won 18 league games in a row between August and December, a record at the time, and had the title effectively settled by Christmas. For me, that run is more impressive than the 100 itself. Plenty of teams have had a great season. Nobody else has made the league feel over before the decorations went up.
Is it possible to get 100 points in the Premier League?
It’s possible, but it’s happened once in 34 seasons. The maximum is 114, and the closest anyone else has come is Liverpool’s 99 in 2019-20 and City’s 98 in 2018-19.
I’m not sure we’ll see it again. It took a perfect manager, a perfect squad and a rare run of fitness all at once. City have won their first seven games this season, which is exactly the pace you’d need, but they lost to PSG in the Champions League last week, and the fixtures pile up fast. I’d be amazed if anyone keeps it up until May.
Points Are Only Half the Story
Winning the league is not about reaching a number. It is about finishing above one other team, and Premier League analysis puts the average points needed to beat the runner-up at 81.3 across history.
Sometimes it is about more than points. In 2011-12, Manchester City and Manchester United both finished on 89, and City won the title on goal difference, +64 against +56. It is the only time in Premier League history that goal difference has decided the championship, and you can see how the number works in our guide to how goal difference is calculated in the Premier League. If goal difference is level, the next steps are in our guide to Premier League tiebreakers.
What 90 Points Looks Like
Here is what the numbers look like in real results:
| Points | Points per game | Example record |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 2.63 | 32 wins, 4 draws, 2 losses |
| 90 | 2.37 | 28 wins, 6 draws, 4 losses |
| 85 | 2.24 | 26 wins, 7 draws, 5 losses |
| 80 | 2.11 | 24 wins, 8 draws, 6 losses |
Arsenal won last season’s title with 26 wins, seven draws and five defeats, and that was enough. For comparison, a team that wants 90 points needs to win nearly three games out of every four.
That is a very hard thing to do over 38 games, which is why I think it is fair to say the people who talk about 90 as the target are really talking about the ceiling, not the floor.
Has Arsenal ever got 90 points?
Once. The Invincibles finished on 90 points in 2003-04, with 26 wins, 12 draws and no defeats. It’s still Arsenal’s highest Premier League total.
They came close again in 2023-24, finishing on 89, which would have won the title in most seasons but left them two points behind City. A year earlier, 84 had also only been good enough for second. When they finally won it last season, it was with 85.
I find that the most interesting thing about Arsenal’s numbers. Their best total of the last 20 years didn’t win the league, and their title came with four points fewer. It’s the clearest proof in this article that you’re not chasing a number, you’re chasing the team in second.
What About the Other Targets?
A title is not the only prize. The usual benchmark for a Champions League place has been around 71 points, although it varies from year to year, and we explain how it all works in our guide to how Premier League European places are decided.
At the other end, clubs only need around 38 to stay up. We break down the numbers in our guide to how many points you need to stay up in the Premier League. The gap between the two is enormous. A title winner collects more than double the points of a team that survives.
My Prediction for This Season
The 2026-27 season has started in a way that makes any forecast risky. Manchester City have won all seven of their league games under Enzo Maresca, Guardiola’s successor, and sit on 21 points, while Arsenal have already been beaten once.
City’s current pace works out at 114 points, which won’t happen. They lost 4-2 to PSG last week, and I think the Champions League will catch up with them by the new year.
My view is that 86 to 88 points wins it this year. If I had to put money on one number, it would be 87. But if City are still unbeaten at Christmas, I’ll be revising that up to 90.
Is 90 points enough to win the league?
Usually, but not always. Six of the last ten champions finished on 90 or more, but Liverpool finished second with 97 in 2018-19 and 92 in 2021-22.
What happens if two teams finish level on points?
They’re separated by goal difference, then goals scored, then head-to-head results. City won the 2011-12 title on goal difference.
How many points do you need to qualify for the Champions League?
Around 70 points has usually been enough, though it varies depending on how strong the top of the table is and how many Champions League places England gets that season.
