Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd: All-time English top-flight table reveals the GOAT | OneFootball

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·28 July 2022

Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd: All-time English top-flight table reveals the GOAT

Article image:Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd: All-time English top-flight table reveals the GOAT

Who is the greatest team in English football history?

If we’re going off league titles, then Manchester United and Liverpool are certainly the frontrunners, but what about the achievements of Nottingham Forest in Europe or the FA Cup heroics of Arsenal?


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Perhaps even trophies aren’t the best way to judge matters with everything from the stadium, fans, managers, legends, ethos and famous moments of a top club helping to make them a legendary side.

The history of English football

However, as far as the league competitions that make the men’s game in England truly special, arguably the best way to settle the debate once and for all is to compile an all-time league table.

While you might have seen every Premier League season merged into one big table across your travels across internet land, lest we forget that football in this country also existed before 1992.

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Article image:Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd: All-time English top-flight table reveals the GOAT

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And once you maraud past the famous date where Sky Sports propelled England’s top-flight to new heights, you see all manner of strange things like promoted teams topping the league and United suffering relegation.

Marry that to clubs like Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, Portsmouth and Wolverhampton Wanderers being crowned the best in the land and things start to get far, far more interesting than what you see post-1992.

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The all-time English top-flight table

As such, predicting who comes out on top when you construct an all-time English league table is much harder than the formality of United steamrolling everybody in the Premier League era.

So, bearing that in mind, we simply couldn’t resist checking out what happens when you merge every English top-flight, First Division and Premier League table into one.

And courtesy of the number-crunching over at worldfootball.net, we’re able to bring you exactly that, so be sure to check out who the GOATs of English football truly are by perusing the full table down below:

Article image:Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd: All-time English top-flight table reveals the GOAT
Article image:Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd: All-time English top-flight table reveals the GOAT
Article image:Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd: All-time English top-flight table reveals the GOAT

Liverpool are the GOATs

Rejoice, Liverpool fans, because you’re officially kings of the hill with an eye-watering record of 4,248 matches, 2,016 wins, 7,099 points and a goal difference of 2,012.

The Reds might only have stood atop English football once in the Premier League era, but their pre-1992 achievements are enough to prop them up above United despite having won one fewer league crown.

In fact, the Red Devils come crashing down from their Premier League perch as they actually find themselves barely making the ‘Champions League places’ with Arsenal and Everton leaping up the rungs.

Manchester City raise two fingers to the haters with a pretty lofty finish of sixth place, Forest are all the way down in 22nd despite their glory days under Brian Clough and Glossop North End are the wooden spoon winners down in 65th.

Article image:Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd: All-time English top-flight table reveals the GOAT

All in all, the table makes for a fascinating exhibit of English football history, highlighting the modern juggernauts we all see thriving today as well as the elder statesmen without whom the sport wouldn’t feel the same.

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