Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City: Who's had most possession in the PL this season? | OneFootball

Manchester City took an important step towards retaining possession of their Premier League title on Sunday afternoon as they dismantled Newcastle 5-0 at the Etihad Stadium.

With rivals Liverpool having dropped two valuable points against Tottenham on Saturday night, Pep Guardiola’s men knew the value of picking up three points – and got the job done in ruthless fashion.

A brace from Raheem Sterling, together with goals from Aymeric Laporte, Rodri and Phil Foden ensured that City take a two-point lead over the Reds at the top of the table into the final three matches of the campaign.

While the emphatic nature of the scoreline proved City’s superiority, they were so dominant in terms of possession in the early stages of the second half that they actually went viral for it.

Some 15 minutes after the interval, host broadcaster Sky Sports displayed a graphic on-screen confirming that City had been in possession for 99% of the second period, compared to Newcastle’s 1%!

A truly astounding ratio. As the saying goes, “the opposition can’t score if they haven’t got the ball” – and Newcastle ultimately didn’t find the back of the net.

Inspired by City’s epic spell of ball retention, we’ve decided take a look at the possession statistics for all 20 Premier League teams using data provided by the folks over at whoscored.com.

You can check out the full rankings below.

Every Premier League side ranked in terms of possession this season.

20. Newcastle United – 38.8% average possession per game

19. Everton – 39.3%

18. Burnley – 39.3%

17. Watford – 39.8%

16. Norwich City – 42.8%

15. Brentford – 43.5%

14. Aston Villa – 46.3%

13. Southampton – 48%

12. West Ham United – 48%

11. Wolverhampton Wanderers – 49.9%

10. Tottenham – 51%

9. Crystal Palace – 51%

8. Leicester City – 51.9%

7. Manchester United – 51.9%

6. Arsenal – 52.4%

5. Leeds United – 52.8%

4. Brighton – 54.6%

3. Chelsea – 61.6%

2. Liverpool – 63%

1. Manchester City – 67.9%

Newcastle’s are firmly planted to the foot of the possession table after City ran rings around them at the weekend.

The reigning title holders will look to do the same in fixtures against Wolves, West Ham and Aston Villa as they round out their season.

Given that they typically have possession for almost 68% of their games, it will take likely take a smash-and-grab effort from one of their City’s upcoming opponents to stop the Lancashire side from finishing top of the pile again this term.

Liverpool, who rank second in this countdown with 63% average possession per game, have no option but to keep winning and hope that City drop at least two points at some stage before the season draws to a close on May 22.