BBC Sport report on Premier League teams when going in front – How they reacted 2024/25 | OneFootball

An interesting new report from BBC Sport, looking at what happens with Premier League teams when they take the lead.

The report looking at all 20 Premier League teams last season.

All 380 Premier League matches across the 2024/25 campaign.

Which teams regularly won games after taking the lead in PL games.

As opposed to those who didn’t…

BBC Sport report – 5 June 2025:

It is the table no one wants to be top of.

While some fans will feel pretty comfortable when their team goes in front, for others, it is just the start of what could prove to be an emotional rollercoaster.

The fans who had to suffer the disappointment of wondering ‘what might have been’ most were those of Tottenham.

If the Premier League season had come down to which side lost the most points from winning positions then Spurs would have been top of the pile.

There were 22 occasions in which Ange Postecoglou’s team were in front, but they went on to win only half of those, with four ending in draws and seven in defeat.

While ‘Ange-ball’ provides entertainment, as shown in the Europa League final, if the Spurs boss had adapted on a few more occasions, they might have found themselves celebrating a more successful league campaign than one that left them a place above the relegation zone.

At the other end of the scale, Newcastle supporters could often sit comfortably in the knowledge that when they went in front, they were unlikely to see any other result at the end.

In fact, of the 23 games in which they were in a winning position, they drew twice and lost just once – a confidence they will hope to take into the Champions League next season too.

Much was said of Chelsea’s questionable defensive abilities and the maturity of such a young side. But despite this, they too were a team regularly able to see out a game they were leading – winning 20 of the 26 such occasions.

Two perhaps more surprising additions at this end of the table are relegated Leicester City and a Manchester United side who set unwanted club records for the season.

While there were not many occasions when the two sides were in a leading position – 10 for Leicester and 16 for United – between them they lost just three times and dropped only 10 and 11 points restrictively.

Some solace for supporters in otherwise underwhelming campaigns.’

Quite astonishing really that Newcastle United on so few occasions dropped points last season, having taken the lead.

Only three times did this happen in the 23 PL matches where United led at any point.

This says so much for the game management of Eddie Howe after his team took the lead in games, as well as the discipline and determination of his players when it came to carrying out the team plan of the Head Coach.

The three games where United did drop points after leading were:

The 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace when Marc Guehi gave Newcastle the lead with an own goal and then scored the equaliser in added time.

The 3-3 draw at home to Liverpool, Isak putting United in the lead.

Then the 2-1 home defeat to Fulham, Murphy scoring the opener in the first half and then the visitors scoring twice after the break.