Top 10 toughest Premier League away days of all time

It may come as no surprise that, thanks to their dominance under Fergie, Manchester United have the best record both home and away in the Premier League.

Even with their David Moyes misery, the lacklustre Louis van Gaal years, the difficult Mourinho period and their current mixed fortunes under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, they’ve still won an unparalleled 71% of their games at Old Trafford. Away from home they are the only side to win more often than draw or lose, at 52%.

But we at Spreadex aren’t interested in the obvious facts. So while, yes, it’s interesting to see that despite some troubles when transitioning from Highbury to the Emirates Arsenal are the 2nd best at home, and that Chelsea take the silver medal on the road, we wanted to know which teams really upped their game when on home turf.

That’s why we came up with our patented Improvement Ratio.

First we worked out the all-time average points per game (APPG) at home and average points per game away from home for every team to appear in the Premier League, and then divided AAPG home by AAPG away to see who was the most improved when playing at home.

It threw up some surprising results. Take a look at the top 10 below.

10. Stoke City – Improvement Ratio 85.71%
Narrowly beating out Hull for a spot in the top 10 – both had an Improvement Ratio of 85.71%, but with the Potters playing double the amount of games – Stoke saw an average of 1.56 at home to 0.84 away.

That solid stint saw Stoke pick up more than a few scalps, especially in 2013/14, when the Britannia Stadium hosted victories over Chelsea, Man United and Arsenal. Oh, and don’t forget that infamous season-closing 6-1 win against Liverpool in 2014/15.

9. Birmingham City – Improvement Ratio 86.08%
In and out of the Premier League during the 00s, Birmingham ended up with an Improvement Ratio of 86.08%, picking up an average of 1.47 points at home to 0.79 on the road.

Maybe their most notable home wins came in 2007/08, where they registered 4-1 and 3-1 victories over Man City and Tottenham (admittedly both teams a way off their current levels).

8. Sheffield United – Improvement Ratio 86.42%
An incredibly sporadic Premier League history, including the first 2 seasons, 2006/07 and the unfinished 2019/20, saw the Blades pick up an Improvement Ratio of 86.42%.

They actually started their Premier League career with a remarkable 2-1 home win over eventual 1992/93 champs Man United thanks to a Brian Deane brace. As for their sterling 2019/20 season, their most notable victory at Bramall Lane came against Arsenal.

7. Derby County – Improvement Ratio 90.14%
A fixture in the late 90s/early 00s, before a one-season appearance in 2007/08, the Rams managed an average of 1.35 points at home to 0.71 away, giving them an Improvement Ratio of just over 90%.

A 3-2 win at home to Liverpool helped Derby to a best-ever 8th place finish in 1998/99, while in their 2007/08 stinker their sole victory came at Pride Park against Newcastle.

6. Oldham Athletic – Improvement Ratio 97.18%
You’d be forgiven for forgetting Oldham were ever in the Premier League, given they only managed it for 2 seasons between 1992 and 1994.

Still, in that time they managed a 1-0 home win over inaugural champions Man United in 92/93, thanks to a goal from Neil Adams. That contributed to an Improvement Ratio of 97.18%.

5. Brighton – Improvement Ratio 104.55%
In 2 and a half seasons of Premier League football, Brighton had managed an Improvement Ratio of 104.55% – that’s an average of 1.35 points at home against a measly 0.66 on the road.

They’ve had some good results in that time, mind, including a pair of home wins over Man United and, last October, a 3-0 victory against Spurs.

4. Fulham – Improvement Ratio 106.67%
One of the longer tenured sides on this list, Fulham have an Improvement Ratio of 106.67% across 14 seasons of Premier League football.

Though 2011/12 wasn’t technically their best season, they were actually quite formidable at Craven Cottage, beating QPR 6-0, Liverpool 1-0, Arsenal 2-1, Newcastle 5-2 and Wolves 5-0.

3. Reading – Improvement Ratio 111.94%
Thrice have Reading spent a season in the Premier League, working their way to an Improvement Ratio of 111.94%.

They were incredibly strong at the Madejski Stadium during 2007/08, when they finished 8th, with 11 home wins in 18 fixtures. In contrast they only won 5 games on the road.

2. Barnsley – Improvement Ratio 149.06%
With just one appearance in the Premier League in 1997/98, Barnsley near the top of this list mainly because of how bad they were away than their strengths at home.

Of their 10 wins during that season, 7 of them came at Oakwell, the most notable of those home victories being a 4-3 thriller against Southampton.

1. Bradford City – Improvement Ratio 162.22%
Like Barnsley, Bradford top this list by dint of their truly terrible form away from Valley Parade – across 1999/2000 and 2000/01 they could only manage an average of 0.45 points per game on the road.

Compared to that, 1.18 points at home seems miraculous, with the Bantams actually beating Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea across those 2 seasons.

Check out the rest of the stats below, including the all-time average points per game, all-time Home table, the all-time Away table, and the rest of the all-time Improvement Ratio table:

All-time Premier League average points per game

Team Average points per game
1 Manchester United 2.07
2 Arsenal 1.87
3 Chelsea 1.85
4 Liverpool 1.81
5 Manchester City 1.63
6 Tottenham Hotspur 1.53
7 Leeds United 1.48
8 Blackburn Rovers 1.39
9 Newcastle United 1.38
10 Everton 1.37
11 Aston Villa 1.31
12 Leicester City 1.25
13 Sheffield Wednesday 1.24
14 Milton Keynes Dons 1.24
15 West Ham United 1.23
16 Nottingham Forest 1.21
17 Southampton 1.2
18 Stoke City 1.2
19 Charlton Athletic 1.19
20 Swansea City 1.17
21 Sheffield United 1.17
22 Bolton Wanderers 1.16
23 Coventry City 1.16
24 Middlesbrough 1.15
25 Fulham 1.15
26 Birmingham City 1.13
27 AFC Bournemouth 1.13
28 Crystal Palace 1.12
29 Queens Park Rangers 1.11
30 Ipswich Town 1.11
31 Norwich City 1.1
32 Portsmouth 1.1
33 Wigan Athletic 1.09
34 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1.08
35 Burnley 1.08
36 Oldham Athletic 1.06
37 Reading 1.04
38 Derby County 1.03
39 Blackpool 1.03
40 Sunderland 1.02
41 West Bromwich Albion 1.02
42 Brighton & Hove Albion 1
43 Watford 0.99
44 Barnsley 0.92
45 Hull City 0.9
46 Cardiff City 0.84
47 Bradford City 0.82
48 Swindon Town 0.71
49 Huddersfield Town 0.7

All-time Home win percentage/points per match
1 Manchester United 71% 2.33
2 Arsenal 64% 2.16
3 Liverpool 63% 2.12
4 Chelsea 62% 2.11
5 Manchester City 56% 1.9
6 Tottenham Hotspur 53% 1.84
7 Leeds United 50% 1.77
8 Newcastle United 50% 1.75
9 Blackburn Rovers 49% 1.7
10 Everton 47% 1.68
11 Stoke City 43% 1.56
12 Fulham 44% 1.55
13 West Ham United 43% 1.54
14 Aston Villa 41% 1.52
15 Sheffield Wednesday 40% 1.51
16 Sheffield United 39% 1.51
17 Southampton 40% 1.49
18 Leicester City 39% 1.48
19 Wimbledon 39% 1.47
20 Birmingham City 38% 1.47
21 Portsmouth 41% 1.47
22 Middlesbrough 38% 1.44
23 Bolton Wanderers 38% 1.43
24 Swansea City 38% 1.43
25 Coventry City 37% 1.42
26 Norwich City 37% 1.42
27 Reading 40% 1.42
28 Charlton Athletic 38% 1.41
29 Oldham Athletic 36% 1.4
30 Nottingham Forest 35% 1.38
31 Queens Park Rangers 37% 1.37
32 AFC Bournemouth 37% 1.37
33 Burnley 38% 1.36
34 Derby County 36% 1.35
35 Brighton & Hove Albion 33% 1.35
36 Ipswich Town 35% 1.33
37 Barnsley 37% 1.32
38 Wolverhampton Wanderers 35% 1.3
39 Sunderland 32% 1.25
40 Watford 32% 1.25
41 Wigan Athletic 32% 1.24
42 West Bromwich Albion 32% 1.22
43 Bradford City 26% 1.18
44 Hull City 31% 1.17
45 Crystal Palace 31% 1.16
46 Cardiff City 29% 1.05
47 Blackpool 26% 1.05
48 Swindon Town 19% 0.9
49 Huddersfield Town 21% 0.84

All-time Away win percentage/points per match
1 Manchester United 52% 1.82
2 Chelsea 45% 1.6
3 Arsenal 43% 1.58
4 Liverpool 41% 1.5
5 Manchester City 37% 1.36
6 Tottenham Hotspur 32% 1.23
7 Leeds United 30% 1.19
8 Aston Villa 27% 1.11
9 Blackburn Rovers 27% 1.09
10 Crystal Palace 27% 1.09
11 Everton 25% 1.06
12 Leicester City 26% 1.03
13 Nottingham Forest 25% 1.03
14 Newcastle United 25% 1.01
15 Milton Keynes Dons 23% 1.01
16 Blackpool 26% 1
17 Sheffield Wednesday 24% 0.97
18 Charlton Athletic 23% 0.97
19 West Ham United 22% 0.93
20 Wigan Athletic 24% 0.93
21 Swansea City 23% 0.92
22 Southampton 22% 0.91
23 Bolton Wanderers 23% 0.89
24 Coventry City 19% 0.89
25 Ipswich Town 22% 0.89
26 AFC Bournemouth 23% 0.89
27 Middlesbrough 19% 0.87
28 Wolverhampton Wanderers 18% 0.85
29 Stoke City 18% 0.84
30 Queens Park Rangers 22% 0.84
31 West Bromwich Albion 17% 0.81
32 Sheffield United 18% 0.81
33 Portsmouth 19% 0.8
34 Norwich City 18% 0.79
35 Birmingham City 17% 0.79
36 Burnley 18% 0.79
37 Sunderland 18% 0.78
38 Fulham 15% 0.75
39 Watford 19% 0.74
40 Derby County 15% 0.71
41 Oldham Athletic 17% 0.71
42 Reading 16% 0.67
43 Brighton & Hove Albion 13% 0.66
44 Hull City 13% 0.63
45 Cardiff City 16% 0.63
46 Huddersfield Town 11% 0.55
47 Barnsley 16% 0.53
48 Swindon Town 5% 0.52
49 Bradford City 11% 0.45

All-time Improvement Ratio
1 Bradford City 162%
2 Barnsley 149%
3 Reading 112%
4 Fulham 107%
5 Brighton & Hove Albion 105%
6 Oldham Athletic 97%
7 Derby County 90%
8 Sheffield United 86%
9 Birmingham City 86%
10 Stoke City 86%
11 Hull City 86%
12 Portsmouth 84%
13 Norwich City 80%
14 Newcastle United 73%
15 Swindon Town 73%
16 Burnley 72%
17 Watford 69%
18 Cardiff City 67%
19 West Ham United 66%
20 Middlesbrough 66%
21 Southampton 64%
22 Queens Park Rangers 63%
23 Bolton Wanderers 61%
24 Sunderland 60%
25 Coventry City 60%
26 Everton 58%
27 Blackburn Rovers 56%
28 Sheffield Wednesday 56%
29 Swansea City 55%
30 AFC Bournemouth 54%
31 Wolverhampton Wanderers 53%
32 Huddersfield Town 53%
33 West Bromwich Albion 51%
34 Tottenham Hotspur 50%
35 Ipswich Town 49%
36 Leeds United 49%
37 Milton Keynes Dons 46%
38 Charlton Athletic 45%
39 Leicester City 44%
40 Liverpool 41%
41 Manchester City 40%
42 Aston Villa 37%
43 Arsenal 37%
44 Nottingham Forest 34%
45 Wigan Athletic 33%
46 Chelsea 32%
47 Manchester United 28%
48 Crystal Palace 6%
49 Blackpool 5%