Arsenal’s progress in the first division from the very start

By Tony Attwood

The Guardian has come up with an interesting analysis of how each team that has had a season in the top division in England and Wales compares with all the others.

They have taken the number of points won (which means that teams who have competed since we went over to 3 for a win have an advantage over those who accumulated their totals prior to that date).  And obviously only top division games are counted.

Here’s what they found.

Rank	Club	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	Goal Diff	Points
1	Liverpool	3,901	1,800	974	1,127	1,640	5,220
2	Arsenal	3,900	1,753	1,009	1,138	1,500	5,159
3	Everton	4,284	1,746	1,070	1,468	734	5,055
4	Manchester United	3,544	1,688	869	987	1,569	4,975
5	Aston Villa	3,951	1,618	943	1,390	626	4,612
6	Chelsea	3,163	1,246	825	1,092	254	3,837
7	Tottenham Hotspur	3,160	1,275	774	1,111	438	3,827
8	Manchester City	3,385	1,291	836	1,258	140	3,744
9	Newcastle United	3,269	1,278	798	1,193	275	3,704
10	Sunderland	3,183	1,227	735	1,221	122	3,361

Arsenal are second not because of games played (although of course that helps) but because of the regularity with which we have hit the high spots.

In our first period in the first division, starting in 1904/5 we were a mid-table on average – only falling through the floor in the dreadful 1912/13 season.  Upon our re-election to the first division we had a couple of bad season (1923-5) under Knighton, but then life began to get seriously better.

The full Guardian table is published  here.