Woeful Wolves well on course to be Premier League’s worst-ever team | OneFootball

Wolves look set to take Derby County’s dubious honour as the Premier League’s worst-ever team…

The Rams of 2007/08 remain the side to have gathered fewest points through a Premier League season.

For a while last season, it seemed as though Southampton might fall even shorter than Derby’s measly 11-point haul, but the Saints scraped a dozen points together, despite their relegation from the Premier League being confirmed as the earliest ever.

There is renewed hope, though, for Derby in the form of woeful Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Fifteen games into the season, after a thoroughly miserable 4-1 defeat to Manchester United, Wolves are yet to win while sitting only only two points.

No team in Premier League history has a worse record at this stage. Sheffield United also had two points from 15 games in 2020-21 but Chris Wilder’s Blades had a better goal difference.

That Sheffield United side also hold the record for longest winless run at the start of a season. A record Wolves will take if they fail to win any of their next three against Arsenal, Brentford and Liverpool.

Wilder’s men rallied somewhat in that weird behind-closed-doors season, winning seven games to finish on 23 points, thus dodging the top five worst Premier League teams ever. There was little glory in that, though. They were still relegated, rock-bottom, and 16 points from safety.

Wolves are already 13 points adrift and appear destined for the Championship. Indeed, none of the 10 teams with fewest points after 15 games survived. ‘

Perhaps their greatest motivation now must be to avoid being remembered as the Premier League’s worst-ever side. For that, they somehow need to find three wins. If their current PPG record continues, they will finish the season on six points.

Here’s how their current record compares to the worst three Prem teams ever…

Derby County (2007/08)

Points after 15 games: 6 Final points total: 11

Derby got their solitary win in early, on matchday six against Newcastle, while drawing three other games in their opening 15. At this point, all was not lost. The Rams changed managed manager for matchday 15, swapping Billy Davies for Paul Jewell, and sat only five points off safety before signing nine players in January.

It did not work. They managed only five more points and were relegated before the end of March, a new record before Huddersfield then Southampton were condemned even earlier. But no side has gathered fewer points. Yet.

PL TABLE AFTER MD15: 2007/08

Southampton (2024/25)

Points after 15 games: 5 Final points total: 12

Saints tolerated Russell Martin all the way to matchday 16, when a 0-5 humping at the hand of Tottenham proved to be the final straw. By then, Martin at least had a win under his belt, something neither Wolves manager has managed this season.

Martin’s replacement, Ivan Juric, won only once, at Ipswich, and after another defeat to Spurs, he was gone too when Saints broke the record for earliest-ever relegation with seven games still to go.

Caretaker manager Simon Rusk’s task was simple: take at least two points from the last seven to avoid being the Premier League’s worst ever. A 1-1 draw at West Ham levelled Southampton and Derby on points before a goalless stalemate with Manchester City spared Saints further ignominy.

PL TABLE AFTER MD15: 2024/25

Sunderland (2005/06)

Points after 15 games: 5 Final points total: 15

Under Mick McCarthy, Sunderland’s five points came courtesy of a three-game unbeaten run before the October international break that featured a win over Boro either side of draws with West Ham and West Brom.

That was as good as the Black Cats’ season got. Only five more points came from the 20 games that followed, which saw McCarthy sacked.

Kevin Ball picked up another five points in his 10 games in caretaker charge but could not stop Sunderland from setting a new record points low of 15, breaking their own record from 2002/03.