The relegation fight in the Premier League is so tight this season that it may well end up being settled on goal difference, which has only happened five times since the top-flight competition spun off from the Football League in 1992.
18th-placed Leeds United are just a point ahead of Leicester City, a point behind Everton, three points behind Nottingham Forest and six points behind West Ham United, making it possible that Sam Allardyce’s side could end up deadlocked with any one of them and their fate coming down to goal difference. Currently, the Whites have a -25 goal difference, with Leicester at -15, Eveton at -24 and Forest at -31.
History tells us that deciding things that way is always dramatic: from decisive late goals to faulty information leading to a managerial snafu to one side suing another, here’s how it’s gone down each time the Premier League relegation battle has been decided by the most slender of margins.
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1992/93 – Oldham Athletic left it late to rescue themselves from the drop in the very first Premier League season, yet they still went close to blowing it in the final few minutes of the season.
Unexpected victories over second-placed Aston Villa and sixth-placed Liverpool just before the final day of the season left Oldham needing to beat Southampton while hoping Crystal Palace lost. Oldham took a 4-1 lead over Southampton to put themselves on course for survival with Palace going a goal down early on, but Matt Le Tissier completed a hat-trick for the Saints in the 85th minute to make it 4-3 and set up a tense final few moments.
Oldham were able to see out the result, and two concessions by Palace at Arsenal in the last ten minutes of the game meant the Eagles went down with a goal difference of -13 to Oldham’s -11 – though Palace would have dropped on goals scored even if they hadn’t conceded those late goals.
1995/96 – One of the most infamous final-day dramas, and Southampton were involved again three years later, but in a more direct capacity. The third and final relegation spot was still yet to be decided with Coventry, Southampton and Manchester City all going into the final day with the same number of points.
Coventry and Southampton both had the same goal difference, -18, while City were at a disadvantage with -25 – and things only got worse for them as they found themselves two goal down at home to Liverpool at half time while both Coventry vs Leeds and Southampton vs Wimbledon were goalless.
City thought they had pulled off a miracle when Kit Symons levelled things up in the 78th minute - just seven minutes after Uwe Rosler had pulled one back from the penalty spot - with word also coming to the dugout that Wimbledon had taken the lead against Southampton. That prompted City boss Alan Ball to tell his team just to kill time by keeping the ball in the corner for minutes at a time.
Only…that news of a Wimbledon goal turned out to be completely untrue (both that game and Coventry’s finished goalless), causing City’s Niall Quinn to go roaring out of the physio room to urgently set the story straight. As Rosler told ManCity.com years later: “By the time we knew a draw wasn’t enough, it was already too late and the referee blew for full-time before we could do anything about it.”
1997/98 – Less dramatic this one, by comparison. Everton went into the final day at home to Coventry in 1998 a point behind Bolton Wanderers, meaning the Toffees knew they had to better the result Colin Todd’s side got away to Chelsea.
A seventh-minute Gareth Farrelly goal got Everton off to a dream start, and that was the only goal across the two games before Gianluca Vialli put Chelsea ahead at Stamford Bridge in the 73rd minute.
Dion Dublin equalised against Everton in the 89th minute to make them sweat – a last-minute Bolton equaliser would now send Everton down – but Jody Morris added a second for Chelsea with his first senior goal moments later, confirming Everton would stay in the top flight with a goal difference of -15 to Bolton’s -20.
2006/07 – It took nearly a decade before the relegation places were next decided on goal difference, but that’s not the bit everyone remembers. Neil Warnock’s Blades had a final-day six-pointer at home to Wigan Athletic, but short of a heavy defeat being inflicted on either side, that game would have been rendered irrelevant if champions Manchester United had claimed the win they were expected to take at home to West Ham.
Instead, Carlos Tevez’s first-half free kick delivered victory for the Hammers while Wigan beat Sheffield United 2-1, which meant the Blades went down on goal difference with -23 to Wigan’s -22. Meanwhile West Ham, who were on -24 even after their final-day win, finished three points clear of the drop.
That outcome left an extremely sour taste for Sheffield United, who felt West Ham should have been docked points for fielding two players over the season who were owned by a third party and thus ineligible to play Premier League football – one of whom was Tevez himself – but the authorities had opted merely to fine West Ham £5.5m instead. Sheffield United later sued West Ham for £30m, with the two clubs reaching a settlement for an undisclosed amount out of court.
2007/08 – Fulham had looked dead and buried when Roy Hodgson took over midway through this campaign having won just two of their first 20 games of the season before he arrived. But three wins from four going into the final day gave them a significant goal difference advantage over Reading, leaving Fulham needing just to match Reading’s result to survive.
Reading looked set to survive as they took a three-goal lead away to the worst side the Premier League has ever seen – Derby County, who won just once over the campaign – but Danny Murphy scored in the 76th minute away to a Portsmouth side who had half an eye on the following week’s FA Cup final. Reading added a fourth goal at Derby, but it didn’t matter: Fulham’s win meant they stayed up with a goal difference of -22 to the Royals’ -25.
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