Which team is the best in the history of the English league?

We take a look at the all time league table to find some answers.

There are many different ways to look at this. One of the most obvious is to look at total points accumulated in history. Taking this approach, Manchester United comes on top, followed by Liverpool, Arsenal, Preston North End and Manchester City.

It is surprising to see Preston North End in this list but this is of course due to them playing more league games than others. In fact, no other team has played more league games than Preston North End, a founding member of the English football league.

Another approach is to look at all time win percentage, this removes the advantage of having played more games. Using this approach, Manchester United still comes out on top, with a win percentage(at the time of writing) of 48.3. This is just marginally better than Liverpool that have a win percentage of 48.2 These two clubs are followed by Arsenal(46.1 Win%), Manchester City(43.0 Win%) and Chelsea(42.6 Win%).

Finally we take a look at who has the best goal difference in the history of the league. This time Liverpool comes out on top, followed by Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. In fact, no other team has scored more goals than Manchester United in their league history but they have conceded more than Liverpool, so Liverpool comes out as winners in this category.

You can find an always updated all time league table at the following link: All-Time Table.
NB! Click on the column headers to sort by that column.

Other interesting facts abstracted from the all time league table (All stats are from the time of writing, to see updated stats see updated all time table).

Most league goals scored
8132
8071
7926

Most goals conceded
7292
7289
7279

Most league games played
5089
5007
4997

Most games drawn
1309
1276
1251

Most games lost
1927
1885
1874

Worst goal difference
-1083
-995
-929

Current Premier league teams with a negative goal difference
-111
-110
-41

Lowest all time win percentage of current Premier league teams
35.9%
36.9%
37.0%