The 2025/26 Premier League season was a very strange one.
My take on it was that you had four teams that were good to very good.
Then you had four that were bad to very bad.
Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Aston Villa on the positive side of things.
Wolves, Burnley, West Ham and Tottenham on the negative side of things.
The other 12 were much of a muchness, in my opinion.
Yet for the media and so many football fans, including/especially Newcastle United fans, you would think that there had been a vast gulf between those said to have had good/great seasons amongst these middle 12 clubs and those said to have had bad/disastrous ones.
This was the final 2025/26 Premier League table:
As you can see, only five points ended up covering 7th down to 13th. Sunderland fans ecstatic with 7th place and Europa League qualification, yet if results had not gone their way on the final day the Mackems could have ended up as low as 13th. Meanwhile Everton fans furious at ending up 13th but if things had gone their way on the final day they could have ended up 8th and playing in Europe next season.
Bournemouth judged to have had an outstanding season when finishing 6th and getting Europa League qualification, yet they won less Premier League matches than the six clubs that ended up 7th to 13th. The Cherries failed to win 25 of their 38 Premier League matches!!
Newcastle United and Sunderland?
The headlines are all about a disastrous Newcastle United season and a Sunderland one of unbelievable triumph. Yet if the final day results had gone a different way, Newcastle could have ended the season in 8th and Sunderland in 13th. The two teams won the same number of Premier League matches (whilst Sunderland also lost to League One clubs in both domestic cups, whilst Newcastle lost to Man City in a semi-final and in a 5th round as well as reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League).
If Newcastle United had won either of the derby matches they would have finished above Sunderland.
If for example Newcastle had kept their lead in the home derby and then also won their next St James’ Park match against Bournemouth, Eddie Howe’s side would have finished the season in sixth.
Amusing as well that Sunderland said to have had an outstanding season and yet they had a -6 goal difference!
Liverpool qualified for the Champions League and yet Newcastle United would have finished above the scousers if NUFC had won both Premier League matches against them.
None of this is to argue that Newcastle United had a great Premier League season, not even a good one. More just to point out the reality that this 2025/26 Premier League season was a very strange one where there was little to choose between so many teams across the season.
Liverpool did manage to get 60 points and qualify for the Champions League but as you can see from the final 2024/25 Premier League table below, any team getting 60 points that season would have finished 9th!
Whilst back in 2022/23 Newcastle United managed 71 points to get Champions League qualification in fourth, Liverpool failed to get Champions League with 67 points that season.
This was the final 2024/25 Premier League table:
2024/25 Premier League Final Table
Official final standings for the 38-game season. Best viewed in landscape mode on mobile.
Notes: (C) = Champions; (R) = Relegated to the Championship.
*Tottenham Hotspur qualified for the Champions League via winning the UEFA Europa League. Crystal Palace qualified for the Europa League as FA Cup winners.
I think next season will see the Premier League go back to having more of a divide between the top five or six, maybe top seven or eight, and the rest.
Newcastle United just have to make sure they bounce back and are in amongst the haves, rather than the have nots.