Chelsea level with Spurs in the ‘fun to watch’ Premier League table

One of our absolute favourite stats, this. Very simple: how many points each team has won after falling behind. We love it because being near the top of this list is both good and bad; good because you’re overturning deficits, bad because you keep facing deficits.

It’s not a perfect indicator, but generally speaking the nearer the team is to the top of this list the more fun they are to watch. Liverpool leading from Spurs offers reasonable support for that hypothesis.

20) Burnley – 0 points
10 deficits, 10 defeats

Frankly, they are awful.

19) Everton – 1 point
7 deficits, 1 draw, 6 defeats

They got off the mark with a point at Sheffield United in a game they led 1-0 and trailed 2-1. Loads of those games this season. We’re huge fans of it.

18) Crystal Palace – 1 point
6 deficits, 1 draw, 5 defeats

Last year’s scrambling champions got themselves the now traditional, some would say inevitable, draw against Brentford because that’s what these two do. Left it until the 76th minute to get the equaliser, but it was never in any doubt whatsoever. Couldn’t find one against Arsenal and blew a late lead to lose at Aston Villa, though, while an eventual 2-1 defeat to Spurs flattered them massively.

17) Newcastle United – 1 point
5 deficits, 1 draw, 4 defeats

Not ideal when world domination is the name of the game. Took Newcastle 29 games to suffer a third league defeat last season, but got there in four games this time around. Finally secured a first point of the season from a losing position in a 2-2 draw at West Ham, but they were minutes away from victory.

16) Sheffield United – 2 points
11 deficits, 2 draws, 9 defeats

They got off the mark with a point against Everton in a game they trailed 1-0 and led 2-1, which seems to be a thing that has happened to a lot of teams this season. Were generally hopeless after going behind, until they clawed a draw back at the Amex after Brighton’s early goal.

15) Luton – 2 points
9 deficits, 2 draws, 7 defeats

Nearly got something off West Ham and picked up their first point of the season by coming from behind to draw at home to Wolves. Then they did the same at Forest from 2-0 down. Definitely have more fight than Burnley.

14) Fulham – 2 points
8 deficits, 2 draws, 6 defeats

Led early and trailed late at the Emirates before emerging with a commendable draw that definitely belongs in the ‘one point gained’ pile rather than ‘two points lost’ in Yet Another 2-2 Draw Where Both Teams Led. Grabbed another point at Brighton to remain lower mid-table in all the leagues.

13) Nottingham Forest – 2 points
7 deficits, 2 draws, 4 defeats

Had a decent go at Arsenal, spaffed a huge opportunity against Man United. Have beaten Sheffield United and Chelsea, though. So that’s alright. Now picked up draws v Burnley and Brentford from behind. And what really is a defeat after trailing 1-0 and leading 2-1 before losing 3-2?

12) West Ham – 4 points
7 deficits, 1 win, 1 draw, 5 defeats

West Ham did well to match Manchester City as the only sides not to go behind for the first month of the season. That was the case until they went behind to the champions on matchday five. They went ahead on the day, so all 20 teams have now been behind at some point this season. Then they went behind to Liverpool, brought it back to 1-1 and still lost 3-1. Nabbed a first point from a losing position with a late show against Newcastle in a game they led 1-0 and trailed 2-1. But since then they have lost to Aston Villa and Everton with little fight, before trailing, leading and losing to Brentford. They pulled the reverse trick on Forest.

11) Aston Villa – 4 points
5 deficits, 1 win, 1 draw, 3 defeats

Twice they’ve fallen behind and gone on to lose heavily. Twice they’ve gone in front and gone on to win heavily. Thankfully Villa did something different by coming from behind to beat Crystal Palace, so that’s fun. Trailed in a 1-1 draw at Wolves, but only for mere moments.

10) Manchester City – 4 points
4 deficits, 1 win, 1 draw, 2 defeats

It worked against West Ham but it most certainly didn’t at Wolves. And then there was that mental clash with Chelsea in which both gained a point from behind but both lost two points from being ahead. Mind-f***.

READ MORE: Five reasons why Manchester City might not definitely win the Premier League title

9) Bournemouth – 5 points
10 deficits, 1 win, 2 draws, 7 defeats

That opening-day draw against West Ham looks better and better in hindsight, while defeats against Liverpool, Spurs, Brighton and Arsenal shouldn’t be enough to undermine what Andoni Iraola is trying to implement at the Vitality just yet. A heavy loss at Everton might, but a come-from-behind win in a six-pointer at Burnley helps hugely.

8) Brentford – 5 points
7 deficits, 1 win, 2 draws, 4 defeats

Took the lead against West Ham and spaffed the lead against West Ham, which has been something of a Brentford trait this season. What was out of the ordinary was how they went on to win that match.

7) Brighton – 5 points
6 deficits, 1 win, 2 draws, 3 defeats

After getting thoroughly Moyesed a few weeks previous, Brighton showed no lingering scars as they put Bournemouth down despite Dominic Solanke’s opener. Wisely decided to sandwich their one goal at Villa between conceding three either side. Led Liverpool 1-0, trailed 2-1, drew 2-2 in what we’ve recently discovered is our absolute favourite football match scoring pattern.

6) Arsenal – 5 points
4 deficits, 1 win, 2 draws, 1 defeat

Trailed for barely a minute against United before leaving it late to snaffle all three points in the latest blockbuster instalment of that particular rivalry. Presumably mildly less chuffed to emerge from the 2-2 draw with Fulham having ‘won’ a point in this feature but lost two in its cousin. Looked set for defeat at Chelsea before coming back from the dead, a feat they could not repeat against Newcastle.

5) Manchester United – 6 points
7 deficits, 2 wins, 0 draws, 5 defeats

One of only two teams to turn a deficit into a victory in the first three rounds of games. It’s one way to make the best of falling 2-0 down inside four minutes at home to Nottingham Forest, we suppose, but it’s not really a policy we’d necessarily encourage others to follow. Never remotely looked like overturning the deficit at Tottenham, which arguably is a more meaningful pointer for United’s season as a whole, had precious little time to do so at Arsenal, were battered by Brighton at home and lost with a whimper to Crystal Palace. It looked to be heading the same way at home to Brentford but Scott McTominay popped up with a quick double in injury-time to snatch a victory from the jaws of what would have been quite the pre-international break defeat.

4) Wolves – 7 points
8 deficits, 2 wins, 1 draw, 5 defeats

Thrashed by Brighton, but will forever argue – and with some justification – that they should have had a late, late chance to get a point at Old Trafford from the penalty spot after Andre Onana’s pugilistic madness. Could definitely have got something out of a 3-2 defeat at Palace. Leading after a great first half at home to Liverpool, Gary O’Neil’s side could not deal with the Reds’ attacking prowess and lost again. Then they were made to cling on against Luton before beating Manchester City just like everyone predicted. Then they capitalised on Bournemouth capitulating and hit back twice to draw a fun game against Newcastle. And then beat Tottenham with late, late goals. They have some gumption, this Wolves side.

3) Chelsea – 8 points
8 deficits, 2 wins, 2 draws, 4 defeats

Fighting back to get a point from a goal down against Liverpool: quite good. Getting the runaround from David Moyes’ 10-man West Ham or losing at home to Nottingham Forest or being beaten at home by Villa: not good. Coming from behind to win at Burnley: better. Coming from behind to win at Spurs: it really did happen to them. Coming from behind to draw with Man City: What an extraordinary mess.

2) Tottenham – 8 points
6 deficits, 2 wins, 2 draws, 2 defeats

Slightly sloppy in allowing an early 1-0 lead at Brentford to become a 2-1 deficit but they were more than worth the point they ultimately left with and punished Burnley severely for their temerity in scoring an early opening goal. After two weeks off, Spurs made it back-to-back wins from behind when they beat Sheffield United 2-1 in truly absurd style, before equalising twice in a mad 2-2 draw with Arsenal. Already feels like Angeball is the very ideal kind of thing for this metric. Spiritually came from behind to valiantly beat nine-man Liverpool after Luis Diaz’s significant human error. Had an attempt to come from behind v Chelsea with nine men. Which is mental.

1) Liverpool – 11 points
6 deficits, 3 wins, 2 draws, 1 defeat

Mentality monsters and chaos merchants. An absolutely magnificent combination personified spectacularly by Darwin Nunez. To put their start to the season in some form of perspective, they won only three games from behind all last season. And that’s actually a fairly decent return: only Palace, Arsenal, Spurs and weirdly Bournemouth did it more often. Three wins from behind inside their first eight matches represents outstanding work in the field of chaotic nonsense, the undiluted ridiculousness against Spurs finally proved too much. Could very easily have had a fourth win from behind at Brighton, but Lewis Dunk had other ideas. And grabbing a point in stoppage-time at Luton is not the sort of thing they’ll crow about.