The highest points to be relegated from the Premier League

What are the highest points tallies by a relegated team in Premier League history? Learn which sides earned the biggest points totals and still got relegated.

With this season seeing West Ham relegated with a Herculean 39 points, it got us thinking: what are the highest points recorded for a relegated Premier League team – and where does West Ham’s 2025/2026 effort compare?

Some of the teams who make the cut looked briefly capable of pulling off one of English football’s greatest escapes, only to end up among the record holders for the Premier League highest points for relegation.

The 10 highest Premier League relegation points totals

Below is a table providing an overview of the teams with the highest points for relegation from the Premier League. Incredibly, West Ham’s 39 points this season doesn’t crack the top 10 – and it’s not even their highest haul in a relegation season.

*42 game Premier League season

Crystal Palace have the unfortunate honour of the highest points to be relegated from the Premier League. In fact, with 49 in 1992-93 and 45 in 1994-95, Palace occupy the top two positions – though that can at least partly be attributed to playing 42-match seasons.

Some of the teams featured were among the pre-season Premier League betting favourites for relegation, while others defied the odds to even get close to avoiding the drop. Teams can fairly count themselves as unlucky if they post the highest points in the Premier League to be relegated.

West Ham, for example, hold the record for the highest points for relegation from the Premier League since the division switched to 20 teams (and a 38-match season) in 1995-96. The Hammers won three of their last four matches to give themselves a chance, but a 2-2 draw with Birmingham City on the final day meant they suffered relegation to the second tier. As a result of the drop, West Ham lost several key players in the summer window, including Joe Cole, Les Ferdinand, and Paolo Di Canio. 

Bolton and Sunderland are the only other teams to be relegated with 40 or more points since the league was reduced to 20 teams. 

Defeat to Chelsea on the final day sent Bolton to the second tier on goal difference. Sunderland, however, had been 11th at the end of January but suffered a severe slump in the second half of the season. This led them to occupy the final relegation place having fallen one point behind Coventry City and Southampton. The Black Cats spent two seasons in the First Division, with a spectacular Kevin Phillips campaign powering a promotion charge in 1997-98.

The 1992-93 season saw three teams relegated with 40 or more points – Nottingham Forest (40), Middlesbrough (44), and Crystal Palace (49). Oldham Athletic only stayed up that season on goal difference, despite amassing 49 points – the equivalent to 44 points in a 38-game season. 

Aside from the schedule being reduced by four matches, it’s notable that fewer points have been required for safety over the last 20 years. The gap between the established Premier League sides and those fighting relegation has only grown as the top flight has become wealthier, which has also resulted in a higher percentage of promoted teams being immediately relegated. 

In recent years, reaching around 30 points has been enough for safety. The sides at the bottom have really struggled, barely winning matches and suffering plenty of heavy defeats. There’s often a chasm between 17th/18th and the lower mid-table sides. 

The highest points total to be relegated from the Premier League in a 38-game season

With West Ham clocking 39 points during the 2025-26 season, they go down with the joint-third highest haul since the Premier League reverted to a 39-team format. It’s the strongest tally for a relegated side in 15 years, since both Birmingham and Blackpool were demoted with the same total in 2010-11: 

What is the average points total required for Premier League survival?

Thirty-nine points have been enough to survive in each of the last 15 Premier League seasons. Across the 30 seasons since the league was reduced to 20 teams, 36 points has been enough on 18 occasions. 

This is an important factor to consider when analysing the Premier League betting markets. Yes, it’s possible a team will post one of the highest relegated points totals in the Premier League, but the likelihood is that 39 is enough to stay up. Forty is almost always a guarantee of avoiding the drop.