Three teams have reached 12 games with unbeaten records for the first time in the English top flight
Through the bleary-eyed nostalgia and giddy haze of Leicester City’s 2016 tittle triumph, it’s easy to overlook a rather less romantic consideration; what that moment has to tell us about the changing trends in Premier League points distributions.
Enough time has probably now elapsed that one can pick over the finer details of sport’s greatest fairytale without being accused of overt cynicism. Here are some stats with which to stabilize the mood:
In only two seasons since the turn of the century would Leicester’s total of 81 points have been enough to win them the league; in 2013/14, 81 points would have only been good enough for fourth place; only twice in the last 20 years has a team finished second with as few as 71 points as Arsenal did in 2016; and, perhaps most startlingly, Leicester’s haul of 18 points accrued by the time they walked off against Palace in October 2015 is the same number that seventh-place Watford had amassed by the same stage this season.