A Boxing Day defeat by Brighton & Hove Albion sent Southampton to the bottom of the table but the performances of the clubs in 20th place this season show Saints fans should not be disheartened when their team travel to Fulham on New Year's Eve.
Residing at the foot of the table in fact seems to provoke a fightback. In the 2022/23 campaign so far, the bottom-placed club has only lost four times.
Indeed, since the end of September, there has only been one defeat suffered by the club starting the match round in last place. In that time, those bottom clubs have recorded six wins and four draws, journalist Bill Edgar noted.
That impressive run by clubs at the foot of the table includes the last-gasp 2-1 victory over Everton by Wolverhampton Wanderers on Boxing Day.
Results of clubs in 20th in 2022/23
| Date | Bottom club | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 Aug | SOU | LEE | D 2-2 |
| 28 Aug | WHU | AVL | W 1-0 |
| 1 Sep | LEI | MUN | L 0-1 |
| 4 Sep | LEI | BHA | L 2-5 |
| 17 Sep | LEI | TOT | L 2-6 |
| 3 Oct | LEI | NFO | W 4-0 |
| 10 Oct | NFO | AVL | D 1-1 |
| 15 Oct | LEI | CRY | D 0-0 |
| 18 Oct | NFO | BHA | D 0-0 |
| 20 Oct | LEI | LEE | W 2-0 |
| 22 Oct | NFO | LIV | W 1-0 |
| 23 Oct | LEI | WOL | W 4-0 |
| 30 Oct | NFO | ARS | L 0-5 |
| 5 Nov | NFO | BRE | D 2-2 |
| 12 Nov | NFO | CRY | W 1-0 |
| 26 Dec | WOL | EVE | W 2-1 |
Looking back over the history of the Premier League, this season has so far been like no other when it comes to this metric.
In 2022/23, clubs lying in last place are recording on average 1.63 points per match, which if continued, would be the highest figure in the 31 seasons of the competition.
In PL history, the highest figure recorded at the end of a season by last-placed clubs was 1.5 points per match in 2010/11.
Average performance of clubs in 20th
| Season | Points/ match* | Season | Points/ match* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992/93 | 1.38 | 2008/09 | 1.10 |
| 1993/94 | 0.83 | 2009/10 | 0.89 |
| 1994/95 | 0.88 | 2010/11 | 1.50 |
| 1995/96 | 1.11 | 2011/12 | 1.24 |
| 1996/97 | 1.41 | 2012/13 | 0.88 |
| 1997/98 | 1.23 | 2013/14 | 1.12 |
| 1998/99 | 0.92 | 2014/15 | 1.21 |
| 1999/00 | 0.81 | 2015/16 | 0.69 |
| 2000/01 | 0.92 | 2016/17 | 1.08 |
| 2001/02 | 1.08 | 2017/18 | 1.13 |
| 2002/03 | 0.89 | 2018/19 | 0.79 |
| 2003/04 | 1.13 | 2019/20 | 0.70 |
| 2004/05 | 1.33 | 2020/21 | 0.68 |
| 2005/06 | 0.49 | 2021/22 | 0.77 |
| 2006/07 | 1.05 | 2022/23 | 1.63 |
| 2007/08 | 0.50 |
* for clubs starting match round bottom