THE USURPER LEAGUEPremier League 1997/98.
A different title race.
Blackburn Rovers win our alternative 1997/98 Premier League with 46 points from 28 matches. The usual suspects have been excused.
We removed every fixture involving the clubs on our exclusion list who actually played in the Premier League that year. We kept all other scores unchanged. That's 210 real matches and 15 competing clubs.
The new 1997/98 table
No imaginary fixtures. No points generously handed out. The other clubs keep their results against one another.
| # | Club | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blackburn Rovers | 28 | 13 | 7 | 8 | 49 | 36 | 13 | 46 |
| 2 | Leeds United | 28 | 13 | 6 | 9 | 48 | 34 | 14 | 45 |
| 3 | Derby County | 28 | 13 | 6 | 9 | 44 | 33 | 11 | 45 |
| 4 | West Ham United | 28 | 13 | 6 | 9 | 47 | 39 | 8 | 45 |
| 5 | Aston Villa | 28 | 13 | 5 | 10 | 39 | 35 | 4 | 44 |
| 6 | Wimbledon | 28 | 10 | 11 | 7 | 28 | 21 | 7 | 41 |
| 7 | Coventry City | 28 | 9 | 13 | 6 | 31 | 27 | 4 | 40 |
| 8 | Leicester City | 28 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 38 | 33 | 5 | 37 |
| 9 | Newcastle United | 28 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 28 | 31 | -3 | 37 |
| 10 | Southampton | 28 | 10 | 4 | 14 | 37 | 38 | -1 | 34 |
| 11 | Sheffield Wednesday | 28 | 9 | 7 | 12 | 39 | 47 | -8 | 34 |
| 12 | Bolton Wanderers | 28 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 35 | 48 | -13 | 33 |
| 13 | Everton | 28 | 7 | 10 | 11 | 32 | 39 | -7 | 31 |
| 14 | Barnsley | 28 | 9 | 4 | 15 | 33 | 51 | -18 | 31 |
| 15 | Crystal Palace | 28 | 7 | 8 | 13 | 32 | 48 | -16 | 29 |
How the table changes
With everybody participating, Arsenal lead our all-club calculation. Removing Big Six fixtures puts Blackburn Rovers first in the alternative league.
Who's been excused?
Excluded clubs present in 1997/98: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur. We removed 170 fixtures, along with every point and goal from those matches.
Historical footnote: Manchester City were not in the top flight that season, so naturally no matches involving those clubs were removed.
See the all-club calculated table for comparison
| # | Club | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 38 | 23 | 9 | 6 | 68 | 33 | 35 | 78 |
| 2 | Manchester United | 38 | 23 | 8 | 7 | 73 | 26 | 47 | 77 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 38 | 18 | 11 | 9 | 68 | 42 | 26 | 65 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 38 | 20 | 3 | 15 | 71 | 43 | 28 | 63 |
| 5 | Leeds United | 38 | 17 | 8 | 13 | 57 | 46 | 11 | 59 |
| 6 | Blackburn Rovers | 38 | 16 | 10 | 12 | 57 | 52 | 5 | 58 |
| 7 | Aston Villa | 38 | 17 | 6 | 15 | 49 | 48 | 1 | 57 |
| 8 | West Ham United | 38 | 16 | 8 | 14 | 56 | 57 | -1 | 56 |
| 9 | Derby County | 38 | 16 | 7 | 15 | 52 | 49 | 3 | 55 |
| 10 | Leicester City | 38 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 51 | 41 | 10 | 53 |
| 11 | Coventry City | 38 | 12 | 16 | 10 | 46 | 44 | 2 | 52 |
| 12 | Southampton | 38 | 14 | 6 | 18 | 50 | 55 | -5 | 48 |
| 13 | Newcastle United | 38 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 35 | 44 | -9 | 44 |
| 14 | Tottenham Hotspur | 38 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 44 | 56 | -12 | 44 |
| 15 | Wimbledon | 38 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 34 | 46 | -12 | 44 |
| 16 | Sheffield Wednesday | 38 | 12 | 8 | 18 | 52 | 67 | -15 | 44 |
| 17 | Everton | 38 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 41 | 56 | -15 | 40 |
| 18 | Bolton Wanderers | 38 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 41 | 61 | -20 | 40 |
| 19 | Barnsley | 38 | 10 | 5 | 23 | 37 | 82 | -45 | 35 |
| 20 | Crystal Palace | 38 | 8 | 9 | 21 | 37 | 71 | -34 | 33 |
About the numbers
This is not an official Premier League table. We use real results to calculate an alternative competition. Wins earn three points; ties are ordered by goal difference and goals scored. This does not attempt every official historical disciplinary deduction or tiebreaker.
Original historical match results: footballcsv/england, CC0 public-domain licensed. Each source season was validated as a complete home-and-away league before inclusion.
That trophy never existed. The argument about who deserves it absolutely can.