THE USURPER LEAGUEPremier League 2002/03.
A different title race.
Everton win our alternative 2002/03 Premier League with 53 points from 26 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 182 real matches and 14 competing clubs.
The new 2002/03 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 | Everton | 26 | 16 | 5 | 5 | 33 | 21 | 12 | 53 |
| 2 | Newcastle United | 26 | 16 | 4 | 6 | 47 | 27 | 20 | 52 |
| 3 | Birmingham City | 26 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 34 | 25 | 9 | 43 |
| 4 | Charlton Athletic | 26 | 12 | 5 | 9 | 32 | 30 | 2 | 41 |
| 5 | Blackburn Rovers | 26 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 31 | 28 | 3 | 39 |
| 6 | Southampton | 26 | 9 | 11 | 6 | 32 | 27 | 5 | 38 |
| 7 | Fulham | 26 | 11 | 5 | 10 | 30 | 30 | 0 | 38 |
| 8 | Aston Villa | 26 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 34 | 31 | 3 | 36 |
| 9 | Leeds United | 26 | 10 | 4 | 12 | 41 | 36 | 5 | 34 |
| 10 | Bolton Wanderers | 26 | 7 | 11 | 8 | 29 | 34 | -5 | 32 |
| 11 | Middlesbrough | 26 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 31 | 33 | -2 | 31 |
| 12 | West Ham United | 26 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 29 | 40 | -11 | 27 |
| 13 | West Bromwich Albion | 26 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 19 | 33 | -14 | 23 |
| 14 | Sunderland | 26 | 2 | 5 | 19 | 12 | 39 | -27 | 11 |
How the table changes
With everybody participating, Manchester United lead our all-club calculation. Removing Big Six fixtures puts Everton first in the alternative league.
Who's been excused?
Excluded clubs present in 2002/03: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur. We removed 198 fixtures, along with every point and goal from those matches.
See the all-club calculated table for comparison
| # | Club | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester United | 38 | 25 | 8 | 5 | 74 | 34 | 40 | 83 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 38 | 23 | 9 | 6 | 85 | 42 | 43 | 78 |
| 3 | Newcastle United | 38 | 21 | 6 | 11 | 63 | 48 | 15 | 69 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 38 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 68 | 38 | 30 | 67 |
| 5 | Liverpool | 38 | 18 | 10 | 10 | 61 | 41 | 20 | 64 |
| 6 | Blackburn Rovers | 38 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 52 | 43 | 9 | 60 |
| 7 | Everton | 38 | 17 | 8 | 13 | 48 | 49 | -1 | 59 |
| 8 | Southampton | 38 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 43 | 46 | -3 | 52 |
| 9 | Manchester City | 38 | 15 | 6 | 17 | 47 | 54 | -7 | 51 |
| 10 | Tottenham Hotspur | 38 | 14 | 8 | 16 | 51 | 62 | -11 | 50 |
| 11 | Middlesbrough | 38 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 48 | 44 | 4 | 49 |
| 12 | Charlton Athletic | 38 | 14 | 7 | 17 | 45 | 56 | -11 | 49 |
| 13 | Birmingham City | 38 | 13 | 9 | 16 | 41 | 49 | -8 | 48 |
| 14 | Fulham | 38 | 13 | 9 | 16 | 41 | 50 | -9 | 48 |
| 15 | Leeds United | 38 | 14 | 5 | 19 | 58 | 57 | 1 | 47 |
| 16 | Aston Villa | 38 | 12 | 9 | 17 | 42 | 47 | -5 | 45 |
| 17 | Bolton Wanderers | 38 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 41 | 51 | -10 | 44 |
| 18 | West Ham United | 38 | 10 | 12 | 16 | 42 | 59 | -17 | 42 |
| 19 | West Bromwich Albion | 38 | 6 | 8 | 24 | 29 | 65 | -36 | 26 |
| 20 | Sunderland | 38 | 4 | 7 | 27 | 21 | 65 | -44 | 19 |
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.