THE USURPER LEAGUEPremier League 2020/21.
A different title race.
West Ham United win our alternative 2020/21 Premier League with 59 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 2020/21 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 | West Ham United | 26 | 18 | 5 | 3 | 48 | 22 | 26 | 59 |
| 2 | Leeds United | 26 | 16 | 0 | 10 | 47 | 30 | 17 | 48 |
| 3 | Leicester City | 26 | 14 | 5 | 7 | 47 | 30 | 17 | 47 |
| 4 | Everton | 26 | 12 | 5 | 9 | 31 | 27 | 4 | 41 |
| 5 | Newcastle United | 26 | 12 | 5 | 9 | 37 | 36 | 1 | 41 |
| 6 | Aston Villa | 26 | 11 | 6 | 9 | 35 | 28 | 7 | 39 |
| 7 | Crystal Palace | 26 | 11 | 5 | 10 | 34 | 34 | 0 | 38 |
| 8 | Southampton | 26 | 11 | 4 | 11 | 33 | 33 | 0 | 37 |
| 9 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 26 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 26 | 31 | -5 | 34 |
| 10 | Burnley | 26 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 29 | 30 | -1 | 32 |
| 11 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 26 | 6 | 12 | 8 | 29 | 29 | 0 | 30 |
| 12 | Fulham | 26 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 21 | 35 | -14 | 21 |
| 13 | Sheffield United | 26 | 6 | 2 | 18 | 11 | 35 | -24 | 20 |
| 14 | West Bromwich Albion | 26 | 4 | 7 | 15 | 22 | 50 | -28 | 19 |
How the table changes
With everybody participating, Manchester City lead our all-club calculation. Removing Big Six fixtures puts West Ham United first in the alternative league.
Who's been excused?
Excluded clubs present in 2020/21: 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 City | 38 | 27 | 5 | 6 | 83 | 32 | 51 | 86 |
| 2 | Manchester United | 38 | 21 | 11 | 6 | 73 | 44 | 29 | 74 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 38 | 20 | 9 | 9 | 68 | 42 | 26 | 69 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 38 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 58 | 36 | 22 | 67 |
| 5 | Leicester City | 38 | 20 | 6 | 12 | 68 | 50 | 18 | 66 |
| 6 | West Ham United | 38 | 19 | 8 | 11 | 62 | 47 | 15 | 65 |
| 7 | Tottenham Hotspur | 38 | 18 | 8 | 12 | 68 | 45 | 23 | 62 |
| 8 | Arsenal | 38 | 18 | 7 | 13 | 55 | 39 | 16 | 61 |
| 9 | Leeds United | 38 | 18 | 5 | 15 | 62 | 54 | 8 | 59 |
| 10 | Everton | 38 | 17 | 8 | 13 | 47 | 48 | -1 | 59 |
| 11 | Aston Villa | 38 | 16 | 7 | 15 | 55 | 46 | 9 | 55 |
| 12 | Newcastle United | 38 | 12 | 9 | 17 | 46 | 62 | -16 | 45 |
| 13 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 38 | 12 | 9 | 17 | 36 | 52 | -16 | 45 |
| 14 | Crystal Palace | 38 | 12 | 8 | 18 | 41 | 66 | -25 | 44 |
| 15 | Southampton | 38 | 12 | 7 | 19 | 47 | 68 | -21 | 43 |
| 16 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 38 | 9 | 14 | 15 | 40 | 46 | -6 | 41 |
| 17 | Burnley | 38 | 10 | 9 | 19 | 33 | 55 | -22 | 39 |
| 18 | Fulham | 38 | 5 | 13 | 20 | 27 | 53 | -26 | 28 |
| 19 | West Bromwich Albion | 38 | 5 | 11 | 22 | 35 | 76 | -41 | 26 |
| 20 | Sheffield United | 38 | 7 | 2 | 29 | 20 | 63 | -43 | 23 |
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: openfootball/football.json, 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.