Correlation FC

League ranking at the Easter international break

The final international break of the season is here. For teams, like Brentford, who aren't playing in Europe and have been eliminated from the FA Cup competition, it will be the longest break of the entire season, nearly three weeks.

Overall, the Bees have had a very good season. They currently sit seventh in the league table, a position they've held for a while now. This has got us thinking ... has any other team been in seventh place longer than the Bees this season? (No.)

It also made us wonder, have other teams "owned" a position in the league table? Who has moved up and down the table the most this season? We'll try to answer some of these questions now.

Premier League position ownership at the Easter 2026 international break (source: Correlation FC)

We start with this view of the league. Each dot represents a league ranking position. The deeper the colour, the more days that the team has occupied that rank. The two extremes of the table tell the clearest story. From the season start up until 9th April, when the season resumes, Arsenal have spent 197 days in first place. Wolves, on the other hand, have spent 229 days in last place.

Premier League position owners and day count (sources: Correlation FC, FBref)

What about Spurs?

Tottenham are a bit of an anomaly. They've covered much of the table, having spent 40 days in both 3rd place and 16th place. They have not claimed ownership of any position.

What about United?

Manchester United is another team that has been up and down the league table this season, though unlike Spurs, their recent fortunes have been looking much more positive. United have spent 41 days in third place, their high-water mark of the season. However, Aston Villa have spent 88 days at the same ranking, more than double United's total.

League positions held and average position (sources: Correlation FC, FBref)

Looking across the league, we're interested in seeing who has spent a night (or more) in the most different positions.

So far, Bournemouth have held 17 different positions (all but 1st, 18th and 19th). Aston Villa and Spurs have both held 16 different positions. Wolves have been very consistently in 20th place for almost the entire season, only coming out briefly on goal differential.

The third column shows the average ranking for the season. Again, Arsenal and Wolves show very clearly that they've owned their respective positions. Table movers like Bournemouth and Spurs both average out at close to 10th, despite their very different positions. While the Bees have owned 7th, their average position is a less lofty 10.6, or 11th if you're rounding.

Number of positions held and average league position (source: Correlation FC)

We've visualised the same data in a chart. The red line shows the number of ranks a team has held, and the orange area chart shows the average position.

League positions over time

Revisiting an approach that we first used at the midway mark of the season, we now plot the league positions for each team over the 31 match weeks in the season so far.

League positions year-to-date (source: Correlation FC)

Here you can see how teams like Arsenal, Aston Villa, and Manchester City oscillated a bit initially and then found their feet. It really feels like Spurs and United have had mirror-opposite seasons. Sunderland have surprised many, though their position has steadily slipped as the season has progressed.

What's next?

Will the Bees hold onto 7th? We'll have to wait and see. They have three tough away days at United, City and Liverpool. They'll need to keep their solid away form going and restore some of their earlier season strength at home to have a chance at Europe next season.

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