Man, that year was just different. If you glance at the 2013/14 premier league table, you see Manchester City at the top with 86 points, but that doesn't even begin to tell the story of a season that felt like a fever dream. It was chaos. Absolute, high-stakes, heart-breaking chaos.
We aren't just talking about a title race here. We're talking about the year David Moyes tried to fill Sir Alex Ferguson’s shoes and realized they were about ten sizes too big. We’re talking about Jose Mourinho coming back to Chelsea as the "Happy One," only to end up ruining everyone's fun. And, obviously, we’re talking about Steven Gerrard’s slip. You can’t look at the final standings without seeing the ghosts of what almost happened at Anfield. It was a season where the lead changed hands 25 times. Imagine that.
The league was transitioning. The old guard was fading, and this new, hyper-aggressive attacking style was taking over.
💡 You might also like: Robert Griffin III: What Really Happened to the Most Electrifying Player in NFL History
What the 2013/14 Premier League Table actually tells us
At the very top, Manchester City finished first. They scored 102 goals. 102! Manuel Pellegrini’s team was a machine, powered by Yaya Touré having arguably the greatest individual season a central midfielder has ever had in England. He scored 20 league goals. From midfield. That’s just stupid.
Liverpool finished second, just two points behind with 84. They scored 101 goals. Think about that for a second. The top two teams both cracked the century mark. It was the year of "we’ll just score more than you." Brendan Rodgers had Luis Suárez playing at a level that felt like he was cheating at a video game. Even though he missed the first five games for biting Branislav Ivanović the previous season, he still bagged 31 goals. No penalties. Just pure, unadulterated brilliance.
Chelsea ended up third on 82 points. They had the best defense, conceding only 27 goals, but Mourinho’s refusal to trust his strikers—and his weird obsession with playing without a "number nine" in big games—probably cost them the title. They beat City twice. They beat Liverpool twice. They were the ultimate spoilers. Then you have Arsenal in fourth with 79 points. They actually spent more time at the top of the table than anyone else that year—128 days, to be exact—but they completely fell apart in February and March, losing 5-1 to Liverpool and 6-0 to Chelsea.
The Mid-Table and the Great Underachievers
Everton finished fifth under Roberto Martínez with 72 points, their highest points tally in the Premier League era. They were actually good! Ross Barkley looked like the next big thing, and Romelu Lukaku was just starting to bully defenders on a weekly basis.
Then, the anomaly. Manchester United. Seventh place. 64 points.
It’s hard to overstate how shocking that was at the time. They had won the league by 11 points the year before. Under Moyes, they looked lost. Old Trafford lost its aura. Teams like West Brom and Newcastle were going there and winning. It was the first time United had finished outside the top three in the Premier League era, and they didn’t even qualify for the Europa League. The 2013/14 premier league table is basically a permanent record of the moment the Manchester United dynasty truly collapsed.
The Relegation Scrap was a Mess
Down at the bottom, it was just as wild. Cardiff City finished dead last with 30 points. Ole Gunnar Solskjær was their manager by the end, which is a weird trivia fact people forget. Fulham went down too, despite having a squad that, on paper, should have been fine. They used three different managers. That’s usually a death sentence.
Norwich City was the third team to go, finishing on 33 points.
📖 Related: Idol athletes of Miami: Why the Magic City’s Sports Icons are Changing in 2026
The real story of the bottom half, though, was Sunderland. The "Miracle Escape." Under Gus Poyet, they were rock bottom in mid-April. They had to go to Manchester City and Chelsea. Everyone wrote them off. Then they drew at City and won at Stamford Bridge, ending Mourinho’s 77-game unbeaten home record. Connor Wickham turned into prime Ronaldo for about three weeks. They finished 14th. It was statistically one of the greatest escapes ever.
The Numbers That Define the Season
Look at the goal difference. Man City was +65. Liverpool was +51.
Usually, if you score 101 goals, you win the league. You win it comfortably. But Liverpool conceded 50. For context, Crystal Palace—who finished 11th—conceded only 48. That was the Achilles' heel. You can’t expect to win a title when your defense is as leaky as a sieve, no matter how many times Daniel Sturridge and Suárez bail you out.
- Manchester City: 86 pts (Champions)
- Liverpool: 84 pts
- Chelsea: 82 pts
- Arsenal: 79 pts
- Everton: 72 pts
- Tottenham: 69 pts
- Manchester United: 64 pts
Southampton finished 8th with 56 points, which was the start of that incredible run where they kept selling their best players to Liverpool. Mauricio Pochettino was the manager. You could see the seeds of his Spurs team being planted right there. They played this high-pressing, exhausting style of football that most of the league wasn't ready for yet.
Why the 2013/14 Season Changed Everything
This season was the end of the "Tactical 4-4-2" era in many ways. We saw the rise of the 4-3-3 and the "diamond" midfield that Rodgers used to such devastating effect. It was also the year that proved you couldn't just "be" Manchester United and expect to win.
The 2013/14 premier league table also shows a massive gap. There was a 13-point chasm between 4th and 7th. The "Big Six" wasn't really a thing yet; it was more like a "Big Four" that was being gatecrashed.
People always talk about the 2-0 Chelsea win at Anfield as the turning point. It was. But people forget Liverpool drew 3-3 with Crystal Palace after being 3-0 up with eleven minutes to go. "Crystanbul." That was the night the dream actually died. Luis Suárez crying into his shirt is the defining image of that season for most fans. It showed that momentum is a fragile thing.
👉 See also: Ja Morant Chinese New Year: Why Everyone is Chasing the Year of the Horse 3s
What can we learn from those standings?
Honestly, that season taught us that squad depth is everything. City won because they had Edin Džeko coming off the bench to score crucial goals when Sergio Agüero was injured. Liverpool had... Iago Aspas. No disrespect, but there was a gulf in quality once you got past the starting XI.
If you're looking back at the 2013/14 premier league table to settle a debate or just to reminisce, remember that it was the peak of Premier League entertainment. It wasn't the most tactical or the most disciplined season, but it was the most human. It was full of mistakes, miraculous comebacks, and the kind of drama you usually only see in scripted movies.
Steps to analyze historic Premier League data
If you’re diving deep into football stats or trying to understand how the modern game evolved, don't just look at the points.
- Check the Goals Against column. It almost always explains why a high-scoring runner-up failed to clinch the title.
- Look at the Managerial Changes. The 2013/14 season had a massive turnover, which directly correlated with the instability at clubs like Spurs and United.
- Compare the Home vs. Away records. City and Liverpool were nearly identical at home, but City’s ability to grind out results in tough away fixtures was the 2-point difference.
- Study the January Transfer Window impact. This was the year Nemanja Matić returned to Chelsea, which arguably turned them into the defensive juggernaut that ruined Liverpool's season later on.
The 2013/14 premier league table serves as a reminder that football isn't played on paper. If it were, Liverpool would have won their first title 24 years early, and David Moyes would still be at United. Instead, we got a season that redefined what it takes to survive—and thrive—at the top.