4 weeks ago
27
Winless
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Rob Edwards' decision to leave high-flying Middlesbrough in the Championship for struggling Wolves continues to appear a hard one to comprehend from the outside. "My best years as a player were here. This opportunity and this job is something I've always wanted and dreamed of," explained Edwards. But right now the Midlands side could be staring at a piece of Premier League history that no club wants to own. There have been no early signs that the new boss could turn the tide, with his team winless in their first seven games under Edwards.
After taking just two points from their opening 18 matches, Wolves are tracking around even the division’s most infamous strugglers - a start so bleak it threatens to rewrite the record books for all the wrong reasons. The numbers make grim reading, and the comparisons are no kinder. Transfermarkt examines how Wolves’ predicament stacks up against the worst starts in Premier League history, analysing whether this season’s side are merely in a dire slump, or in fact on course to become the Premier League's worst ever team.
Worst ever Premier League starts
No team has ever boasted a lower points total than Wolves at this stage of the season in Premier League history. The Midlands club are winless with just two pints and a goal difference of -29. The next worst side at this stage came in the 2020/21 season, when Sheffield United had just five points and a -20 goal difference after the first 18 games of the campaign. Behind them are three teams who had just six points from the opening 18 fixtures. Sheffield Wednesday in the 2020/21 campaign (-28 GD), Southampton last term (-26 GD), and Sunderland in 2005/06 (-21 GD).
Derby (2007/08) had just seven points and a -33 goal difference at this stage, whilst West Brom (2020/21) and Aston Villa (2015/16) had eight points. Sheffield United (2023/24) and Bolton Wanderers (1995/96) complete the top 10 having taken nine points from the opening 18 games. From the 10 mentioned teams, every single team were relegated from the English top-flight that season, which doesn't bode very well for Edwards' Wolves this term. But even worse than going down, could Wolves actually take the unwanted mantle of being the Premier League's worst ever team?
Could Wolves break Derby's record for fewest points?
When we calculate Wolves' current points-per-game total from the first 18 matches, it equates to just 0.11ppg. If we then times that by the 38 games in a Premier League season that would give the Molineux outfit a grand total of just four projected points. That would not only break the record for the worst campaign, it would obliterate it. Derby currently hold the record, after they accumulated just 11 points in the 2007/08 season. Southampton came close to breaking that last term, but managed to get to 12 points in the end.
The next two worst seasons go to Sunderland in the 2005/06 campaign with 15 points, and Sheffield United in the 2023/24 season with 16 points. Now, of course it is unlikely that Wolves will remain on this poor of a run throughout the entire season. But right now it's hard to see where the points are coming from, and things aren't getting any easier. They go to Old Trafford to face Manchester United this Tuesday in their next game. Edwards' side also go to the Etihad and the Hill Dickinson Stadium in their next five matches. It's worrying times at Molineux.
