{"id":6337,"date":"2026-05-09T07:33:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T07:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=6337"},"modified":"2026-05-09T07:33:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T07:33:04","slug":"man-united-top-2025-26-improvement-table-as-carrick-inspires-22-swing-liverpool-wolves-slump-by-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=6337","title":{"rendered":"Man United top 2025\/26 improvement table as Carrick inspires +22 swing; Liverpool, Wolves slump by -24"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-blocks\">\n<div style=\"word-break:break-word\" class=\"first:font-bold md:text-lg text-base paragraph-content\"><b>The ambition for every Premier League team is to improve on the season prior, but which clubs have had the biggest improvement in 2025\/26?<\/b><\/div>\n<div style=\"word-break:break-word\" class=\"first:font-bold md:text-lg text-base paragraph-content\">Manchester United secured Champions League qualification with a 3-2 win over Liverpool last weekend, with the Red Devils rising rapidly under interim boss Michael Carrick.<\/div>\n<p>United finished 15th last season, the club&#8217;s lowest league position of the Premier League era, but are guaranteed a top-five finish this season.<\/p>\n<div style=\"word-break:break-word\" class=\"first:font-bold md:text-lg text-base paragraph-content\">Unsurprisingly, United lead the division for points difference compared to the same stage as last season (+22 points). Manchester City are the second-most improved team (+12), despite trailing Arsenal in the title race, while Everton (+9) complete the top three.<\/div>\n<p>Remarkably, there are currently only five ever-present Premier League teams with a positive points improvement from last season.<\/p>\n<p>At the other end, champions Liverpool have had the joint-biggest decline in points won (-24) after 34 games played.<\/p>\n<div style=\"word-break:break-word\" class=\"first:font-bold md:text-lg text-base paragraph-content\">Only Wolves, relegated with five games to spare, can match that unwanted record. Liverpool lost just four times during their title-winning season, but have already suffered 11 defeats this season.<\/div>\n<div style=\"word-break:break-word\" class=\"first:font-bold md:text-lg text-base paragraph-content\">That duo are among four teams who are 20+ points worse off than at the same stage in 2024\/25. Both Newcastle United (-20) and Nottingham Forest (-21) have struggled to match last season&#8217;s level. West Ham are the only side in the league to have a zero change from last season.<\/div>\n<h3 style=\"word-break:break-word\" class=\"heading-content\">Premier League points difference to last season &#8211; after 34 games<\/h3>\n<ol class=\"&#10;          list-content list-outside pl-10&#10;          list-decimal&#10;        \">\n<li class=\"(&amp;&gt;a):text-primary dark:(&amp;&gt;a):text-white (&amp;&gt;a):underline md:text-lg text-base\">Manchester United: +22 points<\/li>\n<li class=\"(&amp;&gt;a):text-primary dark:(&amp;&gt;a):text-white (&amp;&gt;a):underline md:text-lg text-base\">Manchester City: +12 points<\/li>\n<li class=\"(&amp;&gt;a):text-primary dark:(&amp;&gt;a):text-white (&amp;&gt;a):underline md:text-lg text-base\">Everton: +9 points<\/li>\n<li class=\"(&amp;&gt;a):text-primary dark:(&amp;&gt;a):text-white (&amp;&gt;a):underline md:text-lg text-base\">Arsenal: +6 points<\/li>\n<li class=\"(&amp;&gt;a):text-primary dark:(&amp;&gt;a):text-white (&amp;&gt;a):underline md:text-lg text-base\">Aston Villa: +1 point<\/li>\n<li class=\"(&amp;&gt;a):text-primary dark:(&amp;&gt;a):text-white (&amp;&gt;a):underline md:text-lg text-base\">West Ham: Zero change<\/li>\n<li class=\"(&amp;&gt;a):text-primary dark:(&amp;&gt;a):text-white (&amp;&gt;a):underline md:text-lg text-base\">Bournemouth: -1 point<\/li>\n<li class=\"(&amp;&gt;a):text-primary dark:(&amp;&gt;a):text-white (&amp;&gt;a):underline md:text-lg text-base\">Brighton: -1 point<\/li>\n<li class=\"(&amp;&gt;a):text-primary dark:(&amp;&gt;a):text-white (&amp;&gt;a):underline md:text-lg text-base\">Brentford: &#8211; 1 point<\/li>\n<li class=\"(&amp;&gt;a):text-primary dark:(&amp;&gt;a):text-white (&amp;&gt;a):underline md:text-lg text-base\">Crystal Palace: -1 point<\/li>\n<li class=\"(&amp;&gt;a):text-primary dark:(&amp;&gt;a):text-white (&amp;&gt;a):underline md:text-lg text-base\">Fulham: -3 points<\/li>\n<li class=\"(&amp;&gt;a):text-primary dark:(&amp;&gt;a):text-white (&amp;&gt;a):underline md:text-lg text-base\">Tottenham Hotspur: -3 points<\/li>\n<li class=\"(&amp;&gt;a):text-primary dark:(&amp;&gt;a):text-white (&amp;&gt;a):underline md:text-lg text-base\">Chelsea: -12 points<\/li>\n<li class=\"(&amp;&gt;a):text-primary dark:(&amp;&gt;a):text-white (&amp;&gt;a):underline md:text-lg text-base\">Newcastle United: -20 points<\/li>\n<li class=\"(&amp;&gt;a):text-primary dark:(&amp;&gt;a):text-white (&amp;&gt;a):underline md:text-lg text-base\">Nottingham Forest: -21 points<\/li>\n<li class=\"(&amp;&gt;a):text-primary dark:(&amp;&gt;a):text-white (&amp;&gt;a):underline md:text-lg text-base\">Wolves: -24 points<\/li>\n<li class=\"(&amp;&gt;a):text-primary dark:(&amp;&gt;a):text-white (&amp;&gt;a):underline md:text-lg text-base\">Liverpool: &#8211; 24points<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div style=\"word-break:break-word\" class=\"first:font-bold md:text-lg text-base paragraph-content\"><i><b>Only ever-present Premier League teams included. All data from <\/b><\/i>Sky Sports.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The ambition for every Premier League team is to improve on the season prior, but&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}