An interesting (if ultimately pointless) graph that shows the points tally of equivalent clubs from the Premiership, La Liga and Serie A (all of which play with a 20-team, 38-game season).

The most obvious point is the supreme points total of Spain’s top two, completely dwarfing the points tally of England and Italy’s champions. On a similar note, despite the criticism of the other 18 clubs in La Liga for failing to compete with Barcelona and Real Madrid, this shows that 3rd-placed Valencia’s points total was actually par for the course – similar to Arsenal’s in England, and Milan’s in Italy.

The graph also demonstrates the massive inequality in the Premiership in midtable. From the final European place (7th) to survival (17th) there is a huge 28 points difference in the Premiership, compared to just 17 points in La Liga, and 13 in Serie A.

Consequently, you need a relatively high number of points to qualify for Europe in the Premiership, but a relatively low number to escape relegation, which backs up the claims of some fans that the Premiership contains too many mundane sides happy to finish in an 10th-14th place each season – it’s hard for them to do anything else.

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The two purple lines show the two ‘targets’ for clubs – Champions League qualification for 4th place, and escaping relegation for 17th place.

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