The Worst Premier League Team Ever: Derby County 2007–08
The worst team in Premier League history is Derby County of 2007–08. They finished the season with 11 points from 38 games — one win, eight draws and 29 defeats — the lowest points total and the fewest wins the competition has ever seen across a 38-game campaign.
This site is built around the idea of a perfect season: 38 games, 38 wins, a spotless 38-0. Derby’s 2007–08 is what that record looks like flipped over. A perfect season is 114 points; Derby managed 11. A perfect season is 38 wins; Derby had one. If 38-0 is the ceiling nobody has reached, this is the floor — and studying the floor tells you as much about the extremes of a league season as studying the peak.
Derby County 2007–08: the record low
Derby were promoted through the Championship play-offs in 2007 and were out of their depth from the first week. Their only victory came on 22 September, a 1-0 home win over Newcastle United. They did not win another league match all season. By the time the campaign ended they had set a string of unwanted records:
- 11 points — the fewest in a 38-game Premier League season
- 1 win — the fewest in any Premier League season
- 29 defeats — a record at the time
- 20 goals scored — the fewest in a 38-game season
- 89 goals conceded — the most in a 38-game season at the time
They were mathematically relegated in late March, with weeks of the season still to play. The one win, eight draws and 29 losses add up to a team that was competitive in almost nothing.
The teams that came close to beating it
Derby’s record has been threatened since, most seriously in 2024–25, but the 11-point mark has held. Here is the losing end of the Premier League table:
| Team | Season | Points | Wins | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Derby County | 2007–08 | 11 | 1 | 38 |
| Southampton | 2024–25 | 12 | 2 | 38 |
| Sunderland | 2005–06 | 15 | 3 | 38 |
| Sheffield United | 2023–24 | 16 | 2 | 38 |
| Huddersfield Town | 2018–19 | 16 | 3 | 38 |
| Aston Villa | 2015–16 | 17 | 3 | 38 |
Southampton’s 2024–25 season is the closest anyone has come. They finished on 12 points, one clear of Derby, but claimed a grim record of their own: they became the first team in Premier League history to lose 30 games in a single season, and were relegated with seven matches still to play — the earliest confirmed drop in the competition’s history. One more defeat converted to a draw somewhere across those 38 games, and they would have equalled Derby. They didn’t.
The 42-game teams don’t count here
Before 1995–96 the Premier League ran 22 clubs and a 42-game season, so those early sides had four extra matches to gather points in. Ipswich Town’s 27 points in 1994–95 was the low of that era, alongside conceding 93 goals and a 9-0 defeat at Manchester United that still stands as the joint-record Premier League loss. It was a wretched season, but it is not comparable to Derby’s — more games, more chances to scrape a result. When people talk about the record low, they mean the 38-game figure, and that is Derby’s 11.
The worst defence: Sheffield United, 104 conceded
Fewest points and fewest wins belong to Derby. The worst defensive season belongs to Sheffield United, who conceded 104 goals in 2023–24 — the most ever let in across a Premier League season, and the first time any side passed 100 in the 38-game era. They took 16 points and went straight back down. A team can survive leaking goals if it scores enough of its own; United did neither.
Why the bottom matters to 38-0
A perfect season and the worst season are the same record measured from opposite ends. One is 38 wins and zero defeats; the other is one win and 29 defeats. Both are almost impossible to produce, which is why neither happens often — the league is built to drag every team back toward the middle. For the top end of that scale, see Arsenal’s unbeaten Invincibles season and our guide to why a perfect 38-0 is almost impossible. Derby County proved the floor is real. No one has reached the ceiling.
Frequently asked questions
Has any Premier League team ever failed to win a single game?+
Not across a full season. Derby County came closest with a single win in 2007–08. Every other team in Premier League history has managed at least two league victories in a season, however dismal the rest of it was.
Why isn't Ipswich Town's 27 points counted as the worst?+
Ipswich took 27 points in 1994–95, but that was a 42-game season with four extra matches to earn points in. Across the modern 38-game format, Derby's 11 is the record low. The two eras are not directly comparable, which is why the 42-game totals sit separately.
Who has the worst defensive record in a single Premier League season?+
Sheffield United in 2023–24, who conceded 104 goals — the most ever shipped in a Premier League season, beating the previous benchmark from the 42-game era. Derby's 89 conceded in 2007–08 was the 38-game record until United passed it.