No other league does late-season torture quite like the Premier League. Ten title races stand above the rest — here's how they rank, what made them special, and why some still hurt.
The Top Three: Drama You Can't Script
1. 2011-12: Agüero's moment. Manchester United led by eight points with six games left. City lost a home game to their rivals, were 2-1 down to QPR in stoppage time on the final day, and still somehow won. Džeko headed level. Then, over three minutes into added time, Balotelli found Agüero in the box. He lashed it home. Title decided by goal difference, in the 94th minute, on the final day. There will never be another moment like it in this league.
2. 1995-96: You can win things with kids. Kevin Keegan's Newcastle had a 12-point lead with 15 games to go. A returning Eric Cantona methodically helped United reel them in, and Keegan cracked under the pressure — his 'I would love it if we beat them' interview remains one of football's great unravellings. United won by four points. Newcastle ran out of steam and nerve simultaneously.
3. 2015-16: Leicester. A team that had nearly been relegated the previous season won the Premier League by ten points. That number is deceiving — it felt precarious every single week. Tottenham were closest and fell apart at the end, with their 2-2 draw at Chelsea in the 'Battle of the Bridge' the moment the Foxes were confirmed champions. The longest odds in title history. Nothing else comes close as an underdog story.
The Middle Tier: Three-Way Wars and Last-Day Nerves
4. 2013-14: Liverpool's collapse. Brendan Rodgers's side were not supposed to be there. Suárez and Sturridge were destroying teams. A 3-2 win over City put them top with four games left. Then came Gerrard's slip, Demba Ba, a 2-0 loss to Chelsea, and a 3-3 implosion at Crystal Palace from 3-0 up. City won their last two. Manuel Pellegrini collected the trophy while Liverpool processed the wreckage. Title odds compilers had largely written them off at Christmas. They were right for the wrong reasons.
5. 1998-99: The Treble season. Chelsea led at halfway after 21 games unbeaten. Arsenal were genuine contenders. United started slowly, lost to Middlesbrough in December, then went unbeaten through the rest of the season. They needed a comeback against Tottenham on the final day just to pip Arsenal by a point — then went on to win the FA Cup and Champions League. The title was almost a footnote to what followed.
6. 2007-08: Arsenal's February fade. Arsène Wenger's side led for most of the season before losing Eduardo to a horrific injury in a draw with Birmingham and winning one of their next eight. Cristiano Ronaldo was the defining player of the campaign for United. Avram Grant, in his first managerial role of this scale, somehow had Chelsea within goal difference on the final day. United beat Wigan 2-0. Chelsea fell short.
7. 1994-95: Blackburn's last stand. Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton were unstoppable. Jack Walker's money had built something real. On the final day, Blackburn lost 2-1 to Liverpool — Jamie Redknapp's late goal sending the Rovers fans into collective panic. They waited on news from Old Trafford. United only drew against West Ham. Blackburn were champions for the first time since 1914. Kenny Dalglish, who had managed their greatest team decades earlier, had done it again.
The Bottom Three: Worthy But Not Quite All-Timers
8. 2018-19: 97 points and nothing to show. City won 13 consecutive games to finish the season. Liverpool were unbeaten in 16. City went 4-1 at Brighton, Liverpool beat Wolves 2-0. City finished on 98 points, Liverpool on 97 — the third-highest total in Premier League history. A dominant, absorbing two-horse race that Liverpool supporters will always feel ended the wrong way.
9. 2009-10: Chelsea's statement win. The two teams finished on 86 and 85 points respectively in an era when that was genuinely unusual. Chelsea's 2-1 win at Old Trafford in April was the decisive moment. Carlo Ancelotti's side then clinched the title with an 8-0 win over Wigan on the final day, which felt less like a trophy celebration and more like a statement. United's run of three consecutive titles was over.
10. 2023-24: Tight but predictable. Three teams in contention became two when Liverpool collapsed in April. Arsenal won 16 of their last 18 games — their highest points total since the Invincibles — and still couldn't catch City, whose last defeat came on December 6th. Son nearly scored a late equaliser for Spurs in City's penultimate match that would have changed everything. He didn't. City won the league again. The race was statistically close; it rarely felt it.
