How the Premier League looked 10 years ago

Jose Mourinho's Manchester United beat Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham 1-0 at Old Trafford on 11 December 2016, on the way to a season that ended with Spurs second on 86 points and United sixth. The same two clubs meet at the same ground on Saturday 10 October 2026, and anyone glancing at the Man United vs Tottenham odds is looking at that finish reversed.

Tottenham are winless after five matches, Michael Carrick's United sit mid-table, which is a stark contrast to how both teams got on 10 years ago. Here is how that season finished, and where those 20 clubs are now.

How the league table looked

The final 2016-17 table:

1. Chelsea
2. Tottenham Hotspur
3. Manchester City
4. Liverpool
5. Arsenal
6. Manchester United
7. Everton
8. Southampton
9. Bournemouth
10. West Bromwich Albion
11. West Ham United
12. Leicester City
13. Stoke City
14. Crystal Palace
15. Swansea City
16. Burnley
17. Watford
18. Hull City (relegated)
19. Middlesbrough (relegated)
20. Sunderland (relegated)

Chelsea's revolving door

Antonio Conte won it at the first attempt, with 93 points and 30 wins, and was sacked 14 months later. N'Golo Kante was PFA Players' Player of the Year, having won the title with Leicester City the season before, the first outfield player since Eric Cantona to take back-to-back English titles with different clubs.

Chelsea have appointed eight permanent head coaches since, Xabi Alonso arriving in July 2026, and have not won the league again in that time. The Champions League in 2021 is the return on all of it. They sit 10th after five games of this season.

Arsenal's frustration finally ended

Arsenal finished fifth on 75 points, ending 20 consecutive seasons in the top four and leaving Arsene Wenger outside the Champions League places for the first time since he arrived in 1996. He lasted one more year, though he did win the FA Cup that May, beating Chelsea 2-1 at Wembley for a record 13th time.

The drought is over now. Arsenal won the 2025-26 title on 85 points, their first since 2003-04, and are second in the table this September, three points behind Manchester City.

Tottenham's collapse

Spurs came second on 86 points, their best Premier League finish, in their farewell season at White Hart Lane. They ended up seven points behind Chelsea and eight clear of third-placed Manchester City, with Harry Kane taking the Golden Boot on 29 goals.

It has gone the other way since. Tottenham won the 2025 Europa League, but they are bottom of the table with one point from three games under Roberto De Zerbi, the latest of many appointments since Mauricio Pochettino left in 2019.

Relegations in 2017 and what happened next

Hull City, Middlesbrough and Sunderland went down, and all three took the long road back.

Sunderland fell again the next season, spent four years in League One, and only returned to the Premier League by winning the 2025 play-off final. They finished seventh in 2025-26.

Hull and Middlesbrough settled it between themselves. The pair met in the Championship play-off final at Wembley on 23 May 2026, where Oliver McBurnie's stoppage-time goal won it 1-0 for Hull and left Boro in the second tier. Hull have had a surprising start to the 2026-27 season, sitting near the top of the table for the first few weeks before their recent loss to Newcastle.

Today's relegation battle

The bottom of the table looks nothing like 2017. Coventry City have three points after beating Nottingham Forest 1-0, while Tottenham and Fulham have just two each. Leicester City, champions the year before that 2016-17 season, are now in League One.

The opening few games settle nothing, and the survival market will move a long way before May. Anyone stacking a few of those calls into one bet can run the numbers through a bet calculator first.