Revealed! How many points Leeds United need to be the best newly-promoted side in Premier League history

The Whites have picked up 32 points from their first 22 matches since returning to the top flight, and are currently 17 points clear of the drop zone.

A closer look also shows that they have five points more than their newly-promoted peers – Fulham and West Brom – combined, while Marcelo Bielsa’s men sit in the top half of the table above established Premier League outfits like Arsenal, Southampton, and Newcastle United.

But how does Leeds’ impressive start to the campaign compare to some of the other barnstorming first seasons we have seen since the Premier League’s inception, and what will they need to do over the remainder of the term to cement their place as one of the best newly promoted teams of all-time?

We’ve had a flick through the history books below:

Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest

Back-to-back seasons in 1993/94 and 1994/95 saw the Magpies and Forest take the top flight by storm with remarkably similar campaigns.

Both finished third, both took 77 points, and both averaged 1.83 points per game.

It is worth pointing out that the Premier League was a 22-team division until 1995, making their massive tallies slightly less impressive, but either way, Leeds would still need a major effort to replicate those figures.

45 points from an available 48 would be what’s required, and even the most optimistic Whites fan might admit that is a little on the steep side.

Blackburn Rovers

There must have been something in the water in the Premier League in the early ‘90s.

Rovers came up in 1992/93, amassed 71 points and finished fourth.

To reach that tally would require Leeds to drop just nine points between now and the end of the season, although on a points-per-game basis, the Whites are just 0.24 behind Blackburn’s average of 1.69 for that campaign.

Ipswich Town

A much fairer comparison to make, the Tractor Boys came up just after the millennium and ploughed through most of a 20-team top flight.

Town finished the season in fifth with 66 points. For Leeds to replicate that tally they need to take 34 points from 16 games at an average of 2.13 per game.

Bielsa’s men would need to up their PPG average by 0.68 to pull that off, and for that reason alone it may be slightly out of their reach.

Sunderland and Wolves

Two very similar examples here.

Sunderland came up in 2000/01 and finished seventh with 58 points, Wolves got promoted in 2018/19 and finished seventh with 57.

Leeds would need 25 points to reach Wanderers’ total – or in other words, eight wins and a draw from 16 matches.

Reading, West Ham, and Sheffield United

Reading and West Ham both had impressive campaigns after gaining promotion in the mid noughties, wracking up 55 points each and finishing eighth and ninth in 2006/07 and 2005/06 respectively.

A much more recent example is the one set by Chris Wilder’s Blades last term.

They may be suffering from an acute case of second season syndrome this time around, but Sheffield United managed to finish ninth with 54 points last term, and would have done a whole lot better had they not lost their last three matches of the campaign.

Leeds would need 22 points to reach 54 points. Seven wins and one draw is the most efficient way of pulling that off.

Charlton Athletic, Middlesbrough, Manchester City, and Birmingham City

A smattering of newly-promoted teams, ranging between 1998 and 2010, but with very similar records.

Charlton got 52 points in 2000/01, Boro and Man City got 51 points in 1998/99 and 2002/03 respectively, and Birmingham picked up 50 points in 2009/2010.

If we take the median of those figures, Leeds would need 19 points to reach a total of 51 from their current position.

They are well on track to do so too – 51 points over 38 games gives you a PPG average of 1.34, and the Whites are currently on a PPG rate of 1.45.

To reach 19 points they'd need six wins and a draw from their final 16 matches, and history would suggest that should be enough to secure them a top-half finish too.

No newly-promoted side to earn a minimum of 50 points has ever finished lower than ninth since the Premier League was founded.