Thresholds
The title, a place in Europe, and relegation.
Follow the final points totals through the seasons.
Forty points isn’t a rule.
These lines describe what happened, not what would guarantee safety in a different season.
Sources & methodology
Final ranks, points, deductions and played/W-D-L records come from the official Premier League handbook historical tables ↗ through 2024–25 and the official 2025–26 final table ↗. All 34 completed seasons are available. In-progress 2026–27 is deliberately excluded.
League winner = first place. Champions League cutoff = the lowest league position earning entry to the following Champions League, including preliminary/qualifying rounds. Highest relegated = the best-ranked relegated club. Three clubs go down, except 1994–95 when four were relegated. The early 22-club seasons had 42 matches; subsequent seasons have 38. We use published final ranks directly rather than reconstructing tie-breaks.
English league-based Champions League entry: champions only through 1995–96; top two in 1996–97 and 1997–98; top three from 1998–99 to 2000–01; top four from 2001–02 through 2023–24 except 2011–12 (top three); top five in 2024–25 and 2025–26. Extra title-holder routes are not used to move this league cutoff. UEFA format history ↗ · 2012 exception ↗ · 2025–26 qualification ↗
PPG divides official final points by matches played, including any deductions.