Ranking the biggest Premier League title slip-ups

ByAlex Bysouth

BBC Sport Senior Journalist

"Bottlers!"

It's the cruel taunt thrown about by rival fans. But you've gotta be in the Premier League title race to win it, right?

It's just when you lead for so long and don't win it, there's a lonely void, an 'it should have been us' vacuum of sorrow.

Staring at the prospect of letting another seemingly insurmountable lead slip, Arsenal are desperate to banish those demons, having grappled with the tag over the past two decades.

But they are far from alone - in fact, the Gunners' slip-ups have been far less dramatic than those of some of their rivals.

To help investigate the top flight's biggest wobblers, those who have let the league slide from seemingly watertight positions, we enlisted the help of BBC Sport statistician Chris Collinson, someone always on top of his tables.

While Chris' research shows us Arsenal deserve to feature several times, there is room for Stevie G's slip, a mention for that 'Aguerooo!' moment, and, of course, Kevin Keegan's iconic monologue - which took place 30 years ago this month.

And I'll tell you, honestly, I will love it if you read this, love it!

10. Tottenham Hotspur 2015-16

Does it count as bottling if you were never in front? It is perhaps harsh to include Tottenham, considering north London rivals Arsenal were at one point in a more commanding position - but there's plenty of room for the Gunners on this list…

As the usual suspects all faltered, Mauricio Pochettino's vibrant young side appeared well placed to bring a first title to White Hart Lane since 1961.

But cometh the hour, cometh the dilly-dong. Claudio Ranieri's pizza-loving Leicester nomads stormed to the Premier League summit and, after briefly giving up top spot to Arsenal, surged clear to become 5,000-1-shot winners.

A six-game winning run through January and February put Spurs in prime position to capitalise on a Foxes stumble, but that never came. A bruising draw in the Battle of the Bridge ended Tottenham's hopes before they lost their final two games to slip to third.

Never mind, Tottenham and Pochettino's time would come, surely…

9. Norwich City: 1992-93

Norwich City, meanwhile, found themselves as unlikely leaders for 129 days of the inaugural Premier League season, despite having finished fifth-bottom the year before and sold striker Robert Fleck to Chelsea for a club record £2m.

Reinvesting that in Mark Robins and Efan Ekoku, with a young Chris Sutton emerging at Carrow Road, the Canaries led until matchday 26, before an Eric Cantona-inspired Manchester United ploughed a route to the top. Norwich finished third.

8. Liverpool: 2018-19

Liverpool, in their pursuit of a first Premier League title, put up almost the perfect season in 2018-19, reaching 97 points, then the third-highest total in Premier League history. Their problem was that Manchester City went one better.

Jurgen Klopp's rock'n'roll Reds racked up 30 wins and topped the league for 141 days - only five teams have spent longer there without winning it - while City were 10 points adrift in December.

But Liverpool's one defeat of the league season came at City - John Stones making a famously crucial goal-line clearance - and that effectively decided the title. Four draws in six soon after that proved damaging, and not even nine wins in a row to close the league campaign was enough.

7. Arsenal: 2002-03

Arsene Wenger's Arsenal managed to pass up almost identical leads five years apart in the 2000s, though Gunners fans could bathe in the glory of their Invincibles season in-between.

Wenger predicted an unbeaten campaign soon after he won the double in 2002, branding Arsenal's triumph "a shift in power" after clinching the title at Old Trafford.

'Le Professeur' and his team spent almost five months on top the following term. United, though, put four past Liverpool and six past Newcastle to edge in front - while Arsenal were held at Villa - before a Highbury meeting in mid-April.

Theirry Henry scored twice after Ruud van Nistelrooy's opener, but Ryan Giggs, top to tail in blue, stooped to make it 2-2 in a classic under the lights. United never looked back, while Arsenal fumbled points against Bolton and Leeds.

6. Arsenal: 2007-08

In 2008, now at the Emirates and with their Invincibles core gone, a fresh-looking Arsenal had lost just once by March and spent 156 days on top of the table. But come May they were third, behind United and Chelsea.

Wenger, face as long as his trusty trenchcoat, bemoaned aggressive Premier League opposition after Eduardo's horrific broken leg injury in a draw at Birmingham that began a five-game winless run.

The malaise set in across all competitions, with Arsenal thrashed by Spurs in the League Cup semi-finals, thumped by Manchester United at Old Trafford in the FA Cup and dumped out of the Champions League by Liverpool.

Wenger would not win another Premier League title, with this disappointment part of a nine-year barren run that led to Mourinho branding the Gunners boss a "specialist in failure" before a string of FA Cups arrived in the twilight of his tenure.

5. Arsenal: 2022-23

Fast forward to 2022-23 and Arsenal were setting records. Unfortunately for the Gunners, they became the team to spend the most days top of the Premier League without winning it, some 248.

Arsenal only dropped out of the lead for three days in a 30-week table-topping spell, when Manchester City won a rearranged clash in February.

They returned to the summit again until visiting City on 26 April, with Pep Guardiola's juggernauts convincing 4-1 victors during a run of 14 wins from 15 games.

It's perhaps fairer to say City won it, rather than Arsenal blew it. But in three successive draws before that pivotal Etihad Stadium defeat they appeared to freeze - giving up two-goal leads at both Liverpool and West Ham and sharing six goals at home with Southampton.

4. Manchester United: 1997-98

Things were far rosier in the red half of north London in 1998. With Wenger's revolution in full flow, Arsenal overcame a record points deficit to win the Frenchman's first Premier League and followed up with the FA Cup.

Manchester United were the fall guys this time, despite seeming to be so in control of the title that one bookmaker paid out early. Blackburn were United's closest challengers at halfway, with Arsenal down in sixth. Arsenal trailed United by 13 points at one stage.

Sir Alex Ferguson's side proceeded to take just one point from meetings with Southampton, Bolton and Leicester, then lost to Sheffield Wednesday and drew with West Ham before what proved a title-defining clash with Arsenal in March.

Marc Overmars netted late on, as Arsenal strung together a 10-game winning streak, and United slipped to second after home draws with Liverpool and Newcastle in April, finishing runners-up by one point.

3. Liverpool: 2013-14

Moving from maths to post-match monologues and melodrama. Enter stage left, Steven Gerrard. "This does not slip," bellowed an emotional Liverpool skipper after a 3-2 win at Manchester City made it 10 on the spin and put the Reds on the brink of a first title since 1990.

Yet, Gerrard soon did just that - slip - as the Liverpool midfielder lost his footing on the very turf where he had become an Anfield icon. Demba Ba raced away to score as a Chelsea team containing Mohamed Salah won 2-0 at Liverpool.

Liverpool's advantage was gone. They stormed into a three-goal lead at Crystal Palace in the penultimate game of the season but knew they needed more to outscore Manchester City, and instead they conceded three times in the closing minutes to only draw.

Gerrard left Anfield at the end of the following season without a Premier League winner's medal, though Liverpool would finally get their title in 2020.

2. Manchester United: 2011-12

It's one of the most iconic images in Premier League history: a bare-chested Sergio Aguero windmilling his Manchester City jersey around his head after scoring a 94th-minute winner that ripped the title from rivals United's grasp.

United had done their bit on that sunny May afternoon in 2012, winning at Sunderland. But really the damage was done in the preceding weeks as Ferguson's outfit gave up an eight-point lead with six games to play.

"Not in my lifetime," said a laughing Ferguson when asked if City, following their 2008 takeover, would ever be top dogs in Manchester. But that late Aguero drama confirmed the blue side of the city could celebrate a first Premier League crown.

1. Newcastle United: 1995-96

Sorry Newcastle fans, you knew this was coming.

Kevin Keegan's boys were the Premier League's great entertainers, yet the real drama came not with the flicks and tricks of Faustino Asprilla or David Ginola but with an epic collapse after they led Manchester United by 12 points in January 1996.

When Manchester United won at St James' Park in March, Ferguson's side had reeled the Magpies' lead in to one point. Then, with three games to go, they were level - both still having to face Leeds and Nottingham Forest.

It was Ferguson's quip after narrowly beating Leeds, suggesting teams "raise their game" against Manchester United, that proved the spark for Keegan's famous rant.

Newcastle won their Monday night meeting at Elland Road 12 days later, after which Keegan bemoaned Ferguson's comments about Leeds' players and a "man like Stuart Pearce".

He added: "You can tell him now, we're still fighting for this title and he's got to go to Middlesbrough and get something. And I'll tell you, honestly, I will love it if we beat them. Love it!"

Newcastle drew at Forest and were then held at home by Tottenham. Manchester United went to Middlesbrough and got something - a 3-0 win that sealed the title in their favour.