Newcastle United would have finished the Premier League season a place higher if standings had been based on the aggregate scores between clubs. The Odds-Comparison.com website have compiled the alternative table, which also has Liverpool snatching the title from Manchester City, Arsenal claiming a Champions League spot and Burnley staying up at the expense of Southampton.
A miserable Manchester United season would have been even worse, meanwhile, with the fallen Old Trafford giants positioned ninth in the placings. Based on the aggregate results from home and away meetings with every club in the division, only Aston Villa, who finished the season 14th, got the better of Newcastle from teams in the bottom half of the genuine table.
Otherwise, the Magpies would have triumphed over two contests against ninth-placed Brighton (3-2), as well as overcoming Crystal Palace (2-1), Brentford (5-3), Southampton (4-3), Everton (3-2), Leeds (2-1), Burnley (3-1) and Norwich (4-1). Draws, meanwhile, would have been registered against 19th-placed Watford (2-2), Arsenal (2-2) and Wolves (2-2), giving United a total of 27 points - the same as Manchester United - and placing them 10th in the aggregate rankings.
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Newcastle's heaviest aggregate defeat was 9-0 to eventual Premier League champions Manchester City with December's 4-0 home loss followed by this month's 5-0 beating at the Etihad. Only Leeds suffered a heavier aggregate defeat during the top-flight campaign - succumbing 11-0 to the same opponents.
But aggregate victories for Crystal Palace and Spurs over Pep Guardiola's men would have seen them surrender the title to Liverpool in the Odds-Comparison.com table. Old Trafford neighbours United's aggregate mid-table finish was not helped by huge aggregate losses to Liverpool (9-0) and City (6-1), while Southampton would have gone down by virtue of only overcoming four teams over two games.
With Arsenal jumping into the top four, Chelsea would have needed to be content with a Europa League place, along with Leicester, whilst Aston Villa would have just pipped surprise package Brentford to the Conference League qualifying spot on goal difference. Actual Conference League qualifiers West Ham are down in 13th.
Here is the aggregate table, as compiled by Odd-Comparison.com:
The top-five aggregate scorelines were: Man City 11 Leeds 0; Liverpool 9 Leeds 0; Liverpool 9 Manchester United 0; Manchester City 9 Newcastle United 0; Manchester City 9 Norwich 0.
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