Man Utd have built their season on come-from-behind wins, earning six more points than anyone else from losing positions. The key to beating Villa, though, is clear.
Ranked in order of most points gained from deficits, here is every club’s best – and in some cases, only – fightback so far this season…
1) Manchester United – 22 points gained from losing positions
12 deficits
W7 D1 L4
PPG after going behind: 1.83
Best comeback: Southampton 2-3 Man Utd
From 2-0 down at half-time, Edinson Cavani capped a second-half fightback with an added-time winner.
2) Leicester – 16 points
15 deficits
W4 D4 L7
PPG after going behind: 1.07
Best comeback: Man City 2-5 Leicester
The Foxes went behind early on to a goal from a former player before Jamie Vardy’s hat-trick helped blow City away.
3) Wolves – 13 points
19 deficits
W3 D4 L12
PPG after going behind: 0.68
Best comeback: Southampton 2-3 Wolves
Wolves were 2-0 down at Southampton before Raul Jimenez’s brace helped earn a come-from-behind win in January. Saints seem to have a problem…
4) Arsenal – 11 points
16 deficits
W3 D2 L11
PPG after going behind: 0.69
Best comeback: West Ham 3-3 Arsenal
The Gunners have developed a habit of coming from behind, recovering deficits in three of their last four, including wins over Leicester and Tottenham. But they climbed their biggest mountain at West Ham.
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5) Liverpool – 10 points
13 deficits
W3 D1 L9
PPG after going behind: 0.77
Best comeback: Liverpool 2-1 West Ham
Diogo Jota scored the winner with 10 minutes to go to send Liverpool three points clear at the top of the table, seemingly 427 years ago.
6) Leeds United – 10 points
18 deficits
W3 D1 L14
PPG after going behind: 0.56
Best comeback: Leicester 1-3 Leeds
Patrick Bamford removed himself as skipper of his own fantasy league team before having a hand in all three goals as Leeds recovered from Harvey Barnes’ early opener.
7) West Ham – 9 points
13 deficits
W2 D3 L8
PPG after going behind: 0.69
Best comeback: Spurs 3-3 West Ham
The Hammers did to Tottenham what Arsenal did to them on Sunday, with Spurs 3-0 up inside 16 minutes before Manuel Lanzini capped a ridiculous comeback with a ridiculous equaliser.
8) Chelsea – 8 points
10 deficits
W2 D2 L6
PPG after going behind: 0.8
Best comeback: Chelsea 3-1 Leeds
The Blues clawed back the biggest deficit when they recovered from a shambolic first half at West Brom to draw 3-3 but so poor were they at The Hawthorns that the home win over Leeds surely holds better memories for Frank Lampard. Under Tuchel, they have only gone behind once, in the draw at Southampton.
9) West Brom – 7 points
22 deficits
W1 D4 L17
PPG after going behind: 0.32
Best comeback: Wolves 2-3 West Brom
Big Sam’s new Baggies opened the scoring then trailed at half-time in the Black Country derby. But two goals shortly after the break saw Albion beat their new manager’s boyhood club.
10) Tottenham – 6 points
11 deficits
W2 D0 L9
PPG after going behind: 0.55
Best comeback: Man Utd 1-6 Tottenham
This was a lot of fun, after Jose’s Spurs had gone behind inside a minute at Old Trafford.
11) Everton – 6 points
14 deficits
W1 D3 L10
PPG after going behind: 0.43
Best comeback: Man Utd 3-3 Everton
United were 2-0 up and then led again deep into added time before David De Gea bottled it.
12) Burnley – 6 points
16 deficits
W1 D3 L12
PPG after going behind: 0.38
Best comeback: Burnley 3-2 Aston Villa
Burnley trailed twice to Villa and were behind with 15 minutes to go in their only come-from-behind win of the season so far.
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13) Crystal Palace – 4 points
14 deficits
W1 D1 L12
PPG after going behind: 0.29
Best comeback: Newcastle 1-2 Palace
Palace fell behind inside two minutes but turned it around inside 25 minutes to record back-to-back wins.
14) Southampton – 4 points
16 deficits
W1 D1 L14
PPG after going behind: 0.25
Best comeback: Chelsea 3-3 Southampton
Coming from behind to win at Brighton was sweet, but not nearly as funny as profiting from Chelsea’s capitulation back in October.
15) Brighton – 4 points
15 deficits
W0 D4 L11
PPG after going behind: 0.27
Best comeback: Brighton 1-1 Liverpool
No wins from losing positions, but taking a point off Liverpool thanks to some VAR nonsense in added time was a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon in November.
16) Newcastle – 4 points
19 deficits
W0 D4 L15
PPG after going behind: 0.21
Best comeback: Wolves 1-1 Newcastle
Wolves and Newcastle only ever draw 1-1, with Jacob Murphy’s 89th-minute free-kick the most notable action in this season’s meetings.
17) Sheffield United – 4 points
24 deficits
W1 D1 L22
PPG after going behind: 0.17
Best comeback: Sheff Utd 2-1 West Brom
The Baggies led through Matt Phillips but second-half goals from Jayden Bogle and Billy Sharp completed the turnaround. Fat lot of good it has done them…
18) Manchester City – 2 points
5 deficits
W0 D2 L3
PPG after going behind: 0.4
Best comeback: Man City 1-1 Liverpool
City fans haven’t experienced the joy of coming from behind to win this season, proving once more that being brilliant sucks.
19) Fulham – 2 points
15 deficits
W0 D2 L13
PPG after going behind: 0.13
Best comeback: Tottenham 1-1 Fulham
Maybe equalising against West Brom was a bigger point but spoiling Jose Mourinho’s evening was more enjoyable.
20) Aston Villa – 1 point
12 deficits
W0 D1 L11
PPG after going behind: 0.08
Best comeback: Chelsea 1-1 Villa
There’s literally no other choice beyond the draw at Stamford Bridge. So the key to beating Villa is simple: score the first goal. Or nobble Jack Grealish.
