Friday 17 April 2020 09:32, UK
Southern clubs are becoming more successful than their northern rivals in the Premier League, a new Sky Sports study has found.
Sky Sports looked at the top four Premier League clubs over the last 25 years and combined the season-ending points, according to whether the club was based in north or south England.
The graph below shows northern clubs dominated the early Premier League years, led by Manchester United.
Not one southern club finished in the top four during 1994/95 and 1995/96 - the former season marked the greatest disparity between the regions to date with northern clubs accumulating 328 top-four points to the south's blank.
But Arsenal's success during the late 1990s and early 2000s, followed by the rise of Chelsea and Tottenham and decline of Manchester United's league standings has seen southern clubs reduce the deficit to become the dominant force over the last three years.
London-based Chelsea remain on track for their second league title in three years after a 3-0 win against Everton on Sunday.
Meanwhile, second-placed Spurs fuelled debates of a power shift in north London with a convincing 2-0 victory over Arsenal.
North of the border - defined by a University of Sheffield study - fifth-placed Manchester United endured their 10th draw at Old Trafford this season against Swansea, while neighbours City were held in fourth place after a 2-2 stalemate at Middlesbrough.
The north-south border (courtesy of the University of Sheffield)
Both clubs made marquee managerial appointments in the summer in Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, respectively - but both have failed to match southern table-toppers Chelsea and Tottenham.
Liverpool topped the league in November after a 6-1 goal fest against Watford but slipped to fifth after a torrid January before rising back to third - currently sitting 12 points behind the league leaders.
Combined, Chelsea and Tottenham are currently 23 points better off than their northern counterparts Liverpool and Manchester City.
Northern clubs ruled the Premier League summit until 1997/98, with Manchester United winning four titles and Blackburn winning another, while Liverpool, Newcastle and Aston Villa also represented the north with frequent top-four finishes.
Southern clubs broke the north's grip in 1997/98 when Arsenal won the title and were joined by London neighbours Chelsea in fourth - but United proceeded to claim three successive league crowns.
Arsenal beat United to the title in in 2001/02 but despite the Londoners' success, the Gunners had five northern rivals between them and sixth-placed Chelsea - equating to 141 extra points to the north in the top four.
Northern dominance began to wane in 2003/04 when the Gunners claimed their last league title to date during their undefeated Invincibles season. Since then, the north and south have both accumulated more top-four points on seven occasions.
The points' tally of top four clubs remained relatively equal between north and south until 2008/09.
In 2009/10, Chelsea finished one point ahead of Manchester United as champions, and London rivals Arsenal and Spurs also made the top four to claim a combined 146-point advantage over the north.
However, the north reclaimed a slender superiority over the south for the next four years - but two southern clubs finished in the top four during each season.
The tables turned in 2014/15 when Chelsea won the Premier League under Jose Mourinho and the north has endured an inferior disparity since.
Manchester City are the last northern club to win the title in 2013/14, while reigning champions Leicester, classed as a southern club by the university study, helped the south gain a record-high 156-point winning margin over the north.
In fact, City were the only club north of the border to finish in the top four last season, while Guardiola's side and Liverpool occupy the lower half of the top four this term.
Arsenal's defeat at White Hart Lane confirmed the Gunners will finish behind their London rivals for the first time in 22 years - but can the Gunners finish above both their northern rivals and guarantee European qualification?
Watch Arsenal v Manchester United live on Sky Sports 1 from 3.30pm on Sunday
