With Aston Villa’s relegation battle officially on, the context of Villa potentially dropping out of the top-flight can be seen below in a table of which teams have spent the most years in the top tier.
Villa are currently second. A stat that backs up the club’s boast of having a ‘Proud History’, and suggests that Villa have no place in the championship.
But, at the moment, the most played league fixture in English football history, between Aston Villa and Everton, is under danger of being put on ice for at least a season.
Seasons in the Top-Flight from 1888-89 to end of 2011-12.
From a total of 114 seasons.
109 Everton
101 Aston Villa
97 Liverpool
95 Arsenal
87 Manchester United
83 Manchester City
81 Newcastle United
81 Sunderland
77 Tottenham Hotspur
77 Chelsea
————- top 10 ————-
74 West Bromwich Albion
73 Bolton Wanderers
72 Blackburn Rovers
66 Sheffield Wednesday
65 Derby County
63 Wolverhampton Wanderers
60 Sheffield United
60 Middlesbrough
56 Nottingham Forest
57 Birmingham City
56 Stoke City
52 Burnley
54 West Ham United
50 Leeds United
46 Preston North End
46 Leicester City
34 Coventry City
34 Southampton
33 Portsmouth
30 Notts County
30 Huddersfield Town
28 Blackpool
26 Ipswich Town
26 Charlton Athletic
22 Bury
21 Queens Park Rangers
21 Norwich City
23 Fulham
16 Luton Town
15 Cardiff City
14 Wimbledon
13 Crystal Palace
12 Oldham Athletic
12 Grimsby Town
12 Bradford City
9 Bristol City
8 Watford
5 Brentford
5 Accrington
4 Brighton & Hove Albion
3 Oxford United
3 Bradford Park Avenue
7 Wigan Athletic
2 Darwen
2 Reading
2 Hull City
3 Swansea City
2 Millwall
1 Swindon Town
1 Northampton
1 Leyton Orient
1 Glossop North End
1 Carlisle United
1 Barnsley