The Premier League appears to be wide open this season. Although Liverpool and Manchester City are leading the way, Arsenal are still in with a chance of winning the title, while the likes of Aston Villa and Chelsea are fighting for a top-four spot.
The usual top-six suspects have been broken up this year by a surprise package – Nottingham Forest, who went into third place ahead of the Gunners after winning five of their opening ten games.
Can Nuno Espírito Santo’s men keep this up, or will they fall by the wayside over the coming months? Whatever happens, they have been one of the best teams of the season so far.
With this in mind, we have taken a trip down memory lane to examine the best of the top flight’s surprise packages, ranging from 5000-1 title winners to a newly promoted team qualifying for Europe.
We’ve ranked these based on the shock element and scale of their achievements.
9 Nottingham Forest 2024/25 Tricky Trees in Champions League places after terrific start
Since Nottingham Forest returned to the top flight following a 23-year absence back in 2022, they have narrowly avoided relegation each time.
Steve Cooper was sacked last December, with Espirito Santo replacing him. It turned out to be an inspired move.
The Portuguese manager is demonstrating all of his tactical nous so far this term, with Forest’s impressive 1-0 win over Liverpool and East Midlands derby victory over Leicester City the highlights of their campaign so far.
They have lost just once – to Fulham in September – and the recent 3-0 victory over West Ham saw the club at their very best.
The question is whether Santo will be able to maintain this fast start over the coming weeks. Time will tell, but if they can remain in the top six by Christmas, the club could yet secure European football for next season.
8 Sunderland 1999/00 Phillips goals fire Premier League new boys to 7th-place finish
Sunderland secured promotion to the 1999/00 Premier League by winning the Division One title the previous season, finishing 18 points ahead of second place.
A 4-0 defeat to Chelsea on the opening day looked ominous for the club before picking up four points from their next three games.
The Black Cats secured a 2-1 win over Newcastle in their fifth game, and it proved to be a catalyst, not suffering another loss until the end of November.
An 11-game winless spell between December and March looked like it could derail any thoughts they had of claiming a top-half finish. But thanks to Kevin Phillips’ 30 goals, they finished in an unlikely seventh place.
7 West Ham United 2020/21 Behind-closed-doors campaign ends with Hammers in Europe
West Ham United avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth in the 2019/20 campaign, firing Manuel Pellegrini midway through as they limped to safety, only absolutely confirming the top-flight status in the penultimate game.
Despite David Moyes keeping them up, expectations were low heading into 2020/21. Shrewd recruitment by the Scot saw the Irons suffer just five defeats between the start of the campaign and the end of January as the club seemed to thrive while crowds were absent from games.
While the likes of Jesse Lingard and Tomas Soucek stood out, the collective efforts of the team saw them secure a stunning sixth-place finish in the top flight, securing Europa League qualification in the process.
Moyes’ side won 19 games and finished on 65 points – both West Ham records in the Premier League. He would lead the club to a seventh-place finish the following season, before leading the team to the 2023 Conference League title.
6 Everton 2004/05 Toffees soar from 17th to 4th in superb campaign
Everton escaped relegation by just six points in 2003/04 and the onus was on Moyes to prevent this from happening again.
2004/05 was the polar opposite. Despite losing Wayne Rooney to Manchester United in August, the Toffees were the surprise package of the season, winning 18 matches and keeping in touch with Chelsea and Arsenal during the first half of the campaign – peaking at second after a win in the Merseyside derby.
Results dipped between February and May as the Goodison Park side won only five of their final 16 games, including a dismal 7-0 drubbing by Arsenal in the penultimate match.
Thanks to Tim Cahill, Everton secured a fourth-place finish in the league, edging out Liverpool in the process, all despite having a negative goal difference.
5 Wolves 2018/19 Nuno's Old Gold impress in first top-flight season
Under the guidance of Espirito Santo, Wolves were dominant in winning the Championship title in 2017/18. Although the supporters would have envisioned the club remaining in the top flight, no one was prepared for what came next.
The Old Gold won 16 games that season, winning 57 points in the process as they finished seventh. This was their highest top-flight finish since 1980.
Due to Manchester City winning the domestic treble, Wolves qualified for the Europa League for the 2019/20 campaign. Not only did they reach the quarter-finals of the competition, but they also finished seventh again. They haven’t had it as good since.
4 Nottingham Forest 1994/95 Promoted Forest surge into Europe
Brian Clough’s final season in charge of Forest saw them slip out of the top flight for the first time in over 15 years. Under former defender Frank Clark, the club returned straight back to the Premier League after a second-place finish in Division One.
Maintaining their place in the top flight was their ambition, but Clark had other ideas. The team didn’t sit outside the top six all season, eventually winning 22 of their 42 matches to finish third, 12 points behind eventual champions Blackburn Rovers.
This position saw them qualify for the UEFA Cup, their first European adventure in over a decade, although Stan Collymore was sold at the end of the campaign having netted 22 league goals for the team.
As of 2023/24, this is the highest a newly promoted side has finished in the Premier League. Can the current crop of Forest stars replicate this?
3 Newcastle United 2011/12 Ba and Cisse inspire Pardew's Magpies into Europe
Newcastle United were in the Championship as recently as 2009/10, finishing in a credible 12th position under Alan Pardew a year later, despite having to sell star striker Andy Carroll midway through that campaign for a club-record £35m fee to Liverpool.
Summer arrivals included Yohan Cabaye and Demba Ba, who scored 20 goals combined throughout the campaign. The Toon went through the opening 11 games unbeaten before losing four of their next six games until January.
The signing of Papiss Cisse in the winter window proved instrumental as he netted a staggering 13 goals to lift the club to fifth place in the table, above Chelsea, who won that season’s Champions League title.
European qualification was secured in the process and Newcastle went into the final day still in the Champions League race, but 5th was the highest Pardew would climb with the Magpies.
2 Ipswich Town 2000/01 Burley's Tractor Boys end promotion campaign in UEFA Cup
Ipswich Town reached the play-offs in Division One for a fourth time in a row during 1999/00, before finally securing a return to the top flight after defeating Barnsley in the final.
Avoiding relegation was the aim for George Burley, but the 2000/01 season gave the top flight one of the best surprise packages in its history as the Tractor Boys finished 5th.
Winning 20 games, Burley even had his team challenging for third position, but defeat to Charlton towards the end of the season ended that dream. Even still, the East Anglian side only finished four points adrift of second-placed Arsenal.
In the end, they qualified for the UEFA Cup, which was to be their first foray into continental competition since 1982. Burley won the Manager of the Year award for his accomplishments that term. The bubble burst the following season, however, as they finished 18th.
1 Leicester City 2015/16 Ranieri's Foxes secure fairytale title win against all the odds
Surely the greatest surprise package of any English top-flight season. Leicester City stormed their way to a famous title win during the 2015/16 campaign as everything clicked together for the club.
Former Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri was appointed in the summer of 2015 with the club looking to maintain their place in the top flight after an incredible survival in their first year back up.
Fast-forward ten months, and the Italian had somehow led the club to the Premier League title. Smart recruitment combined with Ranieri getting the best out of the players at his disposal meant the Foxes suffered defeat just twice between August and January.
In the end, the 5000–1 outsiders for the title lost just three times in the Premier League, defeating the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur on their way to glory.
Jamie Vardy broke the record for consecutive goals scored in the Premier League with 11, while Riyad Mahrez became the first African player to win the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award.
Arguably one of the finest title wins in English top-flight history, this may not be repeated for quite a few years, as Leicester took advantage of Man City, Arsenal and champions Chelsea all slipping up. Was it ever in any doubt?
