Despite losing 16 straight games in the Premier League following their 2-0 loss to Everton at Goodison Park on September 25, 2021, Norwich City fell four games short of surpassing the all-time top flight English league record.
Following a dreadful loss at Man City on August 21, Norwich already owned second position on the list of the most consecutive Premier League losing runs. The Canaries now enjoy the unwelcome distinction of having the second-longest losing streak in the Premier League, as well as the second-longest losing streak in the history of the English top division, surpassing Aston Villa's 11-game losing streak from 2016.
It's still far from Sunderland's historic 20-game losing skid that occurred over the course of two separate Premier League seasons between January 2003 and September 2005.
The first 15 of those matches for the Black Cats took place in the 2002–03 season, when they surprisingly ended last in the standings and performed well enough to be included in our list of the worst Premier League teams. By alone, that 15-match losing streak would have been lengthy enough to surpass the longest top-flight losing streaks in English history, but to make sure they, presumably, would break the record, they started their 2005–06 season as a newly promoted team with an additional five straight losses. After all, twenty is a beautiful even number.
Sunderland’s 20-game Losing Run
Lost 2-1 away at Everton – 18 January 2003
Lost 1-0 at home to Southampton – 28 January 2003
Lost 3-1 at home to Charlton Athletic – 1 February 2003
Lost 4-1 away at Tottenham Hotspur – 8 February 2003
Lost 3-1 at home to Middlesbrough – 22 February 2003
Lost 1-0 away at Fulham – 1 March 2003
Lost 2-0 at home to Bolton Wanderers – 15 March 2003
Lost 2-0 away at West Ham United – 22 March 2003
Lost 2-1 at home to Chelsea – 5 April 2003
Lost 2-0 away to Birmingham City – 12 April 2003
Lost 2-1 at home to West Bromwich Albion – 19 April 2003
Lost 3-0 away at Manchester City – 21 April 2003
Lost 1-0 at home to Newcastle United – 26 April 2003
Lost 1-0 away at Aston Villa – 3 May 2003
Lost 4-0 at home to Arsenal – 11 May 2003
Lost 3-1 at home to Charlton Athletic – 13 August 2005
Lost 1-0 away at Liverpool – 20 August 2005
Lost 2-1 at home to Manchester City – 23 August 2005
Lost 1-0 away at Wigan – 27 August 2005
Lost 2-0 away at Chelsea – 10 September 2005
The first five losses of 2005–06 set the tone for the remainder of the campaign. Sunderland supporters likely believed that things couldn't get worse than they were in 2002–03, but they both could and did. With only 15 points, they came in last place, the second-lowest season total since the competition's inception in 1992. Sunderland's 29 losses this season are the most in a Premier League football club's history, while the team's three victories are the fewest in a season in the top division. Later that year, Sunderland even managed to compile a nine-game losing streak that ranks alongside Fulham's as the fourth-worst in Premier League history.
No Premier League team lost more home games between the 2002–03 and their next season in the top level (2005–06) than Sunderland (28), despite the fact that the team spent two seasons in the second tier during this time (2003-04 and 2005-06).
However, football didn't start till 1992. I hear you screaming. Okay: Sunderland's 20-game losing streak is a Premier League record as well as an English top-flight record overall.
Prior to Manchester United, who had a 14-game losing streak between April and October 1930 that included some bizarre results, including a 5-1 loss at Old Trafford and a three-game stretch of losses by scores of 6-2, 6-0, and 7-4, Norwich held the second-worst losing top-flight record in England. One of Manchester United's five relegations from the top flight resulted from one of those losses (12), which occurred at the beginning of the 1930–31 Division One season. Unsurprisingly, that season was also the one in which they lost the most games overall (27) and suffered the joint-most home losses (12). (9).
What about that Norwich City run, then? Of course, it continued through their relegation season in 2019–20 and additional losses in 2021–22 against Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, Jurgen Klopp's Reds of Liverpool, and then defeats to Leicester and Arsenal before a 3–1 loss to Watford and the 16th consecutive loss away at Everton.
Norwich City’s 16-game Losing Run
Lost 1-0 away at Sheffield United – 7 March 2020
Lost 3-0 at home to Southampton – 19 June 2020
Lost 1-0 at home to Everton – 24 June 2020
Lost 4-0 away at Arsenal – 1 July 2020
Lost 1-0 at home to Brighton & Hove Albion – 4 July 2020
Lost 2-1 away at Watford – 7 July 2020
Lost 4-0 at home to West Ham United – 11 July 2020
Lost 1-0 away at Chelsea – 14 July 2020
Lost 2-0 at home to Burnley – 18 July 2020
Lost 5-0 away at Manchester City – 26 July 2020
Lost 3-0 at home to Liverpool – 14 August 2021
Lost 5-0 away at Manchester City – 21 August 2021
Lost 2-1 at home to Leicester City – 28 August 2021
Lost 1-0 away at Arsenal – 11 September 2021
Lost 3-1 at home to Watford – 18 September 2021
Lost 2-0 away at Everton – 25 September 2021