The Top 5 Premier League Clubs With The Most Hated Fans

Which Premier League club has the most hated fans?

It is an almost impossible question to answer scientifically. Football rivalries are tribal, opinions change with success and failure, and the biggest clubs naturally attract more attention than everyone else.

Even so, the available evidence points decisively towards one answer at the moment. Arsenal ranks as the Premier League’s most hated fanbase in our Fanbase Dislike Index, finishing ahead of Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.

This index combines a UK football supporter survey, social media sentiment, Reddit complaints and wider public opinion data.

Check the methodology section at the bottom of the page for a full breakdown of the sources.

Premier League Tickets

^{Be There for Any Rivalry!}

Premier League Fanbase Dislike Index: The Top Five

In essence, we’ll measure the strength of negative perceptions surrounding each fanbase rather than making a judgement about millions of individual supporters.

The index scores are comparative rather than percentages. Arsenal receive 100 because they recorded the strongest result in every part of the metric.

Also remember that an index score of 81.8 does not mean that 81.8% of people dislike Liverpool.

5. Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham Hotspur narrowly take fifth place with an Dislike Index score of 43.0, finishing only one point ahead of Manchester City.

Spurs’ position is driven principally by broad social and public dislike. Around 37% of the social media discussion analysed about Tottenham supporters was classified as negative, while the club also recorded one of the highest awareness-adjusted dislike scores in the YouGov element of our calculation.

The Reddit results were far less dramatic, as complaints about Spurs supporters were neither especially frequent nor particularly intense compared with those concerning Arsenal, Liverpool or Manchester United.

This tells us that dislike of Tottenham is relatively widespread without necessarily inspiring the strongest hostility.

Tottenham’s reputation as a traditional Big Six club is likely to play a part. Their rivalries with Arsenal and Chelsea expose them to two large and highly active sets of opposition supporters. Meanwhile, the contrast between the club’s profile, resources and periods of limited success has created an entire ‘spursy’ genre of jokes about Tottenham setbacks.

Spurs’ final position is not exactly set in stone. Manchester City would move above the Lilywhites if greater weight were placed on the direct supporter survey, while Everton would enter the top five under a more digitally focused version of the index.

4. Chelsea

Chelsea finish fourth with a score of 56.7 and have perhaps the most evenly distributed negative profile in the top five.

In the 2026 Football Fan Survey, Chelsea received broadly similar numbers of votes across the most disliked, most annoying, most delusional and most unbearable categories. Their position in the ranking was not boosted by one unusually strong result or a short-lived online controversy.

That consistency reflects Chelsea’s prominent spot in English football for more than two decades now. Sustained trophy success, considerable spending and the perception that financial backing accelerated the club’s rise from cup specialists to regular league toppers have all helped make Chelsea a target for rival supporters.

Geography naturally adds to the effect. Chelsea have major rivalries with Arsenal and Tottenham, as well as long-standing tensions with several other London clubs.

Their large online following ensures that arguments about transfers, managers, ownership and results can be shrill and rarely stay confined to Chelsea circles.

Chelsea’s social media negativity score was less extreme than those of Arsenal or Liverpool, but they performed strongly enough in the direct survey, Reddit analysis and public dislike data to hold fourth place comfortably.

3. Manchester United

Manchester United would probably have won a ranking based entirely on traditional polling. They finished only two votes behind Arsenal when respondents were asked to name their most disliked club and placed close to the top of the most annoying and most unbearable fanbase categories.

Their overall Dislike Index score of 67.0 is reduced by a surprisingly modest broad social media result. Only 26% of the discussion studied about Manchester United supporters was classified as negative, placing them well below several less historically prominent clubs in that particular dataset.

When football fans are directly asked which club they dislike, Manchester United’s name quickly comes to mind. In ordinary online conversation during the measured period, however, hostility towards their supporters was less dominant.

Much of United’s reputation was built during the club’s prolonged period of Premier League supremacy.

Years of winning titles under Sir Alex Ferguson created rivalries and resentment across several generations, particularly among supporters of Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City and Leeds United.

United’s enormous domestic and international following also means that almost every football community contains vocal supporters of the club.

Hatred does not necessarily imply a lack of respect. The same 2026 survey that placed United near the top of its negative categories named Manchester United as having the best away support in English football, with 21.4% of the vote.

Rival fans may find United supporters irritating while admiring their numbers, loyalty and presence at away grounds.

2. Liverpool

Liverpool are the most consistent challengers to Arsenal, recording an Dislike Index score of 81.8.

They rank near the top across every type of evidence used. Liverpool accumulated 580 negative votes in the Football Fan Survey, recorded 41% negative social media sentiment and placed second in the Reddit analysis for both the frequency and emotional intensity of complaints about supporters.

Unlike some clubs that performed exceptionally strongly in only one dataset, Liverpool’s position cannot easily be attributed to a temporary controversy. They appear prominently whenever rival supporters are directly questioned, when broad online conversations are analysed and when explicit complaints about fanbases are isolated on Reddit.

Liverpool’s historic success, distinctive supporter identity and enormous following naturally produce strong opinions.

The rivalry with Manchester United is also key here. In the Football Fan Survey, 64 United supporters named Liverpool as the club they disliked most, while 60 Liverpool supporters selected Manchester United.

Recent success has also placed Liverpool at the centre of national and online football discussion. High expectations, extensive media coverage and a perceived vocal digital fanbase mean that Liverpool supporters are highly visible, even to people who do not regularly interact with fans of smaller clubs.

As with Manchester United, dislike exists alongside considerable respect. Liverpool were voted the best home support in English football, receiving 23.4% of the vote.

Their fanbase is therefore better described as polarising than simply unpopular: Anfield’s atmosphere and Liverpool’s supporter culture are widely admired, but the same prominence creates irritation among rival fans.

1. Arsenal

Arsenal appear to possess the most hated fanbase in the Premier League at the moment.

The Gunners recorded a perfect Dislike Index score of 100 after leading every component used in the calculation. No other club achieved the same consistency across direct polling, wider social media discussion, Reddit complaints and general public opinion.

Arsenal topped the Football Fan Survey’s rankings for:

• Most disliked club
• Most annoying fanbase
• Most delusional fanbase
• Most unbearable fanbase

Their combined total of 855 negative votes was approximately 20% higher than Manchester United’s total in second place.

Almost one in four respondents named Arsenal supporters as the most annoying, while 21.3% selected them as the most delusional fanbase.

Pulling from a few sources, the outcome cannot simply be dismissed as rival supporters targeting an underrepresented club. Arsenal fans accounted for 20.5% of the survey sample, meaning that the Gunners led the negative categories despite having a substantial number of their own supporters among the respondents.

Arsenal also topped the Reddit table, with the highest frequency and intensity of complaints, and shared first place in the Brandwatch social media analysis.

That study pored over hundreds of thousands of mentions and connected the level of negativity surrounding Arsenal to the title race, refereeing arguments and the visibility of the club’s online following.

Several factors may contribute to the result. Arsenal have one of English football’s largest global fanbases, intense rivalries with Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester United, and a highly active online supporter culture.

They are also experiencing a spell of sustained competitiveness, winning the Premier League in 2025/26 and reaching the Champions League final that same month, following a semi-final the year before.

Arguments about refereeing decisions and perceived conspiracies frequently spread beyond Arsenal-focused accounts, while Mikel Arteta’s personality and touchline behaviour divide rival supporters.

Arsenal Fan TV also gave the club’s most emotional supporter reactions a national and international audience long before most teams developed comparable fan channels.

It would be simplistic to blame one platform, but its influence helped establish many of the stereotypes attached to Arsenal’s online following.

As we’ve mentioned, Arsenal do not win the index because of one survey or one especially hostile period on social media. Every form of evidence we have used points us in the same direction.

That makes their first place position a lot more conclusive than, say, Tottenham’s inclusion in fifth.

How Has the Ranking Changed Since 2023?

Our original 2023 survey named Manchester United as the Premier League fanbase most disliked by rival supporters, with Liverpool second and Chelsea third.

Arsenal only landed fourth place, while Tottenham Hotspur and Leeds United were neck-and-neck in fifth.

Three years later and Arsenal have rocketed to the top. The Gunners lead all four components of the Fanbase Dislike Index, suggesting that their rise is not dependent on one poll or a temporary social media controversy. Instead it correlates to a relatively long period of high achievement by the club.

Manchester United have fallen to third, partly because their long established reputation was much stronger in direct supporter polling than in the broader social media analysis.

Liverpool are paragons of consistency. They ranked second in 2023 and retain that position in the new index, performing strongly across supporter polling, social media sentiment and explicit Reddit complaints.

Chelsea and Tottenham also remain in the top five, although both move down relative to Arsenal’s rise.

We should make a caveat here, as the two rankings do not use identical methodologies. The 2023 list came from one direct survey question, whereas the new index combines several types of evidence.

Still, it shows how the available picture has changed, even if it doesn't give us a precise three-year swing in public opinion.

Who Has the Most Hated Fans in the Premier League?

Arsenal have the most hated Premier League fanbase according to the Ticket-Compare.com Fanbase Dislike Index. The Gunners score 100 after leading all four parts of the metric, with Liverpool a clear second on 81.8.

Manchester United retain one of English football’s most deeply rooted reputations for provoking rival supporters, but their lower social media negativity score places them third. Chelsea are fourth, while Tottenham narrowly beat Manchester City to fifth place.

The results do not mean that these clubs have the worst supporters. In several cases, the same fanbases that attract the greatest hostility are also admired for their numbers, loyalty and atmosphere. Football’s most hated supporters tend to be the ones who are hardest to ignore.

Ticket-Compare.com is an aggregator comparing Premier League tickets across pre-vetted secondary markets and multiple clubs’ official resellers.

Right now there are thousands of Premier League tickets available via our platform, with prices starting from $42.

Methodology

The Dislike Index combines the FreeBets Football Fan Survey 2026 at 35%, a Brandwatch social media sentiment study commissioned for British Gambler at 30%, the Hyperset Reddit Fanbase Reputation Table at 25% and YouGov Ratings at 10%.

Each dataset was converted to a score from 0 to 100 before applying the weightings.

YouGov dislike was adjusted for club awareness. Index points represent relative Dislike, not the percentage of people who dislike each fanbase. Clubs without sufficient comparable Premier League-era data could not receive a complete score.

Related Articles:

Premier League Away Ticket Allocations

Premier League Season Ticket Waiting Lists

Premier League Ticket Prices by Club

How to Buy Premier League Tickets Without Membership