Britain's Fiercest Football Rivalries Revealed

Celtic & Rangers Revealed the Closest Football Derby in the UK

Arguably the fiercest rivalry in British sport is also one of the closest. Over the last 20 meetings only 1 goal separates the two Old Firm Glasgow giants, according to a new interactive table of Britain's top football derbies put together by HotelClub. It's 8 wins each between the Old Firm rivals as it stands, with Celtic finding the net 25 times to Rangers' 26.

Rangers fans will be anxious to see if their club's financial difficulties will rock the boat when it comes to the battle with the Celts.

Greatest winners

The spoils aren't so evenly spread across the land. In the last 20 encounters, Spurs have only managed 4 wins to London Arsenal’s 10, Hibs have had 3 games to cheer about to Hearts' 11, and Fulham have only secured a solitary win against their much wealthier neighbours, Chelsea, who have emerged victorious on 13 occasions.

Check out some of these matches and click on the image below to launch the interactive table:

Click the image to launch the full interactive version

The table shows Manchester City are well behind their local rival with only 6 favourable results to Man Uâ's impressive 11 triumphs.  City have one thing to smile about though this season's demolition of United at Old Trafford (6-1) is the joint largest victory across all of the top UK derbies in recent years.

Is it all about the goals?

Other clubs, who have enjoyed a 5-goal margin in one derby are Brentford (1965), Ipswich Town (1998), and Blackburn Rovers (2001), against rivals QPR, Norwich City and Burnley (respectively).

The highest scoring derby is Arsenal and Spurs with 77 goals between them. And the gamblers out there might like to know Liverpool have won every game against Everton in which they've scored. So if you fancy a half-time flutter, this could be one to watch.

Home vs Away

Home advantage can be a huge deterrent to opposing teams. Millwall have only managed to win once at Upton Park (home of West Ham), in the last 11 visits. And Everton haven't won at Anfield in the last 9 attempts. Wolverhampton Wolves seem easily tamed at West Brom, with the away support going home with their tail between their legs on the last 9 visits.

The Sheffield derby is not so much a game of 2 halves, but a game of two grounds. Each side has only clinched one victory on away trips in the city of steel. The rest of the time, the home side have had it locked down.

Why derbies?

With hotels all over the UK, HotelClub regularly hears from football fans who are making the pilgrimage back to their home town for derby matches. As such, we decided to indulge ourselves a little with the nation's favourite pastime and dig into these matches to put this table together.

It seems that for as long as these battles have been going on, neither team in any derby ever gives up. They never think it's all over, and we'd say it never quite will be!

Click here to launch the interactive scores table