Ah okay, I see where you're coming from. Well here is how 2nd to 3rd compare, apologies for the poor formatting, not sure how to make it easy to read:
2015 Watford 89 Norwich 86
2014 Burnley 93 Derby 85
2013 Hull 79 Watford 77
2012 Southampton 88 West Ham 86
2011 Norwich 84 Swansea 80
2010...
Sorry I'm not aware of it ever coming up before. I had a choice of displaying points of sides finishing in 2nd or 3rd and 3rd felt like a more useful figure. Sorry if I'm wrong there.
Of the 27 second tier seasons to span 46 games these are the points totals of the clubs finishing in 3rd place. So we'd need a better GD or a point more than these totals to win promotion in those years gone by. It looks like this season could be at the higher end of this list. Boro's PPG at the...