The Hitwise figures, which calculated the most website visits received to club's official homepages between the top 20 football teams in the country for the week ending August 4, found , to be the most supported club online with a 17.3% share of total visits.
The rankings closely resemble the final standings of last season's Premier League table, with title holders coming second in the poll with 15.4% of total visits, and , who was fourth last season, garnered 10.9% to finish third.
Hitwise said Liverpool FC had held the title of most popular football club in terms of online traffic for the last two years, barring one week in April this year when Manchester United closed in on the Premiership title.
The one major results anomaly was , which finished second in the league behind Manchester United, but managed to attract only 4.4% of total visits to make it the 11th best supported club online in the league based on the Hitwise figures.
Other clubs that featured prominently included , which pulled in 7.5% to finish fourth; , on 5.9% came fifth and tied on 5.7% with to finish sixth.
and attracted less than 1% of the total traffic to Premier League club's official homepages, finishing 19th and 20th with 0.54% and 0.74% respectively.
However, the Hitwise figures did not speculate on fan visits to unofficial homepages.
The study also challenged misconceptions about major clubs, including the myth that most Manchester United fans in the UK live outside Manchester, with 73% of fans polled claiming to be from north west England. They were closely followed by archrivals Liverpool, who had 72% of fans based in the north west.
Football fans are most "loyal" to their club in the north east of England, with recently promoted , and Newcastle United ranking first, second and fourth in terms of localised support.
Additionally, had the most amount of fans living in London, with West Ham United having the least.
.jpg)
.jpg)