Maybe it was the World Cup Draw bounce or a nice lift from the previous weekend’s Manchester United game, but the Nielsen Ratings for last weekend’s match between Portsmouth and Burnley, far from being two popular teams in America, achieved the sixth highest rating of the 2009-2010 Premier League season thus far.

The broadcast generated a 0.2 rating and was watched by an estimated 278,078 viewers in the United States. Take a look to see how well the ratings are compared to the rest of the season so far:

Top Nielsen Ratings for Premier League Games on ESPN2: August through December 5, 2009:

  1. Liverpool v Aston Villa,  8/24/2009, Monday, 3pm ET, 398391 viewers
  2. Portsmouth v Manchester United,  11/28/2009, Saturday, 10am, 396995
  3. Wigan v Man United, 8/22/2009, Saturday, 10am,  374799
  4. Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur, 10/31/2009, Saturday, 8:45am, 325187
  5. Manchester City v West Ham United, 9/28/2009, Monday, 3pm, 293600
  6. Portsmouth v Burnley, 12/5/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 278,078
  7. Portsmouth v Everton, 9/26/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 270927
  8. Bolton Wanderers v Tottenham Hotspur, 10/3/2009,  Saturday, 10am, 265508
  9. Tottenham v Sunderland, 11/7/2009, Saturday, 10am, 259831
  10. Chelsea v Burnley, 8/29/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 253934
  11. Liverpool v Burnley, 9/12/2009, Saturday, 10am, 253779
  12. Aston Villa v Manchester City, 10/5/2009, Monday, 3pm, 248956
  13. Liverpool v Manchester City, 11/21/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 236247
  14. Fulham v Hull City, 10/19/2009, Monday, 3pm, 209207
  15. Aston Villa v Chelsea, 10/17/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 206886
  16. Wolverhampton Wanderers v Aston Villa, 10/24/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 204882
  17. Burnley v Sunderland, 9/19/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 199380
  18. Liverpool v Birmingham City, 11/9/2009, Monday, 3pm, 182138
  19. Chelsea v Hull City, 8/15/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 164485