The Guardian ran a fascinating infographic today showing the most popular Premier League team by geographic region worldwide. At first glance, it’s a melting pot of colors, but Arsenal is yellow, Chelsea is blue, Liverpool is green while Manchester United is red. For the other clubs and more detailed data, look at the original source.

Here are the surprising facts gleamed from the Twitter data:

1. Who knew there were this many Arsenal supporters stateside?

Surprisingly for some, despite the absence of all but one trophy over the past decade (and after playing only 1 game in 25 years in the USA), Arsenal maintains the strongest presence in North America (as indicated by the yellow color in the above map). The Arsenal brand has been associated with a values-based way of thinking about soccer, and that has appealed to many around the globe, as has the cosmopolitan nature of the Gunners squads under Arsene Wenger.

Arsenal went 25 years without visiting the United States, while Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Everton and Liverpool made regular visits. Nonetheless, the power of television and the Internet has sent the Gunners to the top of the United States popularity charts in a competitive four-way contest with Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool.

However, there’s an unverified report that 64% of the Arsenal followers on Twitter are bots and not supporters.

2. Chelsea continues to make in-roads in North America

Chelsea’s consistently strong team has made significant inroads globally in terms of fan support as the Premier League has surged in popularity. Much of Chelsea’s support owes itself to the signing of high-profile players from certain nations – the number of Chelsea players that have hailed from Brazil and Spain have made the Blues the most popular Premier League sides in those large countries, while Didier Drogba and Michael Essien featuring as superstar African players for Chelsea has made the Blues competitive with Arsenal in West Africa.

Chelsea, in particular, are very popular in Mexico, while its numerous tours to North America are making in roads in regards to increasing its popularity.

3. Manchester United fans in US are surprisingly “missing” on Twitter

Manchester United has retained a dominant position in much of Asia and parts of Africa. However the Red Devils have lagged behind in the Americas despite the ownership of the Glazer family and the claims of global brand preeminence over other English clubs. Manchester United supporters are abundant in the United States, but they’re surprisingly outnumbered by their counterparts.

Manchester United’s regular trips to Sub-Saharan Africa have been impactful as the Red Devils maintain strong support in the southern part of the African continent. But for a brand with such a powerful global imprint, Latin America remains elusive for the Old Trafford based club.

4. Chelsea dominates Latin America

Chelsea dominates the Latin American scene, largely thanks to the number of South American players that have featured at Stamford Bridge, but also global marketing and success in European competitions. The factor of Chelsea being a London-based club cannot be discounted in Latin America either – the United Kingdom had no colonies in the America’s south of the Caribbean and while the nation had a mercantile influence on Argentina, many of the ties between the UK and Latin America run directly through London. While this may seem to be the case with most of the world, places like India, Australia and Canada which were under direct British influence, have lots of ties to other parts of the UK which persist today.

5. Liverpool continues to be the most-loved team in the United Kingdom

Liverpool, unsurprisingly continues to be the favored side in the British Isles. In the counties south and east of London, Arsenal remains the most popular side while Newcastle dominates Northumbria. Pockets of Manchester United supremacy especially in Greater Manchester (except the city of Manchester itself which favors Manchester City) are prevalent but throughout the British Isles Liverpool has a strong presence and is the most popular side in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Much of Liverpool’s support has persisted from the pre-globalization era of English football. Those who grew up in the 1970’s and 1980’s favored the Reds not only because of the club’s successes both domestically and in Europe but also the club ethos and culture which defined a region of the country. This also explains the strong and lasting support for Liverpool in Australia.

In the globalization era, while Liverpool has had less success than Arsenal, Chelsea or Manchester United, they have developed a strong following throughout the world owing itself largely to the club culture. Liverpool trails Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United in the United States but the gap is not that large and with John W. Henry’s ownership of the Reds in full swing, the gap could close significantly in the next few years.

6. Manchester City have a mountain to climb

The Twitter results paint a difficult picture for Manchester City’s project. The Citizens have been unable to penetrate the top three in terms of support in most of the world. This has come despite domestic on-the-pitch success and a cosmopolitan multi-ethnic squad. But with the Premier League growing in popularity every year among new international fans, it might simply be a matter of time before City becomes a global brand on the level of the other clubs discussed here.

7. Trophies don’t mean everything

The biggest takeaway from the infographic is that despite Arsenal and Liverpool’s relative lack of trophies when compared with Chelsea and Manchester United, these clubs remain highly competitive in terms of global branding and thus the “big four” is clearly alive and well.