The three teams being relegated from the Premier League this season was confirmed last night when Fulham were beaten by Burnley.
Staying in the Premier League is more than just wanting to play top-flight football the following year. When clubs go down, owners tend to make wholesale changes and it can backfire massively. Look at Sunderland, Portsmouth, Bolton, and Charlton for example. All four of these clubs had long spells in the top flight and after relegation, some ended up going as far as League Two.
On the other hand, if you manage to stay up it can turn your club around. West Ham and Aston Villa last season finished 17th and 16th. Now Villa are fighting for top ten with West Ham looking to get a place in Europe.
The three clubs who will be relegated this season are, Sheffield United, West Brom and Fulham. They looked set for the drop halfway through the season and struggled to get out of the bottom three at any point since. They will all receive around £42 million from the Premier League over the course of the next two seasons to ensure or at least try and prevent, them from tumbling down the football leagues.
Sheffield United
The Blades were the first side to be relegated from the Premier League. This came as a huge surprise, especially after last season when they finished ninth in their first season back. They struggled from the off this season, waiting for 18 games before their first three points. This came against Newcastle but by this point, they were already in January and on just five points in general.
Relegation was pretty much guaranteed at this point, with big defensive injuries hampering them from the start. They signed Rhian Brewster at the start of the season for £25 million from Liverpool and in 25 appearances in the league, he’s failed to score once. Goalscoring has been a big issue for them this season as they have managed just 18 all season, the lowest in the league. Manager Chris Wilder parted ways with the club in March after five years in charge and next season is doing to be a tough one after such a disappointing year.
Their relegation was confirmed last month when Wolves beat them 1-0. United would need to win their remaining three games to not finish rock bottom.
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West Brom
The Baggies were one of the three sides to come up from the Championship last season and as a result, one of the favorites to go back down. Like Sheffield United, they took a while to get going and didn’t pick up their first win until November, where they beat the Blades 1-0. Slaven Bilic was given just three more games in charge after this, with the 1-1 draw with Man City being his final one.
Sam Allardyce was brought in, who had a very good record of never being relegated in his managerial career. He certainly made the side a lot better defensivley but it was goalscoring again that was the issue. Fans were hopeful that with his experience they would stay up, but it was not being able to turn more of the seven draws they had with him in charge into wins that would cost them.
They were beaten 3-1 by Arsenal at the weekend and with just 26 points and three games remainging, they now can’t catch Southampton on 37 points so will be heading straight back down.
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Fulham
Scott Parkers side were the favourites to go down this season after coming up in the play-offs last season. Their first points of teh season, came with from a draw with Sheffield United and a win over West Brom. A spell of just three losses in 15 games over Decemeber and January gave Fulham fans hope of surivial.
However, when you look closer into these results, ten of these games were draws. Fulham were missing their top goalscorer from the previous season Mitrovic as well as captain Cairney. These two are influential for their side in the final third and they never found a way to fill the gaps they left.
One point in their previous seven games, meant the 2-0 loss to Burnley last night would be the one that sent them down. Scott Parker had them playing some good football at times and made them very hard to beat for a period. The pressure towards the end of needing to win became to much as a result, they will be joining West Brom in going back down after just one year.
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