If there is one thing the 2017/18 Premier League season taught us, it’s that no club is safe from relegation, whatever their stature.
Last season, West Bromwich Albion, Stoke City and Swansea City were relegated from the Premier League. Swansea City had spent seven seasons in the Premier League, Stoke City ten seasons and West Bromwich Albion seven seasons before they were all relegated at end of the last campaign.
If you looked at the odds before the start of last season, you would have seen Huddersfield Town and Brighton and Hove Albion as the favourites to go down. What did these two teams have in common? They were both promoted from the Championship the season before and given little chance of survival in the Premier League.
The 2018/19 season will see the Premier League welcome Wolverhampton Wanderers, Cardiff City and Fulham.
Cardiff City have immediately been installed as the favourites to be relegated back to the Championship at the first time of asking. The Bluebirds have spent money this summer but each of the players brought in to the club have come from the Championship. Despite showing plenty of guts and determination to finish second in the Championship last season, that’s not going to be enough to survive in the Premier League.
Fulham have spent big money to obtain the services of central midfielder Jean Michael Seri from Nice and appear close to making a deal for striker Aleksandar Mitrovic. They already have a star player in Ryan Sessegnon and play good, attacking football. Fulham have a very good chance of avoiding relegation from the Premier League.
Wolves fans will also be feeling confident following their dominant display in winning promotion last season. They have players from the Spanish and Portuguese leagues in the squad having completed the full signings of Diogo Jota and Willy Boly. With Ruben Neves showing he is more than good enough for the Premier League with his superb performances in the Championship last season, Wolves have a central midfielder capable of doing great things in the top-flight.
Both Wolves and Fulham could beat the drop, meaning two relegation places could be filled by teams already in the Premier League.
Huddersfield were excellent last season and caused a shock by avoiding the drop. However, with the quality of the teams coming up from the Championship and their manager, David Wagner, seemingly in demand elsewhere, this could be a very difficult season for The Terriers and relegation is a distinct possibility.
Stoke City were not expected to feature in the bottom three last season and we could see another surprise in this campaign. Bournemouth struggled at the beginning of the 2017/18 season and found themselves in the relegation zone come Christmas.
The Cherries produced a good second half of the season to move up to 12th place but Eddie Howe has failed to add any great quality to his team this summer. Unless there is some significant action in the transfer market before the window shuts, it could be a long season on the south coast as Bournemouth battle to avoid the drop.