Premier League New Boys Doomed for Relegation?

It is always a huge challenge for newly promoted teams to stay up in their first season. You can often see lower division’s clubs carry momentum from promotion to keep them safe, but I think the Premier League makes that impossible.

Is the gap too much for newly promoted sides?

There is just such a huge gulf in quality between the teams coming up from the Championship and the established Premier League sides. This season has seen Burnley, Leicester City and Queens Park Rangers enter the top flight; and already, that preseason optimism has been quickly snuffed out.

As we approach the 10th game-week of the season, two of these three sides are occupying relegation spots, with Leicester just hovering above at 17th. These three teams are used to winning matches so these results really came as a shock, with just four wins between them, and Burnley yet to record a victory.

Burnley

Has had the worst start of the three. Before a ball was even kicked, there were already doubts surrounding Burnley, with questions on whether or not they have sufficient quality in their team to compete this season. These suspicions have so far been confirmed.

The Clarets did pull off an impressive three-game consecutive run of clean sheets, but their problem lies in the goals department. Burnley invested the least amount in this summer’s transfer window, and I believe that Sean Dyche is asking too much of star-striker Danny Ings to keep them up.

More from Burnley FC

• Burnley close to snatching star from fellow promoted Premier League side
• Manchester United youngster is wanted on loan by Premier League side
• Vincent Kompany is pushing to bring Ajax’s Mohamed Daramy to Burnley
• Manchester CIty youngster to gain more first team experience with clubs circling
• Promoted Team Preview: Vincent Kompany’s Burnley look to surprise

Leicester City

Got the season off to an incredible start with points shared against Everton and Arsenal, as well as a surprise away win at Stoke, and that breathtaking 5-3 victory against United. Since then, it’s all been downhill.

There has been a real sense of worry in the fact that when a team passes up on opportunities to take points from fellow relegation battlers, it may prove costly later in the season. They are currently the highest placed side of the three and have looked the strongest, but improvements are still needed.

QPR

Were the biggest spenders of the three sides, but I was surprised to see Redknapp recruiting primarily from recently relegated Cardiff City and Norwich. Of course you can’t pin a team’s relegation on individual players, yet there is a fear that the negative mentality may pass through.

The Hoops have so far conceded the most number of goals with 18, and have the highest amount of defeats with 6 — two stats they could really do without. The huge number of goals conceded will be distressing, as defense was one of the biggest areas invested in.

Recent history is however on the promoted clubs’ side. It has not been since 2007/08 with Birmingham, Derby and Reading, that more than one promoted club failed to survive their debut season in the Premier League. If the gap is so big how have previous teams managed to stay up?

Last year saw Cardiff, Hull and Palace come up. Interestingly, Cardiff — the team who dominated the Championship — was the only club to head straight back down. There was a huge amount of spending by Cardiff which saw the promoted team dismantled and replaced as their reward for promotion. Cardiff were however visibly unstable with Vincent Tan not helping their situation.

Hull already had a proven Premier League manager in Steve Bruce, and I was a huge fan of their transfer deals. Key Premier League experience was added to their ranks with Tom Huddlestone in the summer, and strike duo Shane Long and Nikica Jelavic in January.

Palace’s start was truly dreadful. With Ian Holloway leaving his job in October, the Eagles’ savior came in the form of the experienced Tony Pulis, who performed miracles to transform their fortunes and keep them up against all the odds.

Going back a year further to 2012/13, Reading didn’t bring in that needed experience, and paid the price. QPR simply bought a new team in the 2011/12 season and went straight back down.

There seems to be a correlation between clubs keeping their promoted team largely intact — with a handful of key players brought in with top flight experience — and surviving that nervy first season.

Of the three teams this year, I have to back Leicester to be the club to stay up. They have the experience in Cambiasso to rally the team, and have added both quality and depth to help keep the team fresh throughout the season.

I’ve heard remarks stating that these three clubs are the weakest to come up in recent history, which I think is harsh, but so far the Premier League has provided all three with a reality check.

Burnley face Arsenal at the Emirates, Leicester entertain West Brom at home and QPR are up against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this Saturday.