Premier League: Four Key Matches That Defined the Relegation Battle

2. September 21, Norwich City falls at the Turf Moor

In the 2018-19 season, Norwich City earned automatic promotion to the Premier League by winning the Championship by five points over Sheffield United.

Their first five matches this season featured the emergence of Teemu Pukki as a household name, and the Canaries shock victory over defending champions Manchester City. The 30-year-old Finn notched six goals in the first five encounters, including a hat-trick against Newcastle.

Pukki also scored the third and decisive goal in their 3-2 victory over City at Carrow Road. Coming into the sixth matchday, Norwich was in acceptable form, winning two and dropping three to start the league campaign. Two of the losses were to big-six clubs, Liverpool and Chelsea.

They hoped to build on the momentum of their last victory by traveling to Burnley, who had only won one of their first five league games. The match was essentially over in the first 15 minutes as Chris Wood scored two goals putting Burnley ahead to stay.

The xG on both goals was 0.55 and 0.62, making them pretty comfortable chances. Pukki missed a substantial goal opportunity for his club in the seventh minute, which was saved by goalie Nick Pope. Norwich would only get one more shot on goal for the rest of the match. Their xG overall was 0.80.

The 2-0 loss was the start of an epic downward slide for Pukki and the Canaries. After knocking in six goals in five games, Pukki managed only five more during his next 23 league matches. His club went on to lose five of their next six Top Flight matches, then later went winless in another span of nine matches, winning only three of their remaining 23 league games overall.