Who will go down? Analyzing the Premier League’s relegation contenders
Five Weeks into the Premier League season a new record as emerged. Six teams have gone the first five games of the season without a win. Leicester City, Crystal Palace, Ispwich Town, Southampton, Everton, and Wolves all find themselves at the bottom. Who will crawl out of the abyss and survive the season?
Photo Credits: Getty Images, The Independent
Leicester City ended their 2022-23 Premier League in disarray, getting relegated after finishing 18th in the table. The Foxes rebounded last year under Enzo Maresca and finishing 1st in the Championship going straight back up to the Premier League. Maresca left for the bright lights of Chelsea and things have been rough to say the least. The Foxes began the season drawing Tottenham at home but still haven’t found a win. Leicester sits 15th in the table for now, with three draws and two losses. Jamie Vardy will have to keep scoring and with important games against Southampton, Nottingham Forest, and Ispwich on the schedule, the Foxes will have to win those games in order to stay up.
Photo Credits: Getty Images, Leicestershire live
Crystal Palace entered the season with high expectations. Oliver Glasner’s men had ended last season remarkably, going unbeaten in their final seven games, winning six of those. Palace beat the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United in what seemed to be the start of something special. The Eagles even were able to keep most of their key players, only losing star winger Michael Olise to Bayern Munich. Palace has begun the season just like Leicester, with three draws and two losses. Palace have struggled to score this season only netting four goals in five games. Star players in Eberechi Eze and Jean-Phillipe Mateta will have to start firing or thing will only get uglier down at Selhurst Park.
Photo Credits: Getty Images, United In Focus
Ipswich Town have had a mixed start to their Premier League campaign. The Tractor Boys who are playing in the top flight for the first time since 2002, have also started out the season on three points with three draws and two losses. Ipswich are on a three game win streak since losing their first two games to Liverpool and Manchester City. Ipswich have drawn against Fulham, Brighton, and Southampton. Against Southampton, Ipswich needed a 95th minute equalizer from defensive midfielder Sam Morsy. The Tractor Boys have struggled to score as new attacking signings Omari Hutchinson, Liam Delap, and Sammie Szmodics have struggled to score. If Ipswich wishes to stay up for another year, someone is gonna have to start scoring on a consistent basis.
Photo Credits: Reuters, The Independent
The third and final team to be promoted last year was Southampton. The Saints beat Leeds United in the Playoff Final last season to go back up to the Premier League. Expectations were low and Russell Martin’s team has a lot to prove if they want any chance of surviving the season. The Saints were torn apart by Manchester United a few weeks back in a 3-0 loss that has soured the mood on the South Coast. The only bright spot was been academy kid Tyler Dibling. The 18 year old scored his first premier league goal against Ipswich last week, and the Saints will need him to continue his great form. Southampton sits 18th in the table with two points, and will have to make massive adjustments to make sure they don’t head straight back down to the championship.
Photo Credit: The Athletic
Everton may have the worst start to the season so far. Stuck with one point and 19th in the Premier League table, there is little to no hope for the Toffees. Everton has conceded 14 goals in just five games tied for the worst in the league with Wolves. The worst part of the season is the repeated blown leads to start the season. Everton were up 2-0 on Bournemouth with less then 10 minutes to go. Bournemouth scored three goals in 10 minutes to complete the comeback. It got even worse as Everton went 2 goals up again, this time against Aston Villa. Villa would come back 3-2 to break Toffee hearts again. In addition to blown leads, a leaky defense, Everton have massive financial issues that prohibit them from getting the players they need. It’s gonna be a long season for Everton and if something doesn’t change soon, they will finally go down for the first time since 1951.
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Sat at the bottom of the table are Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wolves have been atrocious to start the campaign. Key players in Pedro Neto and Max Kilman left for the likes of Chelsea and West Ham. The lowest point of the season came in the second game of the year against Chelsea. Wolves were embarrassed at home losing 6-2 with former player Pedro Neto assisting a goal against his former club. New signings Andre and Rodrigo Gomes have failed to hit the ground running and Wolves have their backs against the wall. Relegation is becoming more a reality each day and Wolves will have to climb themselves out of the deepest of holes.
Photo Credits: Getty Images, Molineux News
With a lot of the Premier League season left, there’s plenty of time for all of these teams to pull themselves up the table. It’s too early to guess which three teams will go down, but these squads will have to make serious changes if they want to avoid going down. One thing will be guaranteed though, it’s going to be pure box office gold to see how this ends. Get ready for a relegation race that will have everyone on the edge of their seats and will have these fanbases watching in anticipation.
