Will All Three Promoted Clubs Be Relegated From The Premier League Again?

For the last two seasons all three promoted clubs have fallen straight back down the Premier League trapdoor.

Luton Town, Burnley, Sheffield United, Leicester City, Ipswich and Southampton.

The promotion hopefuls fell with a six-point gap in 2023/24, then a eight-point gap in 2024/25.

Is a chasm forming that should have Leeds United, Burnley and Sunderland supporters' expectations tempered?

Yes they will – Chris Flanagan

I feel like Geoff Shreeves interviewing Branislav Ivanovic here.

‘Well done, Branislav, you’ve just defeated Lionel Messi’s Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final and you’re clearly delighted.

By the way, did you know you’re suspended for the final? No? Oh…’

Like Geoff, looking at Branislav’s heartbroken face in 2012, part of me wonders whether writing this was a good idea.

After the joys of May, this is not what fans of the three promoted sides want to hear right now – and I sincerely hope I’m wrong.

All three going back down again would be terrible for football.

But I fear the worst.

During the past two Premier League campaigns, no promoted side has picked up more than Luton’s 26 points in 2023-24, miles off the 38 or 40 that’s often been considered to be required for safety.

None of the six lost fewer than 24 matches.

When happy squads battle their way out of the Championship these days, instead of holding up a cliched ‘We’re going up!’ banner, they almost need one reading, ‘A year of inevitable misery ahead – we’ll soon wonder whether this was worth it.’

Daniel Farke’s Leeds won the second tier last term, but so did Daniel Farke’s Norwich in 2021 – in the Premier League, he was sacked by November and they finished bottom.

Burnley’s Scott Parker has secured promotion in each of his three seasons in the Championship, but has twice been relegated from the top flight with Fulham, then sacked by Bournemouth after losing 9-0 at Liverpool.

Sunderland got just 76 points – no club has reached the Premier League with fewer since 2013.

The signs are ominous.

There is some good news, though – if the three of them are back in the Championship with parachute payments, they’re going to love 2026-27.

No they won't – Ed McCambridge

I don’t want to go full Eminem at the end of 8 Mile, but I know everything Chris will have said against me.

The odds are massively stacked against Leeds, Burnley and Sunderland; there’s a waxing gulf between the Premier League and the divisions below; the six most recent promoted sides were relegated straight back to the Championship; I do live in a trailer with my mom… sorry, ignore that last one.

To convince myself as much as anything, though, here’s why I believe they won’t all go down.

Leeds amassed 100 points and scored 95 goals last term.

Only Fulham, in 2021-22, found the back of the net more often over the past five Championship seasons (thanks to cheat code Aleksandar Mitrovic) and guess what?

They stayed up.

Burnley also hit 100 points last season and, while not unstoppable going forward (they scored 69), they were an immovable object at the back, conceding just 16 times – beating the previous Championship record by 14 – keeping 30 clean sheets, and suffering only two defeats.

Some branded it ‘boring’, but Vincent Kompany’s more expansive Clarets got torn apart on a weekly basis in the top flight two years ago – exciting football doesn’t always translate to success.

Lastly, few teams in English football have overcome adversity quite like play-off winners Sunderland, who boast a young, hungry team, as well as one of the most passionate fanbases in European football.

Another way to look at this is to suggest alternative candidates for relegation – I feel a struggling Wolves shorn of their talisman Matheus Cunha could be in trouble, alongside Brentford, Everton and West Ham.

I only need one of them to tumble into the second tier, for me to be proven correct come the end of the season.

Don’t let me down, lads…