As the 28th Premier League season draws ever closer, the three promoted sides will be wondering what fate awaits them.
Many pundits will have one if not all three favourites to be relegated, but that has not always been the case in recent years as a recent study by free-bets.co.uk suggests.
Norwich, Sheffield United and Aston Villa have taken the top flight places left by Huddersfield, Fulham and Cardiff and history suggests that at least one of the three new sides will avoid relegation come the end of the season.
The last time all three promoted sides were relegated from the Premier League was at the end of the 1997/98 season when Bolton, Barnsley and Crystal Palace filled the bottom three spots 12 months after winning promotion to the top flight. That remains the only time all three promoted sides were relegated at the end of the following season.
The last time all three promoted sides survived in the Premier League was more recent when Newcastle finished 10th, Brighton were 15th and Huddersfield came 16th in their first campaign in the top flight at the end of the 2017/18 season.
That was the third time it happened in the history of the Premier League. Charlie Mullan looks at the chances facing the newly-promoted sides ahead of the 2019/20 season.
Norwich secured their third promotion to the Premier League in style under Daniel Farke to win the Championship title by five points.
They did so by playing entertaining football from the start of the season until the final whistle of their final game. A total of 150 goals were scored in league games involving the Canaries which was the most in the division with 44 of those coming in the final 15 minutes of games.
The Canaries featured in the first three seasons of the Premier League, finishing third in the inaugural campaign, and have fought their way back to the top flight three times.
The first time they won promotion, it was as champions at the end of the 2003/04 season.
What followed was a very disappointing campaign in which they finished 19th on 33 points, one point behind West Brom who became the first team to avoid relegation after being bottom of the Premier League at Christmas.
Not even a rallying call from shareholder Delia Smith, who famously took the microphone at half-time of their 3-2 defeat to Manchester City, could save them.
Lessons were learned at Carrow Road following that campaign and when they returned to the top flight for the 2011/12 season, they finished a very creditable 12th on 47 points. They went on to spend four of the next five seasons in the Premier League.
Norwich timed their promotion run perfectly with promotion on the cards from around March onwards. Plans have been put in place to deal with their return to the Premier League.
And the good news for Farke’s side is that the Championship winners have stayed up in each of the last five seasons.
In fact, eight of the last 10 champions of the second tier have avoided relegation with the exception of Reading and Cardiff who dropped back to the Championship at the end of the 2012/13 and 2013/14 seasons respectively.
Since the Premier League moved to a 20-team competition, the Championship winners have an average finishing position of 14th with 41 points – one more than the magical points total for survival that has traditionally been 40 points although that has not always been the case.
Sunderland, Bolton and West Ham remain the only sides to be relegated from the Premier League in its current structure with 40 points or more. Sunderland missed out on survival by a point at the end of the 1996/97 season and 12 months later Bolton went down on 40 points with goal difference saving Everton from the drop. West Ham were relegated at the end of the 2002/03 season despite amassing 42 points.
Norwich will start their season with an opening day trip to Liverpool, who lost only one game last season as they finished runners-up to champions Manchester City by a single point.
If the Canaries fail to pick anything up from that fixture, they will fancy their chances of getting something from their opening home game against Newcastle before Chelsea visit Carrow Road.
Wolves proved last season that it is possible to take the momentum of winning the Championship into the Premier League as they finished seventh and qualified for this season’s Europa League.
The numbers since 1995/96 season:
Champions:
Relegated 8 times out of 24
Survival chances – 66.6%
Average league position – 14th
Average points total – 41
Norwich:
8 seasons in PL
Highest finish – 3rd with 72 points (1992/93)
Lowest finish – 20th with 43 points (194/95)
Average position – 14th
Average points – 45
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