Relegation and promotion are a key part of the English Football League’s annual cycle. Besides the six clubs that have never been relegated from the Premier League before (Arsenal, Liverpool, Man Utd, Chelsea, Tottenham and Everton), every other Premier League club has experienced lower league football at least once. Birmingham City are the side with most Premier League relegations, they’ve been relegated a whopping 12 times. Let’s recap the 2021/22 relegation race and see what we can expect from the next season’s Premier League promoted teams!
Premier League Relegated Teams 2021/22
The 2021/22 Premier league relegation battle very much went down to the wire. In the weeks leading up to the final day of the season, nobody knew who the Premier League relegated teams would be, there were still three teams in the race for a long time. Everton dramatically stayed up after beating Crystal Palace 3-2 in their penultimate game, which meant the race on the last day was between Burnley and Leeds United.
There was a lot of controversy surrounding Burnley after they sacked long serving manager Sean Dyche just a few games before the season’s end. Leaving club captain Ben Mee as interim manager to see out the remaining games. They picked up a couple of results under Mee, but it didn’t stop them from ultimately suffering in the end.
On the final day of the season, the Premier League relegated teams would be finalised, Leeds travelled to Brentford needing three points and Burnley hosted Newcastle. On the day it was Burnley who failed, a brace from Callum Wilson was enough to silence the clarets and send them down to Championship football. While Leeds made sure of their survival by sweeping Brentford aside at the Community Stadium after a dramatic Jack Harrison winner.
The other two Premier League relegated teams had been decided before the final day, these being Watford and Norwich City who both finished on below 25 points. They also had the worst goal difference in the league with -43 and -61. A season to forget for both of these sides.
Premier League Promoted Teams
The three newly Premier League promoted teams are Fulham, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest, all of which have featured in the Premier League before. Fulham were very impressive in the Championship, topping the table. They had an impressive goal difference as they scored 103 and conceded just 43. Serbian striker Aleksandr Mitrovic was at the forefront for Fulham. He broke the record for most goals in a Championship season with 43. He also picked up 7 assists.
Will we see this version of Mitrovic in the Premier League next season? He has struggled in England’s top flight in previous seasons, but he will be determined to keep his Fulham side in the Premier League next season.
Bournemouth were close to the title, finishing just two points off Fulham. The Cherries were in the Premier League for five years previously from 2015-2020 and after spending just two seasons away from the league, they became the second Premier League promoted team of the 2021/22 season. Manager Scott Parker will be looking to give Bournemouth the best possible chance of survival.
The third and final newly promoted side is Nottingham Forest, they won promotion courtesy of the play-offs. They faced Sheffield United in the semi-final and after a close two legs, were able to pull through and book a place in the final where they’d face Huddersfield Town. Huddersfield had just knocked out Luton Town who were striving to play in the Premier League for the first time in their history. It would’ve been a hell of a story, but it wasn’t to be for Luton.
The stage was set for a Wembley final between Forest and Huddersfield. The two sides both played very safe on the day and produced a fairly stale game with just 10 total shots at goal. It was a Levi Colwill own goal on the stroke of halt-time that separated the sides as Forest ran out 1-0 winners.
Nottingham Forest are one of the founding teams of the Premier League era as they were in the league in the 1992/93 season. However, their last appearance in the league was in 1999. Which means their fans have been waiting more than 20 years to see them in the top flight again.
Looking ahead to the 2022/23 season
The new season is almost upon us, which will finally give us a chance to see these sides take on their roles in their new leagues. According to sportsbooks, Norwich and Watford should perform well in the Championship next season. The two are favourites to win the league and return to the Premier League for 2023/24. Whilst Burnley are not expected to win the league, they are power-ranked to finish 6th.
Let’s take a look at the opening fixtures for the new Championship clubs:
Norwich City:
- 30th July- Cardiff City vs Norwich City
- 6th August- Norwich City vs Wigan Athletic
- 13th August- Hull City vs Norwich City
- 16th August- Norwich City vs Huddersfield Town
- 19th August- Norwich City vs Millwall
It’s not too much of a tricky start for Norwich in their opening five, they’ll likely get a result against Cardiff, Wigan and Hull with the tougher fixtures coming against Huddersfield and Millwall. Huddersfield will be looking to mount a promotion challenge again after falling at the last hurdle in the play-offs. Millwall is always a tough team to face as their fans bring an intense atmosphere which acts as the 12th man. I can see them securing 10 points from their first five.
Watford:
- 1st August- Watford vs Sheffield United
- 8th August- West Bromwich Albion vs Watford
- 12th August- Watford vs Burnley
- 16t August- Birmingham City vs Watford
- 20th August- Preston North End vs Watford
Watford have a much more difficult opening five than Norwich, they face Sheffield United in the opener who lost out on promotion last season in the play-off semis, then they travel to the Midlands to face West Brom who have been dipping in and out of Premier League football for a few seasons. They then host fellow relegation side Burnley before having two easier fixtures at Birmingham and Preston.
Burnley:
- 30th July- Huddersfield Town vs Burnley
- 6th August- Burnley vs Luton Town
- 12 August- Watford vs Burnley
- 16th August- Burnley vs Hull City
- 20th August- Burnley vs Blackpool
Burnley have a moderately tough opening five, but not as bad as Watford. I can see them hitting the ground running in the Championship with 4 wins from 5.
As for the Premier League promoted teams, the sportsbooks have AFC Bournemouth as favourites to suffer the drop. with fellow promoted clubs Fulham and Forest following them. It’ll be a tough relegation battle, that’s for sure. Leeds will certainly be dragged back down into the scrap after losing star man Raphinha to Barcelona.
Jesse Marsch will be taking charge of his first full Premier League season and that is no easy task. He came into the job already under pressure as he was succeeding Marcelo Bielsa who had given Leeds United so much. Brentford may also struggle, they also lost a star player in Christian Eriksen who signed for Manchester United instead of renewing with the Bees.
It’s not unheard of for newly promoted sides to perform well in the Premier league, Brentford were excellent last season as were Sheffield United when they were promoted. The most impressive newly promoted side by a distance though is Newcastle United from 1994, they finished third on the back of being promoted, incredible!
Whilst we don’t see any of the new Premier League promoted teams doing quite as well as that, they might still surprise a few. Here’s our predictions as to where newly promoted sides will finish.
- Nottingham Forest- 16th
- Fulham- 19th
- Bournemouth- 18th
How do you think the Premier League promoted and relegated sides will fare next season? Let us know on our Facebook page!
FAQ’s
Who will be relegated from the Premier League?
The newly Premier League promoted sides are favourites to suffer the drop, however we won’t know until May 2023!
What teams are relegated from the Premier League?
The bottom three teams in the league are all relegated at the end of the season and replaced with the three best sides from the Championship.
Who was relegated from the Premier League in 2022?
Burnley, Watford and Norwich City were relegated from the Premier League in 2022.
What teams have been promoted to the Premier League?
Fulham, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest are the Premier League promoted teams