Photo by Terrace Grain on Unsplash

The 2024/25 Premier League season marked the second straight campaign in which all three promoted teams suffered an immediate relegation back to the Championship. It is a strange turn of events from just three years ago, when every promoted team managed to avoid relegation. Now, fans are debating whether the gap between the English top flight and the second tier has ever been bigger.

Judging by the performances of the promoted teams in each of the last two campaigns, it would be hard to argue with the idea that the gap is huge right now. In 2024, there was a six-point gap between Luton Town in the third and final relegation spot and Nottingham Forest, who finished 17th and survived. However, it has to be said that the East Midlands side did suffer a ten-point deduction, so in theory, the closest team without points taken away was Brentford, who were a further seven points clear.

Promoted Teams Struggle in 2024/25

This season, with no teams suffering points deductions, the gap has grown. Leicester City came closest to surviving, but they were still 13 points adrift of 17th-placed Tottenham Hotspur. Rock-bottom Southampton, meanwhile, narrowly avoided becoming the worst team in Premier League history, eventually finishing with 12 points from their 38 games, one clear of the woeful Derby County side of 2008.

This year, Leeds United, Burnley, and Sunderland have secured promotion to the Premier League, and online sports betting sites make them the three immediate favorites to be relegated from the top flight in 2025/26. The latest online sports betting at Bovada prices the Black Cats as the overwhelming 1/3 frontrunners to fall through the trap door, with the Clarets just behind them at 2/5, and the second-tier Champions at 3/4.

That ensures that all three teams are statistically odds-on to return to the Championship next term. But which of the established Premier League teams could join those three in a relegation dogfight next season? Let’s take a look.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Wolves are considered the long-time top-flight team with the best – or worst, depending on your stance – chance of suffering the drop next season. The bookies currently have them priced at 7/2 for their 2025/26 season to end in relegation, and after their performances this term, that could well come to fruition.

This season, the Black Country side amassed 42 points, finishing 17 points adrift of the drop zone. 15 of those points came from picking up five wins from the six games against the bottom three sides, and if next season’s promoted teams can provide some resistance, Wolves could well be in trouble. Add to that the fact that their star player, Matheus Cunha, looks set to join Manchester United after top-scoring with 17 goals in all competitions, and there is even more cause for concern.

Manager Vítor Pereira headed to Molineux in December following a 2-1 home defeat to lowly Ipswich Town, with Wolves four points adrift of safety. The Portuguese boss managed to stem the tide and trigger a turnaround in form that was enough to secure survival. However, it remains to be seen if he can perform a similarly herculean act next season.

Fulham

Surprisingly, Fulham are the next established team in the odds list, with bookies pricing them as a 21/4 shot to suffer the drop next season. The Cottagers finished with 54 points last season, good enough for 11th place in the table. They were actually in contention for European qualification all season long, and ultimately finished 11 points adrift of the top seven, as opposed to 29 points clear of the relegation zone.

Much of their hopes were built around a 12-game unbeaten run around the turn of the year. However, their campaign ended disappointingly, losing five of their final seven games to ultimately fall out of contention. While that poor form was certainly cause for concern, a squad containing the likes of Emile Smith-Rowe, Alex Iwobi, and Sander Berge, the West London side should certainly have more than enough about them to survive next season.

Brentford

Fulham’s West London neighbors, Brentford, are another team that is considered somewhat of a relegation candidate. The Bees are one of the Premier League’s newest competitors after having been promoted to the top flight back in 2021. That completed a miraculous turnaround for a club that was languishing in the fourth tier of English football just 12 years prior.

Since their arrival on the big stage, Brentford haven’t really looked like suffering relegation. In their four seasons in the Premier League, they have finished with less than 40 points just once, and have actually been looking up the table rather than over their shoulders at the drop zone.

Many thought that they would struggle last season following the departure of talismanic striker Ivan Toney last summer. However, fellow forwards Bryan Mbuemo and Yoane Wissa stepped up and bagged 20 goals each, leaving the former England hitman, who used to lead their line, as a distant memory. The Bees’ Moneyball approach has reaped rewards throughout their stint in the top flight thus far, and we can’t see them struggling next term either.