Middlesbrough, Hull City, And One More -3 PL Clubs That Look Destined For Relegation

The Premier League season is now well underway. With 9 games gone by, everyone is getting a clear idea about how the table is shaping up. At the top, it looks to be close as ever as only 1 point separates the top 5 clubs, which is only a testament to how good the league is. At the bottom, there are many clubs who are looking to move upwards to ensure they don’t battle relegation.  For any club, having Premier League status is definitely a luxury.

The popularity, respect and image gained by being a Premier League club only add on to the glitz and glory of being in this esteemed league. So it is only natural that every club will fight tooth and nail to keep its place in the Premier League. More so the clubs that have lesser financial prowess.

Relegation for 3 clubs is something that is inevitable. As much as they might hate it, 3 clubs go down to England’s second-tier competition, The Championship. On the evidence of what we have seen so far this season and going by how the teams have performed, here’s a look at few clubs that are strong candidates for relegation from the Premier League –

Sunderland

For the second time running, Sunderland finds themselves without a win to their names 9 games into the season. The Wearside club are definitely in need of another miracle if they are to stay up in the Premier League. Over the past few seasons, Sunderland have always found themselves in this predicament and leave it late to appoint another manager who manages to keep them up. But for how long will they rely on this formula?

David Moyes came in to replace Sam Allardyce, who left to take up the role of England head coach. The arrival of Moyes was met with joy by the fans as they thought he would finally bring an end to their misery. But it has proved quite the opposite as Sunderland have accumulated just 2 points from a possible 27. Moyes is a good manager with no doubt and his successful time at Everton proves this. Bad experiences at Manchester United and Real Sociedad must not let the Scotsman get disheartened. He should instead look to fill his Sunderland side with confidence. If not much is changed soon, another thing that will not change is Sunderland’s league position, which is a not-so-handsome at 20^th place.

Key players who could help them avoid the drop : Jermain Defoe, Wahbi Khazri, Fabio Borini.

Hull City

The Tigers started the season off strongly with 2 victories to their name. But since then they have picked up only 1 point, which was in a draw to Burnley. Such performances have left Mike Phelan scratching his head as he figures out how his team has lost 5 games in a row. This losing streak involves big losses to Liverpool and Bournemouth. Hull City will definitely need to improve on their early-season form if they are to avoid the drop. They did staggeringly well to get promoted to the Premier League through the play-offs. Hull made some last minute additions to their squad namely Markus Henriksen, Mbokani, Will Keane and last but not the least, Ryan Mason.

The beginning of the Premier League season came with a lot of uncertainty as at one point, Hull were without a manager in place for their league campaign. At one point of time, Hull had only 13 fit players to call upon. But they weathered the storm and won two their first two games on the trot. It remains to be seen if they can do the same with a full squad and a manager in place. Mike Phelan must organize his defence and make them difficult to beat first. The club has several attacking players who on their day can be a menace to opposition defences.

Key players for the Tigers – Abel Hernandez, Ryan Mason, Michael Dawson

Middlesbrough

They made quite a decent start to the season as they were unbeaten after 3 games. But after that, it’s been all downhill for the Riverside club. Aitor Karanka has a spirited team who can give any team a fight on its day but even he will know that quality is lacking in his squad. Adama Traore looks to be an excellent acquisition as he absolutely terrorized Arsenal in their 0-0 draw. He threatened to score on many occasions and if not for the excellence of Petr Cech, he could’ve won the match for them.

Such performances, though, have come few and far between for Aitor Karanka’s liking. If he wishes to keep them up, he will need to bring in several changes to how they play. And this is to ensure they still have a fighting chance by the end of the season. He has the players to do it now as Negredo, Barragan and a few others find themselves in Borough’s squad. They will be looking to make a telling impact. Gaston Ramirez and Christian Stuani are 2 Uruguayans who have also made enterprising starts to the season.

Key players for them – Alvaro Negredo, Ben Gibson, Adama Traore

West Ham, Swansea and Stoke are some of the other clubs that find themselves close to the bottom of the table. But they are expected to bounce back and as the season goes, they will progress up the table owing to the quality of their squads.