Although we are still in pre-season, we thought it would be a good idea to look at which teams are expected to struggle against relegation to the Championship in season 2024/25.
Here are the favourites for relegation from the Premier League in the new season:
Leicester City
The Foxes are big favourites for the drop despite winning the Championship in season 2023/24. The main reason is that the Midlands club will likely receive a points deduction for admitting to a breach of PSR in their last spell in the Premier League.
It could get messy, as the club has reportedly launched a lawsuit against the Premier League over the matter. If they lose the lawsuit, the Foxes’ points deduction could reportedly be as high as 15 points.
It is hard enough for a promoted team to beat the drop without being given a handicap, too. To add to their woes, highly-rated head coach Enzo Maresca has also left for Chelsea.
Leicester have received a boost with the permanent signing of winger Issahaku Fatawu, who impressed on loan last season.
City look set to lose influential central midfielder Wilfred Ndidi, whose contract expires on July 1st. The Nigerian international is being heavily linked with a move to Everton, with some reports suggesting a deal has already been concluded.
Ipswich Town
The Tractor Boys are back after nearly a quarter of a century outside of the English top-flight.
The team from Suffolk were the surprise package in the Championship last season, finishing second place in the table to secure their second straight promotion.
@ipswichtown
Like most teams who have earned promotion to the English top flight, survival will be their priority in season 2023/24.
With the European transfer window opening on July 1st, Town are expected to be highly active with recruitment.
Whether their budget will be big enough to bring in the players they need is anybody’s guess. However, reportedly Town’s owners have committed to providing a decent budget for recruitment
Arguably, Ipswich’s biggest strength is their highly-rated head coach, Kieran McKenna. The former Tottenham and Manchester United coach has already proven his managerial acumen in his short time as Town boss by securing back-to-back promotions.
Keeping Ipswich in the Premier League in season 2024/25 would only enhance his reputation as one of English football’s most highly-rated young head coaches.
Southampton
The Saints’ situation was dire in season 2022/23 when they finished bottom of the table and suffered relegation with a whimper.
The South Coast team earned promotion back to the Premier League by finishing fourth in the Championship and winning the play-offs.
A fourth place finish doesn’t exactly suggest that they had a great campaign in the English second tier. However, their points tally of 87 was highly respectable, and they enjoyed a strong campaign under Scottish boss Russell Martin.
After struggling for goals in their last spell in the English top flight, only the league’s top two teams scored more goals than the Saints last season.
Their top scorers were Adam Armstrong, with 21 goals, and Che Adams, with 15. However, the latter’s contract expires on July 1st, and he is free to move elsewhere. The forward came in for heavy criticism from Scotland fans after poor performances at Euro2024.
Even if Adams stays, he and Armstrong have both struggled for goals in the English top flight in previous spells in the Premier League. Finding the back of the net may well prove to be the Saints’ problem once again.
Southampton have already made three summer signings. Centre-back Taylor Harwood-Bellis has arrived from Manchester City for a reported fee of £23.5m.
Former Saints captain Adam Lallana has returned to the club from Brighton on a free transfer. At the other end of the age spectrum to veteran Adam Lallana, young Japanese forward Rento Takaoka has arrived as a free agent from Nissho Gakuen.
Everton
The Toffees have been involved in the relegation dogfight for the last three seasons. Winning five of their last eight Premier League games made the men from Merseyside comfortable well before the last few games last season, despite an eight-point deduction.
Although they have struggled on and off the pitch in recent seasons, the prospective arrival of a new owner, the Friedkin Group, has led to tremendous optimism at the club for the first time in several years.
Everton have already signed youngster Tim Iroegbunam from Aston Villa, while winger Jack Harrison has re-joined on loan from Leeds United after spending last season at the club.
With speculation that the Toffees are close to signing Senegalese number ten Iliman Ndiaye from Marseille and the aforementioned Wilfred Ndidi, the Everton squad could look much stronger than last season.
With 2024/25 being their last season at the historic Goodison Park before a move to the state-of-the-art Bramley Moore Stadium, it would be highly disappointing if the club experienced its first relegation from the top flight in over 70 years in the new season.
Nottingham Forest
Like Everton, the Tricky Trees were deducted points last season, which led to a fight against relegation. Forest was given a four-point deduction for breaking PSR rules.
Even with the points deduction, the team from the Midlands finished six points clear of the relegation zone. Forest will be keen to consolidate their place in the English top flight in season 2024/25.
After the points deduction last season due to their transfer activities, Forest may well be less quiet on the transfer front this summer after a hectic few transfer windows. However, they will reinforce their squad to avoid another season of fighting at the wrong end of the table.
They have already strengthened their midfield options by bringing in Serbian midfielder Marko Stamenic from Red Star for a reported fee of £5m.
However, they have balanced that arrival out with the sale of veteran Swiss midfielder Remo Freuler, who joined Italian club Bologna for a fee in the region of £4.5m.
Can fans benefit from a relegation battle for their sides?
Fans of our favourites for relegation could be in for a painful season, where one of the best outcomes some might hope for will just be to avoid the drop. But knowing they’re favourites to face a relegation battle is also a piece of statistical knowledge that astute sports betting punters can turn into monetary profit.
Successful football betting involves a good grasp of statistics and probabilities, while turning that knowledge into a long-term profit from betting is a trick, of course, and would need a firm understanding of odds, bookmakers, types of bets, and a myriad of other related aspects.
One of the key pieces of info for any prospective winning punter is where to bet. Sports betting information sites GOSUbetting.com are useful resources that cover the different bookmakers in depth. This page on GOSUbetting focuses on those that enable football betting with cryptocurrencies, offering account-holders the chance to profit from winning bets while also enjoying the roller-coaster thrill of fluctuations in cryptocurrency values.
Who are your favourites for relegation in season 2024/25?