Fans and pundits are already predicting these clubs will lose their places in the English top flight
It's early days in the 2022/23 Premier League season but the experts and bookies On TPP are already making their predictions for which three teams might be doomed to relegation from the top flight this season.
It's very hard to predict at this early stage but the warning signs are already there for some clubs, and their fans are understandably concerned. One newly promoted club has already taken the difficult step of relieving their manager of his duties in a desperate bid to turn the tide and stay in the division.
Some relegation talk in September may seem like simple hysteria, but with so much to be lost by dropping out of the EPL, it's easy to see why fans and executives get very tense after a disappointing start to the season.
It's a very long campaign, especially this year with a World Cup rammed into the middle of it, and some of these clubs will undoubtedly turn it around. Clubs which were expected to do well will falter and end up hovering around the bottom three. Some will survive by the skin of their teeth. We won't know for sure until May next year, but here are the current favourites to be relegated from the Premier League this season.
*all odds from bet365 via Oddschecker
Bournemouth (1/2 favourites)
The aforementioned club which felt the need to sack its manager so early on in the new campaign was Bournemouth. Scott Parker led the club back to the top flight after a two season absence, but that wasn't enough to save his job. A 9-0 hammering from Liverpool at Anfield was enough to seal his fate. Parker's assistant Gary O'Neil took over as caretaker and The Cherries have been unbeaten in the three games since. They currently sit 12th in the table, which is very respectable for a team which was tipped for relegation from the start. However, that's not enough to convince the bookies, with many believing that Bournemouth will be sent straight back to the Championship this season. It's unclear whether O'Neil will retain the job on a permanent basis, and what a new incoming manager might do to the odds, but right now there is little confidence in Bournemouth staying up.
Nottingham Forest (4/7)
Fellow newly promoted side Nottingham Forest are also one of the favourites to go down. This may surprise some, as the East Midlands club, a sleeping giant for so long, brought in a raft of very talented players during the summer and possess one of the most exciting young managers in the English game. Nonetheless, the bookies don't have a lot of hope for Forest. The biggest problem for them is likely going to be forming a cohesive unit out of the British record 21 players they signed over the summer. This policy hasn't always worked out (see Fulham 2018/19), and while this move was more of a necessity for Forest this season, it still presents very real problems for Steve Cooper and his backroom staff. The fans will still believe, with 5/6 of the season still to go and Cooper at the helm, that they can retain their Premier League status this season, but with Forest currently second-bottom in the table, the bookies are lacking such faith.
Leicester City (15/8)
The most shocking inclusion on this list has to be Leicester City. Another historic East Midlands club, which has won the Premier League and FA Cup in the last seven years and reached a European semi-final last season, is currently languishing at the bottom of the table, having picked up just one point in seven games. Brendan Rodgers is under immense, if perhaps slightly unfair, pressure from fans and pundits. The Northern Irishman doesn't have a lot to work with. The club made just one signing over the summer, less than any other team in the league, and the squad drastically needs reinforcements. In spite of that, there is still outrageous quality throughout The Foxes squad and fans justifiably want to see it better utilised. Whether Rodgers will be able to survive long enough to unlock that talent remains to be seen, but as things stand, the bookies see Leicester City going down this season, despite almost winning a European trophy just months ago.
Currently just outside the bottom three, literally and in the predictions of the bookies, Southampton (9/4), Everton (11/4) and Wolves (3/1) make up the rest of the troubled pack. Southampton are regularly tipped for relegation but their outstanding coach Ralph Hasenhuttl always manages to deliver safety somehow. Frank Lampard achieved survival for Everton last season, but judging by the start they've made, The Toffees won't be kicking on this campaign as many would have hoped. Wolves haven't made the best start to the season. Coach Bruno Lage is struggling to get the best out of a squad short on numbers and low on confidence - the Black Country side are certainly in the relegation conversation, despite not being true favourites for the drop.
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