All six sides to get promoted in the last two seasons were immediately sent back down; Southampton and Sheffield United put in some of the worst campaigns in Premier League history. But all of that was undone by Leeds United and Sunderland, both of whom secured their status comfortably away from the relegation zone during the 2025-26 season.
The aggressive and direct style that Leeds United used under Daniel Farke took many by surprise. The Leeds United team invested heavily in the transfer market, with strong, quick midfielders, excellent aerial presence in the centre-back and strikers who had aerial ability on the set pieces and could hold the ball up. This helped Leeds finish a respectable mid-table.
The real success story of the Premier League season, though, was Sunderland. The second of the two sides predicted for relegation before the start of the season, Sunderland surprised everyone with incredible results early in the season to put themselves right at the top of the table for most of it. Investing in young players and bringing in veterans like Granit Xhaka and Nordi Mukiele gave them a balanced team that could ride any wave of bad form.
Over the last ten years, many other sides have managed to keep their head above water. The likes of Brighton, Brentford, Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Fulham have all established themselves in the league. This was achieved by creating a playing identity and investing money carefully, gradually building their squad and having the patience to let the managers continue to build for two or three seasons at a minimum.
Now all the attention has turned to Coventry City, Ipswich Town and Hull City for next season. Coventry, at the moment, looks like the strongest team by far and will surely not struggle during their first year back in the Premier League. They dominated the Championship with a solid team and with Frank Lampard at the helm in a system that worked well. Ipswich plays in a high-pressure style that is hard to beat if they recruit smartly in the summer transfer window. However, Hull faces the trickiest task, having massively overperformed according to their statistics, and with defensive and recruitment issues, I don’t think they have much hope.
