With Euro 2020 having finally been completed, top international players will enjoy a brief break before returning to domestic action. Across much of Europe, the attention falls on the English Premier League which keeps attracting the big name stars. At the top of the table, the battle for the title is an exclusive affair with just one or two teams seemingly in contention. At the other end of the division, the quest to avoid relegation is far more open but who will beat the drop into the Championship?
The Main Contenders
At the end of the 2020/21 season, Norwich City, Watford and Brentford were promoted from the second tier into the Premier League. Like all newly-promoted sides, they will now face a battle to stay up and the statistics suggest that at least one of them will experience relegation at the end of the forthcoming season.
Fulham showed in 2020/21 that it’s extremely difficult to compete in the top flight after promotion from the second tier. Scott Parker’s side dropped back down to the Championship after battling the drop across the entire campaign. A year earlier, Norwich themselves were relegated after just one season back in the Premier League.
It’s going to be tough for all three promoted teams but who has the better capacity to stay up?
The Verdict
The sportsbooks have spoken on the subject and those three sides, Norwich City, Brentford and Watford, are the favourites to go down at the end of 2021/22. It’s a tight relegation market and, according to betting sites linked into sbo.net, all three are quoted at the same odds in places. Elsewhere, Norwich are the slight outright favourites followed by Watford and Brentford, in that order. As the season draws closer, sbo.net will react to breaking news and transfer deals by updating those markets as the changes occur.
Any updates will also be backed by news and opinion articles within the site and readers can sign up with a recommended sportsbook if they want to take that interest further. Many of those sportsbooks list a range of welcome offers while all will provide a range of funding options. It’s the place to be for relegation betting but should Brentford, Norwich City and Watford be on that radar?
Key Players
Goals win games and the teams with the best strikers will be better equipped to avoid the drop. At Norwich City, the Canaries have Finnish front man Teemu Pukki in their ranks who remained at Carrow Road despite being part of the squad that was relegated in 2019/20.
Pukki is a productive striker who is likely to have attracted interest from top flight clubs but he’s back with his Norwich team to see if they can cope with Premier League life this time around. He has a good strike rate, at more than a goal every other game, but his return of 11 goals in 38 matches across that 2019/20 season was a poor one.
Moving over to Brentford and the Bees may face a battle to retain the services of Ivan Toney. The former Newcastle United centre forward was instrumental in his side’s successful Championship campaign last season, scoring 31 goals in 45 league matches. That ratio has attracted the attention of other Premier League clubs and there may yet be a transfer bid before the new season starts.
Moving on to Watford and the Hornets will be looking to their long serving striker Troy Deeney. The 33 year old moved to Vicarage Road from Walsall in 2010 and he’s been part of the rollercoaster that Watford have given their fans ever since. In 11 years at the club, Deeney has scored 140 goals in 417 games. That’s not a prolific record but it’s a consistent one and he’s maintained that ratio across all of Watford’s previous Premier League campaigns.
New Arrivals
Of course, the three teams will have an opportunity to add to their respective squads during the summer transfer window. Dealing has been quiet up to now but that is set to change now that Euro 2020 has come to a conclusion. Anyone speculating on whether Watford, Brentford or Norwich will survive should watch the transfer news updates closely.
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