With the new Premier League season set to kick off on 21 August, attention is already turning to who might struggle at the bottom of the table, and as is often the case, the three promoted clubs find themselves among the favourites to make an immediate return to the Championship.
Hull City, Coventry City and Ipswich Town have all secured promotion into the top flight, but bookmakers currently rate their chances of survival slim. Individually, Coventry and Ipswich are priced around 4/6 to go down, while Hull have been quoted as low as 1/4 in some markets, reflecting a belief that the Tigers face the toughest task of the trio.
History offers little comfort for the newly promoted sides. All three teams promoted in the previous two seasons were relegated straight back down, and of this year's trio, only Ipswich carries recent Premier League experience, having spent one campaign in the division before. Last term, however, showed that bookmakers' predictions do not always hold true, with Sunderland defying expectations to finish seventh and qualify for Europe after coming up from the Championship.
Hull's odds suggest they are viewed as the most vulnerable of the promoted clubs, largely due to a lack of top-flight experience within Sergej Jakirovic's squad. Only a small number of players, including Paddy McNair, Jack Butland and Matt Targett, have previously featured in the Premier League. Hull finished sixth in the Championship last season, some way behind their promotion rivals - seven points off Middlesbrough in fifth, 11 behind Ipswich, and 22 adrift of Coventry - a gap that has clearly influenced how bookmakers view their chances now. Their net spend of around £20m this summer also pales in comparison to the £135m Sunderland invested last year before their surprise top-half finish.
Ipswich, meanwhile, face the challenge of replacing manager Kieran McKenna, who has since departed the club. Despite this upheaval, the Tractor Boys have brought in players with Premier League pedigree, including Issa Diop, Florentino Luis and Abdul Fatawu, offering some hope that they can avoid an instant return to the second tier.
Coventry arrive in the top flight on the back of an impressive Championship campaign and are considered by some to have the strongest squad of the three promoted clubs. Even so, doubts remain over whether they possess the necessary quality to compete at Premier League level across a full season.
Beyond the promoted sides, several established Premier League clubs are also being mentioned as potential relegation candidates. Nottingham Forest, Brentford, Fulham and Leeds United are among those considered at risk of being dragged into a survival fight, a reminder that last season's drama involving Tottenham and West Ham - the latter suffering relegation - shows how unpredictable the bottom of the table can be.
Sunderland, despite their impressive rise last term, have also been floated as a surprise outsider for relegation trouble this time around. The Black Cats' summer transfer activity has been notably quieter than the £100m outlay that fuelled their European push last season, with full-back Thomas Meunier arriving as one of the more notable additions. Concerns linger over whether Regis Le Bris' squad is equipped to balance the demands of both domestic and continental football, a challenge that proved costly for both Forest and Spurs last season.
As the new campaign approaches, the fight to beat the drop looks set to be as unpredictable and closely fought as ever, with promoted sides, established mid-table clubs, and even last season's overachievers all facing scrutiny over their prospects of top-flight survival.
Based on reporting from The Independent.