We’re two weeks into the 2025-26 Premier League season, and it’s already looking like it will be one of the most competitive in recent history. There are three teams fighting for the title and at least eight who could challenge for the top four. Let’s look at the other side of the table, though. Here are the five teams most likely to be relegated this season.
Wolves
Wolves have been tipped to go down for at least a couple seasons now. They’ve managed to avoid the drop, and I think they’ll do the same this season. That said, this is set to be their toughest Premier League campaign in some time.
Matheus Cunha scored or assisted nearly 40% of Wolves’ league goals last season and Rayan Aït-Nouri is one of the best attacking full-backs in the Premier League. Losing them will be difficult to cope with.
Pablo Sarabia, Nelson Semedo, and Gonçalo Guedes have also left the club this summer. These outgoings aren’t as impactful. However, they were key parts of Vítor Pereira’s team last season. Jhon Arias, Fer Lopez, and Jackson Tchatchoua have been signed to replace them, but it’s too early to say whether they can deliver at the same level.
With Jørgen Strand Larsen potentially on his way out, Wolves’ chances of staying up could take a massive hit. But for now, I think they will be in the relegation fight, but ultimately, they aren’t one of the three worst teams in the league.
West Ham
Most Premier League previews focused on Brentford as the London club at risk of relegation this season. After two games, it’s clear we should have been focused on West Ham.
Graham Potter took West Ham from bad to worse when he replaced Julen Lopetegui in January last season. The Hammers went over two months without a league win from February to May and showed none of that classic Potter-ball style that defined his Brighton teams. This poor form has carried over into this season.
West Ham started their 2025-26 league campaign with two embarrassing losses to Sunderland and Chelsea. They were also unceremoniously knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Wolves.
These results would be forgivable if West Ham showed us any positives on the pitch, but there aren’t any. Mads Hermansen looks just as poor as he did last year with Leicester. The defense is disconnected at almost every level, and the team as a whole looks slow compared to other Premier League sides.
On paper, West Ham have enough talent to finish mid-table, but if they don’t shake out of this form soon, they could easily end up relegated this season.
Sunderland
If you own a newly-promoted Premier League team, you have two options:
- You can plan on getting relegated and sign high-level Championship players with potential to help you get promoted again in two years; or
- You can spend a small fortune to build a team that can hopefully survive in the Premier League.
Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus has chosen the second option.
The Black Cats have spent €165m to bring in players like Granit Xhaka, Enzo Le Fée, and Habib Diarra. It says a lot about the quality of the Premier League that I think these signings won’t make a difference in the long run. The rest of the squad still needs too much work, especially the attack.
The biggest issue is that Sunderland don’t have a natural goal-scorer that they can rely on. Wilson Isidor, the club’s top scorer in the Championship, scored just 12 league goals last season. Young Spanish striker Eliezer Mayenda has leap-frogged Isidor into Regis Le Bris’ preferred starting XI. He has a lot of potential, but he’s not Premier League quality either.
There’s still time in the window for Sunderland to bolster their attack. As things stand now, though, I’d bet on the Black Cats to be back in the Championship next season.
Leeds United
Leeds finished top of the Championship last season with 100 points. They earned their title playing attacking football and dominating their opponents. Now that they are in the Premier League, they won’t be able to do that. They will have to adapt, but I’m not sure they can.
Daniel Farke has been here before with Norwich twice, and he wasn’t able to pull it off either time. The Canaries won the Championship in his first season at the club. They finished bottom of the Premier League the following season. In the season after that, Farke led Norwich to another first-place finish in the Championship, but he was sacked just 10 games into the 2021-22 Premier League season, when Norwich were bottom of the table.
With players like Ao Tanaka, Lucas Perri, and Jaka Bijol, this Leeds team is arguably better than Farke’s old Norwich sides, but not by much. It’s also harder than ever to be a newly-promoted team in the Premier League. The top teams just have too much depth, which is why all three promoted sides have gone straight back down for two consecutive seasons.
It would be nice to see a team of Leeds’ pedigree in the Premier League for more than a season, but it will be very difficult for them to stay up this year.
Burnley
Burnley finished with the same number of points as Leeds in the Championship last season, but they did so in a very different way.
The Clarets conceded just 16 goals across 46 league games, setting a new EFL record. To put Burnley’s defensive dominance in perspective, the previous Championship record was set by Preston in 2005-06—they conceded 30 goals.
This defensive solidity should give Burnley a better chance of staying up than Sunderland and Leeds, who have to completely change their tactics in the face of better opposition. However, the Premier League is a major step up from the Championship, and the Clarets suffer the same problem as Leeds: their manager.
Like Daniel Farke, Scott Parker has led two dominant Championship teams to the Premier League (Fulham and Bournemouth), only to get relegated and then sacked. This doesn’t bode well for Burnley’s chances this season. The bigger issue, though, is their recruitment this summer.
Burnley sold James Trafford, who was the foundation of their defense last season. Newcastle backup Martin Dubravka was brought in to replace him. Say what you will about Trafford’s start at Manchester City, but he’s a better goalkeeper than Dubravka. The club’s other major signings (Kyle Walker, Armando Broja, Marcus Edwards) don’t inspire much confidence either.
On the bright side, Burnley’s squad is good enough to come straight back up if relegated this season.
