The 2026/27 Premier League season is on the horizon, but not every fan base should be looking forward to the fresh campaign. Here are three teams destined to fall out of the European places.
Brighton
It hurts to pick against Brighton since they have a lot of great young talent – and added another future star in center back Luka Vuskovic from Tottenham Hotspur this summer – and are a really likable club with a great coach, but the thing is, they don’t have the veteran talent or the overall squad depth in key areas of defense and midfield to compete at the highest level.
Brighton were fortunate to have made it to Europe last season, benefiting from a weak Premier League with the likes of Chelsea and Tottenham struggling. The big boys are going to be back with a vengeance, while Brighton are going to feel the loss of Danny Welbeck to the Blues badly. Brighton are going to struggle more to put teams away than they should.
Aston Villa
Aston Villa losing Morgan Rogers to Chelsea will, too, tip the balance, and Villa also sold Youri Tielemans to Manchester United. That means the Lions literally sold their two best and most important players, and they brought in very little to support Unai Emery on the transfer market this time around.
It seems unfair to have Aston Villa plummeting from fourth to outside the Premier League top eight entirely, but they have huge red flags in terms of creating chances and scoring goals right now; they will be way too reliant on Ollie Watkins.
Out of these three teams, Villa are obviously the best, which is why they ended up finishing in fourth place last season, but compared to Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool, and the others in the mix, they just do not have the same upside or talent. This was a disappointing window.
Sunderland
Sunderland overachieved and were one of the greatest stories of the 2025/26 Premier League season in going straight from the EFL Championship to the Europa League, via smart signings and elite defending.
But they just don’t have the attacking fire power or overall squad depth and quality to pull the same trick twice. Keeping Granit Xhaka was massive and may be enough to keep the Black Cats in the top half of the Premier League, but who scores the goals? Brian Brobbey is a real talent, but he is very inconsistent and has no help around him.
