The harshness of the Premier League seen from the relegation race

The 2023-2024 Premier League season has ended, thereby determining the champion, European Cup spots and 3 teams that must be relegated. Sheffield United, Burnley and Luton Town have all parted ways with the top flight for just one season after promotion.

Since the current Premier League format was applied in 1992, only once have 3 newly promoted teams from the Championship been relegated the following year.

That was in the 1996-1997 season, when Bolton Wanderers, Barnsley and Crystal Palace won promotion but neither team could stay.

The Premier League is completely different from the Championship. The highest level of English football requires physical strength as well as the quality of the players. Meanwhile, most newly promoted teams cannot immediately adapt.

For Luton Town, they are limited by financial budget, so relegation is not surprising. As for Burnley and Sheffield United, although they both understand the level of competition in the Premier League, they still cannot change their fate.

Burnley, under the leadership of Vicent Kompany, has completely changed his style compared to when Sean Dyche was in charge. The Turf Moor team has moved from a direct play with few passes to holding the ball and coordinating more.

Last season, they were the team with the highest average possession rate in the Championship (64.4%). At the same time, they also have many second passes in the league with 28,194 times, only behind Swansea City. However, when applying this style of play in the Premier League, Burnley completely failed.

Paul Heckingbottom's Sheffield United have used their experience and solid defense to return to the Premier League. However, after many key players left, their defense quickly disbanded. Sheffield have conceded 104 goals in 38 Premier League games this season, the most in the league.

For Luton, their playing style is relatively simple and direct. They have some outstanding players in the squad such as Ross Barkley, Sambi Lokonga and Issa Kabore. Despite having few ball possession, Luton's effectiveness in playing style is highly appreciated, especially in the Premier League environment.

But similar to Sheffield, the weak defense and lack of creativity in attack have caused Luton to be relegated. They have conceded 85 goals this season, only behind Sheffield.

Luton manager Rob Edwards admitted that the Premier League is too much for his side. The fact that all three new recruits have to be relegated shows that their gap in level compared to the rest of the tournament is relatively large.

The team that won the play-off final between Southampton and Leeds will join Leicester City and Ipswich Town in the Premier League next season to replace Sheffield, Burnley and Luton Town.