The English League Championship season was dominated by Newcastle United (102 points) and West Bromwich Albion (91 points). They were guaranteed promotion due to their outstanding seasons.
Blackpool finished the season in 6th position barely making it into the four team playoff for the third and final promotion spot. In the playoff, Blackpool defeated Cardiff City 3-2 in front of over 82,000 people sealing their promotion to the EPL.
Newcastle United is the best bet to survive relegation with West Bromwich Albion having a pretty good chance as well. Blackpool, on the other hand, would need a miracle of sorts to not be one of the bottom three teams in the EPL this year.
The one huge positive for this season that Blackpool has is that they start their season against Wigan, a squad that was defeated by Blackpool last season. Newcastle United gets to start their premiership versus the Red Devils of Manchester United. West Bromwich gets last year's EPl winner, Chelsea, in their opening match.
I welcome all three clubs to the EPL and can't wait to see how these squads match up against the giants of soccer in the EPL.
EPL Today
2 comments:
Very interesting always the fight for survival with the newly promoted sides. I find it very difficult to see much of a way to stay in the Premier League for Blackpool. They remind me a lot of Derby County from a couple of years back. Tough and gritty which is great for the Championship but doesn't translate in a more technical and skilled Premier League. I hope West Brom stays up because I'm a huge fan of Roberto Di Matteo and what he's done; he seems capable of adapting. Newcastle NEEDS to stay up for the good of the English game. Watching them go down was like watching Leeds fall from grace. If there is a promoted team (or two) that stays up, who do you think may go down?
Right now, I am seeing a blue collar team such as West Ham or maybe Wolverhampton being relegated. I believe that Wigan will be much improved maybe in the 10-12 range which will only force West Ham and Wolverhampton closer to relegation.
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