Premier League: Who are the candidates for relegation?

STRUGGLE?: Everton manager Frank Lampard could be battling against relegation again this season. Pic: Nick Potts/PA Wire.

Last season provided one of the most intriguing relegation battles for many a year, largely because of Leeds and Everton’s presence in the high-stakes jeopardy until late in the day.

And, as 2022-23 gets underway this weekend, events of this summer suggest supporters of both clubs can expect more of the same this time around.

Football logic, and the weight of statistical history suggest that at least one, and more probably two, of the newly-promoted clubs will exit immediately whence they came next May - bad news for supporters of Bournemouth, Fulham and Nottingham Forest.

But, even if a pattern that has occurred five times in the last eight seasons of two of the three newcomers going straight back down is repeated, then the transfer window to date has done little to suggest that Everton and Leeds will not be hot in contention for the unwanted third spot.

Both clubs flirted with disaster a little too close for the comfort of their fanatical fanbases last season and both have seen significant exits from their squads this summer.

The harsh realities of football-nomics may have made it inevitable that Richarlison would quit Goodison for Spurs and Leeds would be forced to offload Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha, to Manchester City and Barcelona, respectively.

Yet it has been the response - or lack of it - to those sales that have set alarm bells ringing, particularly at Goodison where the club’s owners remain very much on borrowed time with supporters and Frank Lampard starts the new campaign very much in the hot seat.

Burnley’s Dwight McNeil, in a deal for around £12 million, remains the only player Everton have so far spent money on this season. The arrival of another player, defender James Tarkowski, on a free from the relegated Clarets has hardly set pulses racing.

Talk this week that Everton are hunting in the bargain basement and pursuing the likes of former midfielder Idrissa Gueye and ex-Palace striker Michy Batshuayi have added to the pessimism.

Everton’s phenomenal support last season was, arguably, the key reason for their survival.

For the final games, fans mobilised, pre-match, outside the stadium, letting off fireworks and welcoming their team bus into Goodison in scenes more reminiscent of a Champions League Final than a domestic relegation scrap.

That brought Lampard’s undying admiration, an unlikely home win over Chelsea and an even more unlikely 3-2 victory against Palace in a game the Toffees had trailed 2-0.

That backing remains in place - with similar plans being prepared for Saturday’s season opener, again against his old club Chelsea.

But the bond between fans and club remains tenuous and, with Liverpool, West Ham and Manchester United also due at Goodison over their opening five home fixtures, the possibility of the mood souring is very real.

It is a similar story at Leeds, whose fans saw their team survive only on the final day of the season when they won at Brentford.

The response to bringing in almost £100 million from the sales of Phillips and Raphinha has been the signing of six overseas players - the most expensive being £22.5 million Feyenoord’s Colombian forward Luis Sinisterra - none of whom have Premier League pedigree.

American manager Jesse Marsch, brought in after Marcelo Bielsa’s race had run its course with the club, remains similarly untested and, to many, untrusted at this level.

There remains hope for these two famous old clubs, not least in the fact that, in addition to the three promoted clubs, Brentford and Southampton also seem to have taken steps back this summer and could be in trouble.

But it is not difficult to imagine that the meeting at the end of this month at Elland Road between Leeds and Everton could prove to have a major impact on the foot of the table, come next May.