Can they stay up?

Thursday, 16/02/2012

by Tom Seymour

Since the creation of the Premier League in 1992, only once have all of the promoted teams managed to avoid immediate relegation - ten years ago in 2001-02.

Every other season in the competition’s 19-year existence has seen at least one team facing immediate relegation.

This season, promoted sides Norwich City, QPR and Swansea City have a genuine chance of achieving that feat of 01-02, with all three currently outside the drop zone; although some are more comfortable than others.

When the three rose from the second tier of English football, pundits only gave a realistic chance of survival to QPR – due to their significant financial backing.

Interesting then, that as the halfway hump of the campaign has now been crossed, it is only QPR who find themselves at the latter end of the table.

And that’s after already claiming the scalp of Chelsea.

Yet, with a vat of transfer funds and a competent manager in Mark Hughes, you could say they seem better equipped for survival than, for instance, Blackburn or Wigan.

But of the three promoted sides, QPR appear to now have the biggest challenge, teetering on the brink of the relegation zone and currently on the same points as Wolves and Blackburn – the latter beating them last weekend.

They’ll need to start winning games like Saturday’s if they want to stay up, but with new signings Djibril Cisse and Bobby Zamora leading the lines, this isn’t an unrealistic ask.

Norwich and Swansea, on the contrary, have positively excelled in their new illustrious surroundings.

Unlike QPR, neither made many changes to their squads and backroom staff and have relied on a mixture of young talent, shrewd loan signings and self belief.

As it currently stands, they both have already taken points from Anfield and consistently picked up victories – with Norwich winning nine of their 25 games so far and Swansea taking seven.

Brendan Rogers’ Swansea have received adulation from football purists for their attacking style. With the pace of Scott Sinclair and Nathan Dyer on the flanks, the Swans have taken the sword to seven Premier League sides; with their 3-2 victory over Arsenal the pick of the bunch.

Playing free-flowing football is a brave tactic to adopt for a relegation candidate, but 30 points from 25 games is a respectable statistic for Swansea.

They may have to be careful at the back though, as despite a solid defensive start to the season, their attacking philosophy has left them open at the back of late and they’ve conceded too many, keeping only one clean sheet in their last five games.

This included Norwich’s 3-2 victory over the Welsh side on Saturday. Swans defender Neil Taylor said they were “unlucky”, but conceding three at home is often down to more than just luck.

Things are rosier in Norfolk though, as after that victory the Canaries are now only five points from the so-called ‘safety net’ of 40 points. With nine wins and eight draws so far, it would be a great surprise if Paul Lambert’s men weren’t the first of the three to secure their safety.

Norwich were the surprise package last season (coming up from the Championship after back-to-back promotions lest we forget) and with striker Steve Morison there only significant signing of the summer, many predicted they’d be destined for the drop.

But with a strong home record, Norwich have the potential to not only stay up, but possibly secure a top-half finish.

This current Premier League season has been the most open for years, with the infamous ‘Big Four’ no longer a saying and now the promoted teams are doing all they can to show they will no longer be the whipping boys.

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