Sunderland (left) is a phenomenon of the Premier League - Photo: REUTERS
They are Sunderland, Leeds United and Burnley - the teams that topped the First Division last season.
No more boredom
After 5 rounds, Sunderland is sitting comfortably in 7th place with 8 points. They have only lost 1/5 of their past matches, on par with Arsenal and Chelsea. Leeds United is only 1 point behind Sunderland, ranked 12th. And Burnley, despite only having 4 points, is standing in a fairly safe 16th place.
Sunderland's only defeat this season was against Burnley. Instead of the three newly promoted teams, the "red light" group of the tournament now belongs to Aston Villa, West Ham (all 3 points) and Wolverhampton - a team that has been extremely disappointing with 5 consecutive losses.
Of course, it is still too early to confirm anything after only the first 5 rounds. The Premier League is considered to have just entered the phase of getting acquainted with the new season. But at least more than 1 month of competition is enough for experts, teams and fans to get used to the resilient image of the rookie teams in this season.
They are no less interested than the teams competing for tickets to the European Cup. And they can even completely become the "dark horse" of this year's season.
The form of Sunderland, Leeds and Burnley is a far cry from the usual underwhelming form of rookie teams in recent seasons. For the second year in a row, Premier League rookie teams were relegated the following season.
They are Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton Town - promoted in 2023-24 and relegated immediately; then Leicester, Ipswich Town and Southampton - similar to last season.
Fans had high hopes for last season’s rookies, as Leicester and Southampton were both very traditional. They had not been relegated long ago, so they still had many key players from their Premier League days.
But then it all collapsed. Last season, these three teams even surrendered the race very early with a gap of up to 13 points compared to the 17th place team (Tottenham).
Lessons learned
There are two sides to every coin. The Premier League is famous for its balance between teams, when the group of average - quite good teams is extremely large, and constantly beats the big teams.
This group includes Aston Villa at the top. Next are Brighton, Brentford, Everton, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Fulham, West Ham and Nottingham Forest. Nearly 10 teams with abundant financial resources and possessing many superstars capable of creating "blockbusters" in the transfer season.
But because this group is so large and so strong, they can easily overwhelm the rookie teams. Whether it is Leicester or Southampton - very experienced in the relegation race.
So English fans have little hope for the rookie teams this season. Although, as usual, the rookie teams continue to spend heavily to invest in their squads.
Burnley spent 128 million euros to bring in 12 new players. Leeds also spent 114 million euros on 10 new contracts. And Sunderland shocked by following the path of Nottingham Forest in recent years.
The Black Cats spent 189 million euros to bring in 15 new players this summer. In the opposite direction, they also pushed 16 players away (earning only 51 million euros). That means Sunderland has changed 2/3 of its staff.
In terms of experience, Sunderland, Leeds and Burnley are all familiar with the Premier League, but they cannot be better than Leicester or Southampton last season. Overall, there is no clear formula for success or failure.
Nottingham Forest have been on a different path over the past two years and have still managed to surprise the Premier League. Sunderland could well replicate that success.
At least two consecutive lessons from the rookies over the past two seasons will help the rookie teams this year gain a lot of experience. And now the Premier League promises to be not only attractive in the championship and top 4 race, but also in the relegation race.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/se-la-mot-mua-giai-da-dang-cua-premier-league-20250926081437017.htm
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