It was another tough weekend for the three promoted clubs as they picked up just a single point between them.
To compound their misery, Bournemouth beat Newcastle to pull away from the relegation zone in the mini-battle for the drop.
However, Sheffield United did emerge with a credible, battling draw away at Brighton. Despite that, it already looks like a bleak winter ahead for Luton Town, Burnley and Sheffield United.
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With just one win each so far this season, fans of the newly promoted teams could be forgiven for wondering whether the riches and bright lights of the Premier League was really all worth it.
This weekend, Caoimhe O’Neill, Andy Jones and Tom Burrows travelled to Old Trafford, the Emirates and the Amex stadium to get a sense of the mood surrounding the fight for survival at Luton, Burnley and Sheffield United respectively.
Expectations going into the season
At the entrance to the Old Trafford away end, Gemma Tuff and her two daughters, Elice, 23, and Grace, 17, are smiling and taking it all in.
“We are just enjoying every single game and making the most of it because we might not be in this league next year,” Gemma said.
Gemma Tuff (centre) with her daughters Grace (left) and Elice (right) (Caoimhe O’Neill/The Athletic)In Manchester, that’s the prevailing feeling among the travelling Luton fans — even after their eighth defeat.
Luton only spent £20million ($24m) after winning promotion through the play-offs, the least of any team in the division, with a number of free signings and loans among their 13 new faces, including Chiedozie Ogbene, Ross Barkley and Issa Kabore. Supporters felt they had bolstered the squad while staying true to the club’s principles.
Chris Kelly, 47, at Old Trafford with his 15-year-old son Luke, said: “We were never going to spend £10m to £15m on a reserve player from Chelsea or a club like that. That’s not us. Ten years ago we were playing Hayes, Altrincham and Alfreton in the National League. We don’t want to be there again and we were there because we were spending silly money.”
At Burnley, pre-season was filled with excitement following their dominant march to the Championship title. Vincent Kompany’s brand of attacking, possession-based football had fans believing they could cause some upsets.
“There was a real belief we could have a good season, maybe joining that mid-table group safely away from the relegation zone,” said Tony Scholes, who was at The Emirates on Saturday.
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Burnley attacked the transfer market, spending over £90million on 15 new players, including making loan moves for Jordan Beyer and Michael Obafemi permanent. It was the club’s biggest-ever summer outlay. However, only three new signings — Nathan Redmond, Sander Berge and Dara O’Shea — had previously played in the top flight.
“It was a lot of money,” said Scholes. “The squad we finished with when the window closed looked unbalanced.”
Unlike Burnley, expectations going into the season were low at Sheffield United after they lost their two outstanding players from the previous season — Iliman Ndiaye and Berge — to Marseille and Burnley. Star man Ndiaye had contributed 15 goals and 12 assists last season. Manager Paul Heckingbottom had steered Sheffield United to promotion despite them being under an EFL transfer embargo concerning the default of payments to another club. They also reached the FA Cup semi-final.
But there’s a feeling among the fanbase that the team that came up is stronger than the current one.
Heckingbottom summed up the glum mood after their opening-day 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace when he bluntly put it: “We just don’t have the quality.”
In their opening games, they had to put players on the bench who had hardly — or, in some cases, never — played league football before.
“It’s like we’re turning up to a Formula 1 race in a Vauxhall Corsa,” Sean Bliss, 61, told The Athletic outside the entrance to the away end at the Amex stadium. “There were no expectations whatsoever. If we were lucky, a good season would be fourth from bottom.”
Bliss, who has only missed two games in 26 years, added: “The team isn’t good enough, but we just want them to put up a fight and show passion. It was there last Saturday against Wolves.”
Newcastle’s 8-0 win at Bramall Lane is Sheffield United’s lowest point of the season so far (George Wood/Getty Images)Fellow Sheffield United fan James Slater, 24, said: “We didn’t have the highest expectations, then we sold Ndiaye and that put the final nail in the coffin. Because we didn’t have the budget, we couldn’t go in with big offers, so we had to wait to see who was still available. It felt like we weren’t ready at the start of the season. But I first started going 10 years ago when we were in the pits of League One, so you’ve got to remember how far we’ve come.”
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With 16 departures over the summer, it led to a scrambled search to patch up the squad and that bedding-in process for the 11 new players has taken some time, but it is slowly starting to take shape.
Cameron Archer from Aston Villa for £18m, Vinicius Souza from Belgian side Lommel SK and Gustavo Hamer for £15m from Coventry have all shown flashes of Premier League quality.
How it’s going on the pitch
After a whirlwind introduction to the speed and intensity of the Premier League against Brighton in August, Luton, who lost 4-1 at the Amex Stadium, have gradually started to find their feet.
Their 2-1 win against Everton at Goodison Park on September 30 is their only victory to date, while points at home to Wolves and away to Nottingham Forest instilled belief.
Luton’s most notable performance came last week when they came within minutes of beating Liverpool at a rocking Kenilworth Road.
Tom Lockyer in action against Liverpool at Kenilworth Road (Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)“There is a bit more belief in camp now coming off the Liverpool game,” captain Tom Lockyer told The Athletic. “Stay in the game regardless of what happens and you never know what can happen. You saw that at Forest even though it got to 2-0 (with 10 minutes to go), we got a point.”
He added: “It’s a 38-game season and six points from 12 games now is probably not enough to stay in the Premier League, so we are going to have to start taking some points along with performances.”
However, Lockyer said it was frustrating to have lost 1-0 to Manchester United and Tottenham from goals conceded at set pieces.
For Burnley, that early season optimism has now faded and they are facing up to the harsh realities of life back in the top flight. They have played well in patches but have largely been second-best in games. Only one side in Premier League history has lost more of their first 12 games than Burnley this season.
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Their last two performances, against Crystal Palace and Arsenal, have resembled a team that can be competitive, but they need points. And fast.
The Nottingham Forest draw in September looked like Burnley had arrived, but they failed to follow that up in games against similar opposition, losing to Everton and Bournemouth.
“The first promotion is pretty ruthless,” said Kompany. “We have to look at it as an opportunity. Our team is showing fight, resilience; we haven’t waited until this season to build it. We built it across last season — it’s within the staff, the place. It’s a calm place and we believe we have the right conditions to overcome that gap.”
Vincent Kompany during Burnley’s defeat at the Emirates on Saturday (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)After that sorry defeat away at Palace, Sheffield United have only managed to collect five points from a total of 12 matches. However, four of those have come in their last two matches, which gives reason for optimism.
Against Brighton yesterday, they were second-best for much of the game but battled hard to stay in it and could have pinched a win at the end after the home side went down to 10 men.
It was a vast improvement from the low point of the season, that dire 0-8 hammering against Newcastle in September, where their defence was as leaky as the roof at Old Trafford.
They are hoping to avoid a repeat of the wretched 2020-21 season behind closed doors, during which they lost 29 times.
Captain Oliver Norwood said: “We’ve taken our fair share of beatings this year but the last couple of games has shown more what we’re about. But you’ve got to realise what we’re playing against: these are top players in the best league in the world. This league is ruthless; if you’re not at it, you get punished.
“The fans were singing away (after Brighton), we’re no longer bottom, so we’ve just got to build on that. We’ve got good momentum.”
How confident they feel about staying up
“Last season was a fairytale,” said Luton fan Neil McCutcheon. “If we stay up this season… I don’t know what’s better than a fairytale!
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“This (being at Old Trafford) is the reward we get — days like today.”
For now, relegation is an afterthought for Luton’s fans, who are just enjoying the Premier League ride.
If they do drop back down, they will receive parachute payments that will give them a significant advantage in the Championship (around £90million across three seasons).
Manager Rob Edwards is popular among the fanbase and there are plans afoot for a new stadium. There is a positive feeling around the club, even if they are in the relegation zone. They could do with extra firepower up front, but do not expect them to go on any sort of wild spending spree in January.
Internally at Burnley, they still believe can stay up. A bumpy start was not unexpected as new players bedded in and others adapted to the league. They have to stop being their own worst enemy, making repeated mistakes that lead to goals for the opposition and they must defend set pieces better. Given their summer spending, the loan market may be their best solution in January. Relegation would come as a disappointment, but Burnley have shown they know how to handle the drop and prosper.
Kompany’s job is safe for now. He has credit in the bank, the squad is built in his image and many of the players joined because of him.
“His position shouldn’t be under threat,” added Scholes. “He deserves our full support — he’s earned it — but we do have to improve. There have been times this season when teams just haven’t had to do much to beat us.”
At Brighton, the Sheffield United fans appeared relaxed by the prospect of relegation. There are doubts over Heckingbottom, but supporters are backing him for now.
Slater said: “You have to accept you’ll probably go back down and enjoy it while you’re there. We’re not a bad side — we beat Wolves last week. I feel there’s probably a 50/50 split among the fans (on whether they can stay up), between the realists and those with a short-term memory. I’m just enjoying being in the Premier League again. I’m still optimistic we can make a good go at it. This period coming up feels like a make-or-break period — we’ve got Bournemouth and Burnley coming up, matches we need to win.”
The Sheffield United players and fans celebrate their goal at Brighton on Sunday (Steve Bardens/Getty Images)“If we went down again it honestly wouldn’t bother me,” said Bliss. “There have been some calls for Heckingbottom to go, but who would come in? It would be the same players, the same problems. Give him until the end of the season. If we go down, we’ve got a brilliant team to attack the Championship. Maybe with new owners and new investment, it might come right. When we went up last time under Chris Wilder, we had a way of playing and we had an identity with the overlapping centre-backs, it was brilliant. Perhaps Heckingbottom is a bit naive for the Premier League.”
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“I feel like I’d rather go up and down, a bit like Norwich used to,” said 27-year-old fan Ben Swann. “I don’t love the Premier League — VAR is terrible.”
After another difficult weekend, there is an international break before the three promoted clubs all have home matches against teams in the bottom half of the table.
The fightback has to start there.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
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