With under half of the season to go, two teams look destined for Premier League relegation, but the battle to avoid finishing alongside them in the bottom three is heating up.

Wolves’ eight-year stay in the top flight looks as though it’ll be coming to an end very soon as they’re still in the single figures in terms of points. Burnley, similarly, don’t look as though they’ll be able to break out of their recent yo-yo’ing pattern and are likely to be relegated in all three of their most recent Premier League campaigns.

This season should buck the recent trend of seeing all three promoted clubs going straight back down. Sunderland have been outstanding so far and have been in the top half for most of the season. Leeds have also competed well, and are currently above the bottom three.

With fifteen games to go, here is our analysis of the current Premier League relegation odds and the sides involved.

⬇️ Latest Premier League relegation odds

Here are the odds from our recommended football bookies:

*Odds are subject to change (Updated on 30th January)

⬇️ Teams looking doomed for Premier League relegation

According to the bookies, and the league table at time of writing, Wolves and Burnley can start preparing for life in the Championship. Both have an mountain to climb just to catch the back of the pack.

Wolves have been cut adrift all season and it took them 20 games to finally record a win. Despite an improved run of results, in which they’ve picked up three draws as well as that win, they’re stuck on a mere eight points for the season. They’ll need four more to avoid becoming the worst ever Premier League side – that was Derby County back in 2007/08, who finished with just 11 points.

Burnley had put three wins on the board by the end of October, but haven’t won since, and now find themselves ten points away from safety. Therefore, they’d have to at least double their win tally just to catch up to Nottingham Forest. They are, however, also showing signs of improvement in recent games – taking points off of Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham.

⬇️ Teams in danger of Premier League relegation

With two of the three relegation spots seemingly sorted, the main battle within the relegation battle is to simply avoid being on the wrong side of the dotted line come the end of May.

We’ve broken down the teams in the thick of that fight here:

😟 West Ham United – 4/9

Things looked bleak for West Ham and manager Nuno Espírito Santo after the Hammers kicked off 2026 with disastrous defeats to Wolves and Forest – the former giving the Black Country side their one and only league win of the season to date, the latter being the dictionary definition of a six-pointer.

Back-to-back wins at Tottenham and at home to Sunderland have, however, given them a fighting chance of hauling themselves out of the mire. They’ll need to keep it going as that loss to Forest is still haunting them – five points separates the two. West Ham would, of course, be one point ahead had they held on to their lead in that game.

They now face back-to-back away trips to Chelsea and Burnley – the latter will be a must-win. Looking ahead to their run-in, they finish at home to Leeds, which could be massive if the Yorkshire side aren’t mathematically safe by then.

⬇️ Take up odds of 4/9 on West Ham going down with William Hill ⬇️

😟 Nottingham Forest – 7/1

Nottingham Forest are already on their third manager of the season after Ange Postecoglu failed to get a so-called “new manager bounce” following his appointment. The Aussie lasted just 39 days, having replaced Nuno Espírito Santo – who had a rather public falling out with owner Evangelos Marinakis.

Experienced firefighter Sean Dyche has now been in charge for 15 Premier League games, plus several more in cup competitions, and has helped the team rediscover some of the defensive solidity that carried them to the European places last season – they’ve kept clean sheets in both of their most recent two league outings.

Under Dyche, Forest have picked up 20 points – an average of well over a point a game, which is usually more than enough to survive if extrapolated over a whole season.

It is worth noting, however, that they are still involved in the Europa League, having secured a playoff place. Keeping themselves fresh for domestic affairs will be the priority, but punters should keep an eye on the number of extra games Forest may need to play in the coming months compared to their closest rivals.

⬇️ Tip the tricky trees to be chopped down this season at 7/1 with Betway ⬇️

😟 Leeds United – 7/1

Before a ball had even been kicked, speculation was mounting that Leeds might part ways with manager Daniel Farke due to the German’s poor top flight record. Those rumours resurfaced after the Yorkshire club struggled throughout October and November.

A midweek win over Chelsea, however, kickstarted a seven-game unbeaten run through December and early January. With a better squad, and more money to spend than at previous club Norwich, Farkeball is looking better-suited and more durable in the Premier League.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin has been a godsend since arriving on a free from Everton in the summer. He’s scored nine times in total, including a run of having netted at least once in each of the last six games of 2025.

Their next two games, both at home, could reveal plenty as to whether Leeds will be able to keep West Ham and others at arm’s length. They face league leaders Arsenal and then Forest in a pivotal Friday Night Football matchup.

As mentioned earlier, their final game is at West Ham’s London Stadium. They won’t want that to become a final day showdown!

⬇️ Go for Leeds to be relegated at 7/1 with Sky Bet ⬇️

😟 Crystal Palace – 7/1

Crystal Palace are a team in free-fall having gone eight without a win in the Premier League and 11 without a win in all competitions – a run which includes being on the wrong end of debatably the biggest FA Cup shock of all time against Macclesfield.

Manager Oliver Glasner recently revealed he’ll be leaving at the end of the season, following the high-profile departures of Eberechi Eze in the summer and now Marc Guéhi in the January window. Striker Jean-Philippe Mateta could also leave before the deadline.

They head to the City Ground, Nottingham, this weekend before facing Brighton in their local derby, and then Burnley and Wolves come to Selhurst Park. It’s a crucial month for the Eagles, who surely must arrest their slide soon.

⬇️ Tip Crystal Palace to fall through the Premier League trap door at 7/1 with sport BET ⬇️

My Premier League relegation betting tips

Here are three Premier League relegation-themed betting tips to consider for the remainder of the campaign.

⬇️ Wolves to finish bottom – 1/3

Wolves have been in a sorry state for most of the season and despite finally putting a win on the board, they’ll need to suddenly string several together to catch up to Burnley in 19th. They’re also the lowest scorers in the league with just fifteen goals.

Rob Edwards’ team have looked well short of quality and confidence and are already only a few weeks away from being confirmed as relegated.

⬇️ Tip Wolves to finish bottom at 1/3 with Sky Bet ⬇️

⚽ Wolves/Burnley/West Ham relegation treble – 8/13

There are numerous potential outcomes in the relegation treble market, but Wolves-Burnley-West Ham is the odds-on combination. Wolves are gone and Burnley are also looking doomed.

West Ham, despite their recent victories, have looked like the third worst side this season and still have a sizeable deficit to recover. Forest and Leeds have been achieving big, important results more regularly too.

⚽ Choose Burnley, West Ham and Wolves to go down at 8/13 with sport BET ⚽

☝️ Sunderland to finish in the bottom half – 4/9 with William Hill

While not a relegation market per se, the “to stay up” market isn’t offering great value at the moment with eveyone above the danger zone having at least a five-point cushion.

Looking elsewhere, I can see Sunderland dropping slightly from their lofty position and finishing 11th or lower. The Black Cats have actually only scored 24 goals in 23 games – fewer than everyone bar Wolves, Forest and Palace.

Their back line has been superb for a newly-promoted side – only the top three and Chelsea have conceded fewer goals. In a league with so much world class talent, however, they will likely find it tough to keep shutting teams out so regularly. It’s much easier to suddenly start conceding more goals than to suddenly start scoring more too!

⚽ Tip Sunderland to finish in the bottom half at 4/9 with William Hill ⚽

Play Sky Bet’s Super6 game for free, every week of the Premier League season to win the jackpot!

⚽ Who suffered relegation from the Premier League last season?

For the second season in a row, the three promoted clubs were relegated back to the Championship in 2024/25.

Southampton – play-off winners the previous year – struggled from start to finish. Their tally of 12 points was just enough for them to avoid becoming the worst team in Premier League history, but that was the only positive they could take from a dismal campaign. A lack of pragmatism was a major issue under Russell Martin, but Southampton were poor after his sacking too.

Leicester City were dour but competitive under Steve Cooper, but the former Nottingham Forest boss never won over the club’s fans. His successor Ruud van Nistelrooy was a disaster, with Leicester going nine consecutive home games without even scoring a goal. They never really looked like surviving after Christmas.

Ipswich Town were the most competitive member of the trio, but it was always going to take a monumental effort for Kieran McKenna to keep them up. Ipswich were playing in League One two seasons earlier, so a lack of quality at the very highest level was forgivable. The Tractor Boys are looking to bounce back in 2025/26.

⚽ How previous Premier League relegation battles have played out

Even today, Premier League managers routinely reference “40 points” as their principal target at the beginning of a season. Traditionally that was seen as the amount of points required to stay in the division – the safety threshold, if you will – but, in recent years, numerous teams have survived without accumulating that many.

In each of the last nine campaigns, 35 points would have been sufficient. In three of those seasons, a mere 30 points would have seen a team finish above the dreaded dotted line. Meanwhile, 40 points was what 14th-placed West Ham got in 2022/23.

Being bottom at Christmas is usually fatal for a team’s survival ambitions. In 28 out of the 32 Premier League seasons, the side propping up the table on December 25 has gone on to finish in the drop zone. No one wants to be bottom of the standings when the turkey is served.

😮 The greatest escapes in Premier League history

While no one wants their team to be in the bottom three in March or April, history shows that it pays to keep fighting until relegation is mathematically confirmed. Down the years, several Premier League sides have pulled off escape acts that would have impressed Harry Houdini.

In 2004/05, West Bromwich Albion were the first team in Premier League history to avoid relegation having been bottom at Christmas. After winning just one of their first 23 matches, and only two of their first 27, optimism was in short supply at The Hawthorns. But Bryan Robson’s men rallied late on, taking a respectable 16 points from the last 33 on offer to keep their heads above water.

Sunderland fans had a sinking feeling for much of the 2013/14 season. A dismal start saw Paolo Di Canio fired in September, and it looked like Gus Poyet would take the team down to the Championship. But Sunderland upset the relegation odds Premier League late on, drawing 2-2 with Manchester City and then winning four games in a row (including one against José Mourinho’s Chelsea) to overturn a seven-point deficit.

Leicester City stunned the football world when they won the title in 2015/16, but they were very nearly relegated the year before. Nigel Pearson’s team found themselves six points adrift of safety at the start of April, but a thrilling run of seven wins in their final nine fixtures saw them finish all the way up in 14th.

⏬ Which teams in this year’s Premier League have been relegated most often?

Norwich City hold the unwanted record of being the most relegated team in Premier League history, having gone down six times since 1992/93. They are followed by West Brom and Leicester on five demotions apiece.

None of that trio are in the top flight this season, though, which means Burnley and Sunderland (four each) have suffered the most relegations of the current top 20. A glance at the Premier League relegation betting odds shows that the bookmakers would not be surprised if both clubs joined West Brom and Leicester on five relegations in 2025/26.

Crystal Palace and Fulham comfortably finished in mid-table last time out but, with three relegations to their name, neither London side is immune to the drop. Nottingham Forest, European qualifiers in 2024/25, have also dropped out of the Premier League on three occasions.

Elsewhere, Leeds, Manchester City, Newcastle United, West Ham and Wolves have all been relegated twice in the past 32 years. Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, Everton, Brighton & Hove Albion, Brentford have never been relegated from the Premier League, with the first six of those teams the only ever-presents.

🙋‍♂️ FAQs about the 2025/26 Premier League season

1. What will be the key fixtures to look out for in this season’s relegation battle?

The biggest games down the bottom in the next month will see West Ham head to Burnley, and they simply can’t afford another defeat to a fellow struggler.

Leeds host Forest in early February, a week after Forest have faced Palace at the City Ground. These three are the trio West Ham are looking to catch, so they’ll be paying close attention to the way in which these play out.

Palace, as mentioned earlier, have several winnable games in February but for a team who haven’t won in two months, none of them are a ‘given’. They head down to Sussex to face Brighton after their trip to Forest, then they welcome Burnley and Wolves to Selhurst Park.

Looking ahead to the end of the season – you’d have to circle that West Ham v Leeds game on the final day as a potential ‘cup final’ for survival.

2. How often do struggling teams benefit from a “new manager bounce”?

It is common for struggling Premier League sides to change their manager in a bid to turn things around. A positive upturn in form following the appointment of a new boss is often called the “new manager bounce”. But the evidence on its success as a strategy is mixed.

There have certainly been occasions when employing a new head coach has brought about a turnaround in fortunes. It did not take long for Roy Hodgson to work his magic at West Brom in 2010/11. Paul Clement rescued Swansea City after being appointed midway through the 2016/17 campaign. Just last season, David Moyes had a near-instant impact after replacing Sean Dyche at Everton.

Yet it does not always work. Last season also saw Leicester go backwards under Ruud van Nistelrooy following the dismissal of Steve Cooper. Having got rid of Mick McCarthy, Wolves got worse under Terry Connor in 2011/12. Sunderland experienced the same misfortune in 2002/03, when neither Howard Wilkinson nor McCarthy could improve results sufficiently to keep them up. 

Sometimes, sticking with a manager pays dividends. Leicester kept faith in Nigel Pearson in 2014/15 and were rewarded with a remarkable late rally which saw them snatch survival from the jaws of relegation. On other occasions, relegation-threatened clubs have been mistaken to back a struggling manager – think Avram Grant at West Ham in 2009/10.

In conclusion, there is no hard-and-fast rule on whether or not it is beneficial to change your manager in a relegation battle.

3. How quickly can a team be drawn into the relegation battle?

Very quickly, if they are not careful. It does not take much for a Premier League team to slide down the standings and suddenly find themselves embroiled in a fight for their top-tier status.

Promoted from the Championship via the play-offs, Hull City carried that momentum into the Premier League in 2008/09. Their performance in the early part of the season was superb and they sat sixth in the middle of December, but their form completely collapsed thereafter. With just one win in their last 22 matches, Phil Brown’s team survived by the skin of their teeth.

Leicester were not so lucky in 2022/23. They beat Tottenham 4-1 in February to move into 13th place with the top half in their sights. But Leicester went on to lose eight of their next nine games to plummet down the table and, despite beating West Ham 2-1 on the final day, they were relegated.

It is never advisable to celebrate survival before it is 100 percent guaranteed. After beating Ipswich 3-1 on 1st May 1993, Crystal Palace players did a lap of honour at Selhurst Park having moved eight points clear of trouble. But the Eagles went on to lose their last two games, and an extraordinary sequence of three wins in seven days saw Oldham Athletic overtake them to send Palace down.

4. How much of an impact can injuries and suspensions have in terms of shaking up the relegation battle?

Luck is a big factor in every sport and football is no exception. Injuries and suspensions can be the difference between survival and relegation, particularly for smaller clubs in the division who tend to have less strength in depth.

When they went down in 2021/22, Leeds had to make do without top scorer Patrick Bamford, midfield talisman Kalvin Phillips and defensive leader Liam Cooper for a large chunk of the campaign. Those absences contributed massively to their failure to stay up.

Had they kept more players fit, Reading might have survived in 2007/08. Unfortunately for the 18th-placed Royals, their players missed a cumulative 400 days more to injury than Fulham, who finished 17th.

However, a busy treatment room does not necessarily condemn a struggling side to relegation. Charles N’Zogbia, Christian Benteke, Fabian Delph and Jores Okore were all sidelined for significant periods in 2013/14, but Aston Villa still did enough to retain their Premier League place.

📖 Read more about the 2025/26 football season

About the author

Greg Lea

Greg Lea is a freelance football writer from London. He predominantly covers the Premier League and has had work published by the Guardian, FourFourTwo, ESPN and others.

Follow Greg on X: @GregLeaFootball

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We are into the second half of the season and Erling Haaland is very much in pole position to be this year’s Premier League top scorer.

The top flight of English football is home to some of the best attacking players in the world, but Man City’s big Norwegian is once again in a class of his own this season.

Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and several other teams spent heavily on new strikers in the summer and all of them have taken some time to find their feet. It has also been a poor season for last season’s Golden Boot winner, Mo Salah.

Instead, it is Brentford’s Igor Thiago and Haaland’s new teammate Antoine Semenyo (who reached double figures for Bournemouth before his January switch) who are the closest to catching Pep Guardiola’s goal machine.

⚽ Latest Premier League top scorers & odds

As we can see from these latest odds taken in January, everyone bar Haaland is priced at 10/1 or greater – with only Thiago having scored more than ten times. Barring a long-term injury, no one is catching him.

With this in mind, sport BET (and others) have set up a new market – Premier League top scorer without Haaland. This is looking slightly more difficult to call, as several sharpshooters are on similar tallies at time of writing. We’ve broken down some of the contenders here.

⚽ Latest Premier League top scorer WITHOUT Haaland odds

*Goal tallies and odds last updated on 23rd January. Odds are subject to change.

⚽ Premier League top scorer WITHOUT Haaland odds – frontrunners

Below are the main candidates to finish second behind Haaland, assuming he stays fit and continues firing.

Remember this market will also pay out in the event that someone remarkably surges ahead and wins the Golden Boot. As long as your chosen player finishes immediately after Haaland in the scoring charts, you’re a winner!

🥇 Igor Thiago – 1/5

• Goals: 16
• xG: 12.51
• Starts (sub appearances): 21 (1)
• Minutes per goal: 115.06
• Total shots: 52

No Premier League team will have lost more goals over the summer than Brentford, with Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa both moving on. A lot of responsibility was therefore placed on Brazilian Igor Thiago, who joined from Club Brugge in the summer of 2024 but made just eight Premier League appearances while the French-born pair were combining for nearly 40 goals.

This season, he is the main man, and has been a godsend for rookie manager Keith Andrews – outscoring everyone else in the league so far apart from Erling Haaland. The Bees had been tipped to struggle this season given all the departures, but are currently pushing for Europe.

It would be fair to say Thiago has been streaky – he scored five goals in three days as Brentford beat Everton and Sunderland in early January and also managed another five in three games in November.

⚽ Back Igor Thiago to continue scoring and finish second only to Haaland in the scoring charts at 1/5 with sport BET ⚽

🥈 Antoine Semenyo – 12/1

• Goals: 10
• xG: 7.08
• Starts (sub appearances): 21 (0)
• Minutes per goal: 188.8
• Total shots: 50

Antoine Semenyo’s ten goals for Bournemouth convinced Man City to stump up £65m to secure his services in January. The Ghana international shone on opening night, scoring an excellent brace at Anfield, before bagging four more in the following six games.

Unlike most Africans playing in the Premier League, Semenyo wasn’t involved in the African Cup of Nations at the turn of year – as Ghana failed to qualify. This has enabled Guardiola to integrate him into the lineup very quickly and he has already made his first starts at the Etihad.

Being at a huge club surrounded by world class talent may now count against Semenyo in this market, as he may find himself in a rotation of attacking players – rather than being the main man.

⚽ Tip Antoine Semenyo to finish immediately after Erling Haaland in the scoring charts at 12/1 with bet365 ⚽

⚽ Premier League top scorer WITHOUT Haaland – outsiders

With more than two-thirds of the season still to play, there’s plenty of time for someone to hit a ‘purple patch’ and catch up to Erling Haaland and the others named above. Here are three more players who’ve had a good season thus far and could be potential dark horses in this market.

🏅 Hugo Ekitike – 16/1

• Goals: 8
• xG: 6.48
• Starts (sub appearances): 14 (5)
• Minutes per goal: 152.75
• Total shots: 45

Hugo Ekitike took little time to settle in at Anfield, having arrived from Eintracht Frankfurt for around £79m. The Frenchman scored on his Premier League debut against Bournemouth and has been Liverpool’s most consistent goal-getter with the even-more-expensive Alexander Isak struggling prior to his injury, and with Mo Salah seemingly on his way out of Anfield.

Five of Ekitike’s eight league goals game in a three-game purple patch in December – with braces against Leeds and Brighton, and the eventual winner at Tottenham.

⚽ Tip Hugo Ekitike to finish as the Premier League’s top scorer WITHOUT Haaland at 16/1 with William Hill ⚽

🏅 Dominic Calvert-Lewin – 33/1

• Goals: 9
• xG: 8.01
• Starts (sub appearances): 15 (5)
• Minutes per goal: 155.66
• Total shots: 41

No striker in the top flight, however, has offered quite the same return on investment as Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who didn’t cost Leeds a penny! DCL was available on a free in the summer and has eventually won the battle to become their starting number nine.

He’s bagged nine goals in 15 starts, with seven of these coming in the last six games of the year. If he can keep it going into 2026, he could match his best-ever Premier League tally of 16 back in the 2020/21 season. He will also be hard for England manager Thomas Tuchel to ignore when it comes to selecting his World Cup squad!

⚽ Go for Dominic Calvert-Lewin to continue his fine form and finish as top scorer behind Haaland at 33/1 with William Hill ⚽

🏅 Nick Woltemade – 33/1

• Goals: 7
• xG: 6.24
• Starts (sub appearances): 17 (2)
• Minutes per goal: 189.29
• Total shots: 29

Having missed out on other transfer targets in the striking department, Newcastle eventually stumped up a club record fee for 6ft 6in Nick Woltemade from Stuttgart. The German arrived to relatively little fanfare amid the protracted Alexander Isak saga, but he quickly won the locals over – scoring three times in his first four Premier League games, plus one in the Champions League.

Eyebrows were raised at the fee, which was reportedly in the £70-75m region, given the 23-year-old had only recently emerged as a Bundesliga regular – scoring 12 of his 14 goals in the German top flight last season.

Early signs suggest, however, that he is a really good fit in Eddie Howe’s team having been given plenty of service so far. His tally now stands at seven, which includes a brace against Chelsea just before Christmas.

⚽ Tip Nick Woltemade to continue scoring and finish next in the charts after Haaland at 33/1 with sport BET ⚽

🏅 Phil Foden – 33/1

• Goals: 7
• xG: 4.65
• Starts (sub appearances): 19 (1)
• Minutes per goal: 230.29
• Total shots: 44

Much like Manchester City in general, 2024/25 was a ‘down’ season for Phil Foden, who scored just seven times in 28 league outings – this, following his Premier League player of the season in which he scored 19 goals (and contributed eight assists).

Foden has bounced back this time around, matching his seven-goal tally of last season by mid-January. Those backing him to finish near Haaland in terms of goals, however, should note that Foden – as one of the Norwegian’s main suppliers – will also be setting up a chunk of his goals too!

⚽ Back Phil Foden to join his teammate Haaland at the top of the scoring charts at 33/1 with bet365 ⚽

Which players have scored the most Premier League goals over the last three seasons?

Erling Haaland has been the most consistent goal-getter in the last three seasons, netting a total of 85 strikes in that time. He enjoyed a record-breaking campaign in 2022/23, beating opposition goalkeepers on 36 occasions for Manchester City. He tends to hit the ground running: in each of the last three years, Haaland has scored at least eight goals in his first six appearances.

Mohamed Salah is second in the standings over a three-year period with 66 goals. Twenty-nine of those efforts came in 2024/25, when the Liverpool legend enjoyed a purple patch in winter: between the start of December and early January, he scored eight goals in seven matches to move clear of the competition. 

Third place in this particular category is claimed by Alexander Isak, who has found the back of the net 54 times since 2022/23. Ollie Watkins of Aston Villa is fourth with 50 goals in the last three campaigns. 

Premier League top scorers from the last three seasons

2022/23	2023/24	2024/25
1. Erling Haaland (36 goals)	1. Erling Haaland (27 goals)	1. Mohamed Salah (29 goals)
2. Harry Kane (30 goals)	2. Cole Palmer (22 goals)	2. Alexander Isak (23 goals)
3. Ivan Toney (20 goals)	3. Alexander Isak (21 goals)	3. Erling Haaland (22 goals)
4. Mohamed Salah (19 goals)	4. Phil Foden / Dominic Solanke / Ollie Watkins (19 goals)	4. Bryan Mbeumo / Chris Wood (20 goals)
5. Callum Wilson (18 goals)	5. Mohamed Salah (18 goals)	5. Yoane Wissa (19 goals)

Play Sky Bet’s Super6 game for free, every week of the Premier League season to win the jackpot!

🙋 FAQs about the 2025/26 Premier League top scorer race

1. Which teams are expected to compete for the Premier League title?

Arsenal are the favourites to win the Premier League title this season after opening up a seven-point lead in the early weeks of 2026.

The Gunners will be hoping this is finally their year after three consecutive seasons as runners-up. They are once again the toughest team to score against, having only conceded 14 in 22 games, and have no shortage of attacking options – with Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke and Viktor Gyökeres joining in the summer to boost their depth.

Manchester City will aim to keep the pressure on Mikel Arteta’s side after seeing their streak of four straight titles ended last season. While they do have the league’s most deadly striker, Pep Guardiola’s team still aren’t quite as consistent as their previous juggernaut teams.

2. Which teams are expected to compete for the Champions League places in the Premier League?

Aside from Arsenal, the bookies expect Manchester City, Liverpool and – following their surge up the table – Aston Villa to be in next season’s Champions League. Chelsea and Manchester United have both recently changed managers but are also within striking distance of the top four.

Newcastle are in UEFA’s top competition for a second time in three seasons, and could secure a top eight finish in the league phase. They’ve had an inconsistent domestic season but are also in the race after a good start to the new year.

3. Which teams are expected to be fighting against relegation from the Premier League this season?

In both of the last two seasons, the three promoted clubs have gone straight back down to the Championship but that won’t be happening this time around. Sunderland have had an excellent season and are in the top half at the time of writing. Leeds have also given themselves a great chance of surviving after picking up 25 points in their first 22 games.

Currently, Wolves, Burnley and West Ham are the three who look like they’ll be dropping down to the Championship. All three are cut adrift and Wolves are still in the single digits points-wise.

4. How can injuries, suspensions and managers rotating their teams affect the top scorer race?

Injuries, suspensions and rotation can have a huge effect on the outcome of a top scorer race. Their uncertain impact means every pre-season prediction is partly a guessing game.

Just last season, Erling Haaland’s bid for the award was derailed when he picked up an injury in April which kept him out for several weeks. Harry Kane was in the mix for the top scorer prize in 2018/19, only to suffer an ankle problem in April which allowed others to overtake him.

Eric Cantona was on course to challenge for the Golden Boot in 1994/95. In January of that season, he was sent off for kung-fu kicking a Crystal Palace supporter which saw him banned for the rest of the campaign, thus ruling him out of the race.

On the other hand, Luis Suárez missed six games of the 2013/14 campaign through suspension but still finished as top scorer, finding the back of the net 31 times for Liverpool.

Rotation can also make things more difficult for a player aiming to finish as top scorer. It is much better to belong to a team where you are virtually guaranteed 38 starts if fit, rather than playing for a club which has alternative options in attack.

📖 Read more about the 2025/26 football season

About the author

Greg Lea

Greg Lea is a freelance football writer from London. He predominantly covers the Premier League and has had work published by the Guardian, FourFourTwo, ESPN and others.

Follow Greg on X: @GregLeaFootball

Commercial content notice: Taking one of the bookmaker offers featured in this article may result in a payment to sport. 18+. T&Cs apply. GambleAware.org

Remember to gamble responsibly

A responsible gambler is someone who:

• Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
• Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
• Never chase their losses
• Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry or depressed
• Gamcare – www.gamcare.org.uk
• GambleAware – www.gambleaware.org

Find our detailed guide on responsible gambling practices here.

For help with a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or go to www.gamstop.co.uk to be excluded from all UK-regulated gambling websites.

Rangers have reportedly made enquiries to Sunderland for duo Dan Neil and Romaine Mundle.

Despite playing a key role in the Black Cats’ promotion to the Premier League last season, the pair have seen their playing time limited this term.

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Academy graduate Neil captained his hometown club in their Play-Off Final win over Sheffield United at Wembley in May.

However, he has only featured three times in the top-flight in the 2025/26 campaign, having been replaced by Granit Xhaka in the Sunderland midfield.

Meanwhile, after a breakthrough year in the Championship last season, winger Mundle is yet to start in the top-flight this term.

Sky Sports report that the 22-year-old is keen for more regular game time, with Sunderland open to allowing him to leave on loan this month.

As for Neil, he is said to be on the radar of some Championship clubs, and is out of contract in the summer.

Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris appeared to suggest both players could be allowed to leave in January.

When asked about the prospect of Mundle leaving, he said: “If a player won’t play too much in the second part of the season, there is the possibility for him to find another club to get minutes.”

Rangers alert to Sunderland duo

It appears Rangers are alert to Neil and Mundle’s situations, with head coach Danny Rohl prioritising recruitment in January.