After a short spell in the Championship, Fulham and Bournemouth have returned to the Premier League for the 2022/23 campaign.
Led by former Everton manager Marco Silva, Fulham were promoted as champions with three weeks to go when they beat Luton Town 7-0, and they return to the top flight after just a 12-month absence. Striker Alexandar Mitrovic scored twice in that win to equal the Championship record with 43 goals in a campaign and, after struggling in his previous stints in the top flight, the 27-year-old Serbian goal machine will hope to write some Premier League 2022 news headlines over the next six months or so.
Bournemouth returned to the Premier League after a two-year absence and there was redemption for their boss Scott Parker, who had suffered relegation as Fulham head coach only 12 months earlier. The Cherries finished strongly to climb to within two points of Fulham and six clear of third-placed Huddersfield Town. Former Liverpool striker Dominic Solanke had his best season yet, scoring 29 goals and, had he not been chasing Mitrovic, he may well have finished as the Championship’s top scorer.
Both Fulham and Bournemouth will feature in the Premier League 2022 betting odds for the relegation battle, as newly promoted teams always do, but both have the managers and playing staff who can cope with the pressure.
Can Forest return after a 23-year absence?
The Championship’s form team, Nottingham Forest, have a chance of returning to the top flight of English football for the first time since 1999.
The famous Nottingham club were kings of Europe in the late seventies. They were league champions in 1978, managed by the legendary Brian Clough, and the Reds won the European Cup in 1979 and 1980, beating Malmo and Hamburg, both by a 1-0 scoreline.
But following the departure of Clough, the club went into a steady decline and dropped out of the Premier League with three weeks of the 1998/99 campaign remaining.
And they have been looking upwards ever since.
42-year-old manager Steve Cooper is one of the brightest young coaches in the country and, after impressing in his stint as an England youth team coach, he led Swansea City to the play-off semi-final in 2020 and then the final in 2021 which they lost to Brentford. Cooper left the club by mutual consent and joined Nottingham Forest, leading his new team into the play-offs at the first attempt.
Forest beat Sheffield United in a dramatic penalty shootout in the semi-finals as keeper Brice Samba made three brilliant saves, and they now meet Huddersfield Town, the surprise package of this year’s Championship.
The Terriers had two seasons in the Premier League in 2018 and 2019 but have struggled in the Championship, until this season, and they will be tough opposition for the Reds. But Forest are a good attacking outfit and with Samba between the sticks and former Bournemouth defensive rock Steve Cook at the heart of the defence they have every chance of making a return.
Goodbye, for now, to Burnley
While Norwich City and Watford had been relegated some time ago, the battle to avoid the last relegation spot went down to the last few minutes of the 2021/22 season. My SBOTOP colleague covered a breathtaking finale to the campaign and, on a dramatic Sunday afternoon, Leeds United upset the odds by beating nine-man Brentford, and that meant Burnley joined Norwich and Watford in the Championship after six seasons in the top flight.
The Clarets had never been in a relegation scrap during the past five campaigns, with two top-ten finishes, and even last year when they had a poor finish and ended up 17th, the gap to 18th was 11 points.
It will be interesting to see how the Clarets cope in the Championship. The club is more precariously financed now after the local owners sold out to the American ALK group headed up by chairman Alan Pace. But if they can keep the nucleus of their team. then Burnley will be one of the favourites to bounce back. Watford and Norwich will probably be in the mix at the top of England’s second-tier next season too, but they were never really in with a hope in the Premier League this season. The Canaries didn’t measure up to the task throughout the campaign and a final-day clash against Spurs was a fair reflection of their season as they were slaughtered 5-0 to finish bottom, a point behind Watford, who were 12 behind the 18th-placed Clarets.
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