The Premier League Basement: The Five Teams at the Bottom and their Path Forward

by Renny Thomas

Four weeks into the season and the Premier League is off to a rousing start.  While clubs like Liverpool and Chelsea have begun the season in a torrid fashion, other clubs have had a miserable start so far.  The bottom five teams in the league are separated by two points. While it is relatively early in the season, these bottom five teams (Cardiff City, Huddersfield, Newcastle United, Burnley and West Ham) find themselves in varying predicaments as to how to right the ship for the rest of the season.

Cardiff City

Currently in 16th place, Cardiff has been anemic at goal scoring so far this season.  The club has been competitive in all four matches this term, but their inability to put the ball in the back of the net has left them with only two points.  In clashes against Bournemouth, Newcastle and Huddersfield, the Bluebirds were scoreless. While the club was missing midfielder Junior Hoilett, last year’s leading goalscorer for the first three matches, Neil Warnock’s men failed to get any production from the rest of the squad.  Danish forward Kenneth Zohore has struggled with injuries and the transition to the rigors of the Premier League. The signing of Gary Madine from Bolton in January has also failed to pay dividends.

It wasn’t until early September, against Arsenal, that they were able to celebrate a goal. Hoilett was able to see the field for the first time this season and his presence allowed the Bluebirds to play a more free-flowing, attacking manner of football and this resulted in a spirited, albeit losing affair against the Gunners.  Cardiff net their first two goals of the campaign and it appears that the Welsh squad has slowly started to find its attacking form.

The potent displayed against Arsenal will be necessary considering that Cardiff runs into a very difficult string of games with Chelsea (Away), Manchester City (Home), Burnley (Home) and Spurs (Away) in their next four matches.

Huddersfield

Sitting with two points, Huddersfield has been through a gauntlet, with early season matches against Manchester City, Chelsea and Everton.  Against Chelsea and City specifically, the Terriers have been outscored nine goals to one. While losing to the giants of the Premier League is to be expected, the points that will come back to haunt the team will be a goalless draw at home against a struggling Cardiff City, in which captain Jonathan Hogg was sent off.

There is optimism for David Wagner, as evidenced by their showing at Goodison Park against Everton.  Huddersfield were aggressive against the Merseyside squad and were able to come away with a morale boosting point on the road. With the addition of players such as former Borussia Dortmund defender Erik Durm and midfielder Ramadan Sobhi rejoining the team after the international break, Huddersfield have a solid chance of turning their fortunes around.  With winnable matches against Crystal Palace, Leicester City and Burnley on the horizon, Huddersfield feels like the team most likely to get their first victory out of the current bottom five teams.

Newcastle United

Newcastle had an unlucky to the season, currently residing in 18th place, having a very strenuous schedule so far.  With matches against Spurs, City and Chelsea to begin the season, Rafa Benitez’s men, while competitive, have come up empty handed against all three. Their only point on the season comes from an away draw against Cardiff , a game in which they passed up a glaring chance to snatch all three points as Kenedy saw his injury-time penalty saved.  

Their reluctance to play attacking football to accompany the poor results has left some of the Newcastle faithful grumbling.  Against Chelsea and City, the squad has maintained possession for just 18 and 20 percent of the match respectively.  Their fleeting spells with the ball have produced underwhelming moments at best. They have greatly missed creativity. Midfielder Jonjo Shelvey, their main creative spark, has been disappointing thus far and has missed the last two games. In his absence, the midfield duo of Mohamed Diame and Ki Sung-yueng have struggled in developing chemistry and the Magpies have struggled moving the ball up the pitch.

While the team have got off to a negative start, the positive for Newcastle United is that they have an experienced manager. A manager whom fans know has not been given the funds to add quality to the squad. Their Premier League upcoming schedule looks much more manageable, with winnable fixtures against Crystal Palace, Leicester City and a struggling Manchester United on the horizon.

Burnley

Burnley find themselves in the relegation zone fin the early going, a far cry from the seventh place position they were in at the end of last season. The rewards of last season’s surprising but welcome finish, entrance to the UEFA Europa League, has taxed the Clarets early season form.  Having played ten matches since July 26th, the International break must be a sight for sore eyes. The extra competitions may overwhelm a squad that did not bring in a significant haul of talent during the transfer window.

The most worrisome aspect of the start to Burnley’s season has been the significant loss of defensive fortitude.  For a club that only allowed 39 goals last season, the Clarets have already conceded nine goals on this young season.  Under manager Sean Dyche, they have always been tight at the back.

While their form has been less than ideal so far, the club’s unfortunate lack of success in the Europa League should be very beneficial to a squad that needed the time off. After losing out on a Europa League group stage spot to Greek club Olympiacos, Burnley will only have domestic competitions to focus on.

Dyche attempted to fortify his squad with new signings, the transfer window was relatively fruitless for Burnley. Former Middlesbrough defender Ben Gibson should provide some depth to their defensive spine while forward Matej Vydra should prove to be an effective threat up front.

With the volume of matches decreasing in the upcoming weeks, Burnley will hope to start accumulating some points against the likes of Wolves, Bournemouth and Cardiff.  These are all matches that Burnley are more than capable of taking a point from, if not all three.

West Ham

For a club that spent around £100 million this offseason, the bottom of the table is not where West Ham or its fans would have expected to see them.  However, four weeks into the season, The Hammers have failed to earn a single point on the season.

With big money signings such as Felipe Anderson from Lazio and Issa Diop from Toulouse and former Arsenal man, Jack Wilshere, there were high expectations coming into this season for West Ham and they have completely failed to live up to them.  Defensively, they have allowed 10 goals so far, tied for worst in the league (at least Huddersfield has a 6-1 loss to skew the numbers a little).

Manager Manuel Pellegrini’s typical 4-2-3-1 system, employed to create a more attacking, attractive style of football which owners and fans crave, seems to be an ill fit for the personnel he has deployed.  Pellegrini will need to either adjust his formation to help provide more defensive support or look to his squad depth and find other players who can provide better play.

West Ham have also been fruitless in attack as well, having only netted 2 goals so far. While there have been a few signs of progress, there seems to be a lack of creativity in the final third, leaving forward Marko Arnautovic with little service. West Ham’s attacking prowess seems to be suffering from the same issues that the rest of the team: players not being on the same page as each other.  New talent has not developed a rapport with their new teammates and players like Michail Antonio and Robert Snodgross have struggled to adapting to a new philosophy. 

Unfortunately for the Hammers, the fixtures on the horizon do not get easier with matches against Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United in the next few weeks.  If they don’t manage to ground out a result from these difficult fixtures, West Ham may be in a hole that it may not be able to recover from.