The new Premier League campaign is just over five weeks away and, while the main focus of attention will no doubt be on who are the title contenders, the three newly-promoted sides have their own mission to survive for more than one season in top-flight.
Last season marked a rare occurrence as it was only the second time in Premier League history that all three new boys survived as Norwich and Swansea flourished to seal mid-table finishes, while QPR survived relegation on a dramatic final day.
This season promises to be another challenge for the clubs coming up from the Championship as we look at who has the potential to finish top dog.
Reading came from nowhere to romp to the Championship title against the odds last season as boss Brian McDermott helped the Royals recover from their 2011 play-off final hangover in the opening half of the campaign to surge into top spot following an impressive post New Year winning run.
McDermott has wasted no time in bolstering his squad with Pavel Pogrebnyak, who scored six goals in 12 games on loan at Fulham last season, former England full-back Nicky Shorey and midfielder Danny Guthrie all adding Premier League experience to the ranks.
It will be a tall order for the Royals to survive (4/6 To Stay Up), but we feel the quality of players McDermott is adding to an already settled squad should keep their heads above water next term.
Southampton went up in the second automatic position after Nigel Adkins’ men suffered a slight case of the jitters when battling it out with the Royals for the title at the end of last season.
Adkins’ side were impressive at St Mary’s last season and they will be hoping to make it a fortress again as they bid to get a foot-hold in the Premier League.
The Saints chief will be banking on last season’s top scorer Rickie Lambert to take his prolific goal-scoring form into the top flight and hope £7million signing Jay Rodriguez can also make the step up.
Steve Davies will add some Premier League experience into the midfield after joining from Rangers, while Adkins is still looking for more new faces to further bolster a squad which could do with some more top-flight nous.
West Ham managed to bounce back to the Premier League at the first time of asking, but had to do it the hard way in the end-of-season play-offs when they overcame Blackpool at Wembley.
Sam Allardyce’s men choked the most, particularly at Upton Park, in the second half of last season and that cost them automatic promotion. However, they rediscovered their form in the run-in and play-offs to seal a deserved return to the top-flight.
Allardyce’s squad possessed plenty of Premier League quality last season as the Hammers held on to the majority of their top players in order to give themselves the best chance of promotion and it paid dividends.
Experienced goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen will more then compensate for Rob Green’s departure to QPR on a free transfer, while midfielder Mohamed Diame has also arrived from Wigan and George McCartney’s loan move from Sunderland has been made a permanent arrangement.
The Hammers have Matt Taylor, Kevin Nolan, Carlton Cole and Mark Noble, who have all performed well in the Premier League in the past, while Allardyce will hope Ricardo Vaz Te, Nicky Maynard and Sam Baldock can make the step up with ease.
Despite finishing third, we feel Hammers (4/11 To Stay Up) look the best bet to cope with the transition of being back in the Premier League given that their absence was only a season, while the Saints and Royals have been missing for seven and four years respectively.
Big Sam has proven himself capable of keeping clubs in the top flight with Bolton and Blackburn so expect the Hammers to come out on top in the battle of the news boys, while only Southampton (5/4 to be relegated) are likely to be fall guys and drop back to the Championship come next May.
Prediction: West Ham Top Promoted Team @ 11/8
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