The Premier League’s Underachievers

The dust has officially settled on another Premier League campaign and it’s time to take stock of what went down throughout the course of the season. It’s always interesting to look at some shortcomings from clubs up and down the top flight of English football and in particular, those who probably felt like they could’ve gone that little bit further than they actually did.

Today, we’re going to take a look at the clubs we believe, unfortunately, underachieved in comparison to what was expected of them.

Man United – 6th

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer couldn’t get out from underneath the storm that was brewing at Old Trafford and was therefore dismissed from his role as manager, allowing Ralf Rangnick to come into the fold.

Alas, that didn’t end any better, with Rangnick showcasing that perhaps he isn’t the elite level manager many thought he could be – once again leaving the Red Devils in a tricky spot, to say the least.

Leicester – 8th

Leicester City actually did quite well to battle back from where they were at the turn of the year, but that doesn’t remove the fact that going from Champions League hopefuls to eighth position is more than a bit disappointing.

Brendan Rodgers is still at the helm but in the coming season, he needs to focus on getting the Foxes back to where they once were after another close run in Europe.

Aston Villa – 14th

It was always going to be tough for Villa to compete once they lost Jack Grealish but when you take a look at the changes they made last summer, we’d argue a top half finish should’ve been the minimum requirement.

Unfortunately they weren’t able to live up to that, slumping to 14th under Steven Gerrard with the club needing a restructure more so than a handful of ‘names’ who can’t find consistency.

Leeds – 17th

The dreaded second season syndrome came agonisingly close to claiming another victim with Leeds United only barely being able to stay in the Premier League on the final day of the campaign.

Jesse Marsch took over from Marcelo Bielsa and even though he pulled a few magic results out of the hat, we aren’t so sure it’ll be enough to prevent another relegation scrap this time around.

Burnley – 18th

Sure, Burnley are always going to be there or thereabouts in the relegation battle, but to see them actually drop down into the Championship is pretty surprising after what they achieved under Sean Dyche.

Vincent Kompany is the new man at the helm and it’ll be interesting to see whether or not they’re able to make an immediate return to the Premier League come this time next year.