In each and every Premier League season, three teams are relegated to the second tier of English football (known as the Championship) and three teams are promoted to replace them. Last season, Cardiff City, Fulham and Huddersfield Town were relegated and they will be replaced by Norwich City, Sheffield United and Aston Villa for the upcoming season.
The following takes a look at one of the promoted teams mentioned, Norwich City.
How did they fare last season en route to promotion?
Going into the season, Norwich City had sold arguably their best player from the previous season, James Maddison, to Leicester City and Josh Murphy to Cardiff City for a reported combined transfer fee of £30 million. Many fans were rather pessimistic going into the season as their signings seemed rather underwhelming: Teemu Pukki on a free transfer, Emiliano Buendia for a reported £1.6m, as well as Moritz Leitner for very little money.
Fans were right in not being too optimistic as the Canaries started pretty poorly, having won only one of their opening six games and lying 17th in the table with just 5 points. However, after that, Norwich City’s season was absolutely remarkable as they only lost another 3 matches en route to winning the Championship title. Their form was very strong and by November they were lying top of the table. A slight dip between late December and mid-January meant they dropped to 3rd place, though after a defeat in the middle of February Norwich City never lost again and never relinquished first place, securing promotion with one game to go and confirming themselves as champions on the final day of the season.
The signing of Teemu Pukki proved to be an absolute bargain as he bagged a total of 29 goals in the Championship, winning the Golden Boot in the process. Emi Buendia also proved to be a bargain as he provided 12 assists, the most of any Norwich City player, besides scoring 8 goals. His influence was so great that the Canaries never won a game without him in the team. In addition, the emergence of players such as Max Aarons, Ben Godfrey and Jamal Lewis was also an important key to their season.
The Manager
Aged just 42, Daniel Farke began his managerial career in 2009 when he took charge of German side SV Lippstadt 08, and during his six-year spell in charge he took the club from the sixth to the fourth tier of German football. He then moved to take charge of Borussia Dortmund’s second team in place of David Wagner, who had left to join Huddersfield Town, his contract expiring at the end of the 2016/17 season.
He was appointed manager of Norwich City in May 2017. During his first season, the club finished a rather uninspiring 14th place, and in the wake of the poor start they suffered last season, it would not have been surprising had he been sacked as Norwich manager. However, it is said that patience is a virtue and for Norwich City it paid off as they stuck with Farke and he became the youngest manager to lead a team to the Championship title since Eddie Howe did it for AFC Bournemouth in 2015.
Farke tends to favour a 4-2-3-1 formation fielding two defensive midfielders and 3 attacking midfielders, with a lone striker up front, and also likes to see his teams play out from the back if possible.
Player to watch: Max Aarons
Aged just 19, Max Aarons was signed by Norwich City as a 16-year-old from Luton Town. He made his first-team debut in the Carabao Cup first round match against Stevenage last season, before making his Championship debut against Ipswich in the East Anglian derby in September; it was no coincidence that Norwich City only lost 3 of the games that Max Aarons played. His contribution to the team was influential at both ends of the pitch, as he scored 2 goals and provided 6 assists, whilst also successfully managing 56 dribbles (the most by any teenager in the division) and 31 key passes, with an accuracy of 81%. Meanwhile, from a defensive point of view Aarons averaged 1.6 tackles, 1.2 interceptions and 1.6 clearances per game.
His performances last season certainly did not go unnoticed, as he was named in the PFA Championship Team of the Season, the EFL Team of the Season, as well as the EFL Young Player of the Year, whilst it is rumoured that the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Manchester United and German side RB Leipzig were interested in the young right-back. It will undoubtedly be interesting to see how Aarons copes in the Premier League, but on last season’s evidence and the player’s attitude, one would certainly back Aarons to make the grade.
Where do they need to strengthen?
Despite all their successes in the Championship last season, Norwich City will most certainly need to bolster their squad going into the higher and of course more difficult level Premier League season.
Onel Hernandez, a left attacking midfielder, performed fairly well last season for the Canaries, with 8 goals and 9 assists, however, at times his finishing in front of goal left a bit to be desired as his shot accuracy was less than 55% and he completed less than 50% of his attempted dribbles. Here, some competition for that place was needed and it has arrived in the form of Patrick Roberts, who has joined the club on loan from Manchester City.
Additionally, some doubts still remain over whether goalkeeper Tim Krul has the ability to play a full season in the Premier League, considering his age (31) and also last season his distribution was far from consistently top notch. Norwich City did concede a total of 57 goals – they certainly cannot afford to be so weak defensively in the Premier League as it will cost them dearly.
Furthermore, despite Pukki’s impressive 29 goals in the Championship last season, there are doubts as to whether he can properly adapt to the Premier League; during his spell with Celtic in the Scottish Premier League the Finn hardly pulled up any trees. Therefore, another striker proven at top level football will at least boost competition, if not get into the first 11 straight away.
Norwich City, however, would be advised not to just spend money for spending’s sake and do so wisely, particularly given Fulham’s misguided £100m spending spree last summer which still saw them relegated. However, given Farke and sporting director Stuart Webber’s track record with recruitment, one would back Norwich City to get their transfer business correct yet again.
Can they survive in the Premier League?
The key question that always hangs over promoted teams’ heads is whether they can cope in the Premier League, and how they can do so. Daniel Farke is a very good manager who has certainly enhanced his reputation since moving into England, and did an impressive job in guiding them to the title when they arguably were not as fancied as other teams.
However, the Premier League is an entirely different level and with a young team it might not be so easy for Norwich City, though individually most of their players are definitely capable of making the step up to top flight football. Whilst it will be difficult for Norwich City to survive given the level of the teams currently in the Premier League, with Daniel Farke’s managerial talent and that of their players one would back them to survive.