When you’re thinking of a relegation battle at the bottom of the Premier League every year, it comes to mind to choose the newly promoted teams. But that’s not the case this season with Fulham, Wolves and Cardiff all spending a lot of money before the campaign begins.

The trend we’ve also been seeing over the last few years are teams that normally stay up finally succumb to being sent down to the Championship. All the while, the promoted team’s staying up in their first year.

It seems these “bottom feeder” teams are content with staying quiet until the panic alarm starts to ring. That was the case last season when Swansea, Stoke and West Brom were sent packing. Three teams that normally stayed safe above the relegation zone.

Going into this season, we try to predict which teams are most likely to be sent down to the Championship next season.

Southampton

Last season, Southampton was barely able to avoid relegation with one of the worst recent seasons to date by the club.

The Saints finished in 17th place, just three points out of a relegation spot with their most critical win coming against Swansea City away in the second-last game of the season.

Mauricio Pellegrino could not survive the whole season and was sacked in March and replaced by former Stoke manager Mark Hughes who guided them to safety.

This season however will be different for Hughes’ side, who lack the talent depth that they had the previous season.

Southampton has only brought in four players in the transfer window so far.

Their jewel transfers are forward Mohamed Elyounoussi from Basel and Danish centre-back Jannik Vestergaard.

The speedy Elyounoussi had a successful spell in the Swiss League scoring 24 goals in 84 appearances for Basel, but will be hard-pressed to fill the shoes of Sofiane Boufal who left on loan for Celta Vigo.

Vestergaard is a good option for centre-back as he will most likely be filling the void of Virgil van Dijk, who departed for Liverpool last season.

Southampton also lost Dusan Tadic, their best player of the last few seasons, to Ajax without finding a true replacement.

After selling van Dijk for a world-record £75 million, Southampton has not showed any ambition in using that money to bring it more top players.

With the newly promoted teams splashing the cash to make their teams stronger, the Saints have done little in the transfer window to boost their squad, especially when they’ve added a lot of money to their coffers in recent years.

The lack of moves may come to bite them this season as they seem ill equipped to compete at a high level.

They’ll need to heavily rely on the likes of Nathan Redmond and Charlie Austin if they want to have any chance to stay in the Premier League this season.

Bournemouth

Bournemouth has had a successful spell in the Premier League since being promoted in 2015. The past two seasons have seen the Cherries finish 9th and 12th respectively.

Manager Eddie Howe has been the main reason for this team’s transformation as they seem to over achieve time and time again.

After the team struggled in the first half of last season, the team picked up stream in the second half winning seven and drawing six of their last 19 games of the season to push for a 12th place finish.

Bournemouth, however, could see a nosedive this season, failing to make an impact signing.

Diego Rico from Leganes will help solidify the defence at left-back and he can carry the ball well up the field, but that’s been their biggest signing of the summer.

Once again, Bournemouth will have to rely on the speedy Josh King and Callum Wilson if they want to have a successful campaign.

The Cherries gave up the fourth-most goals in the Premier League season, and will need strong defensive performances if they want to stay up. The only problem is can they rely on Nathan Ake and Steve Cook alone?

Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace were most likely getting relegated last season thanks in part to a horrendous first few months of the season.

The South London team started the year having lost their first seven games, which led to the sacking of Frank de Boer after just a month in charge of the new season.

Roy Hodgson replaced the Dutchman and the team had a much more successful rest of the season. Their surge into 11th place was due to their red hot final few weeks of the season where the team won four of their last five games including a 5-0 romp over Leicester City.

Coming into this season, Crystal Palace is best the best equipped of the three teams to stay in the Premier League. But that might be dependent on their star player staying with the club.

Wilfred Zaha has been linked to many clubs this summer but still hasn’t secured a move. He was their most talented player last season and would be crucial for their development.

If he leaves the team will be hard-pressed to find a replacement for his scoring touch, as striker Christian Benteke doesn’t have the same firepower.

Palace did do a good job in the transfer window securing the likes of Max Meyer from Shalke. Meyer has the potential to be a world-class player, but has struggled of late, resulting in his free transfer.

Once again, the problem with most of these teams is their defensive core. Even with bringing in the likes of Cheikhou Kouyate who can provide backup for Scott Dann and James Tomkins, but at 29 and 31 it will be interesting if the defenders can keep up.