Wolves relegated from Premier League with five games to play | OneFootball

Wolves have been relegated from the Premier League after eight seasons in the English top flight.

Their fate was sealed with five league games still to play after suffering a 3-0 defeat at Leeds, with West Ham’s draw with Crystal Palace on Monday evening making it mathematically impossible for Rob Edwards’ side to pull off a great escape.

Following the defeat to Leeds, Edwards’ side were given a brief reprieve on Saturday after a late stoppage-time equaliser from Georginio Rutter meant Tottenham failed to beat Brighton. That result still made it possible for Wolves to leapfrog the crisis-ridden north London side.

But by drawing 0-0 with Crystal Palace, West Ham have gone 16 points clear of the rock-bottom club in 17th, creating an unbridgeable gap and condemning Wolves to the drop.

open image in gallery

Wolves have been relegated from the Premier League (Getty)

Wolves have been bottom of the pile for 30 consecutive matchdays after the worst start to a season in Premier League history. They managed just two points in 18 games - the first top-flight team to ever achieve such a dismal feat - and only recorded a first win on their 20th outing of the campaign.

Edwards’ side, who started the season with now-Nottingham Forest boss Vitor Pereira before his sacking in November, were at risk of going below the 11-point bar set by Derby County in 2006/07 as the worst Premier League team ever, but a mid-season purple patch ensured they avoided such ignominy.

Wolves stunned three of the top five in the space of two weeks in February and March, holding Premier League leaders Arsenal to late draw before beating high-flying Aston Villa and defending champions Liverpool at Molineux.

open image in gallery

Wolves went on a purple patch which saw them take points off Arsenal, Aston Villa and Liverpool (Getty Images)

That run of form still had Wolves sitting 11 points adrift of safety at the foot of the table and would prove nothing more than a brief morale-booster, with Wolves never showing any real indication that they would pull off an escape for the ages before relegation was confirmed.

Wolves drop back down to the Championship after eight successive seasons in the top flight. They were promoted in 2018 under Nuno Espirito Santo and with a team overflowing with Portuguese talent, such as Diogo Jota, Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho, the club recorded a best-ever finish of seventh in their first season, earning Europa League qualification as well as going on a run to the FA Cup semi-finals.

They replicated their seventh-place exploits in 2019/20 while also reaching the last eight of the Europa League, but evolved into an increasingly middling team in seasons that followed before becoming regulars in a relegation battle.

open image in gallery

Wolves qualified for the Europa League in their first season back in the top flight (Getty Images)

Wolves faced the legitimate prospect of the drop in 2023/24 before Pereira produced a stunning turnaround at Molineux, having taken charge of the club when they were in 19th place with just nine points from 16 matches.

There would be no comeback story for Wolves this season, though, with the Black Country city now bracing themselves for life in the second tier.

Wolves will hope they don’t endure a similar fate to the one experienced when they were last relegated from the Premier League in 2012. The club suffered back-to-back demotions and were forced to fight their way back up from League One before they ended a six-season absence from the top division.