5 Premier League teams doing worse than expected

Living up to expectations is never an easy task. That’s one of the most common problems people encounter in their daily life and things are not very different in football either.

Before the start of each season, the fans will set the expectations from their favourite teams and in most cases, they set the bar really high. You can’t blame them, after all, which fan wouldn't want their favourite team to do well?

However, the difficult part is living up to those expectations and every season, few teams are destined to fail at it. Some might fail to mount a title challenge that was expected of them, other might fail to clinch qualification for European football and then there are also the ones that face relegation.

This season hasn’t been any different as many Premier League clubs have not performed the way their fans would have hoped and these five clubs are easily the ones that are doing much worse than expected.

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Southampton

Southampton have managed to finish in the top half of the Premier League despite losing several top players and two managers to other Premier League clubs year in year out.

They sacked Claude Puel at the end of last season despite the club finishing a strong 8th and reaching the final of the League Cup.

When they appointed Mauricio Pellegrino as the new manager this season, the club would have hoped for a better season but things haven’t gone according to plan.

Saints find themselves in 14th place with 19 points and just two points above the drop zone! To make matters worse, they haven’t looked convincing throughout the season and might get dragged into a relegation battle if they don’t pull up their socks soon.

They have won just four games so far, losing 9 and drawing 7. Their struggle this season is down to their difficulty in finding the back of the net as they have scored just 20 goals after as many league games.

Pellegrino will be under pressure to lift the team up or face the music.

Swansea City

Swansea are currently bottom of the Premier League table

A couple of seasons ago, it looked like Swansea had established themselves as a Premier League mid-table club but that notion was put to the test when they struggled to battle their way out of relegation last season.

This time around, under Paul Clement, the Welsh side would have hoped for a better season but so far, their season has been abysmal and Clement has been replaced at the helm by Carlos Carvalhal.

Swansea are currently at the rock bottom of the Premier League table with just 13 points from 20 games. They have won just three games, drawn four and lost 13 games so far while also having the worst attack which has scored only 11 goals so far.

Their poor season can be attributed to their equally poor summer transfer window during which they sold their talisman Gylfi Sigurdsson and stiker Fernando Llorente without replacing them appropriately

Everton

Everton were in the relegation zone under Ronald Koeman

Under the new manager Sam Allardyce, Everton have bounced back from their terrible start but it would be fair to say that they are still not at the level their fans expected them to be in.

The Toffees started the season with 7 defeats in their first 13 games which saw them drop into the relegation zone when their fans expected them to fight for a top 4 place. As a result, Ronald Koeman was sacked and replaced with Sam Allardyce.

Everton are currently undefeated in their last seven Premier League games, picking up 15 valuable points which have helped them climb to 9th in the table.

However, after a summer during which they spent £133 million signing almost 10 new first team players, the fans expected a better showing. This hasn’t happened because a majority of their summer recruits have failed to produce any impact at all.

It remains to be seen how much better they can get now that Big Sam is at the helm.

Newcastle United

Newcastle have faded away after a good start to the season

Newcastle has to be the most consistent at being inconsistent in the history of the Premier League. They could be challenging for the title or a European spot in one season and fight relegation in the very next season.

When the Toons earned promotion under Rafa Benitez, there was a sense of optimism that the former Champions League winning manager would propel them to a strong finish this season but that hasn’t been the case.

Newcastle started the season brightly with three back to back wins after 5 games but since they have only won two more games and are currently 15th in the league table.

They have 18 points from the 20 games played so far which puts them just one point above the relegation zone. The fans of the club would be hoping that the club can maintain their Premier League status longer in order to build a strong team under Benitez.

With a change of ownership on the horizon, fans can expect some good signings in January which may help Newcastle get their season back on track.

West Bromwich Albion

West Brom have won fewer matches than any other team in the league

The fall of West Brom has been one of the stories of the season.

The Baggies finished 10th in the league last season under Tony Pulis but his charm started to wear off this time around and eventually he was sacked on November 20 and he was replaced by Alan Pardew!

West Brom won their opening two games and have not won a game since. No other team has won fewer games than the Baggies so far.

The club currently finds itself in 19th place with just 15 points. The club has lost 9 games which is fewer than many teams in the bottom half of the table but they have also drawn 9 games. This is related to their struggles in front of goal as they have found the back of the net only 14 times in 20 games.

The club is yet to win a game under Alan Pardew but will hope that their fortunes turn around quickly.