Rob Edwards has put on a brave face for months, briefly threatening to even pull off the most miraculous of great escapes with Wolverhampton Wanderers around the turn of the year. However, after a limp 3–0 defeat to fellow relegation rivals Leeds United on Saturday, even the boyhood fan’s optimism had been sapped dry.
“We don’t want it to happen, but the writing is on the wall,” he sighed. Tottenham Hotspur’s late draw with Brighton & Hove Albion a few hours later earned Edwards a temporary reprieve before West Ham United sealed Wolves’ fate with a 0–0 against Crystal Palace on Monday night.
Given the side in Old Gold failed to win a single one of their first 19 games of the season, boasting a grand total of three points at the halfway stage of a potentially record-shattering campaign, Edwards and co. are perhaps owed some credit for staving off the inevitable for this long.
Nevertheless, this still represents one of the earliest relegations in Premier League history.
Earliest Relegations in Premier League History by Games Played
| Team | Year | Games Remaining |
|---|---|---|
| Southampton | 2024–25 | Seven |
| Ipswich Town | 1994–95 | Six |
| Derby County | 2007–08 | Six |
| Huddersfield Town | 2018–19 | Six |
| Sheffield United | 2020–21 | Six |
| Leicester City | 1994–95 | Five |
| Sunderland | 2002–03 | Five |
| Sunderland | 2005–06 | Five |
| Portsmouth | 2009–10 | Five |
| Fulham | 2018–19 | Five |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 2025–26 | Five |
Data via Opta.
Since the turn of the year, Wolves have collected 14 points from as many Premier League games, comfortably more than both Burnley and Tottenham Hotspur. However, this uptick in form came far too late for any unthinkable heroics.
Wolves have never before been relegated with so many Premier League matches remaining. In fact, only five clubs have ever been condemned to this damning fate with more of the season remaining.
Southampton set a new nadir for top-flight teams just last season when they were condemned to all the wrong history books with a pitiful relegation after just 31 matches. The Saints owed their demise to a series of blunders, both in the transfer market and on the pitch. The muddled cabal of talent Ivan Jurić found himself presented with were not only technically lacking but mentally fragile in the eyes of the wily Croatian.
The veteran Serie A manager bemoaned his side’s “naïvety,” labeling them “innocent kids.” Sometimes, Jurić argued, they needed “to be more malicious, [and have] a little more evil to win the game.”
Once they had set the unwanted marker of that premature relegation, all Southampton could aim for was to surpass the Premier League record low of 11 points set by Derby County. Even the legendarily wretched Rams side of 2007–08, hung on until Gameweek 32. This iteration of Wolves have lasted just one week longer.
Remaining Relegation Battle
Wolves’ fate may be sealed but Burnley are only hanging by a thread themselves. The Clarets have managed to win just one Premier League game since October. Scott Parker’s side were half an hour away from adding to that measly tally against Nottingham Forest on Sunday only to “fall away,” to use the embittered manager’s own words.
“It’s our job as players and as a manager to give the best version of ourselves. For 30 minutes we deserved to get booed and I deserved to get the abuse,” Parker lamented. “It’s not nice, it’s hurtful and it’s sad but that’s the reality.”
Burnley’s reality will soon be in the Championship, where they could soon be joined, inexplicably, by Tottenham Hotspur. The reigning Europa League champions have fallen away even more spectacularly than the Clarets, failing to win a single top-flight fixture across the entirety of 2026. West Ham’s result against Palace has only hampered Tottenham’s ambitions of escaping the unthinkable on the same weekend which saw Nottingham Forest and Leeds United win.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Wolves Condemned to Unwanted Company With Early Premier League Relegation.
