The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsEvery year Premier League clubs do all they can to retain their place in the top flight of English football and for some they fall by the wayside despite millions being spent.
With the transfer window now shut we rank teams from 20 to 1 on who has bought well in our opinion and who has had a disastrous few months. Let us know what your opinions are on Twitter @TheSport Lowdown.
The Relegation Zone
20. Sunderland
The Black Cats have had a horrid start to the season and their business over the summer has been nothing short of woeful. Defenders Younes Kaboul and Sebastien Coates are slow and the team is full of individuals. Yann M’Vila is the one bright spark but even the overpriced Fabio Borini cannot save Dick Advocaat’s side. Selling Connor Wickham was a mistake and you can’t see how Sunderland will survive.
19. West Brom
Big things were expected of West Brom this season after they survived for yet another season. It was thought Tony Pulis could conjure up some of his magic and buy quality. The jury is out on Salomon Rondon and Rickie Lambert is past his prime. James Chester was in the Hull side that got relegated and they sold the one piece of experience at the back they had in Joleon Lescott. They will probably survive but may need to look at some panic buys in January.
18. Norwich City
Norwich City boss Alex Neil has largely kept faith with the side that got promotion bringing in only a few players. They have added lower end Premier League experience in Robbie Brady and Youssouf Mulumbu but they made need a few players come January despite getting off to a relatively good start. Once teams settle down however, we could see Norwich needing to pick up some vital points come the end of the season after a barren summer.
Safety
17. Spurs
Spurs continue to disappoint across the board despite ridding themselves of some expensive failures in Roberto Soldado and Paulinho to name but two. However if Spurs really wanted to make a statement, the purchase of Kieran Trippier and Toby Alderweireld are safe but uninspiring. Spurs fans want to be competing for a Champions League place once again but they are a long way off.
16. Newcastle United
Steve McLaren has come into the Magpies hotseat and already made a statement, ridding the club of a couple of stalwarts such as Ryan Taylor and Jonas Gutierrez. Not the worst decision but replacing them with untested players from the French and Dutch leagues are a gamble that could either come off or fail dramatically. If he’s got it right then he will be a hero and can build from there but if he’s got it wrong another relegation scrap could be on
the way.
