The Last Time Every Premier League Club Was Relegated (2026/27)

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When every Premier League club was last relegated from England's top flight, including Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool.

The icy grip of relegation gets everyone in the end. Since William McGregor first came up with the idea of organised league football in 1888, every club to ever grace England's top flight has bowed out of the grand old competition.

Relegation is an all too recent memory for some sides, while others have gone more than 100 years without facing that bleak fate. Riches brought in by the advent of the Premier League in 1992 ensure that certain giants are practically impervious to the drop - as many as six clubs have contested every season. But history has proven that no team is safe.

Staying in the division for a newly promoted team has proven to be harder than ever in recent season, although Sunderland and Leeds are fighting back this term.

For the first time since 1998, all three clubs that came up from the Championship were sent straight back down into the second tier at the end of the 2023/2024 campaign. That trend was continued in the 2024/2025 Premier League season when Southampton, Leicester City and Ipswich all got relegated, highlighting the real gap that is developing between the established sides and those coming up. Below is a look at just when every Premier League team was last relegated.

The Tractor Boys are back in the top flight after one season in the Championship. Kieran McKenna guided Ipswich Town into the Premier League for the first time in over 20 years in 2024, but they were instantly relegated in the 2024/25 season.

However, they bounced straight back into the automatic play-off places. Gary O'Neil is the man in charge at Portman Road, and he'll be hoping to improve on McKenna's 19th-place finish with just 22 points.

Relegation Campaign

- Season - 2024/25 - Position - 19th - Games - 38 - Wins - 4 - Draws - 10 - Losses - 24 - Goals for - 36 - Goals against - 82

Leeds United's relegation to the Championship was confirmed following a heavy 4-1 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur on the final day of the Premier League campaign at Elland Road.

It was a result which summed up their season as they went into the clash with Spurs knowing they needed to win, before conceding two minutes into the game and then two minutes into the second half.

Leeds conceded a league-high 78 goals across the season, while manager Sam Allardyce described his side's finishing as "inept" on the final day.

Relegation Campaign

- Season - 2022/23 - Position - 19th - Games - 38 - Wins - 7 - Draws - 10 - Losses - 21 - Goals for - 48 - Goals against - 78

Relegation was a depressingly familiar sensation for Fulham fans by the summer of 2021 as the west London outfit fell out of England's top flight for the third time in seven years. Former club captain Scott Parker was at the helm throughout a campaign short on excitement.

Bobby Decordova-Reid mustered a team-high five goals, the lowest tally of any top scorer in the club's history. Parker was adamant that Fulham would avoid relegation right up until it became a mathematical certainty, railing against the majority who may have thought that he was "living in cuckoo land". His confidence was misplaced.

Relegation Campaign

- Season - 2020/21 - Position - 18th - Games - 38 - Wins - 5 - Draws - 13 - Losses - 20 - Goals for - 27 - Goals against - 53

Eddie Howe took over as Bournemouth boss in 2008 when the club was inside League Two's relegation zone. The Cherries avoided the drop despite a 17-point deduction and spent five seasons in the Premier League before going through the trap door.

Bournemouth were still under Howe's stewardship when they fell one point short of safety in 2020, tumbling into the Championship despite defeating an Everton side which finished in mid-table on the final day. The south coast outfit conceded at least 60 goals in each top-flight campaign under Howe and injuries to their forward line that season robbed them of the firepower which had offered salvation in the past.

Relegation Campaign

- Season - 2019/20 - Position - 18th - Games - 38 - Wins - 9 - Draws - 7 - Losses - 22 - Goals for - 40 - Goals against - 65

Hull City's last Premier League campaign in almost a decade came in 2016/17. A team with some notable names, such as Harry Maguire and Andy Robertson, were demoted to the second tier on May 14 after a 4-0 defeat at Crystal Palace.

The Tigers ended up seven points from safety after the 38th match, having conceded 80 goals, more than any other Premier League side that season. They're back where they want to be, and will be aiming to secure safety in 2026-27.

Relegation Campaign

- Season - 2016/17 - Position - 18th - Games - 38 - Wins - 9 - Draws - 7 - Losses - 22 - Goals for - 37 - Goals against - 80

Sunderland's 10-year stay in the Premier League ended with four matches of the season left to play as Bournemouth came to the Stadium of Light and secured a 1-0 win.

The result against the Cherries was the Black Cats' 23rd defeat of a poor campaign in which they didn't win their first until November, and they would go on to record three more losses in their final four games.

Sunderland's blank against Bournemouth was their 18th in 34 matches, with their lack of ruthlessness one of the reasons why they finally lost their Premier League status in David Moyes' first season in charge.

Relegation Campaign

- Season - 2016/17 - Position - 20th - Games - 38 - Wins - 6 - Draws - 6 - Losses - 26 - Goals for - 29 - Goals against - 69

There have been few bleaker days in the history of Newcastle United than 11th May 2016. The club's fierce local rivals Sunderland , who were led by former Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce, earned a commanding victory over Everton to send the Magpies into the Championship.

A buoyant crowd at the Stadium of Light bellowed: "Are you watching Newcastle?" Only those with a penchant for punishment were still tuning in to see Lamine Kone lash Sunderland into a 3-0 lead. Their fate may have been confirmed by the final day of the season, but Newcastle romped to a 5-1 win against a Tottenham team that had spent most of the campaign fighting for the title.

Relegation Campaign

- Season - 2015/16 - Position - 18th - Games - 38 - Wins - 9 - Draws - 10 - Losses - 19 - Goals for - 44 - Goals against - 65

Aston Villa finished the 2015/16 campaign with more managers (four) than victories (three). Remi Garde was the third forlorn figure through the door by November and lost the dressing room immediately. Former Premier League winner Micah Richards described Garde's first set of drills as "pathetic" and "under-8s football".

"So from that moment in the training session, we knew full well that we were going down," Richards revealed. The French coach was in charge of a 6-0 thrashing at home to Liverpool, which began a sequence of 11 consecutive defeats. Garde and his children's games were gone before Villa stopped the rot.

Relegation Campaign

- Season - 2015/16 - Position - 20th - Games - 38 - Wins - 3 - Draws - 8 - Losses - 27 - Goals for - 27 - Goals against - 76

Crystal Palace needed to defeat Charlton Athletic on the final day of the 2004/2005 season to avoid relegation. The Eagles were 2-1 up with eight minutes left when Jerome Thomas swung a free-kick into the box.

Palace boss Iain Dowie plastered posters which read: "How much do I want it?" around the club's training ground heading into the final months of the season. Goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly wanted it less than Charlton's Jonathan Fortune, jumping under the ball as the defender headed the hosts level. Dowie looked on dumbfounded - perhaps he should have provided an answer to his rhetorical question - as Palace sank into the second tier.

Relegation Campaign

- Season - 2004/05 - Position - 18th - Games - 38 - Wins - 7 - Draws - 12 - Losses - 19 - Goals for - 41 - Goals against - 62

Joe Royle didn't have the strength to muster a rousing speech after his Manchester City side were consigned to relegation in 2001, exactly one year after winning promotion to the Premier League. Asked about next season, Royle countered: "Let's all be miserable for a while first."

In the years before Manchester City were taken over by some of the richest owners in English football , the Sky Blues bounced freely between the various tiers of the football pyramid. Royle oversaw two relegations and as many promotions in less than four years at the helm. City's focus is fixed firmly at the opposite end of the table these days.

Relegation Campaign

- Season - 2000/01 - Position - 18th - Games - 38 - Wins - 8 - Draws - 10 - Losses - 20 - Goals for - 41 - Goals against - 65

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