Three Promoted Sides Sit Above the Drop After Nine Games
Coventry City, Ipswich Town and Hull City have 31 points between them after nine Premier League games. That is the 13th-highest total by promoted clubs at this stage of a Premier League season, according to BBC Sport.
Promoted clubs are the sides who won their way up from the Championship, the division just below. Most arrive expecting a hard season, and many struggle early. These three have given themselves room to breathe.
Coventry have the most eye-catching story. They won the Championship last season and return to the top flight for the first time since 2001. Their start was rough. They lost their first four Premier League matches, and the combined score across those four defeats was 10-0.
Then the mood changed. Coventry have won three of their nine games, which gives them nine points. Their 3-1 win over Sunderland lifted them to 15th in the table. Frank Lampard is their manager.
Coventry also spent more than £140m on 12 permanent signings over the summer, according to the same report. Big spending does not guarantee results, and the early weeks have shown that. But the new players have had time to settle, and the turnaround came quickly once the results started to go their way.
Ipswich and Hull City are both on 11 points. Hull are managed by Sergej Jakirovic. All three clubs sit above the relegation zone, the bottom three places that send the lowest-ranked clubs down to the Championship at the end of the season.
Why does this matter so early? Nine games is not a long run, but the history of promoted clubs offers some comfort. Since the 2010-11 season, all 18 promoted teams with at least 11 points after their opening nine games have avoided relegation. Ipswich and Hull are on that mark, and Coventry are one point above it.
That is not a guarantee. Every season has its own twists, and injuries, managerial changes and a difficult winter can quickly undo a good autumn. Still, it gives supporters in all three cities a reason to look at the table with a little more hope than they had a month ago.
For casual followers, the simplest way to read it is this. Three clubs that many people wrote off in August are still there, still competing, and still above the danger line. The Premier League is hard to stay in. For now, these three are doing it.
