"You have to go back 20 years to find a promoted side that has picked up as many points after 13 games Wigan Athletic in the 2005-06 season. Newly promoted sides simply do not start like this anymore. In fact, the three promoted teams in each of the last two seasons have all ended up facing relegation, and playoff winners fare even worse: seven of the last 11 clubs to come up via the playoffs have gone straight back down."
"Promoted clubs are supposed to wobble, scrap, cling on; Sunderland have politely declined that script. It's worth remembering that Sunderland were in League One in 2022, finished 16th in the Championship in 2023-24, and lost their last five games last season, finishing the campaign with just 76 points the joint-lowest points tally of a playoff winner for more than a decade. The other promoted teams, Leeds and Burnley, picked up 100 points."
Sunderland have produced an unusually strong start after promotion, matching a points run not seen since Wigan Athletic in 2005-06. Promoted sides have increasingly struggled, with recent seasons producing multiple clubs facing immediate relegation and many playoff winners going straight back down. Sunderland climbed from League One in 2022 to Championship play-off victory despite a poor finish to the prior season and a modest 76-point promotion campaign. Late, dramatic play-off goals secured promotion. Warnings about the quality gap between the Championship and the Premier League remain, yet Sunderland sit sixth in the table, above Manchester United and Liverpool.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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