We are now officially just two weeks away from the beginning of the 2018/19 season. Being a World Cup year, it hasn't felt like we have had to endure a very long soccer-less period at all. Some players who may very well be playing for their clubs in two weeks were at the World Cup in Russia. The likes of Liverpool's Alisson, Manchester United's Romelu Lukaku, and the English players who everybody really believed were going to bring that World Cup home. With the start of the season so close that we can almost taste it, it has got fans attempting to predict what we can expect over the course of the next nine months.

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When it comes to predicting the Premier League most jump straight to who they think is going to win it all and the teams that will be chasing them down. Not here though. We want to use this article to break down which teams are not dreaming of Premier League glory but rather planning on how they are going to beat the drop. The relegation battle in England's top tier gets tighter every season and looking at the teams in the league for this next go around, the 2018/19 season is going to be no different.

via eurosport.com

First off, we should probably start with the teams that are almost always the favorites to be relegated, the three sides that have just been promoted to the Premier League. This season that trio is Wolverhampton Wanderers, Fulham, and Cardiff City. All three have been to the top tier of English soccer before and enjoyed varying degrees of success. What's different when it comes to the newbies this season is that two of them probably have quite high expectations. Wolves have made some terrific signings on top of what was already a squad that dominated the Championship. Fulham has done the same. Both teams should really survive the drop come the end of the season. Cardiff on the other hand, probably not.

via espn.co.uk

Next up are the sides that only just beat the drop last season. It is often said that the ultimate goal in the Premier League, if you want to avoid relegation, is to reach that 40 point mark. Well, two teams defied the odds last season by neither reaching that point nor placing in the bottom three, Huddersfield Town and Southampton. Huddersfield will have no issue with being labeled relegation candidates. Last season was the team's first ever in the Premier League and no one expected them to stay up. They have done it once and will believe they can do it again. Southampton, on the other hand, are not as familiar with that end of the table. The south coast club finished in the top ten for four straight seasons prior to last time around. They will want to return to happier times in 2018/19 but that isn't likely to happen.

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So what about the others? Come the end of the 2017/18 season just eight points separated the team in tenth and the side in sixteenth. That means an awful lot of fans, players, and managers were still looking over their shoulders when the season came to a close. Some of those teams will be doing the same again and with strong sides like Wolves and Fulham added to the mix, this coming season might not prove to be so fortuitous. Outfits such as Bournemouth, Watford, and Brighton might find themselves prepping for Championship soccer this time next year. The likes of West Ham United and Crystal Palace, on the other hand, might have the building blocks to get away from the bottom three this season and gun for top half finishes instead.

via twitter.com

The days of the three teams promoted to the Premier League being the three favorites to go down are long gone. Even being bottom at Christmas doesn't necessarily mean you're doomed anymore. England's top tier has become a much tighter affair outside of the top six and it's almost as if it is split into two separate leagues. Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea leading the way, and then the other fourteen teams fighting to avoid the drop. Lucky for eleven of those fourteen teams though, there are only three spots that will result in relegation to the Championship. Someone has got to fill them though.

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