Coventry City, Ipswich Town and Hull City are back in the Premier League. Here is how the three promoted clubs could perform and their chances of avoiding relegation.

Winning promotion to the Premier League is one of the biggest achievements in English football. Staying there, however, is an entirely different challenge.

Coventry City and Hull City will discover that first-hand this season after earning promotion from the Championship. Ipswich were relegated two seasons ago; it won’t be exactly a new experience for them.

History offers plenty of reasons for concern. In recent seasons, newly promoted teams have frequently struggled to cope with the financial strength, squad depth and quality of the Premier League, with all three promoted sides suffering relegation as recently as 2023/24 and 2024/25.

See you next season 👋

Your three promoted sides for 2026/27!@Coventry_City | @IpswichTown | @HullCity pic.twitter.com/hhehdL5ySW

— Premier League (@premierleague) May 23, 2026

Yet the trio should not simply be written off. Each club has a different reason for believing it can beat the odds. Coventry have momentum, a manager with Premier League experience and a squad that has already tasted success together. Ipswich have invested heavily after learning from their previous top-flight campaign, while Hull have shown a willingness to spend aggressively to give themselves a fighting chance.

Coventry City Have The Strongest Survival Case

Coventry could be the most intriguing of the three. After 25 years away from the Premier League, the Sky Blues return as Championship champions, having collected 95 points while scoring 97 goals.

That attacking output suggests Frank Lampard has inherited a team with confidence and momentum rather than one simply scraping into the top flight. More importantly, Coventry have avoided tearing apart the squad that secured promotion.

Haji Wright, Jack Rudoni and Milan van Ewijk remain at the club, while Carl Rushworth has joined permanently from Brighton. Gustavo Hamer’s return also gives Coventry another familiar face, while Caleb Yirenkyi’s arrival from Nordsjaelland represents a significant investment in their future.

Lampard could prove just as important. The former Chelsea manager knows the Premier League and has already demonstrated that he can handle a relegation fight, having helped Everton survive in 2021/22.

The opening fixture against Arsenal could hardly be more difficult, but Coventry’s target should not be to compete with the champions. Their season will be defined by how they perform against the clubs around them.

Prediction: 16th-18th. 

Coventry have enough about them to survive, but their lack of Premier League experience means the margin for error will be extremely small.

Coventry, Ipswich and Hull are welcomed back to the Premier League with these opening weekend fixtures 📅 pic.twitter.com/XMSWmiaHzF

— Premier League (@premierleague) June 19, 2026

Ipswich Town: Better Prepared for the Second Attempt

Ipswich arguably have the clearest blueprint for survival because they already know what went wrong the first time.

The Tractor Boys were promoted in 2024 but finished 19th in their first Premier League season and immediately returned to the Championship. They have now earned another opportunity after finishing runners-up, but this time they have taken a far more aggressive approach to recruitment.

More than £150 million has reportedly been spent during the summer, with Emersonn and Julio Enciso among the headline arrivals. Issa Diop and Sasa Lukic bring Premier League experience from Fulham, while Florentino Luis adds experience from European football.

Daizen Maeda could also prove particularly valuable. The former Celtic forward arrives with a proven record of goals, assists, pressing and relentless running, qualities that could translate well into a relegation battle.

There is also a change in the dugout. Gary O’Neil has replaced Kieran McKenna, bringing valuable Premier League survival experience from his time with Bournemouth and Wolves.

That combination of investment and experience makes Ipswich a much more convincing survival candidate than they were 12 months ago.

Prediction: 14th-17th. 

Ipswich should have enough quality to stay up, although O’Neil will need to quickly turn a collection of new players into a cohesive Premier League team.

Hull City: The Biggest Gamble of the Three

Hull are the hardest team to predict and, on paper, appear to face the toughest battle.

They are returning to the Premier League nine years after their last relegation and have taken a more aggressive approach to recruitment in an attempt to avoid becoming another one-season wonder.

Sergej Jakirovic deserves credit for guiding Hull to promotion after they finished sixth and then defeated Middlesbrough in the play-off final. The club have also backed him heavily, breaking their transfer record twice this summer.

Konstantinos Tzolakis arrived from Olympiacos for around £20 million, while Nobel Mendy reportedly cost around £22 million from Rayo Vallecano. Both players bring international experience, while Lucas Herrington has also arrived after representing Australia at the World Cup.

The problem is that spending money does not automatically translate into Premier League survival. Hull need their new signings to adapt quickly, and their existing players must make a significant step up.

But there is reason for optimism. Sunderland’s remarkable seventh-place finish after promotion last season showed that the gap between the Championship and Premier League is not impossible to bridge.

Prediction: 18th-20th. 

Hull look the most likely of the promoted clubs to go straight back down, but their aggressive recruitment means they should not be underestimated.