The chasm between the Championship and the Premier League is increasingly difficult to bridge | first division

lUton Town's defeat to West Ham and Burnley's defeat to Tottenham on Saturday means that, barring something surprising last weekend (a Luton win over Fulham and a Nottingham Forest defeat at Burnley with a goal difference of 12), The three teams that came up last season will be the three teams that go down. For those who fear the chasm between first division and the championship is becoming impossible to beat, which is a worrying sign.

The truth is that, but for Forest's four-point deduction for violations of the league's Profit and Sustainability rules, it wouldn't have even been close. The other interest in the queue came from Everton, before their recent run of 13 points in five games. But they wouldn't have been in the mix either if it hadn't been for their own 10 point deduction, later reduced to six. The feeling that if points had to be deducted this was the season to do so has proven correct.

If Sheffield United were to lose at home to Spurs last weekend, their tally of 16 points would be the third-worst in Premier League history, level with Huddersfield in 2018-19, but with a goal difference already It's 12 worse. The 101 goals they have conceded are already the worst in a Premier League season. But what makes this season stand out is that Burnley's 24 points are the 10th lowest in Premier League history and Luton's 26 points are the 16th worst; The average of the three with one game remaining is 22 points; the previous lowest average for the three promoted teams after 37 games It was 27.3 in 2007-08 (Sunderland, Birmingham, Derby). Only on one other occasion was the average below 32: in 2021-22, when Brentford, Watford and Norwich achieved 30.3.

That two of the three worst performances in history have come in the last three years is cause for concern, but each of the three teams that emerged last season had their own problems. Luton, with a small budget and its old and dilapidated floor with their capacity for 12,000 people, they always had difficulties and, although their momentum has run out lately, at least seems to have had fun: They may have only ended up picking up one point from the three games, but they led at home against Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool.

Sheffield United lost three of their best players from their promotion campaign on the eve of this season, with Iliman Ndiaye and Sander Berge sold and Tommy Doyle's loan from Manchester City coming to an end. Only its Saudi owners will know why they ran their business that way, but it meant manager Paul Heckingbottom was fighting an uphill battle from the start.

In terms of the Championship's ability to compete, Burnley are the big concern. It is true that they lost Nathan Tella, who had been on loan from Southampton but ended up signing for Bayer Leverksuen and their success in the Bundesligaand some of his other businesses may seem a little naïve in retrospect: many of young and bright promise and not much Premier League experience, but given how impressive they had been in winning the Championship, a lot more was expected of them. They ended up wasted by the number of mistakes they made at the back, particularly when trying to play.

They will be among the favorites for promotion next season and, if Vincent Kompany can develop a slightly less idealistic streak, it wouldn't be a huge surprise if his second chance in the Premier League was much more successful than his first. There have long been intermediate clubs, located somewhere between the Premier League and the Championship; The fact that three of last season's relegated teams finished in the top four in the Championship suggests their status may be becoming more defined.

Only once before, in 1997-98, have all three promoted teams fallen, and it is worth noting that last season all three promoted teams (Fulham, Bournemouth and Forest) remained standing. That said, there have been 12 occasions where two or more promoted teams have fallen immediately, and three of them have occurred in the last four seasons, six in the last 10. The days when a Blackburn, a Newcastle or a Forest They could rise and finish in the top four, as happened in the first three seasons of the Premier League, they are long gone; The Wolves in 2018-19 are the only promoted team to finish in the top eight in the last 17 seasons.

Does it matter? Maybe not. Modern football is designed for the elite and there is clearly a section of the public that doesn't much care who they are beating. But one of the great joys and strengths of the game in England is the pyramid, the idea that the biggest club and the smallest team in the village compete in the same vast structure and that they can all be promoted or relegated according to their form. It is also a proven means of developing talent. But a pyramid has to be relatively smooth; If there are big steps, almost impossible to climb, it becomes something completely different.

This is an excerpt from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, Guardian US' weekly look at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Do you have any questions for Jonathan? Email footballwithjw@theguardian.comand will answer the best in a future edition.