Next season already a concern for some

The Premier League relegation battle might be done and dusted but there will be a few clubs more than a little bit concerned over whether they might just find themselves amongst the battlers next year, despite having spent the large proportion of this season in the realms of relatively assured safety.

Fulham

It has been a strange season for the Cottagers, in truth they never quite recovered from losing inspirational pair Moussa Dembele and Clint Dempsey in the final days of the summer transfer window. From there Martin Jol has been left to patch together a squad through snapping up free agents and then adding whatever he could in January, not something that he will want to have to repeat next term. In truth Fulham fans have been almost spoilt following persistently punching above their weight under Roy Hodgson, Mark Hughes and now Jol, however the majority of that squad has now either moved on or are reaching the end of their careers and with that in mind significant regeneration is required to sustain the now seemingly customary mid table position.

West Brom

Including West Brom here after such a strong season might come as a surprise for many, but football tells us that seasons such as the one Baggies have experienced are often followed by a more testing year. Further to that Steve Clarke will be well aware that with Romelu Lukaku is heading back to Chelsea and the bridges with Peter Odemwingie beyond burnt they will be in huge need of goal scoring threat, something which doesn't come cheap. They have also tailed off this year although that should not be given as reason that they will struggle next term, for given their fine start sustaining it was always going to be tough once safety was assured. Next year though is likely to bring new challenges and as Newcastle have found this term things can soon conspire against you at an alarming rate and it is hard to see the Baggies squad reaching the same levels.

Stoke City

For Stoke things have seemingly hit a little of a cross roads with many questioning whether Tony Pulis has taken the club as far as he can, although there current position of eleventh would hardly suggest reason for panic. That said they fell away dramatically post Christmas and only an end of season revival in recent weeks has seen them move into a position of comfort. Many are indicating that Pulis should step aside with fans apparently tiring of his robust style, whilst it is inevitable that Pulis time will come and if he does remain the club may well spend more time in the scrap at the bottom than they have perhaps been used to, that said replacing him could lead to even worse results for evidence of that just ask any Charlton fan.