Wolverhampton Wanderers have been relegated from the Premier League after West Ham United drew 0-0 at Crystal Palace on Monday night. Rob Edwards’ side are the first team to drop out of English football’s top-tier this season, having mustered just 17 points so far this term.
Wolves have won just three matches in the league all season and have sat bottom of the table all campaign. And the uneventful stalemate between West Ham and Palace at Selhurst Park has officially brought an end to their eight-year spell in the Premier League. The West Midlands club were promoted to the top-flight in 2018 under Nuno Espirito Santo. It is therefore ironic that the Portuguese has officially sent them down after his Hammers team earned a point in south London.
The club then turned to former Middlesbrough boss Rob Edwards as the Portuguese’s successor. Wolves did enjoy a minor resurgence earlier this year which saw them collect notable wins over Aston Villa and Liverpool, as well as a draw at home to league leaders Arsenal.
The West Midlands side have collected 15 of their 17 points since Edwards took charge. However, a demoralising 4-0 defeat away to West Ham earlier this month all but ended any faint hopes of a miraculous escape.
And Saturday’s convincing 3-0 defeat at Leeds ensured that a West Ham point at Palace on Monday would be enough to seal their fate. Edwards has urged his Wolves team not to end the season with a whimper before their relegation was mathematically confirmed.
Speaking after the Leeds defeat, he said: “The result is the bit that we can’t always guarantee but we need to try and get some because that’s ultimately what everyone wants. We know we’ve got to try and win and we’ve got to try and get results.
“Against Leeds there were a lot of duels, the lads were working hard, they were running, they were fighting because Leeds are really good at that. So you can’t question that, but that is our bare minimum.
“We need to try and find some results before now and the end of the season to try and get a bit of credit there and a bit of togetherness going into next season.”