Too good to go down? Premier League relegation shock ranking

Aston Villa 2015-16 – Position: 20. Points: 17

Speaking of FA Cup finals, it was all jacket, shirt and tie when Tim Sherwood led Aston Villa to Wembley in 2015, his tactics ‘bluffing’ Liverpool their way before a heavy final defeat to Arsenal.

Sherwood also steered Villa away from relegation, but after influential stars Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph were left out in the summer, he was sacked after six successive defeats left them bottom in October.

Kevin McDonald, briefly, Remy Garde and Eric Black, all tried to get a tone from the young prospects Villa had reinvested in, but as ownership problems worsened, the club – one of only seven competing in the Premier League at the time – withdrew from the top flight for the first time since 1988.

Middlesbrough 1996-1997 – Position: 19. Points: 39

Silver hair glistening in the Teesside sun, and the sight of Fabrizio Ravanelli celebrating his first hat-trick against Liverpool – months after scoring in Juventus’ Champions League win – had Middlesbrough fans dreaming.

Insert the Brazilian trio of Juninho, Emerson and Branco, with Bryan Robson on the field, and the Riverside fans felt they could win the toss.

They almost achieved an FA Cup and League Cup double, losing both finals, but that impressive run cannot be replicated in the league.

Ravanelli, arguably the highest-paid man in the league, scored at almost the same rate as he bemoaned the club’s professionalism in the Italian press, suggesting that Juventus’ coaches had to fax him fitness plans.

Emerson disappeared, and his wife was not very complimentary about Teesside.

But what actually led to Middlesbrough’s relegation was the decision not to play against Blackburn due to an illness and injury crisis – the FA dropped three points from Boro, and they finished with two points to spare.