Huddersfield make early exit from Premier League after Palace loss

What seems like an inglorious departure from the Premier League is actually far from it for Aaron Mooy’s Huddersfield.

Huddersfield Town fans salute their team despite defeat to Crystal Palace confirming their relegation from the Premier League. Picture: AP

What seems like an inglorious departure from the English Premier League is actually far from it for Aaron Mooy’s Huddersfield.

Their fate sealed with six games remaining after losing at Crystal Palace 2-0 on Saturday, Huddersfield have matched the record for the earliest relegation from the Premier League. Derby were also relegated in March, in 2008, after 32 games.

But it was a miracle the northern English team secured a second season in the Premier League at all, having resisted splurging their new-found wealth to chase survival. Even after breaking their transfer record three times in their first Premier League summer transfer window, Huddersfield still banked £30 million ($55m) in profit at the end of the season. Which means they will be well-placed to bounce back from the second tier at the first opportunity.

Huddersfield have been competing in a league where Manchester City have amassed a squad worth $1.6 billion, according to the CIES Football Observatory.

With Burnley and Southampton winning, Huddersfield’s relegation was confirmed. Huddersfield have scored only 18 goals in 32 games and conceded 52 times, collecting only 14 points.

“The important thing for us is to go through all the details and find out what happened this season, to learn out of this failure,” said Jan Siewert, who replaced David Wagner as Huddersfield manager in January. “I will not talk about bouncing back because at the moment, this is a disappointment first of all, we have to take this and then go through all the details.”

City’s title defence remained on track with a 2-0 victory over Fulham, who could follow Huddersfield by being relegated in the coming week.

Bernardo Silva and Sergio Aguero scored to take City back to top place.

City are a point ahead of Liverpool, who hosts third-placed Tottenham on Sunday night (AEDT) but will have played a game more than Pep Guardiola’s defending champions.

There was a laboured performance from Manchester United in beating Watford 2-1 in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first game since being handed the Old Trafford manager’s job on a permanent basis.

AP