Inside the Premier League's newly promoted teams: Leeds, Burnley and Sunderland

Burnley

Last season: Second in the Championship

Last Premier League appearance: 2023-24

Burnley is England's premier yo-yo club. It's been flipping regularly between the Premier League and the Championship since 2021. Not quite good enough for one league and far too good for the other, it pinballs between the two every year. 

Can Burnley break that streak and stay in the top flight for more than one season? The club has signed a handful of talented, unheralded players to help it do just that. Midfielder Hannibal Mejbri arrived from Man United; defender Kyle Walker arrived from AC Milan. After losing its beloved goalkeeper James Trafford to Manchester City, Burnley also brought in Newcastle keeper Martin Dubravka on a one-year deal. Dubravka doesn't quite have the same upside that Trafford did, but he's a safe pair of hands — and that should help Burnley immensely as it deals with the Premier League's infamous pressure.

But while Mejbri, Walker and Dubravka are all good signings on paper, they'll have to work together under coach Scott Parker. It's worth questioning whether he's up to that task. Parker flopped in his previous Premier League gig with Fulham, then flopped even harder in his next job with Club Brugge in Belgium. He's never delivered consistent results as a top-flight coach.

Sunderland

Last season: Fourth in the Championship, playoff winner

Last Premier League appearance: 2016-17

It's been a long, long time since we've had the honor of watching Sunderland in the Premier League. When the club was relegated at the end of the 2016-17 season, it didn't just sink into the second division, it fell into a downward spiral and promptly dropped into the third. Four years in League One led to another three in the Championship before Sunderland finally punched its ticket back into the top flight with a last-gasp playoff win over Sheffield United.

Tom Watson, the scorer of Sunderland's decisive goal in that match, has since left for Brighton, but the Black Cats still feature some talented, well-known players. You may recognize winger Simon Adingra from his stint with the African champion Cote D'Ivoire team; you will definitely recognize midfielder Granit Xhaka from the role he played dismantling the USMNT this summer while on international duty for Switzerland. Both Adingra and Xhaka have deep Premier League experience already; they'll be Sunderland's main weapons in its fight for top flight survival.