It seldom takes long before the celebrations of a Premier League title win turn to talk of how well equipped the club in question are to retain their crown the following season.
The defending champions are usually rated as favourites to triumph 12 months later, or are at least considered among the top two or three contenders to get their hands on the trophy once more.
This year, though, things are a little different.
Leicester City's extraordinary exploits – Claudio Ranieri's side could still end the campaign having won the league by the second largest points margin in the history of the English game – are without precedent in the modern game.
It is therefore difficult to predict where Leicester will finish next term. The first-time champions’ chances of winning the title are broadly considered as roughly equal to their chances of suffering relegation to the second tier.
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Ranieri has already made clear that he will only seek to sign hungry players who are willing to buy into Leicester’s way of doing things, a sensible policy that should ensure his side retain many of the principles – hard work, team spirit, the collective trumping the individual – that this season’s success has been built on.
He is also confident that his current charges will stay put at the King Power Stadium rather than push for moves elsewhere, despite Riyad Mahrez and N’Golo Kante already being linked with transfers to some of Europe’s heavyweight outfits.
“We don’t need the superstars. We need our players,” Ranieri said last week. “I want to improve the squad without big stars but the right players. It is too early to say ‘we need five, six, seven or eight players’.
“My lads are special. We have to bring some good players but who[ever] arrives must have the same spirit.”
It is certainly a delicate situation: while Ranieri is right to be wary of upsetting the group dynamic, it is clear that Leicester require a handful of reinforcements if they are to remain competitive next year.
The Italian has had the luxury of being able to name a settled starting XI for much of 2015/16, with the lack of injuries over the last nine months unlikely to be repeated. With Uefa Champions League football soon to contend with, Leicester will need a bigger and stronger squad to help them cope with the dual demands.
The fact that they exited both cup competitions in the early rounds and had no European commitments probably helped this year, with Leicester's participation in the Champions League from September onwards carrying the potential to disrupt their domestic form even if the pool of players at Ranieri's disposal is expanded.
Taking the above factors into account, it is difficult to envisage Leicester mounting another championship challenge in 2016/17. Even a top-four finish might be beyond them, with Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur all likely to have designs on a Champions League spot.
Somewhere between fifth and eighth thus looks the most likely outcome for Ranieri’s men in 12 months’ time, although the unprecedented nature of their triumph this term means it is very difficult to predict what their position in the final standings will be next time out.
"I don't know next season what happens because this has been a magic season," Ranieri admitted after last weekend's 3-1 defeat of Everton. "But you imagine if Leicester start well again – oof, what happens? I don't know."
One thing is for certain: after their astonishing accomplishments this year, it would take a very brave person to write Leicester off.
Highwire act
It is often said in football that winning formulas should never be changed. At the same time, though, it is well established that prevention is invariably better than cure.
Sunderland's 3-0 victory over Everton on Wednesday night secured their Premier League status after a season of struggle, with relegated Newcastle United and Norwich City both four points behind Sam Allardyce's side with one game left to play.
The current campaign has been a familiar one for the club’s fans, who have watched their team seemingly repeat the exact same season every year since 2013.
A poor start is customarily followed by a disappointing middle, before a new manager inspires a dramatic escape act in the final few weeks and Sunderland narrowly avoid the drop by a handful of points.
In 2012/13, it was Paolo Di Canio who prompted a turnaround after Martin O’Neill was dismissed in March with Sunderland mired in relegation trouble.
The Italian kept them up but did not last long the following season, sacked after overseeing four defeats in Sunderland’s first five matches. It took a while for successor Gus Poyet to make an impact, but Sunderland again clambered out of danger with a superb run at the business end of the campaign.
Poyet’s effect was limited to the short-term, however, with Dick Advocaat taking the helm in March 2015 and guiding the club to a 16th-place finish. He lasted just eight games this season, Allardyce taking over in October with Sunderland second-bottom in the standings and eventually extracting enough from his squad to lift them out of trouble.
If avoiding demotion is Sunderland’s – and every other lower mid-table Premier League club’s – primary objective, they have succeeded year after year.
Avoiding the threat in the first place would be preferable to negotiating it at the last minute, though, and with Allardyce in charge there is every chance that Sunderland will steer well clear of the bottom three in 2016/17.
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