Ipswich Town, Southampton and Leicester City were the three names at the head of the betting for Championship promotion back in the height of summer.
The ladder from the EFL to the Premier League has turned into more of a revolving door in recent years, with all three sides promoted from the Championship coming straight back down in the past two seasons.
In each of the past five seasons, two of the three teams promoted to the top flight have been in receipt of parachute payments, following an earlier relegation.
But if that pattern is to continue, two of those three sides, or Sheffield United, the only other Championship side receiving parachute payments this season, are going to need to find their feet pretty fast.
The current top eight consists of sides who finished fifth, 10th, eighth, sixth, fourth in League One, 18th, 21st and 15th last season.
The Blades did climb out of the drop-zone on Tuesday with a third win in their opening 11 games, but Saints have won only twice, the Tractor Boys three times and the Foxes four – the only one of the relegated sides to sit in the top half going into the weekend.
Ipswich will kick-off the Saturday programme with the lunchtime visit of West Brom to Portman Road (12:30 BST).
Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat to newly-promoted Charlton ended Town’s five-match unbeaten run at home, with Kieran McKenna making seven changes from the side which went down 2-1 at Middlesbrough last Friday.
Leicester head to Millwall (15:00 BST) off the back of one win in seven following their midweek defeat at Hull City, while Saints have won only one of their past 10 after a dismal defeat at Bristol City on Tuesday and head to Blackburn (15:00 BST) seeking to avoid the ignominy of being dragged towards the drop zone.
It is worth noting Luton were the sole relegated team not to get promoted back to the Premier League last year, and ended up getting relegated to League One.
In all, only one of the 10 sides relegated from the Premier League, Championship and League One currently occupy a top-six spot – Cardiff in League One.
An interesting anomaly or a sign of things to come?
