Twenty teams competed in the league – the top seventeen teams from the previous season and the three teams promoted from the Championship. The promoted teams were Reading (playing in the top flight for the first time ever), Sheffield United (playing top flight football for the first time in twelve years) and Watford (returning after a six-year absence). They replaced Birmingham City, West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland, ending their top flight spells of four, two and one year respectively.