Survival of the Richest? Premier League Newcomers’ Transfer Policies

This season's promoted sides in the Premier League all got off to reasonably slow starts to their respective campaigns. Neil Warnock, Paul Lambert and Brendan Rodgers were all doomed to fail in the top flight according to many, with all three opting for bargain deals rather than marquee signings early on.

Despite this similarity, the trio adopted differing transfer policies over the summer window in an attempt to ensure survival, and after all 3 won at the weekend, WhoScored looks at where they have strengthened and the contribution of the Premier League newcomers’ newest recruits.

QPR

Neil Warnock's Queen's Park Rangers returned to England's top flight in somewhat emphatic fashion at the top of the Championship, leading the way for almost the entirety of the campaign. The well-versed manager had managed to get his side playing attractive football and inspired by the, at times, inspirational Adel Taarabt, many gave them the best chance of avoiding the drop.

The hopes of the fans were crushed when a rampant Bolton side made the trip to London on the opening day of the season and ran out clear 4-0 winners. By this stage Warnock had brought in the likes of Jay Bothroyd and DJ Campbell to add options in attack, but few other reinforcements had been made. Despite an excellent away win at Everton the Hoops were looking fragile and fell at the hands of Wigan a week later.

Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Billionaire
Formula One's Team Lotus owner Tony Fernandes came in to takeover the club having failed to complete a similar transaction with his beloved West Ham, and since then, things have began to change.

Deadline day proved a busy one for the club who looked to Premier League established players to strengthen their squad. Anton Ferdinand, Luke Young and Armand Traore came in to sure up a shaky defence while Shaun Wright-Phillips offered industry and guile in attack. Undoubtedly the most eye-catching capture was that of Joey Barton. The controversial midfielder was immediately handed the captain's armband and has slotted into Rangers' 3-man midfield with consummate ease.

Barton has added energy and vision to a midfield anchored by the ageing Shaun Derry and has already proven his worth to the side, netting his first goal for the club in the 3-0 win over Wolves. The much-maligned 29-year-old has made an excellent 9 tackles in just 2 games along with 4 interceptions and in a creative sense has created 4 goalscoring opportunities.

Shaun Wright-Phillips has also stood out as he looks to revive his career back in London. He is brimming with confidence having attempted 8 shots at goal and has laid on 5 chances for teammates in just 2 games, picking up one assist for Barton's aforementioned strike. His average over the two games leads the way for his side in both regards along with a figure of 2 successful dribbles per game, proving what a shrewd piece of business he may prove to be.

The new defenders also deserve credit, helping the club earn two successive clean sheets since their arrival. In just 2 games Luke Young and Anton Ferdinand have made a combined total of 15 tackles and 36 clearances while Armand Traore has impressed going forward with 2 key passes per game.

Norwich City

Paul Lambert is fast becoming somewhat of a hot property on the managerial merry-go-round. Already touted as a potential 'top 4' manager and constantly likened to his former boss Martin O'Neill in both appearance and nous, Lambert masterminded back-to-back promotions for the Canaries after joining the club from Colchester. Prior to his arrival at Carrow Road the Scot had travelled with his former employers to trounce Norwich 7-1, which proved enough to earn him the post at his new club!

Looking Down to Stay Up
Promoting free-flowing football spearheaded by the work rate and goals from captain Grant Holt, Lambert saw his side finish second in the Championship and the manager went for a very different approach in the transfer market. Putting his faith in the lower leagues, Lambert scoured the country for the best young talent outside the top flight, bringing in the likes of Elliott Bennett, Anthony Pilkington and Bradley Johnson to bolster his midfield.

Like many newly promoted sides before them, Norwich looked to exploit the loan option, brining in defenders Ritchie De Laet, Daniel Ayala and Kyle Naughton, while upfront he bolstered with James Vaughan and Wales international Steve Morison. With all of their business completed early, Lambert clearly wanted his side to gel over pre-season ahead of the new campaign and the theory proved somewhat successful.

After picking up a point away at Wigan, Norwich shared the spoils with Stoke despite leading for much of the game, with Kenwyne Jones netting a late leveller. They were then unlucky to lose at Chelsea before a disappointing narrow defeat hosting West Brom. Lambert deservedly picked up his first win in the league with a great away result at Bolton, coming out 2-1 victors, but his side will need to iron out individual errors if they are to stay up.

Unbelievably Norwich have conceded penalties in all of their games thus far, with 3 scored and 2 missed. Ritchie De Laet, signed on loan from Manchester United, proved a costly inclusion in the opening fixtures with errors leading to goals in 3 of City's opening 4 matches; a feat he was subsequently dropped for.

In the Belgian's defence he has proved the side's most resolute defender otherwise, Making 4 tackles and 2.5 interceptions per game. Kyle Naughton has also played well with an impressive 2.8 interceptions and 2 tackles a match.

Anthony Pilkington opened his Norwich account last time out having signed from Huddersfield while Bennett and Johnson have also added attacking threat. The former Leeds midfielder's 2.3 shots per game is a team high, netting once and assisting another having created 4 goalscoring opportunities over the season- identical to Bennett.

Swansea City

Brendan Rodgers received plenty of praise for his attacking approach to the game last season. Having failed to make a name for himself at Watford and Reading, Swansea fans may have been in two minds upon his appointment in 2010. A young coach who learned his trade at Chelsea under Jose Mourinho, the 38-year-old inspired his side to play-off success by encouraging passing football and fast counter-attacking play.

Two of his team's key players from last season opened their accounts for the season in the 3-0 win over West Brom this weekend, and the pace and skill of Nathan Dyer and Scott Sinclair is likely to prove crucial to their survival this time around. Many feared that although the Swans played attractive stuff, they would be opened up in the Premier League, but 3 clean sheets in 5 games suggest otherwise.

Unknown Entities
They have conceded just once since a somewhat harsh 4-0 drubbing by Man City in their season opener, and though that goal was the fault of keeper Michel Vorm, the Dutchman has proven to be one of the most astute signings of the summer. Most will not have heard of the 27-year-old brought in from Utrecht, but if they hadn't before, they would have after watching the defeat to City.

Despite conceding 4 second half goals Vorm made a remarkable 11 saves, some of them sensational, and kept out a Ben Watson penalty the week later. A further man of the match award from WhoScored came in the stalemate with Sunderland before his only blunder of the season led to a narrow 1-0 defeat at Arsenal at the hands of a freak Andriy Arshavin strike.

It is upfront where Swansea had struggled prior to this weekend and Rodgers' Lambert-esque approach to buying from outside the top flight is yet to pay off with Danny Graham. Top scorer in the Championship last season with Rodgers' former employers Watford, Graham has failed to net this term from 11 shots in his opening 4 games and was subsequently dropped for fellow newcomer Leroy Lita.

Graham may now have to bide his time to get back into the line-up after Lita scored in his first start for the club and set up another in a fine all-round display that earned him a WhoScored rating of 7.9 compared to Graham's meagre average of 6.15 thus far. Lita's goal came from just 1 shot compared to his teammates poor conversion rate, or lack there of, and his 1 assist came from just 1 key pass. If Swansea are to stay up Graham will need to improve in front of goal dramatically unless Lita continues his form.

It remains to be seen as to whether QPR's big bucks will save them or whether Norwich and Swansea can survive due to shrewd signings from the lower leagues but the outcome will be an intriguing one with all three sides now out of the relegation zone!