Premier League Relegation Battle: Tight Scrap at the Foot of the Table

The sides at the bottom of the Premier League table have 9 or 10 games to save their seasons as the relegation scrap looks set to go down to the wire this year, and its not without its controversies following points deductions that has wreaked havoc on a few clubs – and there could possibly be more to come before the end of the season. It leaves the relegation battle on a knife’s edge, and it’s even possible that we won’t know who has actually gone down after the final whistle in the last game of the season if teams are still undergoing an appeal process for any further points deductions. Don’t forget, Man City are also facing 115 financial charges, so that could also equate to a 500 point deduction which could also see them relegated!

According to the bookies, Sheffield United look dead set to drop down to, with 99% certainty as the best price to get them at the moment is at 1.01 to go down. Burnley also looked nailed on despite their win just before the break with a 90% chance of dropping down, and so it comes down to the last spot between seemingly Nottingham Forest, Luton and Everton, and Brentford are not quite in the clear just yet, 5 points clear of the dropzone.

Brentford

Teetering five points clear of the drop zone, Brentford still do have a chance to go down, but barring a catastrophic dip in form, it doesn’t quite seem likely that that will happen to this season. Deprived on Ivan Toney for most of the season following his ban for illegal gambling, they’ve also lost a lot of first teamers to injury for large portions of the season, with Bryan Mbeumo, Aaron Hickey and Rico Henry having been missing.

With ties against Sheffield United, Luton and Everton to come, they should be confident that avoiding defeat in most of those games should see them stumble across the line. But they will want to put their record of having collected just one point in their last six games behind them sooner rather than later.

Everton

Everton actually have a decent record, and without their deduction of six points, they’d be easily clear of a relegation battle. But they’ve now gone eleven games without winning in the Premier League, a run that’s lasted since before Christmas, and they’ve gained only five points during that run.

They may take solace in the fact that five of their last ten matches come against sides around them in the bottom six, and that only Arsenal and Liverpool have actually kept more clean sheets than them this season.

They do have one charge remaining that the FA are yet to make a decision on, which means that the possibility of a further points deduction is a reality, meaning they really need to pick up points faster rather than later.

Luton

Luton probably have the toughest run in out of the bottom sides in the league and need to face the likes of Arsenal and Man City still, who are chasing the title and only face two sides out of those in the bottom six. The odds are stacked against them and though they are likely to be the team that most neutrals will want to stay up it could be a tall ask.

They’ve reached their worst form at the worst time, and have now gone nine games without a win, collecting just three points in the process. A defeat at home to Sheffield United during that run would have hit them hard, as would the defeat to Bournemouth a few weeks ago when they were 3-0 up at halftime, only to eventually lose 3-4.

Nottingham Forest

Forest’s four point deduction for financial issues moved them into the bottom three just before the international break, and it leaves them with a lot of work to get out of a sticky situation. But they have a decent run in, where they face both the sides below them in the table, and they’ll want to get things off to a good start straight after the break where they’ll be expected to pick a few points when they face Crystal Palace and Fulham back to back at home.

Forest have collected one win in their last nine league games but did manage to end a three match losing streak with a draw away to Luton in their match just before the international break where they were minutes away from gaining all three points.

They certainly have enough to stay up, but will want to shore up their defence that has kept just one clean sheet in eighteen league games. If they could bring back Taiwo Awoniyi from injury, it would make their chances a lot better.

Burnley

Burnley won their first match in twelve just before the break, and it gave just a tiny glimmer of hope that perhaps, just maybe, there is a spark of a chance that they can escape the drop this season. But they are facing just two sides in the bottom six in their closing run of nine games, it could be too little too late for them.

So much was expected from this side who so easily gained promotion from the Championship, but the reality is that they didn’t have the goals in them to stay up, and they’ve been naïve in defence to really give themselves a chance to stay up in their first season back. 

Sheffield United

There’s an eight game back already between them and safety, and with nine games to go, its virtually impossible to see them beating the drop. With a massive -50 goal difference, its possible that they could go down as one of the worst sides in Premier League history. Whilst they have managed to garner more points than Derby’s 11 from the 2007/08 season, their goal difference makes for horrific reading, and the hapless way that they fell apart against sides like Newcastle (0-8), Arsenal (5-0 and 6-0), Brighton (0-5), Aston Villa (0-5) and Burnley (0-5) will be well remembered.

If they somehow do manage to start racking up points though, they’ll likely need to start doing it at home; they do have both Burnley and Nottingham Forest, and have trips to Brentford and Everton to come.