Wigan, Reading and either QPR/Villa for me. Wigan have a terrible run in and their luck will finally run out this season. Reading dont have enough and their good form won't last. I was convinced QPR would stay up after they beat Chelsea but that draw against Norwich really was a poor result for them. I still think they could get out of it but its a big ask for them now. It is between them and Villa (who are a mess) for the final spot.
I think QPR and Villa will go down. The last spot is between Reading and Wigan for me, oh and West Ham of course
Villa are the team I'm most confident are going down. I like Villa, but their squad is terrible and it's not being managed well, either.
Next month Villa have Reading away and QPR at home. So after that they will probably know if they have a chance. I can see them finishing bottom, in fact they remind me a bit of Saints c.2005. Or maybe 2008 is more accurate.
I don't think their squad is terrible, just young and naive. Plus, they really must be due a bit of luck. I can see them turning it around. QPR are doomed, btw. Doomed, I tell ya.
Some of their players and their team get away with it under the 'young and naive' tag, when in reality they are just flat out bad. They do have some good players mind, but they also have some poor ones but because they are young and in a young team they get away without criticism and they and Lambert get great admiration for their approach to be so fearless as to field such a young and talented side (Give me a break...). I think every team in the bottom 5 has both the potential to stay up and go down, it's still tight and I still refuse to nominate anyone as 'down already' as people have been saying about QPR and Reading since mid-October (and remember, some people were saying about us). Also wouldn't rule out Norwich, Sunderland and Fulham, they only have to scrape together a few results to get themselves clear of it, but horror runs are not implausible for any of the three so they could possibly get dragged in. Personally if I had to call it I'd agree with Trixter's assessment.
A "yound and naive" squad could also be called a side terribly equipped for the Premier League, couldn't it? But they do have a lot of bad players. I spent a few minutes scrolling through their starting 11s and so many of them are just not Premier League standard.
Maybe. But with Benteke, Agbonlahor, Wiemann and Bent, they'll always score goals. Of the 3 currently in the drop zone, Villa are the one side I can see starting to improve, if their morale isn't totally shot.
A lot of Villa`s youngsters aren`t youngsters at all. Their youngsters are predominantly early 20`s. Luke Shaw is a youngster. I`m going for QPR, Wigan and Norwich.
True that, a lot of them are like Ciaran Clark and Barry Bannan who made their Premier League debuts three seasons ago and are 23. You don't hear Schneiderlin, Yoshida or Cork get often referred to as youngsters, but are all in their first season in the Premier League and are 23/24, exactly the age of most of Villa's 'youngsters'. Double standards I say!
I think it's the fact that Schneiderlin and Cork have played a lot of first-team football, albeit at lower levels. Clark and Bannan may have made their debuts a while ago but they haven't really played a lot since. So whether they are considered youngsters or not is really a factor of how familiar they are to the commentators. No matter how old they are, if they are unfamiliar and British, they must have just come out of the academy. Speaking of which, I can't remember ever seeing a game when Cork wasn't referred to by the commentator as "the son of former crazy gang striker Alan Cork". Maybe that indicates he's a youngster?
Think QPR will struggle to score enough goals. Remy is out for weeks and Zamora isn't fully fit. Mackie just doesn't score enough.
Benteke will score goals. Weimann might get a couple. I haven't seen any evidence that Agbonlahor or Bent will do anything at all. I also think Villa are the most likely to relegate. Their defense and midfield are very weak.
That's also part of their problem, up until recently they haven't been scoring goals. QPR are the only team to score less, and but for a recent run of goals (8 in their last 5) they were bottom of the goal scoring charts.
I did the BBC predictor and ended up with QPR 20th, Villa 19th and Wigan 18th-I will stick with these three until the end of the season. Also had Saints at 10th!
Just a tad optimistic there. Either that or you can see into the future and saw that Saints will finish 10th in the PL in 2013/14 season. Please say it's the latter!
I have to admit im getting a little nervous now about staying up this season soo... I have just done the BBC prediction table and tried to be as honest as i could with all results and have us finishing 11th!!! Wins against: QPR NORWICH WEST HAM SWANSEA WEST BROM STOKE Loses to: READING MAN CITY NEWCASTLE LIVERPOOL SPURS and draws to the others!
