Who is going down from the top flight? The way things are going in the Premier League this season, the battle to avoid the drop is looking more exciting than the title race. Manchester United are currently 9 points clear of their rival Man City and the Red Devils show no signs of faltering. Last season we saw the relegation battle go to the last day of the season, Bolton needed to win and hope that QPR lost. QPR became part of the title race on the final day as they played Manchester City, so the battle of survive relegation intertwined with the battle to win the Premier League. With fixtures the way they are, I donât think we see scenes like that this time around. We could be treated to one of the closest relegation battles in years, with 5 teams looking like theyâll be fighting it out. Despite the encouraging start that Mauricio Pochettinoâs reign as Southampton manager, I think theyâll be involved in the relegation scrap until the last few games, but will pick up enough points to survive the drop. The magic 40 point total is only 13 away for Saints and theyâll get close to that. They will have to beat all of the teams currently around them, but they will be fine at the end of the season. Reading have shown in the past few games that they are capable of staying up, but have also shown that they could quite easily drop into the bottom three. They concede too many goals and seem to rely on their attackers to dig them out of holes and salvage something from games. I fear for them if Adam Le Fondre gets injured as heâs been their main goalscorer recently and has come off the bench and scored important goals for the Royals. Wigan have survived relegation in every season they have been in the Premier League, 8 in all. If they want to do that again, they will have to beat not just the teams around them but a couple of the big teams as well. They have Chelsea at Stamford Bridge up next, as well as Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal to play later on in the season. They always seem to find something extra in the last 3 months of the season though. In order to beat the drop, the Latics will have to show the same level of performance in the last part of this season as they did in the last part of last season They havenât looked too good over the past month and they could start slipping further down the table if they are not careful. Aston Villa are in very real danger. They have the worst goal difference in the Premier League by far and they havenât exactly scored enough goals in games to turn losing positions into a draw or even a win. If Christian Benteke gets injured even for a couple of weeks, Villa will feel it massively. He gives them so much pace and power, as well as being a good finisher. Aston Villa have missed Ron Vlaar over the past few months and his return will give their back line the rigidity and strength that they have needed. I think if they lose to any of the teams around them, they could end up being cut off from those teams and ultimately be relegated. Paul Lambert didnât bring in enough players in the January transfer window and it may well prove to be their undoing. The team currently at the bottom of the Premier League table, QPR, look like they could survive relegation. No TV pundits has given them a chance, but I think they will survive the drop. They have brought in players like Loic Remy and Chris Samba in the January transfer window, they will be key to the Super Hoopsâ Premier League survival campaign. Their last three games of the season are Arsenal and Newcastle at home and then Liverpool away so they will have to pick up points in their other games. The amount of points needed to survive could be as high as 35 this season, so QPR will have to start winning games and stop drawing them. At this point in the season, I think the bottom three come the end of the season will be (in no particular order) Aston Villa, Reading and Wigan. Thomas Baxter http://www.footballfriendsonline.com/blogs/2013/2/7/who-is-going-down-from-the-top-flight.html I'd be happy with this prediction being spot on.
Us, Wigan and Reading. We have to hope Southampton hit a run of poor form and that Villa continue to self destruct. I don't see Norwich, The Toon or Sunderland getting dragged into it. Wigan can't keep escaping in the last 2 months of the season and Reading's bubble will burst sooner or later. As for us I think we are good for draws in many of the games coming up but we don't have what it takes to turn enough of these into 3 points. Maybe if Harry had taken over after the first month we'd have stood a chance but we got shot of Sparky too late to turn the season around.
agree with grove, but hope we can pull something off… with those last three games as well we really only have 10 games to get 20 points. Just dont see it and a few days ago I was a lot more confident. I think seeing it all in black and white makes it all a bit real… Still, COME ON THE RANGERS!!! got to stay loud and proud!
I still maintain that because of the maths/fixtures that there will only be 9 points between 10th and 17th
That is probably correct and my theory for it is that the top teams are taking a larger number of points than was historically the case.I think that 36 points will ensure survival.It's possible that it might need 37 but the days of teams getting relegated on 40 are gone,cettainly for now. I alaways watch number of games played v points gained. At the moment Wigan in 18th spot are four adrift.So if Wigan were to take a point a game from now on then they would end on 34.And bear in mind that their average haul per game at present is 0.84,so a significant improvement is required to achieve even that. So on that basis QPR need 20 points from 13 games to reach 37 and guaranteed safety.Of course it may be fewer than 37.
Reading. 35 Wigan. 33 Villa. 33 QPR. 32 That's the botton 3 for me. Low points to stay up this year, but you blew it at the start and can't see you getting to 35.Yes youve strengthened and improved but 17 points in 25 games and then double in 13 is just too much. Your owners aren't scared to spend and keep most of that squad together you'll probably set a points record in the championship and come back up much stronger than last time....What's 12 months?
I agree with this. I even think a team may stay up on 35pts. Of course..........it would be wonderful if Norwich were to drop like a stone, but I can't see it unfortunately.
Well those are certainly the four I see as 17th -20th but clearly one won,or lost,match could see those positions reversed. We can't really "Drop like a stone" it would need all the teams below us to suddenly go on a run like Reading just have.If we hadn't have had our ten match run we would have been in it too.
i have not given up yet because all the teams around us have hard games and play each other. At the moment we are 6 points off 4th from bottom Reading and in 10 games we could be 6 points ahead. Chill for the time being because a few results and some going for us and it's a whole new ball game. Also rather than just look at our fixtures check out the others teams and it doesn't look that bad for us.
http://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/relegation Only one of the four whose odds aren't shortening is Wigan. Bookies know they've been there before and can't see Wigan going down. Villa, Reading and us unfortunately.
Bookies never get right, there'll be a surprise, hopefully us swapping places with Norwich/Fulham/AnyFucker.
Only reason odds shorten is money placed on that option. Bookies don't have opinions, just spread the risk.
We can still hope on some or other club going down for corruption/match fixing/ineligible players or FIFA/UEFA declaring that Welsh teams are to be confined to their rightful place: The League of Wales. Chelsea, Man U and Swansea down would be paradise.
Reading fan in peace. Hope I'm not unwelcome in this discussion. Unless the teams from Newcastle upward go on really bad runs, I reckon its any three of the current bottom five which will go down. What I wouldn't want to predict at this stage is which three it will be.
Just the sort of complacency that sucks a mid-table team into the mire. Norwich were poor on Saturday and fortunate we were poorer for much of the game. Looking at each team's run-in I can see Norwich perilously close to the trapdoor...
