Premier League: The relegation battle - who's going down?

Coming into the business end of the season, there is little margin for error. That’s even more pertinent to the teams at the bottom of the Premier League, attempting to flee the suction of relegation.

Here is a look at some of the teams around the bottom of the table and their chances of survival.

Sunderland

Sitting bottom of the Premier League isn’t a good start for any team. David Moyes had a real lack of imagination in the January transfer window. The Scotsman brought in three players he previously worked with at Everton many, many years ago.

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Bryan Oviedo, Darron Gibson and Joleon Lescott were signed and the collective sigh from the Sunderland fans said it all. Judging from those transfers, the Black Cats have already accepted their fate.

Unfortunately for Sunderland, they still have to face: Everton (A), Manchester City (H), Manchester United (H), Arsenal (H) and Chelsea (A) on the final day of the season.

Not the most appealing of fixtures ahead and with the way they are playing – currently off the back of a 4-0 thumping at home to Southampton – there’s little reason to be optimistic. This looks like a done deal.

Chance of survival: 1/5

Crystal Palace:

Sam Allardyce made better signings than his former club, Sunderland, did, but it might not be enough. After a tragic first half of the season, Palace are in real trouble.

For some reason or another, they are not clicking as a team, and instead, they are playing as individuals. On paper, there is no chance that this team is relegated. They should be mid-table, at least.

The Eagles’s remaining fixtures appear to be even harder than Sunderland’s: Tottenham (H), Chelsea (A), Arsenal (H), Liverpool (A), Manchester City (A), Manchester United (H).

That’s only facing the traditionally ‘ bigger’ teams, too. Allardyce has a crucial games against Middlesbrough, Leicester City and Hull City in which they have to win.

The former England manager is used to a great escape and he might need to pluck one out of the magic hat.

Chance of survival: 2/5

Hull City

There might have been great stigma around Marco Silva coming to the Premier League – especially from certain Sky Sports pundits – but he has answered his critics in brilliant fashion.

Wins against Manchester United and Liverpool, as well as an organised, respectful showing against Chelsea, showed what the Portuguese manager is capable of.

Silva has Hull playing its best football of the season by some. They look a far more organised team and are now seeing results go their way.

The Tigers might still be in the bottom three, but their form is a lot better than Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Leicester’s. They have a real chance of survival all thanks to Silva.

Hull fans will notice that their fixtures for the run into the end of the season are considerably favourable over their rivals’s: Everton (A), Manchester City (A) and Tottenham (H) are the only three games they have to play against a team in the top seven.

Chance of survival: 4/5

Swansea City

Since Paul Clement took over from Bob Bradley on January 3rd, Swansea have won four of their seven games. Not bad considering the dire state they were in and the fact that they have had to play Arsenal, Liverpool, Southampton and Manchester City.

A win against relegation rivals Leicester at the weekend was indicative of how far they’ve come and how far they might just go yet.

Swansea’s attack now looks crisp and dangerous when in the opposition’s half, something that was considerably lacking pre-Clement. There’s definite belief in Swansea that they can stay up and, now in 15th, there’s no reason to be a doubter.

They only have three teams to play in the current top six: Chelsea (A), Tottenham (H) and Manchester United (A). Clement has to face two of the closest teams to them before the end of the season – Hull (A) and Sunderland (A), but they should certainly be winnable games given their confidence.

Chance of survival: 4/5

Leicester City

Claudio Ranieri’s men are in deep, deep trouble. They might well be the first team since Manchester City in 1938 to win the division and then relegated the next season.

The Foxes still have not won in the Premier League in 2017 – a damning indictment of their current situation. Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez clearly are not the same players that led them to unprecedented success last season.

Vardy looks a completely different player. The England international is not getting in the same positions he was last year; his lack of energy is alarming; and he’s firing blanks in-front of goal. His last shot on target in the Premier League was December 17 – unbelievable.

The problem for Leicester might well be the fact that they are still in three competitions. The FA Cup, Champions League and Premier League (just). They might have done brilliantly in Europe, but are now seeing the effects of what happens when distraction sets in.

One of the reasons why Ranieri’s men did so well last year was the fact that they practically had only the Premier League to focus on. Well, now the Foxes have two other competitions and it’s only going to get worse.

Chance of survival: 2/5

Middlesbrough

A month or so ago, you would have thought Middlesbrough would be a safe bet in staying up in England’s top division.

Aitor Karanka’s record is even worse than Leicesters – ‘Boro haven’t secured three points in the Premier League since their 3-0 win against Swansea on December 17.

There also appears to be clear unrest in the backroom staff with Karanka claiming that the technical officials at the club failed to bring in his first choice players during the January transfer window.

They have huge games against Crystal Palace (A), Sunderland (H), Hull (A) and Bournemouth (A) in which they really need results. If they can’t pick up valuable points against their closest rivals, fans won’t have much hope of getting results against the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool.

It’s going to be a huge, and very intense, few months for Middlesbrough. You would think, with the squad that they have, a few wins should do well for their confidence and they’ll just about see out the drop.

Chances of survival: 3/5

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