Although the race for the EPL title is over and the chase for Champions League football seems to be closing, the last relegation spot is currently nipping at the heels of eight possible teams. For any big fan of English football, the relegation battle is almost as intriguing as the battle for the top four and, for the team’s fans and players, it is actually much MORE intriguing. No team has ever really celebrated at the end of a season when they come in second or third place, but I can guarantee you that you will see some massive celebrations when teams find out that they will not be relegated towards the end of the season.
Although anything can happen in footy, it truly seems like Reading and QPR have already locked up the bottom two relegation spots. QPR may have been built with some serious financial backing and they may have the magic man Harry Redknapp at the helm, but they look destined for the Championship next season. Reading has done pretty well for their first season back in the EPL in quite some time, but they have not been able to perform away from home and that will end up sending them downward.
The eight teams that are trying to avoid the last relegation spot are the youthful Aston Villa, Wigan Athletic, Sunderland, Newcastle, Norwich City, Stoke, Southampton, and West Ham. Newcastle, despite being 15th right now, seems to have too much talent to go down. Their squad has a lot of international starters playing for them and their coaching staff is impressive, but as we have seen with QPR, talent does not save you from the drop. Norwich and Stoke have emerged from this battle several times and they have the experience that should prevent them from suffering through the drop.
Although West Ham is currently sitting in 11th, they are one of the more likely to drop. West ham, Southampton, Sunderland, Wigan, and Villa are the five that I believe will be struggling to avoid the 18th spot. Villa is amazingly young and they cannot seem to prevent anyone from scoring, but they have shown that they can be impressive at times. Wigan has been in disarray all season and they have not been able to secure the type of results that typically allows a team to remain in the top flight.
No matter who ends up in the last relegation spot, it is going to be a massive battle over the last few weeks. If you want to see the type of drama and madness that we no longer feel from the title push, start paying attention to these matches. I can assure you, it is about to get fun!
No Comments