Going Down: Your Guide to the Relegation Dogfight

By: Rob | May 8th, 2009

This weekend is going to be massive in the Premier League. Never mind the Manchester Derby though, at the foot of the league, things are going to get decided. Nothing less than a win will do for West Brom, at the foot of the league, taking on Wigan. Meanwhile on Monday, Newcastle take on Boro in the 114th Tyne-Tees Derby, and probably the most important of all time. Whichever one wins has a chance to climb out of the bottom three, while whoever loses is almost certainly going to be playing in the Championship next year.

Indeed – a draw probably won’t be good enough, unless Hull lose against Stoke over the weekend.

I Predict A Riot.

So without further ado, here is the league table as it currently sits.

16 Sunderland 35 9 8 18 31 48 -17 35
17 Hull City 35 8 10 17 37 60 -23 34
18 Newcastle United 35 6 13 16 37 56 -19 31
19 Middlesbrough 35 7 10 18 25 51 -26 31
20 West Brom 35 7 7 21 33 64 -31 28

Bottom Three go down of course, with three games left for everyone to play. Which means that the Baggies need all 9 remaining points if the realistically want to stay in the Premier League. Their remaining games are Wigan at home, Liverpool at home, Blackburn away. It isn’t looking bright for West Brom.

Boro and Newcastle, are sat on the same points, and have strikingly similar remaining fixtures. They play one another on Monday at St James Park, then Boro have Villa at home and West Ham away, while Newcastle face Fulham at home and then Aston Villa away.

Tricky run ins for both, but you feel that perhaps one could climb out of that mess. You don’t fancy either to beat Villa on paper, but the Birmingham club don’t have a great deal to play for at the moment.

Meanwhile, Hull are three points clear of Newcastle and Boro, and have the winnable game against Stoke at the weekend, before Bolton at home, and then finishing off against Manchester United at home. How about that for a depressing end, eh? If Hull were to go down, they may have to spend their last game in the Premier League watching Manchester United lift the trophy.

What has happened to Hull? It wasn’t that long ago that we were rejoicing them beating Arsenal and sitting in the top six. How wonderful it was that a side everyone condemned for relegation looked like they were genuinely competitive. Instead they’ve lived Reading’s stay in the top flight only in fast forward. They’ve won one game in the last 19, which will be refreshing news for everyone around them.

Sunderland are just a point ahead of Hull, four ahead of their North-East rivals. They have Bolton away, Portsmouth away, and Chelsea at home. Maybe the four point gap might just be enough with those fixtures to come.