Thursday, April 28, 2011

Relegation Battles - England

As Sunday signals the arrival of May and the last month of club football in most European leagues, lets focus in on the relegation battles raging all over the place. I am putting up one post for each country. This post is about England.

First up the Premier League.

In the Premier League the bottom three sides are relegated to the Championship.
Teams involved in the relegation battle (I am using any team that is not mathematically safe)
Bold indicates a Six Point match against a fellow relegation candidate.
Italics indicate a local derby.
Bolton 46p +1 @Blackburn, Sunderland, @Blackpool, City
Fulham 42p +4 @Sunderland, Liverpool, @Birmingham, Arsenal
Stoke 42p 0 @Blackpool, Arsenal, @City, Wigan
Newcastle 41p +1 @Liverpool, Birmingham, @Chelsea, WBA
Sunderland 41p -10 Fulham, @Bolton, Wolves, @West Ham
Aston Villa 41p -12 @WBA, Wigan, @Arsenal, Liverpool
West Brom 40p -15 Aston Villa, @Wolves, Everton, @Newcastle
Birmingham 38p -17 Wolves, @Newcastle, Fulham, @Spurs
Blackburn 35p -15 Bolton, @West Ham, United, @Wolves
Blackpool 34p - 22 Stoke, @Tottenham, Bolton, @United
Wigan 34p - 23 Everton, @Aston Villa, West Ham, @Stoke
Wolves 33p - 23 @Birmingham, WBA, @Sunderland, Blackburn
West Ham 32p -22 @City, Blackburn, @Wigan, Sunderland

As you can see there a bevy of important matches down the stretch. The three teams I have dropping down to the Championship are: Wolves, Wigan, & West Ham. Obviously with there still being 4 matches remaining there are a number of different situations. I am certain that West Ham will be relegated. I kept flopping over which teams would join them in going down, in the end I went with Wolves and Wigan.

Now to the Championship.

In the Championship the bottom three teams are relegated to League One.
Teams involved in the relegation battle (I am using any team that is not mathematically safe)
Bold indicates a Six Point match against a fellow relegation candidate.
Italics indicate a local derby.
Preston North End are already relegated.
Crystal Palace 47p -22 @Hull, Forest
Doncaster 47p - 23 Leicester, @Boro
Sheffield United 41p - 31 Barnsley, @Swansea
Scunthorpe 41p - 40 @Forest, @Pompey

The chances of either Sheffield United or Scunthorpe escaping the drop are very small. I think it could come down to the last day of the season for Sheffield United & Doncaster. Crystal Palace are safe and Scunthorpe are going down. I would love to see Sheffield United pull off one of the all time great escapes, but I think they left it a little to late. So they take the drop with PNE & Scunthorpe.

League One

In League One the bottom four teams are relegated to League Two.
Teams involved in the relegation battle (I am using any team that is not mathematically safe)
Bold indicates a Six Point match against a fellow relegation candidate.
Italics indicate a local derby.
Swindon are already relegated.
Notts County 49p - 13 @MK Dons, Brighton
Walsall 45p - 15 Charlton, @Southampton
Dag & Red 44p - 16 Carlisle, @Peterborough
Bristol Rovers 44p - 33 Wednesday, @Colchester
Plymouth 42p - 17 @Exeter, Southampton, Leyton Orient

I think that Walsall will take the drop along with Bristol Rovers & Plymouth. I just can't see Walsall getting any more points and they run the risk of being lit up by Southampton.

League Two.

In League Two the bottom two teams are relegated to Conference.
Teams involved in the relegation battle (I am using any team that is not mathematically safe)
Bold indicates a Six Point match against a fellow relegation candidate.
Italics indicate a local derby.
Morecambe 51p - 13 @Port Vale, Northampton
Macclesfield 51p - 16 @Gillingham, Hereford
Cheltenham 51p - 20 Shrewsbury, @Stockport
Bradford 51p - 21 @Hereford, Crewe
Burton 49p - 14 @Southend, Accrington
Hereford 48p - 16 Bradford, @Macclesfield
Lincoln 47p - 32 @Oxford Utd, Aldershot
Northampton 46p - 11 Stevenage, @Morecambe
Barnet 45p - 18 @Accrington, Port Vale
Stockport 40p - 46 @Crewe, Cheltenham

Stockport are going down. There is no way that they will make up the massive goal difference. They had a golden opportunity to survive on the weekend when they hosted Northampton, but only managed a draw. Coincidentally, I think it will be Northampton that join them in the drop out of League football.

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