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.

Oktoberfest - Pompey style

No doubt you are aware that Pompey sit on the bottom of the table, but October brings good tidings for fans of the South Coast club. In the form of Wolves, Spurs, Hull, and Wigan. When I look at these four matches I see 3 relegation six pointers and an intersquad match from last season.


At Wolves:

Wolves are sitting on 7 points but these have come from some of the other weak teams. They got three points most recently in a 2-1 win over Fulham. You may remember that Pompey lost to Fulham when Clint Dempsey's harmless shot took a crazy deflection off Bobby Zamora's back. Wolves picked up a point in a draw with Hull. They got things started with a victory over Wigan. Hull and Wigan are also on Portsmouth's october menu. The Molineaux is not an easy place to play as 4 of Wolves 7 points have come from their three home fixtures. But after the performances that Pompey put in against Bolton, Villa, and Everton I like our chances to get our first points of the season, three of them.

Home to Spurs:

One year ago, Jermaine Defoe, Peter Crouch, Niko Kranjcar, Joe Jordan, and Harry Redknapp were all at Portsmouth, they are now all at Spurs. Needless to say that this one has been circled on the calendar for some time. I am expecting a lot of the former Pompey guys to get a tough time from the crowd, though mainly Redknapp and Defoe. I know that the fans will be up for this match, and I hope that the players are too. Looking at this without the history between the clubs I would say that Spurs should win, especially since Jamie O'hara won't be playing as he is on loan from Spurs. However in games where there is a lot of energy anything can happen and if Pompey are coming off a first win of the season, perhaps we can welcome Harry back with a win just like we did when he was at the Scummers.

At Hull:

The Tigers are sitting on four points at the moment. One from their draw with Wolves, and three from victory over Bolton. Hull have put in a few solid performances this season, but they have be blown out three times. Their confidence is quite low at the moment and Phil Brown looks like he would be sacked tomorrow if their was a different chairman. Before facing Pompey Hull take on Wigan at home and travel to London to take on Fulham. I am sure that these are matches that Hull are targeting for points. If they lose at least one of these two matches I think their confidence will be shot and they will be easy pickings for Pompey.

Home to Wigan

Wigan rank as the most confusing team in England. They have pulled off great victories over Aston Villa, West Ham and Chelsea. But also lost badly to Manchester United, Arsenal, and Blackpool (in the league cup). They also lost to Wolves and Everton. Really it depends more on which Wigan team shows up than which Pompey team shows up. I am expecting that beatable getting relegated Wigan shows up, as I believe those are their true colours this season.


So their you have it, Portsmouth's October pointsfest. I would be disappointed if November started and we didn't have at least 9 points. Though 10 & 12 aren't out of the question. However if we are still bottom at the start of November then we are definitely in a lot of trouble. But there is not a lot of chance of that given the way that we have been playing. I am going for the full 12 points and a flourishing partnership between Piquionne & Dindane. Play Up Pompey!