Premiership Relegation Battle 2008

The Premiership this season is all but won for Manchester United, but an interesting battle at the bottom of the table is unfolding at the moment, with four games remaining. Let’s have a look at these teams:

Wigan:

Sitting on 35 points, 6 points from the drop, a draw against Chelsea on Monday. It would take a bizarre combination of results for them to get relegated, but it’s not beyond the realm of possibility. Games against Tottenham, Reading, Villa and Man Utd on the last day remain. One win should see them safe.

Reading:

After a poor result at home to struggling Fulham, they most certainly aren’t safe. 3 points off the drop, with a poor goal difference to boot. Tough fixtures also remain: Arsenal, Wigan, Tottenham and already relegated Derby. It’ll come down to the last day for Reading I think, and Derby have nothing to lose, so it’ll depend on the form of Birmingham, Bolton and Fulham to determine which league Reading will be playing in next year.

Birmingham:

A late draw against Everton last Saturday earned Brum a crucial point, one which may see them stay up. Not the toughest of fixtures remaining, with Aston Villa, Liverpool, Fulham and Blackburn left to play. Their hit & miss form this season may haunt them in the next few weeks.

Bolton:

This season won’t last long in the memories of Bolton’s supporters. From 7th place down to the relegation zone, they’ll need to produce some magic, as per 2003. Only 2 points from safety, so it’s very possible. Mind you, they were unlucky against Arsenal, and a win against West Ham has restored belief. Their remaining fixtures are Boro, Tottenham, Sunderland and Chelsea. They’ll certainly need 2 wins to be secure, but other results will be crucial.

Fulham:

Barely still in it. An away win last weekend is the reason for this. Tough fixtures ahead for them, in the shape of Liverpool, Man City, Birmingham and Portsmouth. Hard to see them surviving, but their performance last weekend shows that they are capable of something. A better GD than Reading may be the key to survival, if any.

To wrap it up, the relegation battle will be immense, with relegation hinging on every result from here on in. I think that Fulham and Reading will be going down. This will be Bolton’s third relegation fight in their current spell of top flight football, and they fought very well the last two times. Although they have a new manager, their form in the last two games was top notch. Birmingham also have the results going in their favour recently, so I think Reading are the team heading for the drop. I’ll write again after the next set of fixtures, hopefully everything will be clearer!