There’s a fascinating battle at the bottom end of the Premier League table.
A battle that will determine which one of four clubs will be relegated from the Premier League, inevitably leading to financial disaster, mass player exodus, and a step down from the best and richest football league in the world to The Championship, a really hard division where promotion back to the Premier League is easier said than done.
And it all starts this Saturday, 2 May.
What’s Going on in the Premier League?
Former Premier League clubs like Leicester (former champions, no less!), Stoke City, Swansea, and Norwich know how hard it is to get promoted back to the big time once you’ve gone down.
Wolves and Burnley are already relegated, so there’s just one more team that will go down.
As things stand, here are the four teams’ points and respective goal differences. They’ve all played 34 matches.
- Leeds - 40 points; -7
- Nottingham Forest - 39; -4
- West Ham United - 36; -16
- Tottenham - 34; -10
The Premier League Odds Are in Favour of Leeds United
Remarkably, for sides in the relegation zone, all of West Ham, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham won at the weekend (Leeds were playing in the FA Cup), so there was no change in the table.
Below is what you need to know about the four teams, with their odds of being relegated in brackets provided by online betting sites.
Leeds United (25.0)
Leeds have already done just about enough to stay up.
That was mostly thanks to an excellent run over the last month or so, where they beat Wolves and Manchester United, and drew the other three with Crystal Palace, Brentford and Bournemouth.
Odds of 25.0 suggest they’ll be in the Premier League again next season. They’re just 1.36 to beat 19th-placed and already-relegated Burnley on Friday night.
Nottingham Forest (21.0)
Like Leeds, Forest have been in excellent form of late, and that has probably saved them, too. Since early March, they secured draws at high-flyers Man City (2-2) and Aston Villa (1-1) to go with a 0-0 at Fulham.
More importantly, they beat relegation rivals Tottenham (3-0), Burnley 4-1, and saved the best for last, thrashing Sunderland 5-0 last Friday. So they’re unbeaten in their last six, form typical of a Top Four club, not one facing the drop.
At the heart of it all has been their inspirational captain and Number 10, Morgan Gibbs-White, who, on a personal level, has surely done enough to earn himself a place in England’s squad for the World Cup.
They visit Chelsea next Monday afternoon and are 2.2 to either win or draw the match.
West Ham (2.25)
West Ham beat Everton 2-1 on Saturday, thanks to a dramatic late goal from Callum Wilson, or else it would be them who were favourites for the drop, not Spurs.
Before that, they made the most of an ‘easy’ game against Wolves by winning 4-0 and getting a potentially priceless 0-0 draw against Palace a week ago.
Their Saturday afternoon match against Brentford is huge. They’re 3.1 to win it, 3.1 to get a draw, and right now, they’d probably take a point if it was offered to them.
The bad news for them is that it’s Arsenal (at home) after that, then a trip to Newcastle and finally a home tie against Leeds. Nothing too easy there.
Tottenham (1.8)
Spurs have Portuguese midfielder Joao Palhinha to thank for his late goal at Wolves on Saturday in a 1-0 win, or else they’d have one foot in the Championship.
In an act of desperation, they brought in Italian manager Roberto de Zerbi to save their season, and he’s done well so far with that win at the weekend, preceded by a 2-2 draw with Brighton, a match they really should have won.
But there was bad news for de Zerbi in that weekend win: both Xavi Simons and Dominic Solanke got injured at a time when plenty of other players were also out.
Next up is an away trip to Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon, which they’re 2.88 to win, and it’s 3.1 they get a draw. Goals are expected, with over 2.5 the favourite at 1.65.
After that, it’s home games against Leeds and Everton and an away trip to Chelsea.
