Premier League relegation blackhole threatens more clubs than ever… so who will stay up?
Just three points separate seven teams at the bottom of the top flight - have your say on who you think will stay up
WEST BROM doomed, ten other teams in trouble nine games to go, only eight sides to survive.
Never has the Premier League relegation race involved so many runners at this stage of the season.
Every other club from tenth-placed Brighton to second- bottom Stoke are fighting to avoid the remaining two places in the drop zone.
Just seven points separate Chris Hughton’s Seagulls and Paul Lambert’s Potters.
And they, along with Everton, Bournemouth, Swansea, West Ham, Huddersfield, Newcastle, Southampton and Crystal Palace all face a frightening fight to the finish.
Last season, only six points separated eighth to 17th in the final standings.
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At this time last term, both Sunderland and Middlesbrough were already cast adrift, while the scrap to escape 18th seemed certain to be a two-way shoot-out between Hull and Swansea.
This campaign, however, the battle at the bottom looks set to stay a nail-biter until the final day in May.
Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez admitted: “It is not normal.
“You are expecting a couple of teams to be worse than how they are at the moment.
“It’s better for the media because you have more things to talk about. But, for us, it is more tension and anxiety.”
There will be more twists and turns for certain this weekend when six of those ten teams go head to head.
Newcastle host Southampton, Huddersfield entertain Swansea and Everton welcome Brighton.
So why is the survival scuffle so over-crowded this season?
Relegation ratings
Brighton
May need the two wins that should be enough to keep them up in the next five games.
Rating 2
Everton
Should be OK but won’t want to need something against West Ham on the final day.
Rating 2
Bournemouth
Anything from games against Spurs, Liverpool and United would be great but look well-placed and two wins is probably enough.
Rating 1
Swansea
Carlos the Cackle has brought a smile to everyone’s lips. Swans look set to swim on.
Rating 1
West Ham
Boss Moyes knows he must arrest the slump soon. Failure to win against Burnley and Southampton and storm clouds will gather.
Rating 3
Huddersfield
Terriers were a dog without a bone at Spurs last weekend but need to get their teeth into the next month. If they’re not safe by the end of April, they could be doomed.
Rating 3
Newcastle
Rafa Benitez is staying calm but history says Newcastle go down when they have fewer than 30 points at this stage.
Rating 4
Southampton
Tough to give the Saints much of a prayer unless they can summon up a miraculous change of form . . . and quick!
Rating 5
Crystal Palace
Palace badly need Wilfried Zaha back — they have not won without him in the starting line-up. West Brom at home on the final day is a bonus, though.
Rating 4
Stoke
Lambert believes the players and fans are with him but that will not be enough.
Rating 5
Benitez explained: “It is something for this year because the level of the teams at the bottom is something similar.
“Any of those teams can beat anyone. They are so close.
“You win a couple of games and you think you are out of it, then lose a couple and you are already in the bottom three.
“Then you have the top six which is too strong, so normally you have to lose to these teams.
“So if you play Manchester City, Chelsea and lose a game against a team in the middle, then play Manchester United, Liverpool, you can easily get to five games without winning.”
Benitez knows what relegation feels like, having been unable to stop Newcastle’s slide into the Championship when he replaced Steve McClaren as boss exactly two years ago tomorrow.
And the Spaniard said: “I think with the TV money now, it is so important to stay up.
“You saw in January the money that clubs spent.
“That is crucial for many teams to stay in the Premier League and compete.”
Some of the top-flight’s crisis clubs have tried to escape the rigours of the relegation battle by taking a mid-season sunshine break.
Everton have lost both matches since returning from warm-weather training in Dubai.
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While West Brom have been beaten in all three games — including an FA Cup tie — since their trip to Barcelona and the taxi-gate scandal.
But that has not put off Benitez taking his Toon for a four-day camp to Alicante in Spain next weekend, which will include a friendly, possibly against Belgium’s Royal Antwerp.
He knows all about the potential perils of these trips after he took Liverpool to Portugal in February 2007 — when Craig Bellamy ended up attacking John Arne Riise with a golf club following a boozy night out.
But the Magpies chief vowed: “There will be no parties. We will train and have a competitive game and then come back.
“The good thing is the complex is not in the middle of the town, so they have to stay there, relax and focus on football.
“Will they be allowed to drink? Yes — water!”
Fans of Newcastle and their relegation rivals might need to drink something stiffer to cope with the stresses and strains of the next nine weeks.