Home of football statistics and historyOver the years, football fans have been treated to an exhilarating title race in the Premier League, but it’s safe to say that this won’t be the case this season with Liverpool 16 points ahead of second-place, and alarmingly still have a game in hand. It’s all been quite dull if we’re honest, and despite everyone hoping for some sort of upset that will put the wheels of a Liverpool implosion in motion, it simply isn’t forthcoming.
Such is the brilliance and consistency of Klopp’s team that the rest are left playing for second place, the real question is whether the Reds will go unbeaten for the whole season?
As mentioned, this is all quite foreign to the Premier League with the result such a surety with four months left to play and it can leave one feeling rather indifferent about the 2019/2020 Premier League season. That is, of course, until you scan down the standings and have a look at the goings-on at the opposite end of the table. Once you do, you will find the will power needed to carry on investing time into this season.
S U B L I M E. 💥@JackGrealish1 🤩#MondayMotivation #AVFC #PL pic.twitter.com/irFoUhmyTF— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) January 20, 2020
The six bottom teams are all within eight points of each other and, with a quarter of the season left to go, anything can happen. At this stage, it seems like Norwich is the only team to be considered dead and buried as they sit six points adrift, but that’s not really the case when you consider a team can overcome a six-point deficit in just three games.
In fact, a quick look back a few of the miraculous great escapes in English football and one can’t help but marvel at the way Wigan, bottom of the table in 2012, managed to win six of their last eight games to eventually finish seven points clear of danger. Six of these victories included wins against Manchester United and Arsenal. It just goes to show that you can never really condemn a team to relegation until it is mathematically impossible to stay in the top-flight.
Many betting platforms such as bookmaker William Hill have odds that suggest Norwich are as good as down at 1/10, with the Canaries all but guaranteed to return to the Championship after one season in the Premier League, but you never really know; just ask Roberto Martinez. It can be infuriating for a fan to see their team come good at the end of the campaign only to fall agonizingly short after stringing a few wins together. While a late surge to stay up is of course very valiant, you’re always left asking yourself where that form has been the entire season?
There are many other subplots developing around the relegation fight, like whether Watford’s gamble to appoint Nigel Pearson will work out and whether Jack Grealish can single-handedly keep Aston Villa up? You do get the feeling that Villa’s survival will be down to the form of their talismanic captain and not from the tactics being dished out in the changing room.
Dean Smith and John Terry look a bit out of their depth, and you’d imagine that if Villa were to hang on this season and beat the drop, a managerial change at Villa Park would be in the offing during the summer.
Another team in claret and blue that is just about hanging on is David Moyes’ West Ham. Although, Moyes is probably the best coach out of all the teams that are struggling near the bottom and should have the experience to see the Hammers knock the prospect of relegation on the head.
Teemu Pukki notched his 1️⃣1️⃣th @premierleague goal last night… 👏 pic.twitter.com/4rdu63dahr— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) January 23, 2020
The coastal sides, Brighton and Bournemouth, are probably the most at sea in the relegation fight, and it seems fair to say that the current Championship teams can look forward to at least one new day out on England’s south coast next year, maybe even two. A penny for Chris Hughton’s thoughts, and aren’t Manchester United delighted they didn’t take a gamble on Eddie Howe? Having said that, they did employ a manager that was in charge of Cardiff when they were relegated, so who knows.
So, there you have it, Premier League fans will have to get their fix from a relegation bunfight this season, and it is shaping up to be one for the books. Martin Tyler may not be shouting Aguero during the last kick of the season but instead Pukki or Deeney.
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