Relegation 2015: The battle to beat the drop

With just two months left of the 2014/15 Premier League season, six clubs look to be involved in the annual relegation dogfight. Here’s a run-down of their run-ins.

LEICESTER CITY remaining games:

West Ham (H); West Brom (A); Swansea (H); Burnley (A); Chelsea (H);

Newcastle (H); Southampton (H); Sunderland (A); QPR (A)

Saturday’s match against West Ham is massive: Leicester must win in order to at least stay in touch with the other teams in the relegation zone. Although they have a game in hand over the teams around them, that game is home to Chelsea and they are highly unlikely to take any points from it. Three of Leicester’s most winnable games are away from home, but by the time they play Sunderland and QPR it will probably be too late to avoid the drop. With only one win and six points in their last 12 matches, Leicester have little going in the way of momentum.

FINISH PREDICTION: 26-34 points

QPR remaining games:

West Brom (A); Aston Villa (A); Chelsea (H); West Ham (H);

Liverpool (A); Man City (A); Newcastle (H); Leicester (A)

QPR have been in free-fall since the start of 2015, taking only four points from a possible 33. It’s not as if they’re conceding three, four or five goals every game, far from it. In six of the 11 matches, QPR lost by a single goal and they haven’t lost by more than two goals all year. It might be they don’t have the confidence that they can win, or the self-belief. Unfortunately, the more likely explanation is that they’re just not good enough.

FINISH PREDICTION: 29-37 points

BURNLEY remaining games:

Spurs (H); Arsenal (H); Everton (A); Leicester (H);

West Ham (A); Hull (A); Stoke (H); Aston Villa (A)

Of the three clubs promoted from the Championship last season, Burnley is the only team to have shown they can mix it with the Premier League heavyweights. A home win and away draw against Manchester City; an away draw against Chelsea; and a home draw against Manchester United have been the highlights of the season so far. Given that form, the teams they have left to play, and the undoubted belief manager Sean Dyche has instilled in his players, Burnley have every chance of beating the drop.

FINISH PREDICTION: 36-39 points

SUNDERLAND remaining games:

Newcastle (H); Crystal Palace (H); Stoke (A); Southampton (H)

Everton (A); Leicester (H); Arsenal (A); Chelsea (A)

Sunderland is a club in crisis mode. They wouldn’t have sacked their manager nine matches left of the season if they weren’t. The question is: Can Dick Advocaat bring stability to one of the most tumultuous of Premier League clubs? Despite the glut of evidence demonstrating that late-season managerial changes don’t make a difference to the form of a poor team, owner Elis Short has gone all-in, gambling his club’s Premier League survival on one of the biggest clichés in football. There may be a bounce of sorts, but these Black Cats are doing an awfully good impression of being dead.

FINISH PREDICTION: 31-36 points

ASTON VILLA remaining games:

Manchester United (A); QPR (H); Spurs (A); Manchester City (A)

Everton (H); West Ham (H); Southampton (A); Burnley (H)

Villa is another club who have replaced their manager late in the season, but they were less a club in crisis, more one in the doldrums. New manager Tim Sherwood has undoubtedly brought vigor and spark to a gloomy Villa Park. In his first five games in charge, Villa has already equaled the number of wins (two) they had in the previous 21 games under former manager Paul Lambert. Sherwood should see Villa comfortably safe; just what owner Randy Lerner needs as he tries to sell the club in the summer.

FINISH PREDICTION: 36-40 points

HULL CITY remaining games:

Swansea (A); Southampton (A); Liverpool (H); Crystal Palace (A)

Arsenal (H); Burnley (H); Spurs (A); Manchester United (A)

Hull might be the surprise relegation club this season. Whilst their form in the last six matches has been good, those two wins and two draws have come against teams below them in the table. Their final eight games are all tough: even the match against Burnley won’t be straightforward, especially if Hull goes into it on a losing streak. Manager Steve Bruce can’t have believed his luck when he was offered a new contract just a few weeks ago; he could yet find himself a Championship manager next season.

FINISH PREDICTION: 32-37 points

Image: www.telegraph.co.uk