With the Premier League looking like it is about to have one of the most exciting finales of the year, most people are looking at the top of the table to find their excitement. What people are missing by doing this though is one of the most intriguing relegation battles seen in recent years, with a number of different teams all staring relegation in the face and battling to avoid the dreaded drop. So this article is going to attempt to take you focus away from the battle for supremacy and instead take a look at the teams who might not be playing in the league when the 2012/2013 season rolls around…
So, who are the teams in danger of losing their Premier League livelihoods by the end of the season? Well, it seems to be that there are five in total, of which only two will survive. These teams are Wigan, Bolton, Blackburn, QPR and Wolves. After them there is a gap of 5 points to the next team, meaning that they should be safe from the drop…
The team that most people have been following in the relegation struggle is Blackburn, as they are a team that nobody thought would go down at the beginning of the season. Whether it is down to the manager or the players, the fans have made their opinions more than known on the subject. Although they started incredibly poorly, their form does seem to have picked up slightly in recent games – with the most recent game being a 3-2 victory against fellow strugglers QPR. Although they looked doomed just a couple of months back, I think that they will stay up – they have players who are simply too good to be part of a relegated team.
The other team of the five who I think will preserve their Premier League life is Wolves, but for an entirely different reason than Blackburn. While Blackburn will rely on their players to get them out of trouble, Wolves will rely on one man – their manager, whoever that turns out to be! The fact is though that Wolves have turned themselves into a genuine Premier League team – a club that many out-of-work managers are going to be eager to work for. This means that they will get a good manager without having to wait for long. At the moment Alan Curbishley seems to be the frontrunner, and he would be a perfect choice.
So that leaves us with QPR, Bolton and Wigan to go down. It’s not that I think that they are bad teams – in fact, all three have the squads to better many other teams in the league. With players like Rodallega, Davies and Barton, they have players who would play in any mid-table Premier League team. The problem that all three have is the fact that they don’t have the team spirit and don’t seem to be gelling with each other. QPR is possibly the best example of this, with a new manager in Mark Hughes (possibly the most over-rated manager in the country?) and new players in many positions. The fact that many are inexperienced in the Premier League means that they are also playing with their heads down, already convinced that their days are numbered.
So, this season will see the disappearance of a couple of teams who have brought a lot of entertainment to the league over the last few years, as well as the one team that everyone thought would light up the league on their debut. Just who will replace them though, and will they be able to emulate Norwich and Swansea and become valuable additions to the greatest league in the world?