The Premier League relegation picture should become clearer this weekend as the five teams still in danger scramble for points in the quest for survival.
|||London – The Premier League relegation picture should become clearer this weekend as the five teams still in danger scramble for points in the quest for survival.
With Queens Park Rangers and Burnley already down, third bottom Hull City need at least two points and probably three from their remaining two matches to stand a chance of keeping their top-flight status.
Defeat on Saturday at Tottenham will not mathematically send them down – since fellow strugglers Leicester and Sunderland play each other – but with a home match against Manchester United on the final day, manager Steve Bruce admits the situation is getting desperate.
“We still need a couple of results,” Bruce said this week. “Who knows? One might be enough. We’ve got to make sure we make a fight of it down at Tottenham, make a fist of staying alive.”
“We have to make sure we take it to the last day against Manchester United. Who knows what will happen then? We’ve seen strange results again.
“Teams expected to win haven’t and the bottom teams are winning.Leicester, in particular, have produced another win (against Southampton) which is quite remarkable. We need a reaction.”
Bruce said the club had targeted 37 or 38 points from the start of the season and, currently on 34, had simply not been good enough.
“We haven’t performed anywhere near to the level which we are capable of performing and when that happens you get frustrated,” he said.
Newcastle, one place and two points above Hull, could still be in big trouble if they fail to at least earn a point at QPR.
A draw last weekend against West Brom ended a run of eight straight defeats but the Magpies are still fighting for their lives.
“It is up to us to get to that 38, 39 or 40 point mark and then make sure it does not happen again next season,” defender Ryan Taylor said.
“I don’t want to go down. I have had it once before when I first signed and don’t want that feeling again. All I am thinking about is
helping this team pull through the difficult situation we are in.”
Having won six games out of seven to get out of the bottom three, Leicester can assure their safety by beating Sunderland, who still have a game in hand.
“If two months ago you’d have said it would be in our own hands going into the last game of the season, I’d have taken it,” manager Nigel Pearson said.
At the other end, Manchester United can seal the last Champions League spot by avoiding defeat against Arsenal.
And in the race for the last automatic Europa League spot, awarded for sixth, Tottenham will watching the results of both Southampton and Swansea.
Seventh-placed Southampton, one point behind Tottenham, host another relegation-threatened club, Aston Villa, while Swansea are another point behind before they face outgoing champions Manchester City.
Steven Gerrard will play his last home game for Liverpool, against Crystal Palace, while Burnley host Stoke and West Ham take on Everton in the weekend’s other games. – DPA-ANA
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