Relegation

ironbluedun

Who will get relegated.

Wigan,
Wolves,
West ham
all in the bottom three, can Wolves or Wigan get out? Fulham could go, birmingham? and could Villa go down.
Mick might get wolves out.

Kiwi_knock

I think Wigan will go down. West Ham will go down if they do not get rid of Grant quickly, they have the players to stay up but need a strong manager to turn it around. One or possibly two of Wolves, Birmingham, Fulham, Blackburn, Blackpool and West Brom will be going down as well.

Roaster

Wigan
West Ham
Fulham

eagle eye

Wigan seem certainties to me if they don't fire Martinez. I think Wolves will survive. At least one of the promoted teams will fall back down. As much as I hate to even think about it right now I think Blackburn will be in the mix unless this Steve Kean is something special.

IvySlayer

If West Ham sack Avram and get Allardyce in they may have a chance. Wigan, Wolves and West Ham to go down.

ctrl-alt-delete

It is hard for me to see past the 3 W's of Wigan, West Ham and Wolves.

The Christmas and New Year period is going to go a long way to giving a better indication, there are some relegation 6 pointers coming up.

West Ham are in danger of being cut away over the Christmas period, they have already played a game more than those around them due to the snow.

In their next 3 fixtures they play Fulham and Wolves, with Everton in between. The games against Fulham and Wolves are obviously massive, and I expect Grant to be gone early in the new year. Rumours of Allardyce being lined up to save them, but I think they might be too far adrift by then.

Wigan play Wolves on boxing day, which is another massive game, then they have two tough games against Arsenal and Newcastle. I think they have a team capable of staying up, but I still feel they will find it hard to stay up. It is possible that they might lose some big players, Nzogbia and Rodellaga maybe in the January window. They will need to hope the Vultures circling will hold off in the hope of getting a bargain if they go down.

Wolves are best placed in my opinion out of the current bottom 3 to escape. They have two massive games over Christmas, playing the other 2 teams that currently sit in the bottom 3 with them.

All 3 will be thinking it is possible with back to back wins for any of them bringing them closer to the horde of clubs outside the zone.

Fulham's problem is failing to win games, especially away from home - they are one of four teams yet to record a win away from home. Generally it is being able to pick up some wins on the road that will save a club. It is no surprise to see the other 3 clubs, who are Wolves, West Ham and Birmingham all either in or hovering above the zone.

Aston Villa and Birmingham are both in trouble, both unexpectedly so too. There are rumours of unrest in the Villa camp and that is something they could do without, especially with Spurs, Man City and Chelsea being their next 3 fixtures - they could easily be in a right mess come the new year. Birmingham have 3 tricky games over this period too - with a visit to Everton before hosting Man Utd and Arsenal. The 3 W's will be looking at those schedules and realising how important the Christmas New Year period is going to be.

Looking a bit further up the table, Blackburn with the recent changes could also be dragged into it. A great manager can get an extra 10% out of his players, which is what Allardyce was achieving with them. A bad managers effect can be up to 30% on the negative side - with kean having no managerial experience this is a real danger.

To sum up, the 3 W's are the likely lads at the moment, but the relegation fight is entering a crucial period, with a few things going in the 3 W's favour - for these reasons they can drag a few other clubs into the mix when we come out the other side of this massive period. When you add the fact there is a transfer window coming up it makes it all that little bit more exciting, there could be some panic buying coming up this January. The January sales could be the most exciting for years!

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Let it be Stoke!! Wigan and West Ham to join them.

everdead.ie

I thhink it could be wigan west ham and Fulham fukham are just can't win at the moment

MGMTea

I think it'll be :
Wolves
Wigan
West Ham

as much as I'd love for stoke to get relegated I don't think it will happen :pac: but if Wolves can get put a run together I think Fulham may have a scrap on.

Vurnon San Benito

Funny how they all begin with 'W' indeed.
I personally think West Ham and Wolves can survive and would like Wolves to do so.

As for Wigan, if they keep Martinez, they are destined for the nPower Championship.
His signings have been terrible - Boselli, Moses - although he has serious potential.

As long as Newcastle United aren't down there, then I'm happy - but there's ever chance they will be come May.
Here's hoping!

Preferable Relegated 3:
West Ham
Stoke City
Wigan Athletic

everdead.ie

It would be interesting if west ham go down and get the Olympic stadium as well to see how many seats they can fill would be disastrous if they had a half empty sradium they could turn into middlesborough and the riverside.

Het-Field

everdead.ie wrote: »

It would be interesting if west ham go down and get the Olympic stadium as well to see how many seats they can fill would be disastrous if they had a half empty sradium they could turn into middlesborough and the riverside.

The logic behind the move to the Olympic Stadium is the cull in prices. If most of the lowest tickets were £15 it would attract plenty of punters.

If the Hammers go down, and that is a big if, I doubt the Olympic Stadium move will be on. There will be more pressing matters to deal with at that point.

markesmith

Hard to see past the three 'W's indeed.

Would like to see Wolves stay up, they've got some good players. Wigan just don't seem to have the bottle for the EPL.

Hope West Ham crash and burn! :cool:

Cake Man

I wouldn't totally rule out ourselves (Newcastle) just yet. It's fairly tight around the mid to bottom half of the table where 2 or 3 wins could spring you up a good few places. Still a long way to go but it looks as though West Ham are in big trouble, Wigan and Wolves struggling and Villa, Birmingham and Fulham also on the slide.
Still a lot of football to be played though.

BigBenRoeth

Wigan
Fulham
Wolves/West Ham

Can also see things going pear shaped for Blackburn and them ending up in trouble

DazMarz

Very, very hard for me to look past the three "W's", either. Wolves are a particularly painful one; they play decent enough, but simply do not hold leads at all, or where they are getting a draw, leak a winner to the opposition in the dying minutes.

Wigan are another team that I for some reason have a bit of a soft spot for, but that they survived last season was a miracle and I think this season it will just be a bridge too far.

West Ham... fooked. S.A. or no S.A., the Hammers are not going to survive this. Grant has been an unmitigated disaster at Upton Park and I don't think that a managerial change will save them.

....

All that said, some other teams are also warned to keep an eye over their shoulders too.

Fulham, Birmingham, Stoke, Blackburn... while less likely to drop down, nothing should be taken for granted. Fulham, Stoke and B'burn have all weathered Premier League storms well in the past, and Birmingham put in a good shift last season (but are now without their talismanic loan signing of Joe Hart). I think they should be good enough to stay up, but would really want to stop leaking silly points and be a bit more ruthless.

And it is also ironic to think, that had this thread been made up back in August/September/October... some hysterics may have lobbed Liverpool's name into the hat!!!!:D

cson

None of the promoted teams to go down eh?

Who'd have thunk it!

DazMarz

cson wrote: »

None of the promoted teams to go down eh?

Who'd have thunk it!

All of them are playing well and flying pretty high at the moment, in fairness. Unless one of them goes and does a Burnley on it, it could easily be the first time in history that the 3 promoted sides stay up.

Blackpool are a big shock that they're doing so well. Fair play to diMatteo at West Brom; doing well and holding their own very nicely. And I was admiring Newcastle for a long time and hoping they'd do well, but sacking Hughton has left me with feelings of hoping they'd go back down!!! Can't see that happening tho.

Fr Tod Umptious

Sorry everyone but Blackpool are going down.

Remember Hull in '08, only won once after Christmas, the very same could easily happen to Blackpool

BigBenRoeth

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Sorry everyone but Blackpool are going down.

Remember Hull in '08, only won once after Christmas, the very same could easily happen to Blackpool

And if you're auntie had balls she'd be your uncle.

Problem?

Prufrock

Villa could come close to the brink if they don t get their act togeter.

pavb2

Still early days but what price Newcastle Blackburn going into freefall

DH2K9

Blackburn, Wigan, Wolves

M5

Think it will be 2/3 W's and one other. Could be anyone as far up as 8th, tight stuff

flahavaj

West Ham and Wigan for sure, then i think someone is gonna sucked down into it. I fear it could be Blackpool, injuries/fixture pileups would hurt their squad more than anyone else I think.

cson

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Sorry everyone but Blackpool are going down.

Remember Hull in '08, only won once after Christmas, the very same could easily happen to Blackpool

Stayed up on the last day of the season that year.

everdead.ie

DazMarz wrote: »

All of them are playing well and flying pretty high at the moment, in fairness. Unless one of them goes and does a Burnley on it, it could easily be the first time in history that the 3 promoted sides stay up.

Blackpool are a big shock that they're doing so well. Fair play to diMatteo at West Brom; doing well and holding their own very nicely. And I was admiring Newcastle for a long time and hoping they'd do well, but sacking Hughton has left me with feelings of hoping they'd go back down!!! Can't see that happening tho.

All three stayed up before so it can be done for sure(01/02)

DH2K9

flahavaj wrote: »

West Ham and Wigan for sure, then i think someone is gonna sucked down into it. I fear it could be Blackpool, injuries/fixture pileups would hurt their squad more than anyone else I think.

West Ham have shown glimpses of what they can do especially when they beat United 4-0 and only lost to a last minute goal at the Emirates.

the untitled user

I think Wigan are the most likely of the current bottom 3 to stay up. N'Zogbia, Rodallega, Moses and McCarthy to come back, they have some very good football in them. So do West Ham I suppose, but with their backroom instability I'm not confident any new manager will have it easy to turn things around.

Wolves I think will end up bottom.

I'm also worried for Birmingham. Both them and Fulham have very good defensive records, but they can't score for ****. Fulham have a bit talent up front and Zamora to return so I think they will be ok, but Brum are relying almost entirely on set pieces at the moment, McLeish simply doesn't know how to get them scoring goals when they need it.

Fr Tod Umptious

sugarman wrote: »

I do, & they managed to stay up!

By the skin of there teeth.
Blackpool are 6pts off the drop at the moment.
As injuries, postoponed games and suspensions build up in the coming months it will be difficult for a team with limited resources like Blackpool to keep their earlier pace up.

That_Guy

Extremely tight at the moment. West Ham and Wigan are in serious trouble. As for the other one... Well, it could really be anybody. Wolves perhaps. Would probably stick a few quid on Blackburn.

everdead.ie

Wrong thread sorry

its_phil

wigan
blackburn
west ham

Can't see fulham going down,i reckon they will come good in the end.

Wolves will be scrapping for most of the year and they have been playing some decent footie of late with undeserving results.Doyle is vital to them staying up and he must hit the net more regularly.

grenache

I'm banking on Palace, Barnsley and ScuNthorpe to take the drop.