The East/West Divide: Relegation Gets Messy in the EPL

Barclays Premier League Table

		P	GD	PTS
1	Arsenal	28	36	65
2	Manchester United	28	43	64
3	Chelsea	27	25	58
4	Everton	27	20	50
5	Aston Villa	28	15	48
6	Liverpool	26	24	47
7	Blackburn	28	3	45
8	Manchester City	28	3	45
9	Portsmouth	27	11	44
10	West Ham	27	4	40
11	Tottenham	27	4	32
12	Middlesbrough	28	-17	29
13	Newcastle	28	-23	28
14	Wigan	28	-16	27
15	Sunderland	28	-20	27
16	Birmingham	28	-10	26
17	Bolton	27	-12	25
18	Reading	28	-23	25
19	Fulham	28	-23	19
20	Derby	28	-44	10

This is the Barclays Premier League table as of today, March 2— and if you happen to be a fan of any team from 11th place downwards, you might be finding it hard to breathe.

The relegation scrap is starting to get scrappy: it's a case of West Ham are nearly safe on 40 points (two points minimum from games left to ensure safety, whereas East Coast Newcastle United are dropping alarmingly close to the relegation positions after a 0-1 loss to Blackburn yesterday. A scuffle involving Morten Gamst Pedersen showed just how much those three points meant in what will surely be turning point of Newcastle's season—again! In so much that they have to accept that they really are dangerously close to going down.

All it requires to really heat things up, is for Reading to win against high flyers Manchester City next week - taking them to 28 points seems the most likely of next week's results.

In the Championship, any one of 12 teams could still potentially be promoted via the play-offs, and here in the top division, any one of nine could be relegated. The gap between 17th (Bolton) and 11th (Tottenham Hotspurs) is only seven points, which in sets of matches could change radically. Spurs are not out of the woods yet: they are yet to play Chelsea and Liverpool, though arguably they should in the remaining fixtures gain enough points to stay up.

One last word: it is evident, really, that Derby have been relegated. Only a miracle such as three teams spontaneously combusting can save them now. I'm loathe to rule Fulham out entirely as the points difference to safety is six points at present, but they are running out of games, and excuses, for not being able to score on a regular basis.

On that note, it's funny how these things go down.