Currently, we have one of the tightest races from relegation in a long time. There are no less than seven, possibly even as high as nine, teams that currently might not escape the drop. With ten games to go, we can start to look at who are the most likely candidates for relegation this season. The current bottom five contains:
Leicester City with 18 points
Burnley FC with 22 points
QPR with 22 points
Aston Villa with 25 points
Sunderland with 26 points
Just above these teams is Hull City with 27 points and Everton with 28. As it stands, I don’t think either of these teams will face relegation, but that could all change in a week or two.
The stats most worth looking at right now for predicting relegation candidates are average opponent points (home and away), total number of title and top four opponents, and total number of 6 pointers. The average opponent points means the amount of league points in total that each opponent has. This is then separated into home and away averages. The term 6 pointer generally refers to a game against an opponent directly in competition with you. In this case, it’s other relegation teams. With that in mind, here’s those stats for our bottom 5.
The Stats
Leicester – 18 points
Average Points: 36.4 (Home: 39.3, Away: 31.25)
Top Teams: 3 (Spurs, Chelsea, Southampton)
6 Pointers: 5 (Hull, West Brom, Burnley, Sunderland, QPR)
Burnley- 22 points
Average Points: 38.7 (Home: 43.8, Away: 33.6)
Top Teams: 4 (Man City, Southampton, Spurs, Arsenal)
6 Pointers: 4 (Everton, Leicester, Hull, Aston Villa)
QPR- 22 points
Average Points: 38.5 (Home: 42.4, Away: 35.3)
Top Teams: 4 (Spurs, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City)
6 Pointers: 4 (Everton, West Brom, Aston Villa, Leicester)
Aston Villa- 25 points
Average Points: 38.4 (Home: 30.2, Away: 46.6)
Top Teams: 4 (Man United, Spurs, Man City, Southampton)
6 Pointers: 4 (Sunderland, QPR, Everton, Burnley)
Sunderland- 26 points
Average Points: 38.3 (Home: 31.4, Away: 45.2)
Top Teams: 3 (Arsenal, Southampton, Chelsea)
6 Pointers: 3 (Aston Villa, Everton, Leicester)
See Who Will be Relegated on Page 2
