With David Moyes’ Sunderland already down some weeks ago, and Middlesbrough confirming their demotion on Monday night, only one ‘not so coveted’ spot remains in the bottom three of England’s top-flight.
For the clubs within reach of the trap door only two fixtures in the calendar remain, so the margin for error has become increasingly slim?, meaning it’s all hands to the pump if the select few outfits which have been left dangling by a thread will beat the drop from the world’s most illustrious league competition.
The final relegation spot is possibly the more demanding position in the table, as it usually means that despite not finishing rock bottom, the efforts deployed in order to scramble up the table have simply not been desperate enough.
Hull City currently languish 18th, and Marco Silva’s Tigers still have to face Crystal Palace – who themselves are also in danger of being sucked into the bottom three – and title chasing Tottenham Hotspur on the final day of the season. Both ties could prove to be a more than deadly blow, if lady luck is absent.
Paul Clement’s Swansea City are the squad which are precariously perched outside the relegation zone in 17th, with 35 points on the board, only one more than Hull City. The Swans will face Sunderland on the 13th, and take on West Brom on the final day of the campaign at the Liberty Stadium. Two very winnable fixtures comparing to Hull’s, it seems.
Crystal Palace will host Hull City at Selhurst Park prior to their trip to Old Trafford on the closing day of the season. With Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United still vying for Champions League football, a home win or draw against Silva’s wounded outfit may surface as crucially pivotal, although the south Londoners may have already done just enough to ensure their safety in the top-flight, having racked up 38 points, albeit just two points shy of the ‘magic 40’ mark.
Whilst taking the current forms of the respective folds into account, and respecting the magnitude of the forthcoming fixtures in determining the definitive victim, the club which is most likely to be banished from the Premier League come the end of the season is the KCOM’s Hull City.
Their inability to topple Sunderland on Saturday may serve as a gravely cruel twist in their push for survival, and with two equally toilsome meetings ahead of them, they’ll remain pinned to 18th, and will likely ultimately join Sunderland and Middlesbrough as the doomed clubs come the end – or demise for this diminishing trio in particular – of the 2016-17 Premier League campaign.
However, this is the Premier League and as Leicester proved two seasons ago and then a season after, nothing is ever as probable as it seems. There may yet be twists and turns to come./
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