MY ACCOUNT
– Back Wolves to be relegated
– Back Southampton to be relegated
– Back Everton to be relegated
While many of their players may have been distracted by World Cup glory over the past few weeks, all 20 Premier League managers will have remained fully focused on domestic matters.
And with just six points separating ninth-placed Fulham from 18th-placed Nottingham Forest, as many as 12 head coaches will feel there is still work to do to secure survival.
We take a look at the full dozen to see which clubs look set for safety and which really are in danger.
Too good to go down
Fulham, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Brentford are all within six points of relegation but all four should survive.
Fulham have five wins and four draws from 10 meetings with teams outside the top five, while Palace have five wins and a draw from eight games against bottom-half teams — both should be comfortable.
Aston Villa were in real trouble with Steven Gerrard at the helm but look a different team under Unai Emery. Victories over Manchester United and Brighton suggest a strong squad should finally live up to its potential.
Brentford, currently 10th, may have a tougher time as they are wildly inconsistent, but their solid record at home and against the lesser teams should be enough.
Forest and Foxes can survive summer blunders
Between them, Leicester and Nottingham Forest have propped up the Premier League for most of the season, but both seem to have turned a corner.
Survival will be tricky for relegation favourites Forest, but the club was correct to recognise their transfer errors rather than blame manager Steve Cooper — he had an impossible job integrating 22 new players, with many arriving after the season had kicked off.
The swathe of new arrivals added quality but caused chaos, with Cooper struggling to find a formula or first XI that could thrive.
However, just one defeat in their last five league outings suggests Cooper is working out the solution and Forest could survive.
Leicester have also benefitted from standing by their manager as they too were put on the back foot by poor recruitment rather than a managerial blunder.
A dreadful start was caused in large part by the late loss of centre-back Wesley Fofana and goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, but Brendan Rodgers has now stabilised things, with Leicester winning five of their last eight games.
They should be looking up rather than down in 2023.
Struggling survivors
West Ham, Leeds and Bournemouth are all in serious danger but should just about stay up.
West Ham have struggled to integrate new signings and deal with the dual demands of the Premier League and Europe, but the break will have helped players settle and if things get serious, David Moyes will focus on survival over the Europa Conference League.
Leeds’ defensive naivety could see them suffer some scary moments, but there is enough quality to see them gain enough high-scoring wins to scrape to safety.
Bournemouth’s odds of 4/6 with LiveScore Bet for the drop are understandable but they are unattractive at odds-on.
While the impact of Gary O’Neil is overstated — the Cherries were fortunate in several matches since he took over from Scott Parker — he has galvanised the squad. And in Neto, O’Neil has an excellent goalkeeper who can mask many of Bournemouth’s defensive failings.
The troubled trio
Wolves are 4/5 with LiveScore Bet for the drop and it is hard to argue with that.
New manager Julen Lopetegui has plenty of experience leading top teams in Spain and Portugal but faces an entirely new challenge at Molineux. A relegation scrap in his first job in England is a very different test to any he has taken on before and he inherits a team who have scored a league-worst eight goals in 15 games.
Wolves’ only wins this season have been 1-0 defeats of Southampton and Forest, and even though they are just four points from safety, that looks a mountain to climb.
Southampton sacked Ralph Hasenhuttl to bring in Nathan Jones, but that looks a leap of faith for Jones’ first job at the top level. He lacks experience and must guide the second-youngest squad in the Premier League to safety. Saints have been worryingly frail and are not the worst price at 7/4 with LiveScore Bet to be relegated.
Everton could also be in trouble as there has been no obvious improvement in them since Frank Lampard took charge last January.
When he was appointed, Everton were 16th with 19 points from 20 games. They finished 2021-22 16th with 39 points from 38 games and are now 17th with 14 points from 15 games.
It is hard to see why there is faith in Lampard turning things around when Everton have seen no discernible improvement under him and 6/4 with LiveScore Bet for the Toffees to go down looks value.
