Not many games remain of this campaign, and for 3 teams it’ll be their last for at least another season. There’s a few teams who I would consider candidates for the drop, some in a better position than others, but with football you never know what to expect.

Norwich City – The canaries are probably the most obvious candidates I’m going to predict to go down. After topping the championship with close to 100 points, I thought Norwich might have something to offer this season, but seemingly not. The sale of Buendia was always going to hinder Norwich’s capabilities، but the fact that they did not use that money wisely just alleviated the situation at the club. For example, the record signing of Christos Tzolis was a waste of money in my opinion, as he has only played a total of 11 games in the premier League so far, and not made even the slightest of impacts. Some positive signings however have been those of Brandon Williams (loan from Manchester United) and Mathias Normann, who in my opinion have been bright sparks in an all-round dim season for the canaries. It’s a shame to see them go straight back down after showing a lot of potential in the championship, but unfortunately the drop seems quite inevitable.

Burnley – Burnley took a massive blow in their survival hopes with their loss to Brentford last time out, keeping them second to last in the league table. The most important factors for Burnley’s survival hopes are those games in hand. They have 2-3 games advantage compared to the majority of their relegation rivals, 2 of them coming against fellow teams of the bottom 4 (Norwich and Everton). Without a doubt, those 2 games are crucial for Burnley. They could well and truly decide their season. Draws have seemingly been one of the main problems for Dyche’s men this season. They have succumbed to defeat the least compared to other candidates, but they also have that unwanted stat of the least wins. Had the clarets been able to turn some draws into wins earlier on in the season, they might not be in this conversation at all. Do I want Burnley to survive? Yes. Do I think Burnley will survive? Unfortunately not. I think even for Burnley who always make it out alive, this is too great a challenge. However, it’s not over yet and my opinion means nothing to how the games will actually play out. They have relatively easier games in the run in than other teams and I really do hope I’m wrong with my prediction.

Watford – Roy Hodgson came in to become Watford’s 3rd manager this season and has had a tough job so far and an even more of a difficult campaign lies ahead. Watford are currently 3rd from the bottom, meaning they are in that relegation zone that they desperately need a way out of. Similar to Burnley, watford have crucial fixtures to play, including Everton, Leeds, Brentford and Burnley. These 4 games essentially decide whether they can survive the drop. Also similar to Burnley, I don’t think they’ll stay up, but I’m hoping they grab a few wins to set up what could be a cracking season finale down at the bottom end of the spectrum.

Everton – Who would’ve thought a few years back after competing for spots in Europe, that in the following years Everton would find themselves in this list of relegation candidates. Probably not many. The team that’s played the most top flight games ever find themselves in a battle for the drop. The history of the club is why so many people, including myself, don’t want to see the toffees in the championship. In my opinion, I think they’ll have another season at least. Games in hand are crucial for the blue segment of Merseyside, and having the 3 point advantage as well as those games in hand leads me to believe the toffees are staying up.

Leeds United and Brentford – I’ve decided to put these 2 teams together because they’re in very similar situations in terms of what’s required to stay up. I think they have the biggest chances of the ‘relegation candidates’ to stay up because of their leads over the teams currently in the red zone. A main reason to the increased survival chances for the two teams in question, is results against other teams battling against the drop too. For example, a 2-0 Brentford win over Burnley has significantly improved Brentford’s chances and put Burnley in quite a tough position which I don’t think they’ll get out of.

In my opinion, the 3 teams currently in the relegation zone go down, but as a supporter of a club which was not mentioned in the list and as someone who loves a good relegation tussle, I hope something changes to give a twist to this tale. As it stands though, Norwich, Burnley and Watford are the teams I’ve predicted for the drop.

I do like hearing the opinions of others of what they think of the topic and any feedback on what I could improve on in the future would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

By Daniyal