Premier League relegation latest: Who's going down in tense battle between Spurs and West Ham?
Spurs missed their chance to punish West Ham as we're set for a close finish...
It’s all to play for in the Premier League relegation battle with just two games left for Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United.
With West Ham losing 1-0 to Arsenal at the weekend, they will now surely be the favourites to go down, but it’s also fair to say that Spurs failed to capitalise on that result as they drew 1-1 at home to Leeds the following day.
As things stand, both teams have played 36 games, with Tottenham on 38 points and West Ham on 36, so we’re still in for a potentially tense finish in the battle for survival.
Several football betting sites now seem to have more or less decided that West Ham are gone, with Nuno Espirito Santo’s side odds-on for the drop to the Championship, though that could present an opportunity if you’re feeling brave, with Spurs surely having the tougher remaining games.
Tottenham and West Ham final fixtures
Here’s a look at the remaining fixtures that will decide who stays up and who goes down…
17th May - Newcastle vs West Ham
19th May - Chelsea vs Tottenham
24th May - West Ham vs Leeds, Tottenham vs Everton
Newcastle away is a tough next test for West Ham, but Tottenham have an awful record away to Chelsea, so it’s perfectly easy to imagine those two both ending in defeat and the relegation battle going to the final day of the season.
At that point, it could be total chaos, but it seems unwise to write West Ham off when they’ll be taking on a Leeds side who no longer have anything to play for, whereas Spurs will be up against an Everton team who still have some hope of qualifying for Europe.
The right combination of results could also see this go down to goal difference, but if that happens then it would take something extraordinary to keep the Hammers up as their GD is currently -20, whereas Tottenham’s is -9.
The only way around that would be something like this quite specific scenario - West Ham lose just 1-0 to Newcastle, then thrash Leeds 6-0, taking them to 39 points and a GD of -15. Meanwhile, Tottenham lose 7-0 to Chelsea and draw with Everton to finish on 39 points and a GD of -16.
Yes, football is crazy and unpredictable, but this would be on a whole other level, so West Ham just need to focus on getting results on the board, however close and scrappy, and hope that Chelsea can improve a bit on their recent poor form and beat Spurs at home like they usually do.
Who do you think is going down? Let us know in the comments!