Source: Wikipedia
At the time of writing, the three bottom placed teams in the Premier League table- Swansea City, Sunderland, and Hull City- are favoured at 13/8 to all be relegated this season. With more than 15 games left to play, there is plenty of time for this landscape to change and for one or more of the doomed teams to pull themselves out of the mire. So aside from these struggling sides, who else could be in contention of slipping down into the Championship next season? By successfully predicting which teams will fall, good returns can be made on the Relegation Treble. Here we suggest three teams to keep an eye on.
Crystal Palace
Palace were rock bottom for points won per game in 2016 in the top four English divisions. This led to the sacking of Alan Pardew, but his replacement Sam Allardyce is also facing similar tribulations. After 21 games the Eagles had a mere 16 points, level with 18th-place Hull and above the relegation zone due to superior goal difference. Allardyce is a specialist at keeping teams up, and has never been in charge of a team that has been relegated. Could this record be about to change?
Bookies are offering 11/1 odds on Hull usurping the London club and Palace, Swansea, and Sunderland all going down. The Bet365 free bet is a deposit match up to £200, and could be used to produce great returns on this outcome.
Watford
Betting on Watford to go down is much more unlikely, as they are currently seven points above the drop zone. The Hornets are enduring a dreadful run of form, though, and have only mustered a solitary win in their last nine top-flight games. In their last five league outings Walter Mazzarri’s side have scored 2 goals, and they are desperately lacking a clinical goal scorer.
Odion Ighalo has managed 1 goal and 1 assist all season, but he put away 16 goals and 3 assists in the previous campaign. Similarly, Troy Deeney’s output has severely diminished. The captain has 4 goals to his name, 2 of which were from penalties. Last term he scored 13 goals and assisted 7. If Watford don’t sign a prolific striker this January, they could find themselves in big trouble.
Leicester City
Leicester have seemingly lost the fighting spirit that saw them miraculously avoid relegation in 2014-15, and then charge on to win the title last season. Add to that the loss of Riyad Mahrez, Islam Slimani, and Daniel Amartey during the Africa Cup of Nations, and the fact that the Foxes also have Champions League football to contend with, and the situation looks tenuous. Losses to Sunderland, Watford, and Bournemouth this season have shown just how much Claudio Ranieri’s side have changed. If they can’t recapture that champion’s spirit soon they could be overtaken by the other teams that are desperately fighting for survival.
Of course, these are merely teams to consider putting into that relegation treble. It is highly likely that at least one of the current bottom three will go down, but there is a chance that some of the teams that thought they were sitting pretty could sink down to the dreaded drop zone by the end of the campaign.
