Recent years have seen a succession of newly promoted Championship sides booted straight back down to the second tier after one unfortunate season. This 2025/6 campaign looks to be very different with both Sunderland and Leeds United likley to survive and thrive for at least another year.
The woeful underperformance of Southampton, Leicester City and Ipswich Town last year partially hid the very poor performances of 17th placed Spurs who finished with 38 points but were ‘safe’ long before the season end thanks to Leicester’s lowly 25 point total. 43 points last year – West Ham’s final total – yielded a 14th placed finish.
This year – Spurs or West Ham will be out of luck.That mythical forty point survival target may well not be enough, as Conor O’Neill writes in the NYTimes:
How the Premier League’s 40-point mark became important again:
“With four games remaining, Tottenham Hotspur sit 18th with 34 points, two fewer than West Ham directly above them. Both won at the weekend, Spurs beating Wolves 1-0 away, while Everton were defeated 2-1 at the London Stadium thanks to a stoppage-time winner from Callum Wilson. With momentum behind them, these two could smash this 40-point dotted-line ceiling over the coming month.“
Meaning that the fight could indeed suck down another Premier League side matching West Ham’s record tally of 42 points when the Hammers’ ‘too good to be relegated’ team suffered disaster in 2002/3 despite a record points haul in the last ten games.
“Neither West Ham nor Spurs can afford to complain or curse their luck, though. The 40-point safety mark is often referred to as “magic”, but there is nothing mystical about the cold, brutal reality that they both face.
This total has always been an illusory, arbitrary concept, one that may prove unreliable yet again as this captivating relegation battle comes to a close.”
‘Captivating’ for a neutral it might be: Not for Hammers fans who will look at the club’s current total of 36 points and fear that even two more wins might to be enough to save them. All depends upon at least equalling their relegation rivals’ points tally in the last four games as the season’s nail biting climax approaches.
A win against Brentford and Villa beating Spurs at Villa Park would rip the guts out of Spurs, they won’t bounce back. Instead they’ll go back to their standard 2026 form and they’ll get no more than a couple of points in their remaining games.
Straight from The Athletic!
Er, which bit of “as Conor O’Neill writes in the NYTimes:”did you not understand?
We!re staying up.
Win at the weekend, N17 lose.
Effectively job done thereafter.
This next game is massive!
Bigger than last weekend vs Toffees.
Can we begin to talk up the significance as it feels as if there isn!t a lot being written about Bees winless run compared to our good form.
Shine the spotlight on their misgivings MT and talk ours up and into exsistence.
COYI
I for one am absolutely c*apping myself. A win at Brentford would definitely calm the nerves. We have a full squad and momentum which cannot be said for the Spuds.
Trying hard to keep the faith ⚒️ COYI