bwin Sportsblog - Football - All over at the bottom

All the excitement about the annual relegation scrap in the Premier League and which clubs will lose their status has been decided early this year by the horrible situation at Portsmouth and Hull and Burnley both playing very poorly. When Iain Dowie and Brian Laws got the respective jobs at Hull and Burnley then I feared for both clubs. Brian Laws was struggling to keep Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship which is a full division lower and then he gets the task of trying to keep Burnley in the Premier League. Since their great start to the season then Burnley have fell like a stone and in even greater momentum than Hull did last season. West Ham have been fortunate this season in that three clubs have been very poor and it is this that has saved them. But that also applies to teams like Wolves and Wigan as well and even Bolton. In seasons past then 40pts has been the benchmark for safety but this season Hull are third bottom with two games to go and are only on 28pts. So a few clubs may need to improve their performance levels next season. But as Manchester City also turn themselves into title contenders then they will obviously be getting more points next season. So in effect that will be sucking points away from the other teams. This could mean that the need to get 40pts to stay in the Premier League isn't necessary. This will make it easier for some clubs but in a way, it will be harder to get points. With teams like Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Aston Villa, Tottenham and Everton all doing very well then this will have the effect of sucking a vast amount of points out of the league over the space of the season.