5 Premier League teams who are involved in a battle for relegation

With just nine games to go in the current Premier League season, it looks like Manchester City have all but wrapped up their first title victory since 2013/14. While the additional Champions League places are still up for grabs, perhaps more intriguing is the battle at the bottom of the table to stay in the Premier League.

Just ten points separate 13th placed Swansea City from bottom-placed West Bromwich Albion, meaning that each and every club in between is still in deep trouble of going down into the Championship – a notoriously difficult league to escape.

With eight sides involved, here are five teams who will almost certainly be in a relegation scrap until the end of the season.

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#1 West Bromwich Albion

Alan Pardew has struggled to turn West Brom's fortunes around

It almost seems unfair to claim that West Brom is in a relegation fight, as they’re glued to the foot of the table on 20 points and plenty of observers would probably claim they’re already doomed. With nine games to go, however, they could still reach a maximum of 47 points, which would probably keep them safe. If we’re frank though, it isn’t likely at all.

The Baggies simply aren’t doing anything right at the minute. After firing Tony Pulis in November noted ‘firefighter’ Alan Pardew hasn’t been able to stop the bleeding – they’ve now lost their last five outings and have only won once under Pardew, back in mid-January.

Historically Pardew has been a manager who takes a team on strong runs and then dips off, but for the Baggies, that strong run hasn’t happened.

The majority of their problems seem to be in front of goal, where they’re simply not scoring enough – 22 in the league all season, the lowest total of any club.

Forwards Jay Rodriguez, Hal Robson-Kanu, and Salomon Rondon have only scored 10 league goals between them, and while Daniel Sturridge was brought in from Liverpool in January in an attempt to solve this problem, he injured his hamstring in just his third appearance for the club and hasn’t been back since.

They also have a relatively tough run-in – not only do they face off with Champions League contenders Manchester United, Tottenham and Liverpool, but they also face fellow strugglers Crystal Palace, Swansea, and Newcastle – all of whom are in a better form than the Baggies.

#2 Crystal Palace

Roy Hodgson has had a lot of bad luck at Palace recently

Had things gone slightly differently for Crystal Palace recently, they could be sitting in 12th place right now rather than 18th.

They were minutes away from taking points from Tottenham and Manchester United, but late goals in both games condemned them to two defeats instead – meaning they now haven’t won a Premier League game since January 13th despite not performing badly in what were their two biggest games of 2018 thus far.

Not only have they suffered those two harsh defeats, but Roy Hodgson’s side is also suffering an injury crisis, losing top players like Wilfried Zaha, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Scott Dann for long periods.

Zaha, in particular, has been missed recently – he was at the forefront of the majority of Palace’s attacks, scoring 4 goals and assisting in 1 so far this season. Prior to his injury, Palace had lost one game in six, but since he’s been out of action, they’ve lost all three games.

Palace’s major problem though has been their poor start to the season. They lost seven consecutive games, to begin with as Frank de Boer was fired in favor of Hodgson, but by mid-November, the former England boss appeared to have turned things around.

All of the recent injuries have sucked them back into danger, though, and while youngsters like Aaron Wan-Bissaka have performed well the side still miss the experience that the likes of Mamadou Sakho bring to the table.

If Hodgson’s key players can return soon – Zaha’s return is apparently ahead of schedule – then things could turn around as they haven’t been playing badly, but it won’t be easy. They face off with Chelsea and Liverpool in the upcoming fixtures, but the key matches could be against fellow relegation contenders Stoke and West Brom in May.

#3 Southampton

Southampton's decision to keep faith with Mauricio Pellegrino may come back to haunt them

Where the majority of the other struggling sides in the Premier League have already dispensed of their manager this season, Southampton has kept faith in Mauricio Pellegrino, evidently feeling that the saying “better the devil you know” makes sense.

But the likelihood is that the Saints probably regret getting rid of Claude Puel in the close season given the Frenchman has taken Leicester to 8th position.

Southampton meanwhile is in deep trouble. They’ve only won five Premier League games all season, the least of any side outside of bottom-placed West Brom, and they’ve also only won one game since the turn of the year.

So what exactly has gone wrong? Like with fellow strugglers West Brom, the majority of their issues have come up front.

Southampton’s strike force has been massively misfiring, with Shane Long and Manolo Gabbiadini scoring just 5 league goals between them. Charlie Austin has scored 6 goals, but he injured his hamstring in December and hasn’t been back since.

Pellegrino’s insistence on playing a formation with just one striker probably hasn’t helped matters – nor has new signing Guido Carillo, as he’s only featured in 5 games thus far and has yet to find the back of the net.

Interestingly, they haven’t conceded many more goals since the loss of Virgil van Dijk in January, but they simply must start scoring more goals soon if they want to survive.

With games against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City still to come, they face a real dogfight if they want to keep their Premier League status going into 2018/19.

#4 Stoke City

Stoke's strikers, like Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, just aren't scoring enough goals

Stoke acted quickly when it became clear they were in trouble during the Christmas period – a run of six defeats in eight Premier League games saw them dispense of boss Mark Hughes and replace him with Paul Lambert.

Unfortunately, despite Lambert making some improvements to the fortunes of the Potters, they’re just not winning enough games and remain in trouble, currently sitting in 19th place.

Stoke was always famed for being a tough side to beat, but while Hughes was still in charge that began to change. They conceded 5 against Chelsea, 7 against Manchester City and 5 against Tottenham, for instance, and Hughes’s summer signing of Kevin Wimmer didn’t really help to strengthen the back line either.

An away record of one victory stands as proof of Stoke’s newer, flimsy nature.

Under Lambert, they haven’t conceded as many, but the goals at the other end have dried up. Stoke have only scored 5 goals in his tenure thus far, and his side has only collected 7 points.

Misfiring duo Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Mame Biram Diouf could be blamed here, but the reliance on Xherdan Shaqiri is also worrying. He’s been responsible for Stoke’s last three goals – securing two points along the way – and lord knows what would happen if they lost him.

They also have a tough run-in by anyone’s standards. Matches against Man City, Arsenal, Tottenham, and Liverpool are still to come while they also face off with fellow relegation battlers Swansea and Crystal Palace in their final two games.

The City and Arsenal games – two of their next three fixtures – could be key. Gain points from them and hope might be restored, but lose them and it’ll be tricky to see a way out for the Potters.

#5 West Ham United

The ownership of David Gold and David Sullivan is bringing bad vibes to West Ham

West Ham currently sits in 14th place, with four sides separating them from the relegation zone. But if any club feels like it’s in trouble now – outside of West Brom of course – then it’s the Hammers.

Their recent record has been poor – they’ve taken just 4 points in their last 5, less than any team not already in the bottom three – and the vibes surrounding the club, in general, appear to be worsening every week.

The Hammers fired a relatively popular boss, Slaven Bilic back in November following a sticky patch, and while new manager David Moyes has masterminded a handful of good results since – a victory over Chelsea in December and a recent victory over Watford for instance – their form has recently slipped again, as they were absolutely dire this past weekend in a 4-1 loss to Swansea.

It’s hard to single out any underperforming players – it feels more like the toxic atmosphere off the pitch has now seeped into the team’s performances on it.

Fan protests are currently being organized against the club owners David Sullivan and David Gold, who promised marquee signings in both of this season's transfer windows but didn’t deliver.

The January loan signing of Euro 2016 winner Joao Mario hasn’t paid off yet, while the same window also saw them sell Andre Ayew – who had scored 3 league goals – and replace him with Jordan Hugill, formerly of Preston.

There was also the nasty business of recruitment chief Tony Henry apparently stating that the club no longer wished to sign African players.

With games against Chelsea, Arsenal and both Manchester teams still to come, don’t expect it to get any easier for them either. Right now they’re out of the drop zone, but they’re certainly in a relegation fight – one it may not be that easy for them to survive.