With the news that the English Premier League is resuming on June 17th, most of the bottom half of the league is thrust back into a relegation dogfight. In this article, we look at some of the relegation candidates and why they should be relegated.
After a three-month hiatus, Premier League football returns to our TV’s on June 17th to cure the depression of many sports fans across the world. However, not everyone in the Premier League is as happy as its fans.
While Liverpool is delighted the season resumes so they can wrap up their first-ever Premier League title—albeit under difficult circumstances—according to Sky Sports, the majority of teams in the bottom half want relegation scrapped if the 2019/20 season has to be curtailed amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Listen, you can’t blame some of these teams for this view. One minute they were in the middle of an intense relegation battle and then they were told to stay at home due to a global pandemic and now asked to return three months later; not great conditions for elite athletes, but then again, what are great conditions for everyone else in the world.
Top-flight officials are recommending a simple points-per-game formula to figure out league placings if the season was to be canceled. In this case, Liverpool will be crowned champions while Bournemouth, Aston Villa, and Norwich City would be relegated.
With the league coming back, this idea seems unlikely and for good reason. There are nine games left in the league schedule and the unpredictable nature of the Premier League means any team and I mean any team can put together a five-match winning run at the end of the season.
It’s not like we haven’t seen it before; in 2014/15, Leicester City who was in 20th place for much of the season managed to pull off seven wins in their last nine games to stave off relegation, only to win the Premier League the very next season (you see what I mean about unpredictable?).
Which Teams Should be Relegated and EPL Odds to Be Relegated
But now, we get to the controversial/funny part of the piece; which clubs should be relegated and why?
- West Ham United (+175 EPL Odds to be Relegated)
This wasn’t even a hard choice. Despite West Ham sitting in 16th place, above the relegation zone on goal difference (by three goals) the fact they’ve consistently underachieved while spending copious amounts of money means at least for me, I have no desire to see them in the Premier League.
- Norwich City (-1430 EPL Odds to be Relegated)
Norwich might have been an obvious one for most on this list but not for me. I respect Norwich City. They play good football and despite it not leading to better results, they’ve stuck to their guns and stayed true to their philosophy of football.
However, they’ve been a bit of a punching bag in the league this season so I’m just thinking of the Norwich faithful who’ll see more success from their team in the Sky Bet Championship next season.
- Manchester City (Lol)
Yes, I’m a Liverpool fan and yes, I do hate Manchester City *with a passion. The fact that they sit 25 points behind Liverpool (with a game in hand) and have the audacity to call themselves champions makes them potential relegation candidates in my eyes.
Obviously, this is in jest, you’ll have to put me in a straitjacket if I actually believed City deserved to be relegated but it doesn’t take away from the fact that this quite easily rivals some of the worst title defenses in sports history, there, I said it.
