Premier League: 5 Biggest Talking Points From Last Weekend's Games

5. Relegation Issues

5 Relegation The gap between 17th and 18th is now a mere 3 points with a game in hand for 18th place Wigan. The North West outfit who have inherited Southampton€™s old knack for picking up their game in the final months of a season and avoiding the drop are now starting to collect up vital points. Their victory over Newcastle was not without big talking points but for now Wigan have experience in getting out of seemingly impossible situations and no one would dare bet against them doing the same trick this year. Sunderland however are looking over their shoulder in some fear having been unable to beat 10 man Norwich at home they now are firmly trapped in a battle for their Premier League lives. Some people, me included, thought Sunderland were easy top ten contenders but underperforming and a shocking home record has the Black Cats sliding away leaving Martin O€™Neill looking even more worried and pensive than usual, which is some achievement. QPR meanwhile suffered a huge setback losing to fellow relegation threatened Aston Villa in a massive 6 pointer. Aston Villa have really suffered this season Paul Lambert has had one of the weakest paper thin squads to pick from and a mix of inexperience and key mistakes in games has placed them in this predicament. Credit must go to them however for the big victories back to back over the bottom two clubs, victories that should play a big part in keeping them safe this year. QPR however are spiralling, they are now 6 points off safety and next two games see them play Norwich and Wigan so calling those games must win is redundant as they are vital to any chance of safety. The bigger problem for QPR is their debts that came out weeks ago showing the club is 89 million down so relegation is the worst possible option and will reduce to club to a Leeds or even a Portsmouth of bad financial management. It must be a scary proposition for their fans who will keep the faith with Harry Rednapp right to the maybe bitter end. The same cannot be said of Reading who sacked their manger after a run of bad results and now seem doomed to their fate of dropping back down to the Championship. Reading did overachieve last season coming from nowhere to take the Championship title to the shock probably of even their fans. Hitting a purple patch taking a squad that is mid table Championship quality into the Premier League was much like Derby a few seasons ago earlier than their long term plan predicted. Brian Mc Dermott had the right ideas and attitude; his team played hard in every game and pulled off some great late come backs against the likes of West Brom and Chelsea. He sadly paid the price for his team€™s results and yet another trigger happy chairmen unwilling to stick with a manger who has a long term plan choosing short term results. This isn€™t a new thing and of course it€™s not always the chairman€™s fault but the timing of the sacking borders on pointless and will make any late escape for Reading a near impossibility.
Contributor
Contributor

Ian Newby is a average nerd living in the north of England, if given the chance he would spend all his life sat watching every single football match he possibly could before catching up on nerd happy TV shows then playing videos games all night, thankfully he doesn’t do that.