Are Newcastle too good to go down or do Hull deserve to be in the Premier League?

It is often said that certain teams are too good to go down or that certain clubs deserve to be in the Premier League. The fact is that the league tables do not lie at the end of the season. If a club is too good to go down they won’t go down. If a club deserves to be in the Premier League, that is exactly where they will be.

Fans of Leeds, Leicester, Nottingham Forest, Derby, Charlton, Southampton, Derby, Watford, Ipswich, Sheffield Wednesday, Coventry and many other clubs feel that their team should be a Premier League club. History might suggest that they should be but results on the pitch show that they shouldn’t be.

Tense

The reason I am writing about this is because of the incredibly important and tense game between Newcastle and Middlesbrough at the bottom of the Premier League on Tuesday night. On the whole, I would guess that most Newcastle fans think they should be in the Premier League and that their team is too good to go down. I am not so sure that Middlesbrough fans would feel the same way about their team.

That doesn’t make Middlesbrough supporters any less passionate or any less upset about getting relegation, but is simply a result of them not automatically thinking they are a Premier League club.

Crucial

Newcastle won that crucial game 3-1 and gave themselves a very real chance of staying up. They have gone above Hull on goal difference with just two games left to play. On the basis that Hull have won just one of their last twenty league games and have lost the last five, the chances are that they won’t pick up any more points and Newcastle will be safe.

Middlesbrough, on the other hand, need a minor miracle. There are still six teams who could go down. It is difficult to see West Brom or Middlesbrough picking up the minimum of four points they need from their last two games.

15 Portsmouth 36 -20 38
16 Sunderland 36 -17 36
17 Newcastle 36 -17 34

18 Hull 36 -24 34
19 Middlesbrough 36 -28 31
20 West Brom 36 -29 31

West Brom face a home game against Liverpool and a trip to Blackburn. Middlesbrough are at home to Aston Villa and away at West Ham. I really think that those two teams are doomed to at least one season of Championship football.

Point

Sunderland and Portsmouth play each other next week and a point each would probably be enough to keep them up. With Sunderland facing Chelsea in their last game they may well need to get something from the Portsmouth game. Portsmouth will have another chance to get what they need when they take on Wigan.

If we work on the theory that West Brom and Middlesbrough are going down and Sunderland and Portsmouth are staying up, that leaves the battle to avoid the drop being between Newcastle and Hull.

No right

Hull are in their first ever season in the top flight and after a great start that saw them pick up twenty-seven points from their first eighteen games they have gathered just seven points from the next eighteen. You could say that Hull have no right to be in the Premier League.

Newcastle have spent a majority of the past century in the top division and have the support and history that makes people think they are a Premier League club. However, on the field, the win over Middlesbrough was only their second win in the last twenty games. Not considerably better form than that shown by Hull.

Biggest

Hull go to Bolton this weekend in what is the biggest game in the club’s history. This is the game they must win. The visitors to the KC stadium on the last day of the season are Manchester United. OK, they may have won the league by then and want to rest players prior to the Champions League final, but surely whatever team they put out will be too strong for Phil Brown’s men.

Newcastle will be on a high after their win on Tuesday but they face two tough games. Next up at St James’ Park are Fulham. They are a tough team to beat and are fighting for European qualification. Their last game is a trip to Aston Villa which is not an easy game for any team.

So, which team is too good to go down? Which team deserves to be in the Premier League? The one who finishes fourth from bottom. Your guess is as good as mine as to who that will be.