Belgian striker Christian Benteke scored a stoppage-time penalty to give his team a vital 2-1 win over Midlands rivals West Brom on Tuesday night
The Premier League relegation battle could be an intriguing one this season, with as many as eight teams in the scrap to stay in the Premier League this season.
Aston Villa claimed a vital 2-1 victory over Midlands rivals West Brom last night to move out of the bottom three.
A stoppage-time penalty from Belgian striker Christian Benteke ended Villa’s losing run of seven games and gave Tim Sherwood his first win as Villans boss.
The win will have come as a massive relief to the beleaguered Villa fans.
Draw
Elsewhere Hull and Sunderland drew 1-1at the KC Stadium to stay just above the relegation zone. Tigers boss Steve Bruce and Gus Poyet clashed on the sidelines as tempered flared between the two benches.
The draw leaves Sunderland four points above the drop zone, while Hull are still nervously looking over their shoulders at the teams below five points clear of the drop zone.
Outsiders
Despite West Brom losing at Villa, Tony Pulis’ side will now be considered outsiders for the drop, as the Baggies are eight points clear of the drop zone. With the former-Stoke boss in charge they look highly unlikely to be dragged into the drop zone.
Crystal Palace are also eight points clear of the relegation zone, but under Alan Pardew have improved dramatically and look like they should have enough to escape the drop this season.
Everton are just six points clear of the drop zone, in what has been a surprisingly poor campaign for the Toffees. However, Roberto Martinez’s side could go nine points clear of the drop zone this evening if they can win at Stoke and Arsenal win at QPR, but that is a big if.
The Britannia Stadium is a difficult ground for opposition teams to win at, but the Merseysider’s will believe they have enough quality to get out of their current predicament, especially with games against some of the leagues strugglers still to come.
Promoted
The three teams who were promoted to the Premier League from the Championship last season are currently in the relegation spots, which is not a major surprise considering they were regarded as the favourites to go down at the start of the campaign.
QPR have not been in terrible form at home this season and have games in-hand on their rivals for the drop. The only problem for the Hoops is that their next two games are at home against Champions League chasing Arsenal on Wednesday night and then Tottenham on Saturday.
Chris Ramsey’s side are now three points away from safety after Villa’s win, but it will be a major challenge picking up points from the next two games.
Burnley are currently also three points away from safety and face a tough trip to Liverpool on Wednesday night. The Clarets form has been poor of late and they have not claimed a win in six Premier League games.
Liverpool on the other hand have gone 11 games unbeaten in the Premier League and head into this clash following a 2-1 win over reigning champions Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday. Not many willing be backing an away victory in that clash.
Leicester have been rather unfortunate at times this season. The Foxes are currently bottom of the league table and seven points away from safety. Nigel Pearson’s side face a trip to the Etihad Stadium to face Manchester City on Wednesday night.
City will be smarting from that weekend defeat by Liverpool and will be looking to produce a far improved display at the Etihad Stadium.
Odds
Villa are next favourites at odds of 13/8, while Hull are odds of 11/4 and Sunderland are odds of 3/1 to go down this season.
Clearly the bookmakers believe that the Premier League’s current bottom three are the most likely to be relegated this season and there is nothing in their current form that suggests anything different.
The likes of Hull, Villa and Sunderland will carry on looking over their shoulders, but it seems that pre-season predictions of the three promoted sides struggling this season will turn out to be spot on.
Who will be relegated from the Premier League this season?
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