Nine teams split by six points: inside Premier League’s tight relegation scrap

With only six points separating the bottom nine, Palace are closer to 20th-placed Bournemouth than 11th-placed Aston Villa. Ominously, Patrick Vieira’s young side have developed downward momentum and have gone nine league games without victory. They are seeking their first win of 2023 and continue to miss last season’s Chelsea loanee midfielder Conor Gallagher. Vieira, ever sensible and intelligent, reacted to the concession of seven goals in two games against Tottenham and Chelsea at the turn of the year by swapping a high press for cagey, deep-sitting counterattacking tactics and the defence has tightened accordingly. Yet too many potentially key individuals, the inconsistent forward Eberechi Eze among them, are struggling for form and the goals have dried up for the top tier’s lowest transfer market spenders.

Relegation fears led to the appointment of the former Spain and Real Madrid manager Julen Lopetegui in November after the dismal start presided over by Bruno Lage. Five wins since Christmas have transformed the Black Country landscape, with Lopetegui’s willingness to alternate between a back four and a back three mid-game proving the key to beating Tottenham last weekend. Nonetheless a goals-for record of 19 in 26 games highlights a big problem. Damningly, Friday marked a year since a Wolves centre-forward (Raúl Jiménez) scored a top-tier goal. Perhaps tellingly, Diego Costa has more red cards (one) than goals. Much hinges on whether Lopetegui can get the best out of his potentially game-changing winger Adama Traoré.

When, earlier this season, Forest looked doomed to an immediate return to the Championship, the board held their nerve and kept faith with their tactically astute manager, Steve Cooper. A club who,