Premier League relegation worries, ranked

It’s been just over six weeks since we last ranked the top-five (or bottom-five) candidates to be relegated from the Premier League.

Six weeks is a long time and gives clubs a lot of ways to change, but in certain cases the time has only served to underline — time and again — the precarious positions of the Premier League’s strugglers.

Here’s the thing, though: Five is no longer enough. There are six teams within three points of the bottom three and three more close enough to see their reflections in the shallows.

[ MORE: 10 things we learned from the Premier League’s Week 26 ]

Bournemouth and Southampton have a joint-worst 21 points, Everton and Leeds each have just one more point, while West Ham holds 23 and Leicester 24.

Crystal Palace, Wolves, and Forest fans will know they are a mere six points from the despair of 18th place, too.

Back in January we ranked Bournemouth, Southampton, and Everton as our three “favorites” to spend the 2023-24 season in the second-tier Championship. Those sides sit… 20th, 19th, and 18th right now.

We’ll give you our list at the end of this space, but let’s give you, good reader, some criteria to consider so you don’t think we’re just pickin’ on Gary O’Neil or something (What a bluegrass album title that would be).

So here are your candidates and some reasons to either hold fear or hope the rest of the way

Patrick Vieira should be petitioning the Premier League for the advent of 60-minute games for the rest of the season. Palace has allowed nine goals in the first 30 minutes of games, and seven in the next 30. The final 30 minutes sees Palace doubling their concessions to 16. And it’s even worse over the final 15, where Palace has scored just twice and allowed seven. Throw in the