The 7 most memorable relegation battles in Premier League history ft. Leeds, West Ham, West Brom… | OneFootball

After the past couple of seasons of the promoted clubs barely putting up a fight and sinking straight back down, we’ve almost forgotten what a good Premier League relegation scrap feels like.

Wolves and Burnley have had a miserable time of it, relegated with games to spare, but the final spot could give us an all-timer of a relegation battle.

It’s now between Tottenham and West Ham, with the Hammers favourites to drop. Leeds United are surely safe after getting to 43 points, while Nottingham Forest’s excellent form has surely saved them too.

Ahead of a nail-biting final run-in, we’ve ranked the seven best Premier League relegation battles in history.

7. 2021-22

Leeds vs Burnley

Not a vintage relegation battle with lots of clubs in the mix, but it had a finale to remember.

This was the era in which Everton looked to be circling the plughole over multiple seasons. This looked like the year they might finally go, but Rafael Benitez’s successor Frank Lampard eventually steered them to safety by masterminding wins from five of their last 12 games.

It came down to Leeds or Burnley come the final weekend.

Leeds had looked destined for the drop after some dismal tonkings – 7-0 at Man City, 6-0 against Liverpool and 4-0 against Spurs – in the final months of Marcelo Bielsa’s reign. They conceded a whopping 79 goals that season, had a -37 goal difference, weren’t especially convincing under Jesse Marsch and yet somehow stayed up.

Burnley had their destiny in their own hands after some strong results under Sean Dyche’s caretaker successor Mike Jackson, but their final-day home defeat to Newcastle United was capitalised on by Leeds. The Yorkshire side leapfrogged the Clarets at the final hurdle with a bonkers 2-1 victory away to nine-man Brentford, sealed in injury time by Jack Harrison.

Raphinha had almost single-handedly kept Leeds up. He waved goodbye by celebrating wildly in the away end. They’d inevitably be in trouble without him the following season.

6. 2011-12

QPR vs Bolton

The fixture computer did a wonderful job in 2011-12, pitting relegation-battling QPR up against title-chasing Manchester City. The result at the Etihad potentially had a huge bearing on both ends of the table that day.

The madcap ending and Sergio Aguero’s last-gasp winner won City the title after Manchester United got the job done in Sunderland, and it would’ve sent QPR down had Bolton not failed to win against Stoke.

Some of the more conspiratorially-minded amongst the Manchester United fanbase swear that QPR downed tools in injury time that fateful day, having been made aware that events in Stoke meant they were safe regardless.

Bolton were winning heading into the last 20 minutes, but Stoke fought back – thanks to boyhood QPR fan Peter Crouch winning a contentious penalty – to draw 2-2 and sent Bolton down. They’re now in League One and haven’t got close to returning to the promised land in the 14 years since.

5. 1990-00

Bradford vs Wimbledon

A relatively simple fare.

The 1999-00 season wasn’t a classic as reigning champions Manchester United waltzed to another title, although there was some interest in a Champions League qualification race between David O’Leary’s exciting young Leeds side, Liverpool and Chelsea.

At the bottom end, Sheffield Wednesday and particularly Watford put up a sorry fight and were down before the final weekend. That saw Wimbledon against Bradford for 18th place.

On the last day, minnows Bradford City upset the odds and denied Liverpool Champions League football with a hard-fought 1-0 victory at Valley Parade.

Wimbledon had taken just one point from their last 10 outings and paid the price, banished to the Football League, never to return (…yet).

“That’s something I will remember for the rest of my life,” responded Bradford’s match-winner David Wetherall.

“They have been writing us off all season and it gives us such satisfaction to prove them wrong.”

4. 2007-08

Birmingham vs Bolton vs Fulham vs Reading

A proper relegation ding-dong, this one.

Come the final table of the 2007-08 season, there were just two points separating the sides that finished 16th and 19th.

Derby were miles off it, relegated with a dismal 11 points, but there was very little between the four clubs that scrapped for survival.

Fulham looked utterly after a disastrous start under Lawrie Sanchez, while Roy Hodgson took his time to make an impact.

They were six points adrift with five games left to play, but wins in four of their last five – doubling their wins tally for the entire season – saw them climb out of the mire. That run included six-pointers against Reading and Birmingham, who ended up going down despite wins on the final day.

3. 2010-11

Wigan vs Wolves vs Blackpool vs Birmingham vs Blackburn

Going into the final weekend of the 2010-11 season, there was just one point separating five clubs.

A rubbish West Ham side had long been cut adrift, but five clubs were all swimming around the mythical 40-point mark – which proved to be on-the-money as Blackpool and Birmingham ended up relegated on 39, while Wolves stayed up on 40.

That doesn’t tell the half of the story, though. Ian Holloway’s Blackpool made a stonking start to the season and were widely hailed as a breath of fresh air, but their terrible form after Christmas told in the end. They led Manchester United 2-1, but couldn’t hold on.

The real fairytale story was Roberto Martinez’s Wigan, who went into the final weekend’s set of fixtures 19th in the table but ended up 16th, dragging themselves up three spots with a victory at Stoke – three points that came off the back of a 3-2 comeback victory over West Ham the weekend prior.

2. 2006-07

West Ham vs Wigan vs Sheffield United vs Fulham

The 2006-07 relegation battle was defined by one man: Carlos Tevez. Just ask Neil Warnock.

Nearly 20 years have passed and the former Sheffield United manager still hasn’t gotten over the Argentinian striker – who was signed in controversial circumstances – inspiring West Ham to safety at the expense of his team.

The Hammers were as far as 10 points(!) adrift at one point, but they ended up winning seven of their last nine, with Tevez invariably scoring crucial goals, including the winner away to Manchester United in the last game. He’s surely the best player we’ve ever seen involved in a relegation battle.

Sheffield United took the case to court but ultimately had to stomach joining Charlton and Watford in the Championship.

Fulham, too, were well in the mix until the penultimate weekend. A famous 1-0 victory over Liverpool (heavily rotated ahead of the Champions League final) was only their third league win since November, but frequent draws – 15 in total – saw them crawl over the finish line, one point above Blades and Wigan in the end.

1. 2004-05

West Brom vs Crystal Palace vs Norwich City vs Southampton

One of the great final days in Premier League history. Maybe only second to Aguerrrooooooo.

And the greatest of great escapes. Bryan Robson’s Baggies won just one of their first 23 matches of the 2004-05 campaign. Come January, they looked absolutely nailed-on for the drop.

They were bottom at Christmas and were bottom going into the final day’s fixtures. But crucially, they’d given themselves a faint glimmer of hope after rallying to find form from March onwards.

The original ‘Survival Sunday’ is the closest it’s been at the bottom of the top-flight table in a century, and the only time in the Premier League era that none of the relegation spots had been decided before the final weekend.

Four teams battling it out for just one survival spot. Vintage Barclays. Not only did West Brom beat Portsmouth 2-0, but the other results went their way – Palace, Norwich and Southampton all failed to win, meaning the Baggies leapfrogged them all to move up to 17th and stay up.

Cue pandemonium at the Hawthorns. We might never see the like again.