The race to avoid relegation from the Premier League is wide open, with all of the teams currently in the bottom half having some reason to be concerned.
Norwich City, Watford and West Ham are currently the teams sat in the bottom-three but there is plenty of time for that to change.
Entering the business end of the season, there isn’t much room for slips and each match has something riding on it but there will still be some games that, on paper at least, will be considered to be easier than others.
But who has the better run in? We’ve taken a look at the fixtures for all the eight clubs chasing Champions League football, added up the positions of each of their opponents and divided it by the number of clubs in the Premier League to give us an average position of each side’s remaining matches.
Using that formula, it’s bad news for Bournemouth, with the average position of their opponents being 4.45, while Aston Villa and Brighton also have significant reason to be concerned.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Southampton, Burnley and Newcastle United are boosted by a more favourable run-in, while Watford, Norwich City, Crystal Palace and West Ham have a more balanced fixture list.
You can see the average position of the opponents for each of the 10 clubs in the bottom half of the table below.
Relegation comparison
Bournemouth - 4.45
Aston Villa - 5.5
Brighton - 5.55
Watford - 5.8
Norwich - 5.85
Palace - 6.05
West Ham - 6.65
Newcastle 7.35
Burnley - 7.55
Southampton - 8.0
