16 January 2019, by: Leonard Solms

BETTING OPPORTUNITY IN PREMIER LEAGUE RELEGATION DOGFIGHT

With just four points separating 14th from 18th, the Premier League relegation scrap is entering a crucial stage. Huddersfield Town look destined for the drop, while Fulham have left themselves a mountain to climb. Newcastle United currently occupy the remaining bottom three spot, but several clubs are bound to be watching over their shoulders.

Crystal Palace and Burnley have bought themselves some breathing space with decent results of late. However, they are by no means safe yet. Southampton have also been in good form, but Ralph Hasenhüttl’s men have no margin for error.

Despite lying only one point above the drop zone, Saints are rated at 8.25 to go down at the time of writing. This means that for anybody brave enough to bet on their fortunes turning for the worse again, there might just be an opportunity to win big.

For those who are more convinced that Southampton have turned a corner under Hasenhüttl, perhaps it might be worth betting on Newcastle, who at the time of writing are rated at 2.35. The Magpies have an experienced boss at the helm in Rafael Benítez, but if he cannot convince owner Mike Ashley to invest in new players, he will have a difficult task on his hands.

“Without Rafa, they relegated with that squad. With him, they stay up.”

“Mike Ashley has to take credit for appointing him.”

Tim Sherwood gives his take on Newcastle and the relegation scrap they find themselves in…

— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball)

Cardiff City sit 17th, behind Southampton on goal difference. They have been struggling to find the back of the net, scoring just once in their last five matches in all competitions. Neil Warnock’s charges are in grave danger of the drop and the controversial manager’s recent rant in favour of Brexit is unlikely to have helped team unity. However, at 0.65, betting on the Bluebirds to go down will not produce a particularly high return.

“To hell with the rest of the world.” So Neil Warnock’s caused a bit of a stir… The Cardiff manager launched this minute-long rant about Brexit after his 0-0 draw with Huddersfield this morning! — Optus Sport (@OptusSport)

The spectacularly brave might want to bet on 14th-placed Palace, currently rated at 18.25. Despite being only one point behind them, Burnley are rated at 1.25.

The relegation fight tends to be an unpredictable affair, and one can never truly rule out a great escape from Huddersfield or Fulham, or a spectacular dip in form for a club higher up the table than Palace. However, this writer’s advice is to take a pragmatic approach and put your money either on Newcastle United or Southampton.

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