Thursday 30 April 2015 00:23, UK
Leicester’s four-game winning streak was halted by Chelsea, but are they still on course to survive in the Premier League?
Nigel Pearson’s side are one point and one place clear of the drop zone with four matches to play, but Sunderland below them have a game in hand.
Following their battling 3-1 defeat to Chelsea, Sky Sports pundits Jamie Redknapp, Glenn Hoddle and Alan Smith looked at the fixtures for the bottom seven sides in the Premier League to debate which side has the toughest set of fixtures….
Newcastle (14th, 35 points)
Remaining fixtures: Leicester (a), West Brom (h), QPR (a), West Ham (h)
JAMIE REDKNAPP: They are on 35 points. Is that going to be enough? Their last home game of the season is West Ham at home and that, I think, is obviously going to be a good game for them? What is it going to take?
Hull (15th, 34 points)
Remaining fixtures: Arsenal (h), Burnley (h), Tottenham (a), Man Utd (h)
GLENN HODDLE: They’ve got tough teams. The Burnley one is the one that stands out for you. They have got to win that if they want to survive.
Aston Villa (16th, 32 points)
Remaining fixtures: Everton (h), West Ham (h), Southampton (a), Burnley (h)
JAMIE REDKNAPP: They are in good form but they are going to be playing against an Everton side that are equally in good form. The teams you want to be playing at the moment are West Ham and Newcastle. If you’ve got one of them at home then you’ve got a chance.
Leicester (17th, 31 points)
Remaining fixtures: Newcastle (h), Southampton (h), Sunderland (a), QPR (h)
GLENN HODDLE: The advantage Leicester have got is those three home games and the mood they are in. Losing against Chelsea isn’t a disgrace and the way they played certainly isn’t. For 60 minutes they were excellent.
Sunderland (18th, 30 points)
Remaining fixtures: Southampton (h), Everton (a), Leicester (h), Arsenal (a), Chelsea (a)
ALAN SMITH: Sunderland will hope to be safe before the last two games, but having said that they will probably be playing the champions on the last day and who knows what that is going to be like? They might have been partying for two weeks…
QPR (19th, 27 points)
Remaining fixtures: Liverpool (a), Man City (a), Newcastle (h), Leicester (a)
GLENN HODDLE: The Leicester QPR last game of the season could be an incredible game. If it is going to go down to the wire then that is a fixture for either team that is going to be do-or-die.
Burnley (20th, 26 points)
Remaining fixtures: West Ham (a), Hull (a), Stoke (h), Aston Villa (a)
JAMIE REDKNAPP: For Burnley and QPR, the key to it is can you manufacture back-to-back wins? All of a sudden everything changes, the confidence, the momentum. I have been in a relegation fight before and it is awful People talk about the pressure at the top but it’s a lot worse at the bottom, believe me.
