This is the most exciting survival battle for years

THE fight for survival has become the new title race. While we all know who will become champions, nobody can say for sure who will be relegated in May.

And that’s where the excitement will come in the closing months of the season. I’ve never known nine teams be under threat with three months to go but that will guarantee the focus remains on the bottom half of the Premier League. Be honest, it’s not exciting seeing who finishes fourth, is it?

With relegation, people’s jobs are in jeopardy. It is a huge, huge thing being relegated for a city, for a club. We were under the dreaded line in the bottom three a couple of weeks ago and it was an awful feeling. The danger of the situation became real then.

You have a responsibility to the staff and supporters. We shouldn’t be down there but I feel el we have turned d a corner. Paul l Lambert (right) ) has come in n and it was great t to start off with h a win against t Huddersfield and then follow w it up with a draw against t Watford. Yes, we should be beating Watford at home. But that is two clean sheets in consecutive games — the first time we have done that in the Premier League since last April — and we look very solid. Everyone has been very impressed with the new boss and the regime.

I’ve got real confidence we’ll get out of the situation but there can’t be any complacency. Look at Swansea. Where have they come from? You’d never have said they would beat Liverpool and Arsenal but they are off the bottom and have momentum.

Bournemouth are another side to watch. Nobody would have thought they could beat Chelsea 3-0 at Stamford Bridge but they were superb. Results like that make this the most dramatic survival fight in recent years — when previously could you say the bottom is more dramatic than the top?