FOR SURVIVAL

IT is hard to remember a year where so many clubs have been involved in a relegation scrap.

From Everton in ninth place downwards, surely no one can count themselves completely safe, if even Sam Allardyce admits there are still some nerves around Goodison Park.

West Brom are seven points adrift at the bottom, but, from 19th up to ninth, only eight points separate the bottom clutch of clubs amid the fight to stay in the Premier League.

It promises to go right to the wire.

But one unusual aspect is the fate of the three promoted clubs: Brighton, Newcastle and Huddersfield.

Newcastle are 15th in the table and, though far from safe, they are not in the drop zone, while Brighton are 12th and Huddersfield are 14th.

Incredibly, only twice in the Premier League have all three promoted clubs stayed up, so the omens do not look good.

The one and only time when all three promoted clubs went down was in the 1997/98 season and it is hard to see that piece of history repeating itself this year, with West Brom rooted to the bottom.

But the promoted clubs deserve so much credit for different reasons. Brighton are pushing ever closer to safety, their worries about a lack of goals being balanced out by Chris Hughton (below) building a strong, hard-to-beat side.

Lewis Dunk (top, with Stoke’s Badou Ndiaye) has been terrific in defence and Glenn Murray has suddenly found his scoring boots.

Huddersfield looked up against it and yet manager David Wagner has built a dressing room which is strong, unified and feeds from their incredible support.

When they won at West Brom last Saturday, it felt like a six-pointer and that sort of win takes mental strength. His achievements, so far, have been outstanding.

Newcastle is a soap opera and you wonder if Rafa Benitez will stay beyond this summer, with the club’s ownership still in doubt. But the Toon have a top-class manager with the experience to keep them up.

All this points towards the gap in quality closing between the top flight and the Championship.

And that must be a good thing because everyone wants to be in the Premier League and it no longer looks like the impossible dream.

It will certainly give a lot of hope to the likes of Wolves and Cardiff.