Wolverhampton Wanderers and Burnley will play in the Championship next season after a run of results that pushed both clubs through the trapdoor in the space of three days. West Ham United’s 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace on Monday confirmed Wolves’ relegation, and Burnley joined them after a 1-0 defeat to Manchester City.
For the teams still trying to stay up, every point matters and the margin is shrinking fast. Leeds United pulled off a stoppage-time escape at Bournemouth on Wednesday evening when Sean Longstaff equalised in a 2-2 draw, lifting them to 40 points. They are now nine points clear of the relegation zone, but they have played one game more than their rivals and sit two points behind Newcastle United and three behind Crystal Palace.
West Ham’s draw left them two points above the relegation zone, so the final place remains alive even with two of the three drop spots already sealed. Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-2 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion and Nottingham Forest’s 4-1 win over Burnley on Sunday kept the table moving, while Forest stretched their unbeaten Premier League run to five games. Morgan Gibbs-White has been central to that surge, scoring a hat-trick against Wolves and six goals in his last six Premier League games. Among English top-flight players this season, only Danny Welbeck has scored more non-penalty goals, with 12 to Gibbs-White’s 11 finishes overall.
The tension now is not at the bottom of the table but around the clubs trying to break away from it. Forest have reached the semi-finals of the Europa League against Aston Villa, yet their league schedule still brings a Friday trip to Sunderland and further fixtures against Chelsea, Aston Villa and Newcastle. For Leeds, the point at Bournemouth buys a little breathing room without giving them much safety. For West Ham, the next slip could still drag them back into danger.