Eleven games to save their season: What is at stake for the Premier League’s relegation-threatened clubs

Wolves are bottom, 17 points from safety, and have won once all season. Burnley are above them on 19 points, eight behind the safe zone, and have taken one win from their last ten games. Those two, for most of this campaign, looked like the story.

But with 11 games to go, the real drama is above them, crammed into six points between 15th and 18th, and it involves a club that has never been relegated from the Premier League in its entire history.

Tottenham Hotspur sit 16th, on 29 points, having not won a single league game in 2026. Igor Tudor has been in charge for two weeks.

West Ham, four points below them in 18th, have won three of their last five under Nuno Espirito Santo and are moving in the opposite direction. Nottingham Forest, two points behind Spurs in 17th, are on their fourth manager of the season.

Leeds, in 15th, are the only side in the group with any real breathing room, and even they are not comfortable. Ten points separate all four. One bad run and any of them could be in the bottom three before March is out.

The Wolves and Burnley situations are effectively settled. Wolves have 10 points from 28 games, which is historically bad. Scott Parker’s Burnley, who won the Championship with 100 points last season, have managed four wins all year. Both clubs will almost certainly be playing Championship football in August.

The question the next 11 weeks will answer is who goes down with them.

Spurs are the name nobody expected to be saying in this conversation. Last May, they lifted the Europa League. In August, they were talked about as genuine top-six contenders. But the wheels came off so badly under Thomas Frank that the club had to act in February, and Tudor’s appointment has done nothing yet to lift the mood.

They have a nine-game winless run in the league, injuries to regulars like Maddison, Kulusevski, Solanke and now Odobert, and a fixture list that shows Liverpool, Manchester City and a Chelsea side fighting for Europe all still to come.

The new manager bounce, if it comes, needs to come fast.

What makes Spurs particularly vulnerable is what they are trying to do at the same time. They are still in the Champions League, which means more games, more fatigue, and a squad that is already stretched having to cover two competitions while battling a crippling injury list. The clubs around them in the table have nothing else to think about. Every training session, every team meeting, every decision from now until May is about staying up. Tudor does not have that luxury.

West Ham’s turnaround is the most remarkable subplot in the bottom half. In January, they looked gone. They were four points from safety, without a win in seven, and Nuno had just been brought in to replace Graham Potter in what felt like a desperate move.

But the Portuguese has steadied the ship in a way few expected. Three wins in five games, including a 2-1 victory at Spurs that proved important for both clubs in opposite directions, and suddenly the Hammers are not in the bottom three anymore. They are still not safe.

Forest's situation is harder to read. Ange Postecoglou, who replaced Nuno at the City Ground in September, was himself sacked in December after Sean Dyche's appointment ended almost as quickly as it began.

Vitor Pereira is the latest man asked to solve a problem that four coaches have failed to crack this season. He had an encouraging enough performance in defeat to Liverpool in his first game, but Forest face Brighton and Manchester City in their next three matchweeks, and their remaining schedule is brutal.

One win from their last four games have given the club some hope but it may not be enough.

Leeds are the calmest of the four, which is saying something given where they were six weeks ago. Their win over Forest on February 10 was the kind of result that changed the feel of a season.

They are six points above the drop zone now, and while that is not safe, it is manageable. The Championship would be a serious blow for a club that spent over £60 million in the summer to make sure they stayed up.

So far, it looks like money well spent.

The fixtures this weekend tell you most of what you need to know about how this is going to feel for the next two months. Forest travel to Brighton. West Ham go to Liverpool. Spurs, who have not won all year, face red-hot Fulham away. Leeds host Manchester City at Elland Road.

Every single one of those games could shift the picture. And with only a few points covering four clubs, any of them could look completely different by Sunday evening.