Tottenham fixtures are ‘not easy’ – Gary Lineker picks his ‘favourite’ to stay up
Gary Lineker has named his favourites to avoid Premier League relegation between Tottenham and West Ham following the latest round of results.
It has certainly been the perfect weekend of football for Tottenham Hotspur in their quest to avoid relegation to the Championship.
It all started when their closest relegation rivals, West Ham United, suffered a gut-wrenching 3-0 defeat away at Brentford, a slip-up that meant if Tottenham managed a win in their own game against Aston Villa, they would move up to 17th place.
Roberto De Zerbi’s men stuck to their task and did just that, securing a 2-1 win over Villa at Villa Park, a victory that has seen them climb out of the relegation zone into 17th place with three games to go.
Tottenham backed by Gary Lineker as favourites in relegation battle
Comparing the fixtures of Tottenham and West Ham United, it remains neck and neck, meaning the battle for survival could go down to the wire.
On the other side, Nottingham Forest, who were still embroiled in the scrap before this weekend, have now all but guaranteed their own safety after beating Chelsea 3-1 on Monday afternoon.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, Gary Lineker assessed the run-in for Tottenham and West Ham, outlining the difficulty of their remaining fixtures before naming Spurs as favourites to stay up.
He said: “Let’s have the fixtures. West Ham, I mean, Arsenal at home, as tough as it gets. Newcastle away, they should get three points (he joked). Well, Newcastle, you know, finally got a win, and Leeds at home. Leeds are probably safe, not quite mathematically yet.
“And then Spurs’ fixtures, Leeds at home… big game. Well, they are all big now, Chelsea away, and then Everton at home on the last day of the season. Both Everton and Chelsea are most likely to be chasing some kind of European football, so not easy either.
“But yes, you would look at those and think Spurs, having a point advantage as well, are probably favourites to stay up now.”
Spurs boosted by predictions in survival fight
Of course, Lineker is not the only one to believe that Tottenham could be safe now following their latest victory over Aston Villa.
Opta’s AI has also backed Spurs to beat the drop, giving them a 75% chance of avoiding relegation following this round of results.
Spurs could now also compound the misery of their London rivals, with a victory over Leeds United at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, should West Ham fail to beat Arsenal at London Stadium.
