(04-17-2018, 10:52 AM)HURRICANE!!! Wrote:

(04-17-2018, 10:34 AM)DarloJAG84 Wrote: Oh absolutely. I just included from 13th down as I thought it was interesting that between 13th & 20th there is only 11 points difference and "anything can happen" in the Premier League.

I still maintain, though, the bottom 3 as you see it now will be the bottom 3 come seasons end.

Agree.

Swansea appears to be safe so I'll focus on rooting against Huddersfield and Brighton to keep Southampton alive.  In the event they do get relegated I sure hope they take the Newcastle approach and say "never again" and not be like Sunderland who is at risk of being relegated even further down --- i can't see that happening with Southampton, right?

Southampton are pretty financially stable so I wouldn't imagine they'd go back down. They were in League One a few years ago (2009/10 & 2010/11 season), funnily enough. This was due to finances etc. They even started their time in League One on -10 points due to unstable finances. They almost reached the playoffs too.. Had they started on level points with everyone else, they'd have been 3 points from automatic promotion.

I think the key is to keep some of the decent players for next season. Tadic, Austin, Gabbiadini, Long, Ward-Prowse etc...

I do think that it'll be hard to keep hold of them though, Charlie Austin especially. He could get into a lot of Premier League teams as he's a proven goalscorer.

I feel that going down would actually be a positive thing for Saints, as weird as it sounds to say. They won't lose any money right away and will receive parachute payments from the Premier League. It's also a way to blood the youngsters and rebuild the spine of the team with decent talent. That's something you simply cannot do in the Premier League.

That's not to say that The Championship is easy.. believe me, I think The Championship is better to watch than the Premier League. There's more passion, there's more noise and the tackling is harder/better. Having said that, we'd all much rather be in the Premier League, right? After all, I think that the Premier League is the most competitive league in the world. Not necessarily the best.. but the most competitive.. who saw Leicester winning it a couple years back? Who saw WBA beating United this past weekend? Who saw Burnley potentially finishing above Arsenal this season? I know I didn't..

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