Brighton need four more wins at least to secure survival
It has been a fantastic season so far for Brighton and the team has performed better than most predicted.
At the start of the campaign, they were the third favourites to go down and you could find them priced at 5/4. If you were lucky enough to take advantage of the 888sport free bet offer on the Seagulls staying up, it will be a nervous end to the season.
The only two teams below them were Burnley at 6/5 and Huddersfield at 4/6. The bookies were right to choose Huddersfield as the most likely to face the drop. They are second from bottom currently on 24 points with only West Brom behind them on 20 points. There is only seven points difference separating the bottom eight teams which means it is going to be a thrilling end to the season in the battle for survival. All it takes is for one of the teams to go on a bad run of results and they will find themselves in the relegation zone.
Brighton are only three points above the relegation battle even though they are placed 13th in the EPL table. If Brighton are going to secure survival they will need to win at least four more matches. That will take them to 39 points, one shy of the amount that is normally enough to secure safety. With the battle so close between the clubs this campaign, teams may have to set record points tally to survive.
Brighton’s last four matches in the season do not come much tougher. They face Tottenham Hotspur at home, away to Burnley, then they entertain Manchester United before their final game away at Liverpool. It is going to be extremely hard for them to pick up any points in that run of fixtures which is why they need to get the wins they need beforehand or they could be in trouble. Since the 4-0 thrashing against Chelsea, the seagulls are unbeaten. They have won two and drawn one which is exactly the type of form they need to keep up over the next couple of months.
Up next is Stoke City which could have a huge impact on both teams survival. If Brighton can win that along with their next match against Swansea City, it will greatly increase their chances of survive. Brighton still have to play Huddersfield at home and Crystal Palace away. If they can with those two matches along with the Stoke and Swansea games, that will give them the four wins they need to almost guarantee survival.
If they do not get the wins against these teams it is going to be a very difficult task. They still have five of the top six teams to play so it will mean that they will need to get something from one of these if they do not take care of business against the teams around them.