Premier League Relegation fight any two from four.
Bolton climbed out of the relegation zone on Saturday afternoon as they earned a slender but vital 1-0 win at Middlesbrough. The hosts dominated the early stages and could have gone ahead on a number of occasions, with David Wheater, Tuncay Sanli and Afonso Alves all coming close to opening the scoring in a pulsating start to the match. The rest of the opening half continued in this fashion, and Bolton were lucky to go into the break with the score still level.
However, Gary Megson's side emerged stronger in the second half, and they took the lead on 63 minutes. Gary Cahill's powerful header was saved well by Ross Turnbull, but the keeper could do nothing to stop the rebound effort, as Gavin McCann smashed home from close range. The goal did not come without its controversy, however, as just minutes before, McCann appeared to handle the ball in the Bolton area. Referee Alan Wiley gave nothing, but replays later proved there was definite contact, and should they survive, Bolton will look back upon that moment as a decisive one in their season.
There was no such luck for Fulham though, who now look as good as down after losing 2-0 at home to Liverpool. Despite the absences of Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, the Reds fielded a reasonably strong side, and Rafa Benitez opted for a striking partnership of Peter Crouch and Andriy Voronin. Jermaine Pennant also returned to the first eleven and it was he who opened the scoring when he hammered home a superb shot into the top corner of Kasey Keller's net seventeen minutes in.
The Cottagers forged some good opportunities in the build-up to half-time, with Brian McBride and Jimmy Bullard coming especially close. However, the match was decided midway through the second half. Scorer turned provider as Pennant fed the ball through to Peter Crouch and the England international slipped a fine shot under the body of Keller from 12 yards out. Liverpool saw the game out comfortably from then on in, leaving Fulham some five points off safety.
The relegation dog fight in my opinion involves any 2 from 4, though i think a miracle is need to save Fulham.
That leaves Bolton, Birmingham and Reading to fight it out. Looking at the 3 remaining fixtures gives us a better idea of who will drop down at the end of the campaign.
Bolton have Spurs (A), Sunderland (H) and Chelsea (A) and they are the "form" side of the strugglers, so i expect them to get t least 4 points from those 3 games.
Birmingham have Liverpool (H), Fulham (A) and Blackburn (H) in their last 3 matches and much depends on how they react to the 5-1 thrashing they got at Villa, Liverpool proved at Fulham that even a weekend side is good enough to get 3 points and Blackburn showed at the weekend that their season is far from dead, this leaves the Fulham game by which time i believe they will be down, the most i can see Birmingham get is 2 points.
Reading the final team in the equation have Wigan (A), Spurs (H) and Derby (A), they too are low on confidence but have the advantage of playing to mid table sides before they Derby game which i expect them to win and i can see Reading getting 5 points.
So if my maths are correct that would mean come the final day Reading would finish on 37, Bolton on 36 and Birmingham on 33 condemning the blues to a return to the Championship along with Fulham and Derby.
