My Little World10

BBC headline: Basement club West Brom fail to take advantage of a injury-hit West Ham side in a mediocre 0-0 draw at Upton Park

I've said it before and I'll say it again - mediocre is the word

Not this particular match, that happens, especially when West Ham have lost half their squad to injury and suspension - but this season in general

Sure, ramapnt 4-1 wins for Liverpool at Old Trafford and a 4-0 for Arsenal over Blackburn might be interesting - but this is glossing over the rest of the league

I have been keeping my eye on the relegation battle, in the hope that Boro or one of their perpetual mates finally go down - and noticed that from relegation to 7th (ie. the whole league outside the top 6) there is only 11 points between them

This seems large - and on closer inspection there are huge jumps in points up to the 'big 3' (sorry arsenal - this is just a current term, you are scrapping for 4th right now and well behind) - from West Ham in 7th at 40, to Everton at 48, then the other two at 52, then into the 60s for the big 3

Now obviously we still have nine games to go but I had assumed this closeness at the lower end would disappear as the league went on, and it still hasn't - Stoke sit within a hair's breadth of displacing 4 other teams above them, while Boro could also scramble out to 16th with one unlikely win like they had against the Reds - it's mad

I have been trying to find the table from last year at 29 games or similar, but it's proving difficult - basing a comparison on the final table isn't exactly scientific but it's the best I can do

last year in 7th were Blackburn at 58, closely followed by Portsmouth and City in the high 50s - now can you see any teams getting into the higher 50s? tbh when a match comes up between anyone in the lower 7/10 of the league I have no idea what will happen, unless Fulham or Stoke are at home - obviously 9 games = a potential 27, perfectly possible to get into 60+ - but frankly that's not happening to west ham, wigan or anyone else in there - it's going to be a slow climb to the 40s and 50s for these guys

That of course probably means there's still some fight in this relegation battle - could we see a legendary 40 point line? last year it was 36 and I think Stoke can push the others up to at least that

As for who is safe? I'm saying any of the bottom 9 are eligible to go down, yep - tottenham are now safe, and even West Brom may save themselves (but they won't)

logically I can't see Bolton dropping, and for Hull to go down would be a record (doesn't mean it can't happen tho) - they are in keeping with this league and should claw the points they need

as for the rest - I'm relying on Stoke and boro to keep the pressure on, and meanwhile I'm going to look for a game by game table to get some facts...