Much has been made of the top four-race and who will or won't run out as Premiership champions come May 2008. But what about the dreaded drop? Which clubs will be dragged into the doldrums, who will scrape through and who is destined to struggle?

More often than not, the relegation battles in recent years have been far more entertaining and heartbreaking than the race for the title. Last season West Ham put together a championship form run and performed the great escape. And Wigan boss Paul Jewell took his side to Bramall Lane and came away with a win in what proved to be his last game as 'Latics manager.

The clubs who make it up Mount Championship to the Premiership are invariably the bookies' and pundits favourites to find themselves tumbling back down to where they came from. At first sight it seems that of the promoted trio, Derby County will be hot favourites for relegation. And Rams boss Billy Davies would be the first to admit that his side could find life tough. But I think signings like Robert Earnshaw and to a lesser extent Andy Todd, Claude Davis and Tyrone Mears, could give them a chance of avoiding the drop.

'Relegation battles in recent years have been far more entertaining and heartbreaking than the race for the title'


Birmingham City could well find life back among the big boys troubling, but they, too, have invested wisely in the striking talents of Olivier Kapo from Juventus and Garry O’Connor, who was saved from his Russian exile at Lokomotiv Moscow. They have also forked out £4m on Arsenal’s talented midfielder Fabrice Muamba but I am sure they would have preferred to keep hold of their on-loan striking sensation Niklas Bendtner.

Sunderland are tipped to more than just survive and this could well be the case. Under Roy Keane’s guidance, the inhabitants of the Stadium of Light are expecting big things, but I am sure they would be happy to see out the season without having to chew down their finger nails to the bone!

Two sides I think will struggle are those who have lost hugely influential and inspirational figureheads - Bolton and Wigan minus Sam Allardyce and Jewell. Wigan, I guess, would be more obvious candidates to go down, having lost Arjen de Zeeuw, Matt Jackson and Lee McCullough (whose fighting capabilities aided Wigan's escape last term). Should Leighon Baines leave, as expected, then they have very real problems. The signings of Titus Bramble and Antoine Sibierski won't help matters, and the addition of Jason Koumas could prove to be the only thing to stop Wigan from ending the wrong side of that perforated line in the table.

Outsiders for the drop could also include Fulham, Middlesbrough and even Portsmouth. Lawrie Sanchez worked wonders with Wycombe and Northern Ireland, and has been given a great deal of financial backing by the club. It will be interesting to see if David Healy can finally fulfill Premiership potential and show that his Northern Ireland form isn’t a fluke.

Gareth Southgate is not finding management easy and while I don’t expect Boro to do well, I don’t see them making the drop - not this coming season at least. Portsmouth performed fantastically well last season,  probably primarily due to the experience and know-how of their management team more than their playing squad. Harry Redknapp has been given almost £20m to spend on his midfield and goalscoring deficiencies and they will steer clear of the drop. But don’t expect another UEFA Cup push.

My predictions for the drop are Wigan, Birmingham and Bolton. These selections are bound to upset fans of the trio but at least i am sticking my head above the parapet, who else is with me!