March 20, 2003

Who's for the Premiership?: As the English football season hits the final stretch, BBC takes a look at the teams that are battling for promotion from the First Division to the EPL, as well as the EPL laggards who are in the scrap for Premiership survival.

posted by worldcup2002 to soccer at 01:07 PM - 3 comments

Quick notes:

  1. #1 and #2 are automatically promoted. #3 and #4 have to meet in a play-off to be the third promoted team.
  2. First Division teams have to play 46 games a season. This means the teams in contention have anywhere from 8-10 games left.
FIRST DIVISION PROMOTION CONTENDERS: TEAM - PLAYED - GOAL DIFFERENCE - POINTS 1 Portsmouth 38 45 82 2 Leicester City 38 28 77 3 Sheff Utd 36 18 65 4 Reading 38 10 64 5 Nottm Forest 37 28 62 6 Wolves 38 24 60 7 Ipswich Town 38 12 57 8 Norwich 37 13 55

posted by worldcup2002 at 01:15 PM on March 20, 2003

That's not quite correct. At the end of the season the teams in places 3-6 meet in two-legged semi-finals. 3 plays 6 home and away and 4 plays 5 home and away. The winners of these encounters play each other in the play-off final at the Cardiff Millenium Stadium. This is how Blues got promoted last season despite finishing 5th at the end of the regular season. I'm hoping my local team, Nottingham Forest can make it, but they have a very tough run-in.

posted by squealy at 01:24 PM on March 20, 2003

Thanks for the correction, squealy! Oh my god. That is the toughest way to qualify. After a gruelling 46-match season (not counting Cup games -- see Sheffield Utd), you then have to play and win three more games to secure promotion? No wonder FB almost had a heart attack. After learning this, I want Birmingham to stay up even more. In other news, oh how West Ham must miss Harry Redknapp. The former Hammers manager is now helming Portsmouth, who are almost certain of automatic promotion, and lead the First Division by five points. With West Ham at second-last in the EPL, it's highly likely that Redknapp's teams could be passing each other in opposite directions at the end of the season.

posted by worldcup2002 at 01:32 PM on March 20, 2003

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