lt's that time of the year again

 

About this time every year, watchers of Premier League football (soccer) consider one of the most important questions of the ongoing season.

Now, you might think that would be which team is going to win the Premiership (the league title). Some years that has practically been decided by now.  Other years it's closer.  This happens to be close year, with Liverpool, Arsenal, and Manchester City all contending, and all within a couple of points of the top spot (currently occupied by Liverpool).

Or you might think it's about the qualifications for the Champions League and Europa League. The top four positions in the Premier League go to the Champions League, and the fifth-place team goes to the Europa League. That's interesting right now too, with Manchester United on a four game winning streak, now only three points behind Tottenham Hotspur for fifth place, but the Spurs just two points behind Aston Villa for fourth.

But it's neither of those things. About every time at this point in the season, Premier League watchers start to speculate about whether or not Crystal Palace will get relegated.

The team has actually been in the PL since 2013, and while they've usually been in danger of relegation every year (with a couple of exceptions), they haven't dropped. This year has been a struggle, though, as they no longer hage top scorer and top penalty-magnet Wilfried Zaha. Still, they have good players, notably Eze and Olise, but both of them are hurt right now.

They won a must-win against last-place Sheffield United on January 30th, but now they're facing what amounts to another one, against Everton on February 19.  And Everton is desperately hanging on after being given a 10-point penalty for not following the fair-pay rules. They're a bit better than CP, with 8 wins compared to CP's current six. But not that much better; so this amounts to a must-win for both teams. A draw would move CP up to a tie with Brentford at 25 points, while Everton would be even with Luton Town at 20 -- I'm not sure what the tiebreaker is there. Should CP win they'd move ahead of Brentford but still be a point behind Bournemouth.  

I don't think any team with less than 30 points is safe yet, so that includes Fulham at 29 in 12th place. There's still a lot of season left, but clearly CP needs a bit of luck, healthy players, and a couple of wins to stay at the top level.