Will the Premier's League current bottom three survive the drop?

Paul Bathurst
19 December 2022

Steve Cooper, Nottingham Forest head coach

Nottingham Forest, Southampton and Wolves currently occupy the three trapdoor positions in the Premier League, but where will they be when the season concludes?

Are the Premier League's bottom three already set in concrete for the end of the season? Have those squads got enough in them dig themselves out of trouble?

Professional tipster and former trader at a renowned UK spread betting company, Paul Bathurst, assess their chances.

Nottingham Forest (18th, 1.65 to go down)

Forest went for the quantity over quality approach in the summer transfer window signing a whopping 22 players, but predictably they have failed to gel and the former European Cup winners are the favourites to make an immediate return to the Championship.

Despite just 13 points from their first 15 games, I believe they will improve in the 2nd half of the season.

Most of their players did not feature in the World Cup so have had more time together under a manager who is tactically very good.

I like their forward Taiwo Awoniyi, I think he can score goals whilst major signing Morgan Gibbs-White is a talent and did show improvement before the World Cup break.

Laying Forest for the drop at 1.65-1.67 doesn't seem great when you consider they face Man Utd, Chelsea and Leicester in three of their next four, although if following that run Forest are further adrift as most would suspect, a lay at shorter odds may be a smart play with kinder fixtures to come.

Southampton (19th, 3.00 to go down)

The Saints made a bold decision prior to the break in sacking long-term manager Ralph Hasenhuttl following just one win in his final nine games in charge.

Nathan Jones is the man tasked with guiding this side to safety, a very talented up and coming manager by all accounts, however I believe this task may be a little bit too big for a man lacking Premier League experience.

James Ward-Prowse is naturally the standout player in this side, but when I look at the squad, I just don't see enough around him. Whilst I do like what I've seen from youngsters Sekou Mara, Romeo Lavia and Armel Bella-Kotchap , this side does not possess a prolific goal scorer.

Despite being top scorer so far with four, Che Adams has never reached double figures in a Premier League campaign and there is also a clear lack of goals around him, for example Joel Aribo who was brought in during the summer has only managed two in 15 games.

Defensively this side have conceded 27 times in just 15, I don't see much improvement to these numbers without some significant signings.

Southampton's next seven games could define their season, with all seven probably deemed winnable on paper.

Should Nathan Jones have a poor start, the St Mary's faithful will be anxious; and rightly so.

Wolves (20th, 2.06 to go down)

Much like the Saints, Wolves decided to part ways with their manager before the World Cup.

Bruno Lage departed with the very accomplished Julien Lopetegui taking the reins. I think Lage was dealt a tough hand especially with new striker Sasa Kalajdzic picking up a season ending injury on his debut.

I will say I think the decision to loan the club captain Conor Coady to Everton was ludicrous, the England centre-back, who made the World Cup Squad, has been superb at the Toffees… how Wolves could benefit from his leadership.

This team has just eight goals this season which for me is an anomaly, I've watched at least 80% of their games and they create plenty of chances.

This isn't just my opinion, its evidenced by the fact their Expected Goals (xG) this season stands at 18, they deserve to have scored 10 more goals than they have, the finishing just hasn't been there.

This squad possesses great attacking talent including Neto, Podence, Hwang, Nunes & Raul Jimenez. Whilst they haven't fired to full capacity, I expect under the mentorship of a former Real Madrid and Spain manager, that Wolves will begin to recover and climb the table to safety.

A lay price of 2.08 currently on Betfair Exchange represents solid value in my opinion.

Best Bets: Lay Wolves @ 2.06 - 2.16

Back Southampton to be relegated @ 3.00