Tuesday 15 March 2016 10:06, UK
As many as six teams are in danger of relegation from the Premier League as the season enters its final couple of months.
Aston Villa, Newcastle, Norwich and Sunderland are all in a bottom four that is marooned eight points adrift from the rest of the division, but Swansea and Crystal Palace are not secured of their top-flight status yet.
We take a closer look at the relegation run-in and analyse who has the best chance of staying up…
Remaining fixtures
On paper, it appears that Crystal Palace have the hardest run-in of the bottom six. Of their nine remaining games, four are against teams in the current top six and three of those are away from home.
Aston Villa's fixture list also doesn't look too kind. They have to play two of the current top six, as well as facing a resurgent Chelsea.
Norwich, meanwhile, will need to get as many points on the board as early as possible, because their final three games are away to Arsenal, at home to Manchester United and at Everton. They can't afford to leave it to the last minute.
Form
Unfortunately for Norwich, going on a run any time soon doesn't look likely given that they have lost eight of the last 10 games, haven't won since January 2 and have the second-worst form in the league.
Crystal Palace have the worst form in the division but can at least take solace from the fact that their points total was handsomely bolstered by good results in the first half of the season.
Aston Villa's form is only marginally better and unless they can turn it around and go on the sort of run Nigel Pearson's Leicester produced last season, their chances of staying up are virtually nil.
The only team currently with momentum is Swansea, who have won two of their last three games, including a shock victory away at Arsenal.
Total games left
Newcastle and Sunderland both have a game in hand on Norwich and Aston Villa, which is an advantage in terms of the potential points to be gained but could be detrimental given the added fixture congestion it creates.
Crystal Palace could have 11 matches still to play this season if they beat Watford in the semi-finals of the FA Cup.
Injuries
The injury picture looks particularly grim for Newcastle and Aston Villa, who both have a number of players sidelined. Andros Townsend made his return for the Magpies as a substitute in the defeat to Leicester on Monday Night Football but Papiss Cisse, Fabricio Coloccini, Cheik Tiote, Chancel Mbemba and Massadio Haidara are still out.
Crystal Palace are also struggling, although not as badly. James McArthur is out for the rest of the season, but manager Alan Pardew will be hoping to have Jason Puncheon back as early as next weekend.
Norwich currently have four first-team players out, including Nathan Redmond, who picked up a knock in the 0-0 draw against Manchester City.
Sunderland are not struggling too badly with injuries, while Swansea have Jefferson Montero, Modou Barrow and Andre Ayew out in the short term.
Conclusions
There is no dressing up the desperation of Aston Villa's plight. They are nine points from safety; their form is terrible; they still have to play Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea; and ultimately, it will be a huge shock if they stay up.
Norwich and Newcastle's form is just as bad but they at least are in sight of safety. However, both need to find form urgently if they want to avoid being marooned along with Villa.
Sunderland have picked up six points from the last six games, which isn't a great deal, but it's more than the teams below them have managed and if they can keep that steady flow going, it may be enough to stay up. They're also helped by arguably the easiest run-in.
Who do you think has the toughest run-in? Let us know using the message boards or by tweeting @SkyFootball
