Premier League relegation picture, scenarios, permutations: How Nottingham Forest and Luton Town can stay up

Brad Cox

Premier League relegation picture, scenarios, permutations: How Nottingham Forest and Luton Town can stay up image

The Premier League season is coming to a close and there are now just two teams battling to avoid the one relegation place that remains. 

Before May 11, Sheffield United were the only club whose relegation from England's top flight was confirmed. Burnley are now certain to drop down to the Championship, too, after losing 2-1 at Tottenham. We already know two teams that will replace them from the Championship as Leicester City and Ipswich Town sealed their promotions in the past few weeks. 

That means Luton Town and Nottingham Forest will seek to avoid the final relegation place. In truth, one team's race is already run.

The Championship playoffs will decide the third and final second-tier team that will compete in the Premier League in the 2024/25 season.

The Sporting News takes a look at the three teams' scenarios and the overall relegation picture. 

MORE: When are the Championship playoffs?

Premier League relegation picture and permutations

Sheffield United: Relegated

Chris Wilder's side already have an unwanted piece of history to their name having conceded the most goals in a 38-game season. They are set to surpass Swindon Town's Premier League record of 100 goals against in the 1994/95 season when the division had 22 teams, having drawn level with the Robins. Only Leicester in 1908/09 (102) and Darwen in 1891/92 (112) have conceded more in an English top-flight season.

The Blades avoided becoming the new worst team in league history as they surpassed the record for the lowest Premier League points tally. That slice of ignominy still belongs to Derby County's 11-point campaign of 2007/08

Their season has been marred by heavy defeats both home and away. They suffered a humiliating 8-0 loss at home to Newcastle in September, a 5-0 defeat away at Burnley, and a demoralising 6-0 thrashing at home to Arsenal in March, where they conceded five goals in just 40 minutes.

Remaining fixtures - Tottenham (H)

Burnley: Relegated

Burnley, despite picking up some momentum in recent weeks, faced a daunting task against Tottenham who are still clinging on to thin hopes of catching Aston Villa for the final Champions League place.

Vincent Kompany's team had to win to keep their survival hopes alive, and although they took the lead in north London through Jacob Bruun Larsen, Spurs came back to take a 2-1 victory and condemn Burnley to relegation.

Remaining fixtures - Forest (H)

Luton Town: 18th, facing relegation

Rob Edwards' side have seemingly become everybody's second team this season as they've stuck to their word of taking the game to the opponent and caused discomfort to some of the league's big guns.

But will that be enough to keep them up? A trip to West Ham who, have recently announced David Moyes will be departing at the end of the season and have nothing to play, ended in a disappointing 3-1 defeat that means they are almost definitely down. They must beat Fulham to have any chance on the final day, but that will count for nothing unless Nottingham Forest lose their game in hand.

Remaining fixtures - Fulham (H)

Nottingham Forest: 17th, staying in the Premier League

Forest find themselves in a position that would see them retain their Premier League status next season as they sit one place above the drop zone, three points above Luton and with a far superior goal difference. They could have made survival mathematically certain before late goals from Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Jackson gave them a 3-2 win at the City Ground.

Remaining fixtures - Burnley (A)

English Premier League table 2023/24

Updated on Saturday, May 11, 2024

PosTeamPointsMatches
Played
Goals
Scored
Goal
Difference
1.Manchester City853690+57
2.Arsenal833688+60
3.Liverpool783681+43
4.Aston Villa673673+20
5.Tottenham Hotspur633671+12
6.Newcastle United573679+22
7.Chelsea573673+12
8.Manchester United543552-3
9.West Ham523759-12
10.Brighton483654-4
11.Bournemouth483753-12
12.Crystal Palace463752-6
13.Wolves463750-13
14. Fulham443751-8
15.Everton*403739-10
16.Brentford393754-7
 17. Nottingham Forest**293747-19
18.Luton Town263750-31
19.Burnley (R)243732-36
20.Sheffield United (R)163735-66

(R) = relegated

*Deducted 10 points for breach of profit and sustainability rules. Punishment was reduced to six points on appeal but were then deducted a further two points for another breach on April 8.

**Deducted four points for breach of profit and sustainability rules on Mar. 18.

Brad Cox

Brad Cox Photo

Brad is a content producer for The Sporting News and has previously worked for the likes of Squawka and The Athletic. His career highlight to date is reporting from the 2022 UEFA Champions League Final in Paris.