With just three weekends left in the 2025-26 Premier League season, the fight to avoid the final relegation spot is shaping up to be a nerve-shredding finale involving three of English football’s best-known clubs.
Tottenham gave themselves an enormous lift on Sunday, edging Aston Villa 2-1 at Villa Park to climb out of the drop zone. It was a back-to-back league win for Roberto de Zerbi’s side — something they hadn’t managed since the opening fortnight of the campaign — and it could hardly have been better timed.
Wolves and Burnley have already had their fate sealed, both heading down to the Championship. The third and final relegation berth, however, is still very much up for grabs.
West Ham’s grim Saturday afternoon — a 3-0 home loss to Brentford — handed Spurs a chance to leapfrog them, and De Zerbi’s players grabbed it with both hands.
Speaking on BBC Match of the Day, ex-Manchester City defender Micah Richards admitted he’d been caught off guard. “That’s a massive result for Tottenham — I genuinely didn’t see it coming,” he said. “Villa weren’t at it, but Spurs deserve credit for the way they imposed themselves from minute one. There was real bravery in their setup and an intensity you don’t always associate with them.”
Richards added: “Predictions in this thing have been almost worthless, but West Ham now have a serious mountain to climb. Spurs have built a bit of momentum, and De Zerbi deserves enormous credit — nobody on that pitch went hiding.”
Alan Shearer, the former England striker, picked up the same theme. “They won the duels, the second balls, everything. They were also smart enough to take risk out of the equation when needed — they didn’t always insist on building from the back. When you’re in this kind of trouble, you need eleven players fully switched on, and Spurs had that. For West Ham, this has been a horrible 48 hours.”
Nottingham Forest, sitting 16th, have a game in hand on both rivals and could open up a six-point cushion with victory at Chelsea on Monday afternoon (15:00 BST).
Leeds occupy 14th on 43 points, with Crystal Palace level on points just below them but holding a game in hand of their own. The relegation maths, then, looks increasingly like a straight shootout between Forest, West Ham and Spurs.
Nottingham Forest — 16th, 39 points
Of the three sides in trouble, Forest are arguably travelling best. Vitor Pereira’s team haven’t lost in their last six league outings, claiming three wins along the way.
The complication is Europe. Unlike their relegation rivals, Forest are still juggling a continental run, and a serious one at that — they’re 90 minutes from a Europa League final after seeing off Villa 1-0 in the first leg of their semi on Thursday.
A potential final in Istanbul on Wednesday 20 May would land four days before what could be a defining Premier League fixture on the final weekend. Hardly an ideal scheduling sandwich.
Tottenham — 17th, 37 points
Tottenham’s slide has been one of the season’s defining stories. A 15-match winless run from the new year onwards dragged them deep into trouble.
A 3-0 hammering by Forest sealed Igor Tudor’s exit, but it was the 1-0 home defeat to Sunderland in De Zerbi’s first game that actually pitched them into the bottom three for the first time.
Things looked even bleaker after a stoppage-time Brighton equaliser reduced some Tottenham players to tears. But a narrow win over already-doomed Wolves broke the duck for 2026 and offered something for an increasingly disenchanted fanbase to cling to.
Sunday’s away victory at Villa now has supporters daring to believe their team is finding form at exactly the right moment.
West Ham — 18th, 36 points
The Hammers had genuinely looked to be turning a corner. Since the international break they’d beaten Wolves and Everton and held Crystal Palace to a draw.
The Brentford loss has changed the temperature considerably. There were mitigating factors — they hit the frame of the goal four times in a chaotic match — but a defeat is still a defeat, and a heavy one at that.
Their three-game unbeaten sequence is gone, and Tottenham’s win at Villa Park dumped them straight back into the bottom three. The psychological hit could be significant, particularly given Nuno Espirito Santo’s next assignment is league leaders Arsenal.
That said, this West Ham side has shown plenty of grit lately, and few inside the club will be writing off their chances of clambering back to safety.
Whose run-in looks worst?
Each of the three has two of their final fixtures at home, but on paper Forest face the steepest slope.
After Monday’s trip to Stamford Bridge to play ninth-placed Chelsea, Pereira’s side host Newcastle (13th) before travelling to Manchester United, who sit third. The season closes at the City Ground against European-chasing Bournemouth in sixth.
West Ham must dust themselves off quickly to face Arsenal at the London Stadium, then head to St James’ Park to take on Newcastle, before finishing at home to Leeds.
Tottenham’s schedule reads: Leeds at home, Chelsea away, and Everton (11th) at home on the final day — arguably the kindest run of the three on paper.
With so little separating them and the fixtures lining up so awkwardly, all three clubs know that one slip could prove decisive.
