The relegation fight in the Premier League is so tight this season that it may well end up being settled on goal difference, which has only happened five times since the top-flight competition spun off from the Football League in 1992.
18th-placed Leeds United are just a point ahead of Leicester City, a point behind Everton, three points behind Nottingham Forest and six points behind West Ham United, making it possible that Sam Allardyce’s side could end up deadlocked with any one of them and their fate coming down to goal difference. Currently, the Whites have a -25 goal difference, with Leicester at -15, Eveton at -24 and Forest at -31.
History tells us that deciding things that way is always dramatic: from decisive late goals to faulty information leading to a managerial snafu to one side suing another, here’s how it’s gone down each time the Premier League relegation battle has been decided by the most slender of margins.
