Tottenham prop up the Premier League as relegation battle takes early shape

The Premier League's relegation battle has taken shape unusually early — and it is crowded. According to the Premier League table, five matches into the new campaign, Tottenham Hotspur prop up the division on two points, Fulham sit 19th on the same tally and Coventry City occupy 18th on three, while nine clubs from 12th-placed Manchester United down to Spurs are covered by just three points.

The state of play at the bottom, per the table:

• 16th — Aston Villa, 4 points
• 17th — AFC Bournemouth, 3 points
• 18th — Coventry City, 3 points
• 19th — Fulham, 2 points
• 20th — Tottenham Hotspur, 2 points

The bottom three

Tottenham are winless after five matches — two draws, three defeats — and head into the next round of fixtures on the back of two straight losses, with two goals scored and a goal difference of -6. Fulham are also searching for a first win and are on a steeper slide: three straight defeats after opening the campaign with back-to-back draws.

Coventry's situation is the starkest. Their only victory came in their opening fixture, since when they have lost four in a row. They have scored once in five matches — no side in the division has managed fewer — and conceded ten, leaving them with the division's worst goal difference at -9.

A fragile safety line

Seventeenth place, the last position above the drop zone, belongs to AFC Bournemouth — who are themselves winless, with three draws and two defeats from five. Bournemouth are level with Coventry on three points and stand above them on goal difference alone, -2 to -9. The club currently holding the final safe spot, in other words, has yet to win a match. With Fulham and Tottenham just a point behind Bournemouth, a single result could shuffle the entire bottom four.

A congested pack above

The margins barely widen further up. Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Sunderland are all on four points with one win apiece, and both Villa and Palace carry runs of two straight defeats. Nottingham Forest and Manchester United have five points apiece; for all their stature, United sit just two points above the relegation places. Ipswich Town, in 11th on six, are the only club from 11th downwards to have won their most recent fixture.

Goals tell the story

Coventry's single goal is the division's sparest return, and Tottenham's two is the next leanest. Fulham have managed five, two of them from J. King according to the division's scoring charts. Sunderland, 14th on four points, have at least found the net six times, with Brian Brobbey among the league's leading marksmen on three goals. At the other end, Crystal Palace have conceded 11 times — only Chelsea have let in more.

How quickly it can turn

The table also shows how rapidly results reshape the picture. Chelsea, up to 10th on seven points after back-to-back wins, are only five points better off than the bottom two — such are the fine margins at this stage. With three winless clubs and a three-point spread from 12th to 20th, the next round of matches could redraw the entire bottom half of the division.