Chelsea Relegation Risk Premier League

Chelsea have had a season to forget, with their miserable 2022/23 campaign on course to go down as one of the worst in the club’s proud history. Frank Lampard, who has been appointed as interim manager until the end of the season following the dismissals of Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter, has so far failed to steady the ship having lost all five of his games in the Stamford Bridge hot seat to date. With the west Londoners still to face all of the current top four between now and the end of the season, rival supporters have been dreaming up the possibility of Chelsea being relegated. Mathematically, Chelsea can still be relegated from the Premier League this season, however, it is highly unlikely. The Blues have 39 points from their 32 fixtures and are currently sat in 12th place in the table, with their gap to 18th place Nottingham Forest, who are occupying the final relegation spot, being nine points. Leicester and Leeds, who are sat in 16th and 17th respectively, are also nine points adrift of Lampard’s men. The doomsday scenario would likely require Chelsea to lose all of their remaining fixtures and for Forest, Leicester and Leeds to pick up at least ten points from their remaining four games. It would also require Bournemouth (39), Wolves (37) and West Ham (34) to pick up enough points to overtake Lampard’s men. In reality, however, Chelsea will almost certainly be hosting Premier League football at Stamford Bridge once again next term. Over the past 23 Premier League seasons, the 18th-placed team have averaged 35.6 points, whilst the last side to be relegated with 39 points was Birmingham City in 2010/11. Chelsea are one of the Premier League ever-presents, having never been relegated from the competition since it began in 1992. Their last relegation from the top flight of English football came back in 1987/88 after losing the relegation play-off tie with Middlesbrough. Their stay away from the top table only lasted one season, however, with Chelsea earning promotion back to the First Division courtesy of winning the Second Division. In total, Chelsea have been relegated from the top flight six times in their history.