How many points do Leeds United need to avoid relegation from the Premier League?

The battle to escape the drop into the Championship looks to be going to the wire as four clubs look to avoid joining already relegated Southampton in the second tier. After a season of struggle goals from Carlos Vinicius and Aleksandar Mitrovic condemned the Saints to life in the Premier League and it’s now about who will fill the other two spots in the bottom three.

The Whites battled their way to a share of the spoils in Saturday’s home draw with Newcastle United as a Rasmus Kristensen equaliser 11 minutes from time ensured Sam Allardyce’s side remain in touching distance of the two sides sat immediately above them in the table.

There were some fears Nottingham Forest could have moved almost out of sight later on Saturday afternoon but they could only take a point from their visit to Chelsea, despite putting in an impressive display at Stamford Bridge. And Everton remain in the mix after they fell to a 3-0 home defeat against title favourites Manchester City on Sunday afternoon.

So where do we currently stand in the battle to avoid relegation and what do Leeds need to do to preserve their top flight status?

What are the remaining fixtures of all four clubs?

19th: Leicester City (current points 30, games played 35)

15/5 Liverpool (H), 22/5 Newcastle United (A), 28/5 West Ham United (H) Maximum possible points: 39

18th: Leeds United (current points 31, games played 36)

21/5 West Ham United (A), 28/5 Tottenham Hotspur (H) Maximum possible points: 37

17th: Everton (current points 32, games played 36)

20/5 Wolverhampton Wanderers (A), 28/5 Bournemouth (H) Maximum possible points: 38

16th: Nottingham Forest (current points 34, games played 36)

20/5 Arsenal (H), 28/5 Crystal Palace (A) Maximum possible points: 40

How many points will Leeds United need to stay in the Premier League?

The cold and hard facts are the Whites will need at least one win to preserve their Premier League status and two wins to put serious pressure on the sides sat above them in the table. Both of those outcomes rely on Everton and Forest failing to take maximum points from their remaining games. At present Allardyce’s side sit just one point behind Everton and three points behind a Forest side that have shown clear signs of improvement in recent weeks with a home win against Southampton and Saturday’s draw at Chelsea.

That is the same scenario as Leicester find themselves in as head into for Monday night’s home meeting with Liverpool knowing they have little room for error.

What would happen if two sides end the season on the same number of points?

The Premier League rule book states: “If any clubs finish with the same number of points, their position in the Premier League table is determined by goal difference, then the number of goals scored, then the team who collected the most points in the head-to-head matches, then who scored most away goals in the head-to-head.”

For reference, at this point in time, Leeds have a better goal difference and have scored more goals than both Everton and Forest - but Leicester have a significantly better goal difference than all three of their fellow strugglers.