Spurs lifeline or good step for West Ham - who's favourite for drop?
A home match against Leeds on 11 May is another they would view as an opportunity, especially if Daniel Farke's side have beaten Burnley at Elland Road in their previous game and essentially ensured their safety. Even a tricky looking away match at Champions League-chasing Aston Villa on 3 May comes at a good time for Spurs, as it falls between the two legs of the Europa League semi-final for Unai Emery's men. A visit to rivals Chelsea before hosting Everton on the final day is not straightforward way to finish given both teams seem likely to be fighting for the European places.
But given how tight things are, that is something all the relegation candidates with have to deal with. West Ham host Everton on Saturday before an away game at Brentford - and it only gets tougher with title-chasing Arsenal the visitors to the London Stadium on 10 May. Even with Newcastle enduring a disappointing season, an away game at St James' Park on the penultimate weekend is far from simple and there could be plenty riding on the home match against Leeds on the last day.
Forest arguably face the toughest last five with away games at Chelsea and Manchester United in May - the former coming just three days before the second leg of their Europa League semi-final against Villa. Home games against Newcastle and Bournemouth , on the last day, could be crucial but getting a result at Sunderland on Friday would help alleviate a lot of stress for Vitor Pereira's side before the remainder of the run-in. Wild celebrations to verge of tears - time running out for Spurs It is 49 years since Spurs found themselves in the relegation zone after 33 league games and in that 1976-77 season they were unable to save themselves.
Given that only Sheffield Wednesday, already relegated from the Championship, have a worse home record than Spurs's two wins in the English football league this term, significant improvements will be required. The numbers don't get anymore encouraging for De Zerbi's side with only Derby (18) in 2007-08 and Sunderland (17) in 2002-03 having longer winless runs to start a calendar year than Spurs' current streak of 15 - and both were relegated that year. Leeds and Forest can take some comfort from the fact that 36 points has been enough to survive in every Premier League season since 2015-16.
Even more encouragingly for the Whites, only six teams have ever been relegated with 39 points or more in a 38-game season and not in the past 14 seasons since Birmingham and Blackpool both went down on 39 points. This year might be one in which the traditional claim of 40 points being required for safety proves true but West Ham know that sometimes even that is not enough. The Hammers hold the unwanted record of the most points achieved by a relegated side - the 42 they mustered in 2002-03 was not enough to spare them from the drop.