Many look to the top of the division for their end-of-season excitement fix; however, for many years, it has been the bottom of the league that has given fans the highest of highs, drama, entertainment and the lowest of lows.
We look back at just five seasons in Premier League history where teams have battled it out to not only avoid relegation but produce one the greatest escapes football has ever seen.
Five of The Greatest Escapes in Premier League History
Oldham Athletic 1992/93
The Latics went into the final week of the season eight points from safety. It appeared to be mission impossible. Three games remained, three wins were required and rely on either Crystal Palace or Sheffield United gaining no more than one point from their remaining games.
Aston Villa, Liverpool and Southampton stood in Oldham’s way. Villa were still chasing Manchester United in the hope of winning the title; however, Oldham won 1-0 to hand the title to the Red Devils. Sheffield United won at Everton on the same night to make the relegation scrap a two-team race.
Two days later Liverpool visited Boundary Park. Three first-half goals against their more illustrious opponents gave them a commanding 3-1 lead at halftime. Despite another goal for the visitors, the Latics held on for a famous win. Crystal Palace drew at Manchester City on the same night meaning that Oldham would have to win again and hope the Eagles would lose.
On the final day, not even a Matt Le Tissier hattrick could not stop Oldham. They ran out 4-3 winners despite some nervous moments when they were 4-1 up. Palace lost 3-0 at Arsenal meaning Oldham had completed a great escape staying up on goal difference.
Bradford City 1999/2000
When Bradford City ended their 72-year stay outside of England’s top tier, few gave them little hope of surviving. With five games remaining the Bantams were six points from safety and after six consecutive defeats, few gave them any hope.
A 4-4 draw at Derby County stopped the losing streak. This was followed by wins at Sunderland and a 3-0 win at home to relegation rivals Wimbledon. Despite a poor 3-0 defeat at Leicester City, their great escape was still on but it was now down to a two-team shootout between themselves and Wimbledon as to who would be relegated. Both were on the same amount of points but Wimbledon had the better goal difference.
Champions League chasers Liverpool would be the ones to travel and face Bradford while Wimbledon went to Southampton who had little to play for. Both needed to win as anything else may not be enough.
A 12th-minute goal gave Bradford the lead and when two second-half goals at The Den for Southampton, all City had to do was to hold on. And hold on they did to prove the many doubters wrong and survive.
West Bromwich Albion 2004/05
On a rollercoaster final day of the 2004/05 season, four teams went into it ready to do battle in the hope that they would be the ones to survive.
West Brom had been bottom of the table at Christmas following just one win, were still bottom despite an improvement in form since the start of the year, and were odds-on favourites for the drop and knew only a win at home to Portsmouth would be enough. For the four teams involved, “Survival Sunday” was a must-win. Only one would survive.
At halftime, Albion were drawing 0-0, Southampton were beating Manchester United 1-0 and Crystal Palace were 1-0 down against Charlton Athletic. Norwich City, who began the day fourth bottom and had their fate in their own hands but who were looking for their first away win of the season were 2-0 down at Fulham.
Manchester United came from behind to lead 2-1 as did Palace against Charlton. Norwich began shipping goals at Fulham and were beaten 6-0. Two goals from Geoff Horsefield and Kieran Richardson gave West Brom a lifeline but they still needed a favour from Charlton at The Valley. And a favour they got. A late equaliser moved Albion out of the relegation zone and become the first team to be bottom at Christmas to survive.
Sunderland 2013/14
The Black Cats have endured many seasons where relegation looked likely but somehow they managed to survive. The 2013/14 season was no exception and produced arguably Sunderland’s greatest escape.
Gus Poyet’s side were seven points from safety with just six games to play. Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United were still to be played away from home, and for many, relegation would be confirmed sooner rather than later. Sunderland needed a miracle.
Prior to the trip to Manchester City, Poyet changed his team’s formation. Out went the 5-3-2 formation and instead, Poyet began to use a 4-5-1. Sunderland had just six games to save themselves and hope teams above them would drop points. A promising performance produced a 2-2 draw at the eventual champions.
This was then followed by a 2-1 victory at Chelsea and in the process inflicting Jose Mourinho’s first Premier League home defeat. Cardiff City left the Stadium of Light on the wrong end of a 4-0 defeat and fans were beginning to believe.
A 1-0 victory at Old Trafford against the defending champions was followed by another home win, this time against West Brom in the penultimate game of the season. 13 points had been won in just five games and was enough to lift Sunderland to a lofty 14th place and complete the greatest of escapes.
Leicester City 2014/15
To say that Leicester City struggled during the 2014/15 season would be an understatement. However, what happened would not only go down as one of football’s greatest escapes but also be the launchpad for the most successful season in the club’s history.
In March, City were rock bottom and following defeat at Tottenham had won just four league games all season. There were nine games left to save their season; however, with just 19 points won so far, all looked lost and even a great escape looked highly unlikely.
There were 27 points available, Nigel Pearson’s team won seven and drew one of their remaining nine games collecting an impressive 22 points. It was a remarkable run of form considering their form prior to this and saw them move to 14th in the table, six points away from the relegation places and 11 from the bottom spot they had occupied for much of the season.
Speaking to talkSPORT about the season, captain Wes Morgan said: “Even though we were in relegation trouble, during that season we felt like we were playing good football and we just weren’t getting the rub of the green.
“It got to a point when people were thinking ‘ten games left, it’s all done and dusted, surely they can’t get out of this’. But we pulled off the great escape.”
The Leicester City miracle story does not end there. One year later, they defied all odds and won the Premier League title.
Main Image
Embed from Getty Images
