The 10 greatest escapes in Premier League history - including Sunderland and West Ham survival drama

Running down the ten greatest stories of survival in the history of Premier League relegation battles.
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Crunch time is upon is in the Premier League. Three teams will soon sink beneath the top tier waves, subsiding back into the murky, bottomless depths of the Championship. And any who wish to avoid the dire fate that awaits them in the division below – namely an away trip to Millwall – would do well to pay close attention to what these ten teams of yesteryear were doing when they dodged the dreaded drop.

These are the ten most impressive great escapes in history – the footballing Steve McQueens who got on their motorcycle and jumped the barricade of impending relegation. Well, not quite, because *spoiler alert* Steve McQueen’s character died at the end of the movie. So actually these are the teams who made a serene getaway in a rowing boat just before the credits roll. But that’s less dramatic than imagining Sam Allardyce in his leathers, revving his engine as he weaves between chasing Nazi prison guards.

10. Wigan Athletic 2011/12

By the time Wigan drew 1-1 with Everton at the start of February to cap off a second nine-match winless run of the campaign, they were rock bottom of the league and rapidly drifting south of safety. Roberto Martínez was continually linked with a P45, morale was at the lowest ebb imaginable, and salvation seemed distinctly unlikely.

Roberto Martinez hands out the high fives after Wigan dodged the drop.Roberto Martinez hands out the high fives after Wigan dodged the drop.
Roberto Martinez hands out the high fives after Wigan dodged the drop.

But Wigan were nothing if not determined – and out of almost nowhere managed to string together seven wins in their last nine games, grabbing huge three point hauls at Anfield and the Emirates to steer themselves well clear of the relegation zone, somehow finishing seven whole points clear of the drop - something which had seemed inconceivable just a couple of months prior.

9. Sunderland 2015/16

Ah, Sunderland, the hardy perennials of the relegation battle, never far from a flirtation with the drop zone. They got off to a gloomy start in 2015 with eight winless games costing Dutch coach Dick Advocaat his job – enter, stage left, professional escapologist and gravy guzzler Sam Allardyce.

Not that Big Sam got off to an especially great start – he lost eight of his first 11 games in charge at the Stadium of Light, leaving his side 19th at the halfway stage of the season. Then things started to perk up – they lost just four of their remaining matches, albeit with an awful lot of draws thrown in to the mixer, and strung together five matches unbeaten down the home straight to leave themselves with every chance of survival on the final day. A 2-2 draw away to Watford not only confirmed Sunderland’s survival by two points, it also relegated deadly rivals Newcastle United in the same stroke. There were a few sore heads on Wearside the following morning.

8. West Ham United 2006/07

The most controversial great escape of them all. West Ham’s stunning signings of emerging Argentinian stars Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez gave the Hammers the ammunition they needed to stay afloat – barely – but also saw the east London outfit fined a record £5.5m as they breached Premier League rules on third party ownership to get the deals done.

Carlos Tevez and Anton Ferdinand celebrate in the Old Trafford rain.Carlos Tevez and Anton Ferdinand celebrate in the Old Trafford rain.
Carlos Tevez and Anton Ferdinand celebrate in the Old Trafford rain.

On the pitch, it was largely thanks to those big-name new boys that West Ham were able to turn things around after a 11-game barren run, winning seven of their last nine and staying up on the final day after Tevez got the only goal in a 1-0 win at Old Trafford. Sheffield United, who finished 18th and went down, sued West Ham for £30m – with the clubs later settling out of court for an undisclosed amount, while Mascherano and Tevez both moved swiftly on, having left their indelible mark on Upton Park.

7. Everton 1993/94

Everton had been one of the game’s powerhouses during the Eighties and started the Premier League’s sophomore season with three wins on the bounce – but then slumped during a dire run of form during the winter, briefly recovered in February, and promptly sank like a stone again after winning just one game in ten as the run-in came around. Mike Walker – who took over from Howard Kendall after his resignation at the tail end of that first winless streak – was left needing a win against Wimbledon on the last day to keep his boys in the big time.

Things looked pretty bleak when they went 2-0 down at Goodison Park, but Graham Stewart’s penalty kept them in it at half-time – and the Toffees tore it up as the second half wore on, eventually equalising through Barry Horne before Stewart sealed a stunning comeback in the 81st minute. Everton survived by a single, solitary point.

6. Bradford City 1999/2000

The Bantams had been hovering around – and mostly in – the relegation zone for virtually the entirety of the campaign before six defeats on the spin, ending with a 4-0 larruping at the hands of Everton, put them 19th and firmly in danger of the drop.

It looked like they needed divine intervention to stay up – but whatever prayers were offered up in Yorkshire’s churches clearly did the trick, with wins over Sunderland and Wimbledon putting them within touching distance of safety – and that was secured on the very last day when David Wetherall headed home the only goal of the game against Liverpool to ensure survival at Wimbledon’s expense. Sadly, they did finish dead last the very next season. Ah well.

5. Fulham 2007/08

Fulham were already in trouble when they fired Lawrie Sanchez in December 2007, and things didn’t immediately get much better when Roy Hodgson – already something of a veteran campaigner – was appointed, the Cottagers failing to win a single game for three months until Jimmy Bullard’s late goal gave them a sorely-needed three points against Aston Villa at the beginning of March. By that time they were 19th in the table and looked destined to go down.

Danny Murphy and Jimmy Bullard celebrate Fulham’s unlikely escape.Danny Murphy and Jimmy Bullard celebrate Fulham’s unlikely escape.
Danny Murphy and Jimmy Bullard celebrate Fulham’s unlikely escape.

They remained 19th right up until the penultimate gameweek of the season, when a 2-0 victory over Birmingham City, their third in four games, saw them leapfrog the midlands outfit to 17th – but having been rooted in the relegation zone since Boxing Day, they still needed to win at Portsmouth on the final day. They eked out a 1-0 win, keeping them up ahead of Reading on goal difference alone. A real skin-of-their-teeth affair which preceded their brilliant UEFA Cup run not too much further down the road.

4. Leicester City 2014/15

By the time a Harry Kane hat-trick condemned the Foxes to a 4-3 defeat in late March, Leicester were stone dead last in the table and without a win in eight games. Nigel Pearson’s boys looked to be drifting down quickly, even with the brilliant Esteban Cambiasso on the books – not to mention a couple of lads by the names of Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez.

Of course, they didn’t go down. We all know what happened next, and we all know that surviving this season wasn’t even close to being the biggest miracle that would happen to Leicester over the next year or so. Cambiasso scored to set up a 2-1 win over West Ham and suddenly Leicester found themselves flooded with self-belief, losing just one of their last nine games to help them survive by a substantial margin – and they carried that confidence into that next unforgettable campaign.

3. Oldham Athletic 1992/93

The Mancunian side had a solid enough start to the first ever Premier League season, sat comfortably in the middle of the pack until October – but then lost 13 games before the end of February and found themselves rock bottom with 10 matches left to play.

A run of three wins in five – including a 1-0 win over eventual champions Manchester United – gave the Latics some hope, but they still needed three wins from the last three games of the campaign to have even a mathematical chance of survival. Against all the odds, they did it, winning at Villa Park before a 3-2 home win over Liverpool and a thrilling 4-3 victory against Southampton on the very last day – enough to keep them up on goal difference at Crystal Palace’s expense. Oldham have had a torrid time in recent years, but fans of a certain vintage will always have the memories of that magnificent feat of escapology to look back on.

2. Sunderland 2013/14

After a diabolical start to the season which saw Paolo Di Canio relieved of his duties as first team coach with the Black Cats bottom, Gus Poyet came in and started to steer Sunderland clear of danger… only for a nine-match winless streak to see them sink right back down to last place. Seven points adrift with just six games left, and away games against Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs to come, things looked decidedly bleak.

Then came the miracle – a point at the Etihad against the eventual champions, narrow wins over star-studded Manchester United and Chelsea sides, a 4-0 thrashing of Cardiff City and a 2-0 win over West Brom saw them sail all the way up to 14th, and even a home defeat to Swansea on the final day didn’t matter in the end. Perhaps the sharpest about turn of form in top tier history.

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1. West Bromwich Albion 2004/05

It was a stat repeated so often on Match of the Day that every Premier League fan knew it – no team that was bottom of the table on Christmas Day had ever stayed up. A 4-0 defeat to Birmingham City ensured that West Brom were the team seemingly guaranteed to go down, and a 5-0 Boxing Day bashing from Liverpool didn’t make matters any better.

Kevin Campbell gives Bryan Robson the Formula One treatment after their astonishing escape.Kevin Campbell gives Bryan Robson the Formula One treatment after their astonishing escape.
Kevin Campbell gives Bryan Robson the Formula One treatment after their astonishing escape.

Indeed, new manager Bryan Robson, appointed in November after the dismissal of Gary Megson, didn’t win once in his first 11 games in charge of the Baggies, and boinging was at a bare minimum at the Hawthorns. But the clouds lifted somewhat after a 2-0 win over Manchester City and form gradually improved through to April – only for West Brom to go six games without a win down the home stretch to leave them dead last going into the final day of the season.

But they still had a chance – they needed to beat Portsmouth at home and pray that, against all the odds, Southampton, Crystal Palace and Norwich City all failed to win. Sky Sports advertised it like a boxing match, billing it as ‘Survival Sunday’ - one team staying up, three going down, nobody safe. Geoff Horsfield and Kieran Richardson did the job for West Brom, Southampton lost 2-1 to Manchester United, Norwich – who were 17th at the top of the day – took a 6-0 tonking at Fulham, and Palace, leading 2-1 away to Charlton Athletic, conceded a late equaliser to send them down as well. West Brom had achieved the seemingly impossible, and stayed up by just one single point. The greatest escape of them all – only to promptly get relegated the very next season. Cruel game, isn’t it?

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