Norwich City manager Alex Neil has suggested that the race for survival could now be down to just his side, Sunderland and Newcastle United.
Swansea City picked up a 1-0 victory over the Canaries this afternoon to distance themselves from the bottom four, with Sunderland only managing a point against Southampton and Newcastle also losing to Bournemouth.
Those three teams are now separated by just one point and fighting for one place, and Neil is hopeful that his side can make their home games against the North-East duo count.
"Unless one of the teams above us has a horrendous run of form and doesn't win until now and the end of the season [the current points total] will not be enough. But they should pick up enough points to get over the line," he told reporters.
"We've got nine games left and the crumb of comfort is that the teams by us have only picked up one point today - and we've still got those two teams [to play] at home. Both [us and Swansea] sensed it was a cagey affair, but I don't think Swansea will come off thinking they were better than us.
"We had as many, if not more, chances, but for that 10-minute spell when they were on top they got a goal and we couldn't convert our chances. Both teams were resolute and looked defensively solid, but they scored the goal when they had the chance."
The Canaries have now picked up just one point from the last 27 on offer in the Premier League.
Barney Corkhill
