How does Premier League survival battle stand?

ByPhil Cartwright

BBC Sport journalist

Four clubs into one will not go - and they are all determined not to be "the one".

While Wolves and Burnley are off the pace and almost certain to be playing in the Championship next season, the four-way battle to avoid joining them in the second tier is too close to call.

This weekend's round of fixtures changed little, as all four sides drew their respective fixtures, but some will take far more belief and confidence from their results than others.

Currently, it is West Ham United who occupy the unwanted 18th position, although only goal difference separates the Hammers and Nottingham Forest, who both have 29 points after 30 matches.

Tottenham Hotspur scored late in a dramatic 1-1 draw at Liverpool to remain a point above the safety line on 30 points, while Leeds United are 15th on 32 points but by no means out of trouble.

West Ham were the only one of the four teams to play on Saturday and, against title-chasing Manchester City, came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw.

That moved them out of the bottom three for about 18 hours, although they ended the weekend back in the relegation zone because of results on Sunday.

A 2-1 home loss to Forest on 6 January left the Hammers seven points from safety with 17 matches remaining. At that stage, they were 13 points behind Spurs having played a game more.

Since then, Nuno Espirito Santo's team have taken 15 points from nine games and are, in terms of results, in the best form of the aforementioned quartet.

Among their remaining games is a home fixture against leaders Arsenal, while they finish the campaign by hosting Leeds.

A last-day decider, anyone?

Against Fulham, Nottingham Forest failed to find the net in a Premier League game for the 14th time in 30 outings this season.

They had the better chances in a goalless draw, while they could have had a second-half penalty and scored the opening goal had substitute Dan Ndoye not strayed narrowly offside on two occasions.

Forest full-back Ola Aina, who hit the crossbar in the second period, told BBC Sport: "Like in many other games, we're creating good chances but it's just not working right now.

"Hopefully in the games to come, those chances go in.

"We've got quality and the spirit to [change the team's luck in front of goal]. Honestly, I just think it's the rub of the green that's not going for us.

"We've just got to keep believing in what we're doing and ultimately in each other, because we're the ones that are going to turn it round."

Forest will look to overturn a 1-0 deficit in the second leg of their Europa League last-16 tie with Danish side Midtjylland on Thursday, but also on the horizon is a huge league game at Tottenham on 22 March.

Forest boss Vitor Pereira said the game against Spurs is "very, very important", adding: "We are in a position that we need to go there to compete for three points."

Spurs' wait for a first Premier League win in 2026 continues, but they will surely take great belief from a priceless point against Liverpool.

Igor Tudor was under huge scrutiny after Tuesday's Champions League loss to Atletico Madrid, in which he selected goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky from the start and then substituted him after 17 minutes following errors that led to two Atletico goals.

Five days on, a depleted Spurs squad toiled hard against the reigning league champions and punished the Reds for their wastefulness in front of goal when Richarlison popped up with a 90th-minute leveller.

"I'm happy because it's never easy to come here and play at this stadium," said Tudor.

"We stayed in the game until the last minute, we believed, we tried and in the end the goal came. It's a very good point for us.

"We came here with 12 players and this moment - for me, for our club, for the team - this is really something big."

Sunday's 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace extended Leeds' winless Premier League run to five games but they have maintained a small gap to the teams directly below them.

On another day, they could have won at Selhurst Park. Dominic Calvert-Lewin's missed first-half penalty was the best of their chances.

However, playing with 10 men for all of the second period following Gabriel Gudmundsson's red card, they could easily have left with nothing.

Leeds boss Daniel Farke told BBC Sport: "We are not perfect and not flawless, otherwise we would have been in the lead at half-time, but this mentality, unity and spirit in the dressing room is second to none.

"We came here to win this game and if we had converted our situations in the first half, or would have been allowed to play with 11 men, I'm pretty sure we would have won this game.

"Sometimes you have to adapt to strange circumstances and that's what we did that today.

"It was a really good clean sheet and we take a valuable point away."