EPL survival guide: How clubs can avoid relegation to the Championship

It's early doors but Burnley achieved lift-off with their first point of the campaign in a 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest on Monday Night Football - but what do teams scrapping at the bottom need to survive in the Premier League?

Five weeks into the campaign, Luton remain pointless after a 1-0 defeat to Fulham at the weekend, while Everton and Sheffield United remain locked with Burnley on a single point - with Paul Heckingbottom's side looking down at the relegation zone on goal difference.

The margins are likely to remain tight come May, but what are the key characteristics of successful relegation battlers?

Here, statistician Will Rickson explores the numbers to uncover how many wins, points and goals are typically required to avoid the drop - in addition to revealing how defensive solidity and different playing styles affect the outcome.

Eleven wins is a good place to start. No team has been relegated in a 38-game Premier League season with 11 or more wins, whereas nine teams have been relegated on 10 wins. However, that is now very rare, too - only Cardiff in 2018/19 have been relegated with 10 wins in the last 11 seasons, compared with five teams in the 10 seasons before that.

The average points tally required for survival has gradually declined, as the strength of the top teams has increased. The required total for survival in the last seven seasons is more than three points lower than it was between 1995 and 2002.

Taking 35 or more points in the last 11 seasons gives teams a 98-per-cent chance of survival - only four teams during that period have been relegated after reaching or exceeding that tally. Burnley, in 2021/22, are the only team to have done so in the last seven seasons.

However, last season must serve as a