A Whiter Shade Of Tangerine

Twenty eight games in and any clues yet as to our likely safety from relegation come the end of the season? Looking at the statistics as they stand suggests we will!

Saturday's match against Ipswich means that we have now played against all 23 Championship opponents at least once and our record is as follows :-

Current Top 8 sides :- Plyd 8 Pts 4
Current Middle 8 sides :- Plyd 9 Pts 10
Current Bottom 8 sides :- Plyd 11 Pts 20

With 6 of our wins coming against teams below us it is probably not surprising that nearly 60% of our points to date have come from only a third of our opponents. Given that we still have to face the likes of Sheffield Wednesday, Leicester City and Preston at Bloomfield Road this should give cause for optimism.

However our meagre return of 0.5 points every time we face a promotion seeking side hints at a very tough run in for the Seasiders as we play 5 of the current Top 8 sides in our last 7 games!

This suggests that the key to survival might in fact be the points we can collect against mid table sides, where we currently average 1.11 points per game.

If our form against all three categories of opponents continues as it has done we should net a further 19 points :-

4 from the 8 games against Top 8 sides
6 from the 5 games against Middle 8 sides
9 from the 5 games against Bottom 8 sides

making an overall haul of 53 points, and barring a disaster, our Championship status secured for at least another season.

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