Spotlight on the survival struggle

We look at the remaining fixtures for the clubs battling to stay in the Barclays Premier League.

This season's survival struggle has been one of the tightest and most exciting for years.
The battle to stay in the Barclays Premier League looks set to go right to the wire with nine clubs still fretting on their futures.
Recent runs by Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion have lifted the Midlands duo clear of immediate danger while Fulham, Stoke City, Birmingham City and Sunderland still have a slight cushion. That leaves the bottom five in most imminent danger and scrapping to avoid the dreaded drop.
Although bottom, Wolverhampton Wanderers have a match hand which could be enough to lift them out of the relegation zone if manager Mick McCarthy can inspire them to victory.
West Ham are fighting to avoid the Christmas curse. In the history of the Premier League, only West Brom in 2004/05 have been bottom at Christmas and yet still survived. Manager Avram Grant is hoping to avoid a second successive relegation after going down with Portsmouth in 2010.
After an impressive start to their first ever Premier League campaign, newly-promoted Blackpool have been sucked into trouble and will need all the motivational powers of charismatic manager Ian Holloway.
Wigan Athletic boss Roberto Martinez had guided his side out of the bottom three but the Spaniard knows they still have plenty of work to do to avoid the drop.
And Blackburn Rovers have gone into freefall since the departure of Sam Allardyce in December, winning just three of 17 Barclays Premier League matches under Steve Kean.
With just three points separating the bottom five, it is quite conceivable that, for the first time since 2005, none of the relegation places will have been decided before the final day of the campaign.

Fulham

Apr 23 - Wolves a
Apr 27 - Bolton h
Apr 30 - Sunderland a
May 9 - Liverpool h
May 15 - Birmingham a
May 22 - Arsenal h

Stoke

Apr 23 - A Villa a
Apr 26 - Wolves h
Apr 30 - Blackpool a
May 8 - Arsenal a
May 17 - Man City a
May 22 - Wigan h

Birmingham

Apr 23 - Liverpool a
May 1 - Wolves h
May 7 - Newcastle a
May 15 - Fulham h
May 22 - Tottenham a

Sunderland

Apr 23 - Wigan h
Apr 30 - Fulham h
May 7 - Bolton a
May 14 - Wolves h
May 22 - West Ham a

Blackburn

Apr 25 - Man City h
Apr 30 - Bolton h
May 7 - West Ham a
May 14 - Man Utd h
May 22 - Wolves a

Wigan

Apr 23 - Sunderland a
Apr 30 Everton h
May 7 - A villa a
May 15 - West Ham h
May 22 - Stoke a

Blackpool

Apr 23 - Newcastle h
Apr 30 - Stoke h
May 7 - Tottenham a
May 14 - Bolton h
May 22 - Man Utd a

West Ham

Apr 23 - Chelsea h
May 1 - Man City a
May 7 - Blackburn h
May 15 - Wigan a
May 22 - Sunderland h

Wolves

Apr 23 - Fulham h
Apr 26 - Stoke a
May 1 - Birmingham a
May 8 - WBA h
May 14 - Sunderland a
May 22 - Blackburn h