Relegation - one of the game’s necessities. After a long drawn out season, teams that have failed to muster an adequate number of points feel the ice cold grip of footballs’ Grim Reaper tighten around the neck of an unsuspecting club.
It's happened with Reading and Queens Park Rangers in the Premier League, Pescara have suffered a similar fate in Serie A, while Greuther Furth have dropped down to 2. Bundesliga.
In Spain, however, it's a lot closer than many might like to think. With four games remaining - three for Celta Vigo - between now and the end of the season, the entire bottom half of the Primera Division can still succumb to the threat of relegation to the Segunda Division.
While 14 points separate bottom placed Mallorca and Espanyol in 11th, the difference between the latter and a resurgent Deportivo La Coruna in 18th remains at 11 points, meaning the Periquitos can, mathematically at least, still be relegated.
However, the real teams in danger of dropping down are Athletic Bilbao, Granada, Osasuna, Zaragoza, Deportivo, Celta Vigo and Mallorca. As the former currently sit 14th on 38 points, they loom perilously close to the bottom three, with Marcelo Bielsa's side on a run of five games without a win.
For Los Leones, while they remain in the best position to secure their top-flight status, the Basque outfit still have to play Mallorca and Zaragoza between now and the end of the season, both of whom are below Athletic in the table.
One of Athletic's weaknesses this season has been 'defending set pieces', and that may be a problem in the coming weeks. One of Mallorca's strengths is 'attacking set pieces', with Los Bermellones winning the second most aerial duels (667) this season, a full 119 more than Athletic. The league's bottom side may be hoping to capitalise when presented with set piece opportunities, with 32.4% of their 37 goals being headed this term.
Zaragoza, like Mallorca, will also look to exploit another of Athletic's weaknesses when the two face off, with the Blanquillos expected to capitalise on their opponent's poor defensive ability when it comes to dealing with long shots.
This is further emphasised in that Zaragoza have the fifth highest tally of shots on target from outside the box this season (58), with four of those resulting in goals, while Athletic number one Gorka Iraizoz has conceded 7 goals from outside the penalty area - having let in 56 in total, that's a rate of one every eight goals.
Granada, currently below Athletic, have a very difficult run to the end of the season, playing only one team below them in La Liga - Osasuna, who sit two points behind El Grana.
Up against Real Sociedad on Monday, the two sides' strength comes in attacking on opposite sides of the pitch - Granada down the left and Sociedad the right - as highlighted by the differentiation in which flank they pass to. The former have moved the ball to the left 1914 times compared to 1674 to the right, while the latter 2667 times to 2056 in favour of shifting to the right.
Understandably for Juan Antonio Anquela's side, the big encounter of their final run will be the welcome of Osasuna on the 18th of May. The last time the two teams met was back in November, during which Granada ran out as 2-1 victors.
With Valencia and Getafe also to play before the season ends, Granada could still find themselves dragged into a relegation dogfight, especially as they’re only three points above Deportivo in 18th.
Getafe, who travel to both Osasuna and Granada over the next four games, have taken only 16 points from a possible 51 away from home this campaign, and the duo may be confident of picking up an important result when the welcome of the Madrid side.
What will aid Osasuna is their strength in stealing possession from the opposition, while Getafe have a weakness in retaining possession, with the latter having lost the ball 1051 fewer times than the former this campaign. However, while Los Rojillos have the capability of attaining points over their next two fixtures, the club host Sevilla and Real Madrid in their last two games of the season.
While Los Blancos’ season will almost certainly be over by the last game of the domestic campaign, the strength in depth available to Mourinho will undoubtedly overpower Osasuna, especially with Real netting every 7.2 shots on goal, having fired off the most shots (669) in La Liga this season.
Level on points with Osasuna are Zaragoza, who host fellow relegation candidates Athletic before the campaign ends, but having won their last two games - their victory over Mallorca being their first in 2013 - the club will be hopeful of continuing their run of form.
The toughest proposition for the club will be the welcome of Atletico Madrid on the final day of the season. While Los Rojiblancos secured their Champions League place with the win over Celta Vigo on Wednesday, they will still provide a substantial threat to Zaragoza, especially with Radamel Falcao spearheading the attack for Diego Simeone’s side.
Yet, it isn’t just Atletico that Zaragoza should be worrying about for the end of the season. Manolo Jimenez’s side take on Real Betis in the penultimate game of the year, at the Estadio Benito Villamarin, of which the Verdiblancos are undefeated in their last eight games.
Moving into the current bottom three and focusing first on Deportivo, who at present are on a seven game unbeaten run - the club picking up 15 of their 32 points mustered this season during their current purple patch.
With Valladolid and Espanol upcoming over the next two weekends for Deportivo, facing Malaga and Real Sociedad, respectively, in the last two games of the season will pose a serious threat to their surival hopes.
As it currently stands both teams are looking to secure a top four finish, regardless of Malaga’s European ban next season. Manuel Pellegrini’s side are likely to attack down the wings in order to exploit Deportivo’s weakness of defending teams from the flanks.
While they’ve only succeeded with 35.9% of their attempted dribbles, the 637 efforts is the sixth highest in La Liga, with midfielder Isco attempting 145 of those, the third highest in the Primera Division behind Lionel Messi (189) and Bruno Gama (150) of Barcelona and Deportivo, respectively. However, while Gama has attempted more dribbles than Isco, the latter has a superior success percentage, having completed 35.1% of his attempts to beat a player compared to the former’s 30.6%.
When focusing on Sociedad for Deportivo’s final game of the season, the 62 goals scored makes them the third highest scoring side in La Liga this season, with Real Madrid (95) and Barcelona (105) the pairing to have netted more.
Furthermore, Deportivo have also conceded 65 goals this season, the second highest in the Primera Division, and with Sociedad having netted an average of 2.1 goals per game over their last six La Liga encounters, the attacking prowess of the Basque side could see them prevail on the final day of the season.
In 19th place is Celta Vigo, who recently succumbed to a 3-1 defeat to Atletico Madrid to further hamper their hopes of securing their La Liga safety. Key to this will be striker Iago Aspas, with the Spaniard crucial to Paco Herrera’s plans this season, the striker directly contributing to 50% of Celta’s goals this season.
Fortunately for Celta, however, is that of the remaining fixtures left to play, the toughest looks to be the visit to Betis, who have lost just five times at home this season. Nevertheless, if Aspas can avoid picking up a suspension incurring yellow card between now and the final game of the campaign, it gives Los Celestes a fighting chance of staving off the threat of relegation.
Finally, bottom team Mallorca, who at present face the toughest task of securing their Primera Division safety. The club may be just four points off safety, but having picked up just seven wins all season, their future in Spain’s top flight looks increasingly precarious.
Furthermore, up against Atletico Madrid in the penultimate game of the campaign, defeat against Los Rojiblancos could seal their fate in the Segunda Division and with the team having scored just 37 goals up against a team that have conceded just 28; it doesn’t bode well for Mallorca.
Likely to be in goal for Atletico for the encounter is Thibaut Courtois and having kept 19 clean sheets for the club this season - a league high - finding a way past the Belgian may prove too much for Los Bermellones, who themselves are scoring only one goal every 11.35 shots.
Either way, every team in the bottom half can, mathematically, go down and while it’s looking increasingly likely that Espanyol, Levante and Valladolid will remain in the upper echelons of Spanish football, from Athletic to Mallorca, there is the distinct possibility that the race could go down to the final game of the season.
I wouldn't call it a battle because that's synonymous with war and football is a sport. It's called alliteration...
I would hardly call it a 'race' - makes it sound like they want to get relegated. It's more of a 'battle'...