CPR for QPR? Can Villa Survive the Drop?

Just before 3 o'clock on Sunday afternoon, QPR and Reading's relegation from the Premier League was confirmed after a 0-0 draw at the Madejski Stadium meant that both sides were too far from safety - Aston Villa's 6-1 trouncing of Sunderland merely was the icing on the cake if you can call it that as that 17th place was definitely insurmountable for both blue and white sides with just 3 games to go in the season.

To be fair, Reading and QPR had been down for a while now. Having just been promoted last season, Reading were expected to struggle - which they did and Brian McDermott's sacking really was the flying of the white flag from the Madejski Stadium.

On the other hand, wealthy QPR with Mark Hughes at the helm had been expected to at least be a mid-table team. Alas, a dreadful start to QPR's season meant that the West London side were always up against the wall and they failed to recover from the drubbing at home at the hands of eventual high flyers Swansea City on the opening day even with Harry Redknapp called on by owner, Tony Fernandes, to perform the latest of his magic tricks.

QPR must now contemplate life in the Championship and plenty of changes will have to be made to a squad that has too many bells and whistles that  don't appear to work and will weigh down the club away from the Premier League of milk and honey. Like other clubs who have signed big like Leeds, West Ham and Newcastle and ended up being relegated, QPR must prepare itself for the fire sale of the century - something which the remaining Premier League clubs will pounce on.

Robert Green, Julio Cesar, Christopher Samba, Park Ji-Sung, Andrew Johnson, Bobby Zamora, Adel Taraabt, Esteban Granero, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Tal Ben-Haim, Junior Hoilett (second relegation in 2 seasons), Loic Remy, Jermaine Jenas, Jose Bosingwa, Arnand Traore all have question marks on them, all uncertain if they would stay at what is now a Championship club.

The quality of players listed before just shows you how massively disappointing QPR have been this season. I'm certain half of those players will be gone having been told by Arry that they don't fit in his plans for the club next season. And that is exactly what QPR need to do if they are to have any chance of a quick return from what is now a very tough league.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa's squad of skin and bones appears to have finally found some meat and substance at the right end of the season. It appears that Paul Lambert's message has finally come through to his young charges at Villa Park and the team that we had been waiting all season finally showed up in their relegation 6-pointer against Sunderland on Monday night.

Villa were fantastic throughout even if they were still naive as they have been all season - they conceded just over a minute after taking the lead, something that has been part of their downfall this season thus far. However, for the first time, rather than lie down, they responded and boy did they respond with 5 unanswered goals including 1 before half-time for the consistent Andreas Weimann and a hat-trick for dangerous talisman, Christian Benteke. It was very reminiscent of Paul Lambert's Norwich the season before - bright and enterprising - and it left Paolo di Canio scratching his head at what now for his Sunderland side, still not safe from the drop.

Is Christian Benteke now one of the Premier League's most wanted strikers?

As for Villa, their reward could possibly come at the end of the season with survival against the odds. They are now 5 points ahead of 18th placed Wigan Athletic and for a side scrapping against relegation, 5 points is quite a lot of points to get from 4 games (Wigan of course have a game in hand due to their FA Cup exploits but those exploits itself could hurt Wigan's chances of survival in the Premier League especially since two of those games are away to West Brom and Arsenal) and they also rely on Villa slipping up.

One thinks now that even if Villa can only get 2 points from their next 2 games against Norwich and Chelsea, they should be okay going into their final game against Wigan - which could still yet be a shootout for survival.

But this has been a season where mid-table teams appear to have been dragged into the whirlpool of relegation and Newcastle and Sunderland are very much in danger and with some tricky games ahead. However, Villa appear to be heading upwards at the right time - and one wonders what Villa will be like next season if they do dodge the drop against all odds.