to be bottom of the Premier League at Christmas, on the last day, and even at halftime on the last day, and still survive. Every side that lay bottom at Christmas improved their form in the remaining matches – except for Derby County, West Brom, and Portsmouth over the three-year period of 2008 to 2010. This can partially be explained by the January transfer window, enabling the struggling sides to improve their squads. The three sides to have survived the drop despite being at the foot of the table at Christmas all improved their form by at least 0.64 points per game – just under the equivalent of two additional points for every three matches played. Only three other sides have increased their form by greater than this amount: Sheffield Wednesday (2000), West Ham United (2003) and Sheffield United (2021). Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United had the third worst and worst forms prior to Christmas respectively, while West Ham achieved the highest points total from a 38-game season for a relegated side – achieving more points at the end of the season than the three sides who survived the drop despite being bottom at Christmas. The last time a top-division team had achieved this feat was in the penultimate season of the pre-Premier League First Division, in 1990–91. The team in question was Sheffield United, who after 16 matches had no wins and only 4 points, before their form improved dramatically in the second half of the season and a run of seven successive wins helped them to finish in 13th place out of 20. Certain teams are notable for extremely poor seasons as a result of inability to come to terms with the gulf: Swindon Town were the first such example in the 1993–94 season, when they won a mere five games out of 42 and conceded 100 goals (still a Premier League record) in their first and, to date, only season in the top flight. One of the few bright spots of the season came when they held Manchester United (who went on to win the league title and FA Cup) to a 2–2 draw at home in March, and having lost 4–2 away to them earlier in the season they scored more goals against the title-winning side than any other club in the league that season (bar Oldham Athletic, who were also relegated). In 2002–03, Sunderland were