with six games to go   five for qpr and seven for leicester   there are just four points separating the bottom five sides in the premier league as things stand the three promoted clubs, leicester, burnley and qpr, would make an immediate return to the championship, but hull and sunderland are teetering on the brink even aston villa and west brom are not quite out of the dogfight, although our reporters are confident that the relegated clubs will come from the five teams currently at the foot of the table charlie austin is hoping to fire qpr to safety, but will his goals be enough to save them? can any of the bottom three climb to safety? or will the clubs above them succumb to fiendishly difficult fixture lists? sportsmail's reporters give their verdicts on the closest relegation run in for years lee clayton  leicester, qpr and sunderland can i add an if? if danny ings starts scoring regularly again if not, sunderland will stay up by the skin of their teeth and the bottom three go down, which should act as a warning to bournemouth, norwich, watford, middlesbrough and the rest involved in the wacky races at the top of the championship sunderland's fans deserve better so do newcastle fans but don't get me started on that danny ings has nine premier league goals so far, but he'll need to start scoring again for burnley to stay up  sunderland's fans, who were dejected after their defeat to crystal palace last week, deserve more  hull  liverpool (home)   april 18  crystal palace (away)   april 25  arsenal (home)   may 2  burnley (home)   may 9  tottenham (away)   may 16  man united (home)   may 24  aston villa  man city (away)   april 25  everton (home)   may 2  west ham (home)   may 9  southampton (away)   may 16  burnley (home)   may 24  *qpr (home)   date to be arranged  sunderland  stoke (away)   april 25  southampton (home)   may 2  everton (away)   may 9  leicester (home)   may 16  arsenal (away)   may 20  chelsea (away)   may 24  burnley  everton (away)   april 18  leicester (home)   april 25  west ham (away)   may 2  hull (away)   may 9  stoke (home)   may 16  aston villa (away)   may 24  qpr  west ham (home)   april 25  liverpool (away)   may 2  man city (away)   may 9  newcastle (home)   may 16  leicester (away)   may 24  *aston villa (away)   date to be arranged  leicester  swansea (home)   april 18  burnley (away)   april 25  chelsea (home)   april 29  newcastle (home)   may 2  southampton (home)   may 9  sunderland (away)   may 16  qpr (home)   may 24  note: fixtures in may subject to change for television schedule the bottom seven in the premier league as it stands, with leicester city bottom, but holding a game in hand  matt barlow  qpr, hull and sunderland  burnley to survive as they have made it through a nightmare sequence of fixtures with their spirit and desire intact they can take points from any of their final six games   even though only two are at home and they have won only once away this season leicester's fixture list gives them a chance with five home games plus away fixtures at burnley and sunderland there may be too much to do but they suddenly have a chance having found the winning formula and it may supply the required inspiration sunderland and hull face the double whammy of flagging form and brutal fixtures and qpr are running out of games steve bruce (left) and dick advocaat are feeling the strain as their teams slide towards relegation  with their improvement under tim sherwood, none of our reporters think aston villa will go down  riath al samarrai  hull, burnley and leicester  hull have a dreadful run in and simply look awful that's not to say qpr have been much better but at least against chelsea they showed they are still fighting when i saw hull at swansea earlier this month, they were spineless burnley have a reasonable run of fixtures but they and leicester have been in the mess all season   i can't see why that would change in the next few weeks burnley have been in the bottom three for most of the season, and they'll need a big improvement to stay up  rob draper  hull, leicester and qpr  hull's run in is just awful whereas burnley's looks manageable at this stage of the season it's usually about momentum hull have lost theirs qpr and leicester have gained some but it looks too little, too late qpr have gained a little bit of momentum under chris ramsey, but it is too little too late for them  dominic king  qpr, hull and sunderland  this is a big call but i can see both leicester and burnley dragging themselves out of the mire whenever i've seen leicester this season, they have competed until the last kick and the same goes for burnley they look ready to fight for their lives hull have a taxing run in and simply aren't playing well enough sunderland, meanwhile, have been wretched all season and, to this observer, look bereft of the unity and resilience you need to get out of such a hole leicester have always fought until the final whistle, and that will go for the relegation run in as well  sunderland have been abject all season and look bereft of ideas as they struggle to stay in the top flight  chris wheeler  leicester, qpr and hull  burnley have a much easier run in than qpr, hull and sunderland, and i’m backing sean dyche to pull off the great escape after being written off from the start leicester also have a decent set of fixtures – not to mention a game in hand – but i think they will drop out and dick advocaat will keep sunderland up   just jermaine defoe celebrates his goal against newcastle, and he could do enough to keep sunderland up  mike keegan  hull, sunderland and qpr  hull's run in looks horrendous with relegation a fitting reward for a side that has underperformed all season dick advocaat is not the man to save sunderland yes, they beat john carver's newcastle (who doesn't?) but normal service was resumed when crystal palace trounced them 4 1 on home turf final day defeat at leicester will condemn qpr and complete nigel pearson's great escape while danny ings will rediscover his shooting boots to hand burnley the perfect parting gift and cap a fairytale year for the brilliant sean dyche sunderland boss advocaat watches on as his side lose to crystal palace   he is not the man to save them  leicester's final day game at home to qpr will be crucial as nigel pearson looks to keep his side up  joe bernstein  sunderland, burnley and qpr  i can't see sunderland getting a single point from their remaining away games at stoke, everton, arsenal and chelsea burnley haven't turned draws into wins and qpr go to leicester on the final day it looks winner takes all in that one leicester have five of their seven fixtures at home plus trips to sunderland and burnley i think they can provide the 'miracle' and ensure one promoted team stays up qpr and leicester will battle it out for survival, but the london club will not have enough to stay up  sam cunningham  leicester, burnley and hull  hull's final run in is the worst of any of the relegation threatened clubs, facing liverpool, arsenal, tottenham and manchester united in four of their remaining six, and i believe they're doomed of the three already in the relegation places, i feel qpr showed against west bromwich albion and chelsea they have what it takes to stay up helped by charlie austin's goals leicester and burnley are not strong enough to beat the drop leicester have shown signs of pulling off a miracle, but do they have the quality to stay up this season? qpr have shown enough to suggest they will beat the drop, and charlie austin's goals can prove decisive  sami mokbel  leicester, qpr and hull  leicester and qpr have shown an improvement in recent weeks, but i fear they've left themselves too much to do hull have got some awful fixtures ahead they still have to play: liverpool, arsenal, tottenham and manchester united their other two games are against crystal palace   who are flying under alan pardew   and fellow relegation scrappers burnley i'm not sure there's enough points in those games for steve bruce's side to escape hull city lack momentum and have the most difficult run in of any of the sides left in the relegation scrap  craig hope  burnley, hull and sunderland  yeah, that's right, leicester city and qpr both escape the drop as outlandish as it once seemed, the pair now have a little bit of momentum   a lot of it in leicester's case   and that cannot be said of sunderland and hull qpr will beat both west ham and newcastle at home, while a draw at leicester on the final day could prove enough to see them both to safety leicester also face newcastle   and that is the biggest guarantee of three points as there is at the moment sunderland, meanwhile, simply are not capable of saving themselves and, with trips to arsenal and chelsea to sign off the season, their final home game with leicester will determine their fate lose and they will probably be relegated with a points total in the region of 32 hull have lost three on the spin and have a horrendous run in during which they'll be lucky to win another game as for burnley, they have winnable matches but the goals have dried up and that could cost them dear sunderland are in danger of being brushed aside in the battle to avoid relegation, and look likely to go down 
aston villa qpr hull city burnley west brom sunderland leicester
leicester, burnley and qpr hoping to avoid going straight back down  hull city and sunderland also in danger of going down  aston villa and west brom are closer to safety, but could get sucked in 