(Football news) Just as one exhausting relegation battle comes to an end, another reaches its head-spinning conclusion. The Premier League is over and Leicester City, Leeds United and Southampton have been put out of their misery.

Over in Spain, however, an agonizing final day awaits, with six teams still in with a chance of facing the drop on the final day. If you like a permutation, Sunday night’s Spanish football is the place for you.Ten games were broadcast on the multi-screen at once last weekend as the bottom half of La Liga fought for safety.

It was a practice run for the pandemonium that was to come. Just days after Espanyol rallied from 3-0 down to draw with Atletico Madrid, Valencia scored an equaliser in the 93rd minute to deal a shocking knockout blow to the team.

Elche, who is 12 points down in La Liga but yet seems hell-bent on destroying everyone else’s campaign, is also in the hole. After defeating Rayo 4-0, triumphing over Atletico Madrid, and stealing a last-second victory at Athletic Bilbao, the bottom club may still throw one more curveball before the season is through.

There is a chance that more than one club may tie because the six struggling La Liga teams are all within two points of one another. In these cases, unlike the Premier League, La Liga employs the head-to-head record method to indicate positions.

A head-to-head mini-league is established if more than two clubs are tied for first place in the La Liga standings. And certainly, there is a possibility that all five teams Cadiz, Valencia, Getafe, Almeria, and Celta Vigo will end with 41 points, in which case a five-team mini-league would emerge. It’s also possible for many quadruple and triple head-to-heads to form, each with a different outcome from the previous one. The live-table staff will have a tough night on Sunday, that much is certain.

Starting with Real Valladolid, who would secure their survival with a victory over fellow strugglers Getafe, is a reasonably straightforward situation. If they lose, they would be doomed to the bottom of the league; if they drew, they would rise to 40 points, where, should Almeria and Celta Vigo both lose, they might be level with them.

In that case, the side being demoted would be decided by a three-team head-to-head table. Valladolid would be secure given that they have defeated both teams this year. Paulo Pezzolano’s team will therefore be secure with a victory, a draw would keep them in the top division only if Almeria also lost, and a loss would drop them. This Sunday, it’s probably best to be at the Estadio Jose Zorrilla because they’re playing a team that is only two points above them.

One position higher, Celta Vigo is at risk of experiencing an unparalleled collapse due to their alarming free decline. The Galician team will need to defeat Barcelona if they want to avoid any issues on the last day of La Liga. A draw opens up a whole new can of worms after losing seven of their last nine games and just two of their previous 16. In the event Valladolid loses, a single point will suffice. Reasonably simple.

But depending on which other teams finish the day with 41 points, other head-to-head leagues might become available if Valladolid defeats Getafe. Celta, meanwhile, has a dismal record versus its relegation opponents: just one point against Almeria, Getafe, and Valencia. They only have an advantage over one opponent, Cadiz, thanks to a 3-0 victory in September that gave them the advantage in goal differential.

Win, and Celta stays in La Liga. Unless Valladolid wins, they will be safe if they draw; otherwise, their head-to-head matchup would send them down. Celta will be demoted if Valladolid wins and Celta loses.

If Valladolid draws and Celta loses, a dead-even head-to-head match ensues. Celta would remain in the top division due to their superior goal differential at that point. If both Valladolid and Celta lose, Celta stays in the game.

Almeria is up next, having missed a fantastic chance to confirm their own safety last weekend. A discouraging 0-0 stalemate against Valladolid at the Power Horse Stadium, where they have amassed 33 of their 40 points this season, put Rubi’s team in uncertainty going into the final day. They now visit Espanyol, who were demoted last weekend. If they want to be sure they’re safe, they need a rare away victory.

Even though a draw would complicate matters, Almeria would still advance in the head-to-head rankings. Their impressive record versus relegation hopefuls will save them from falling even in the unlikely scenario when five teams finish level on 41 points.

Almeria will only be eliminated if both Valladolid and Celta Vigo win. Taste defeat at Espanyol.

They have a better head-to-head record than Celta, but not Valladolid, who defeated them in September with a goal in the 93rd minute and managed to hold on to a draw the following weekend. They have an even worse road record than Elche in La Liga. The moment is now for them to increase their seven-point total from away games.

Up next, starting with Getafe, which is a little safer. Their tantalizing journey to Valladolid is as dramatic as it gets, with both teams fervently hoping to avoid defeat. Los Azulones typically struggle away from home, but last weekend’s thrilling victory at Real Betis, their first in La Liga away from home since October, has given Jose Bordalas’s team optimism about completing their epic escape.

Getafe is secure if they receive any points. We’ll have to deal with additional head-to-head headaches if they lose. Getafe would lose direct matches against Almeria, Valencia, and Cadiz without going through any head-to-head mini-leagues. They would therefore be demoted if they lose and end level with any of those clubs and those teams alone. Celta would lose if they finished with 41 points. The La Liga table depends on this game, so get ready for some last-minute maths.

Cadiz and Valencia only require a single point in order to survive, much like Getafe. Only a loss and victories by Celta, Almeria, and Valladolid, together with a point or more for Valencia, would send the Andalusian club to the second division. In such a dramatic situation, they would tie Getafe on head-to-head but lose because of their team’s goal differential, which is 12 goals lower than Madrid’s.

Things could get challenging for Cadiz when they travel to Elche for their final La Liga game; yet, they should be fine. Elche has only suffered one loss in their previous six games.

Similar to Valencia, it would only end in an unbelievable way. They would only be relegated in the event of a triple or quadruple head-to-head with all teams other than Celta Vigo, who they have defeated twice after a 93rd-minute equaliser saved a point last weekend. Valencia will continue to fight if they can ruin Joaquin’s final La Liga game.

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