Three teams haunted by fears of relegation have home fixtures with top-five opposition this week. Tonight West Bromwich Albion and Portsmouth are at home to Arsenal and Chelsea respectively, and Manchester United visit St James' Park tomorrow. Consider Tottenham's north-east double bill in the next five days and this could be a pivotal week in the enthralling tussle at the foot of the table.

Any club from Hull City in 13th to West Brom at the bottom can still aspire to ­Premier League safety while simultaneously fearing for their top-flight existence. At this stage of the season the fear often overwhelms the promise and, ahead of tomorrow night's visit of Manchester United, the Newcastle midfielder Nicky Butt sees the scary side of his club's run-in, on paper the most difficult of all the relegation contenders'.

"Our situation is getting more and more serious as the weeks go by," he said after Sunday's 1–0 defeat at Bolton. "Anyone who is sat in our dressing room thinking we are going to be OK is in danger of getting bitten on the bum."

Of their 10 remaining games following tomorrow night's home fixture with Sir Alex Ferguson's side, which the visitors won 5–1 last season, the Magpies host ­Arsenal and Chelsea at St James' Park ­before travelling to Villa Park on what may be a decisive final day.

With only one home win in four months, their manager Joe Kinnear not due to return from his triple heart bypass until early April and currently ­without four key midfielders, it is not only on paper that Newcastle's run-in looks daunting. Meanwhile, having garnered two wins, two draws and two losses from Spurs' last six league games, Harry Redknapp appears to have steadied the Tottenham ship rather than put wind in its sails.

Wins over Middlesbrough and Sunderland this week would be more than just a fillip. Second only to Newcastle, Tottenham have the toughest tests remaining on their fixture list: all of the top six except Arsenal.

Given that schedule, the Tottenham striker Darren Bent knows a repeat of last season's post-Carling Cup funk could be catastrophic. "Last year we won the Carling Cup and our league form dipped dramatically," he said. "We know if we do that this season we will be in serious trouble but the lads are prepared to dig in."

Of the bottom eight clubs only Hull and Portsmouth's points-per-game ratios have them on course for the traditional 40-point survival threshold, meaning we are unlikely to see a repeat of the 2002-3 season when West Ham were relegated despite amassing 42 points. This may be of some comfort to West Brom, who would have to double their current ratio of 0.81 to achieve 40 points.

Since beating Sunderland, Arsenal and West Brom on the spin at the Britannia Stadium, Stoke have managed a win, four draws and one defeat at home. Despite that modest record Tony Pulis will be looking to six very winnable home games to secure a second season in the Premier League.

Middlesbrough, in spite of Saturday's heroics against Liverpool, have the worst home record of the bottom three, but there is no solace in a schedule that includes trips to Everton, Arsenal and Manchester United between now and May. Blackburn have identical records home and away, but the visits to Ewood Park of Tottenham, Portsmouth and West Brom compare ­favourably with trips to the ­Emirates, ­Anfield and Stamford Bridge.

Portsmouth and Hull will not be too comforted by their superior points-per-game ratio. One club is riddled with uncertainty and the other appears incapable of arresting an alarming nosedive in form. Managerless and up for sale, Portsmouth can count Chelsea, Everton and Arsenal among their home fixtures.

Winless in the league since 6 December and with their star player, Geovanni, publicly expressing his dissatisfaction with his manager, Hull cannot be relishing hosting Liverpool and Manchester United, a prospect that they might have been more optimistic about earlier in the season.

Phil Brown, aware of his side's superior away form, may focus instead on visits to Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Bolton. For those aspiring to safety, trips to places such as the Riverside or the Reebok can take the mind off a frightful visit from the European champions.