BLACKBURN Rovers will still be targeting 40 points for Premier League survival this season, but only once in the past 13 seasons has the relegation race reached that mark.

Rovers currently stand 17th in the table with 21 points from their first 25 matches of the season.

It is a figure that would have put them in the bottom three at this stage of every campaign since 2002/03.

The fact that none of the bottom five have gone beyond 21 points by mid-February appears to suggest that much fewer than 40 points will be required to stay up this season.

But predicting how many points will be needed to stay up is only marginally easier than predicting winning lottery numbers.

Nine years ago, 17th-placed Bolton had the same points total as Rovers after 25 games and finished the season on 44 points – only two points clear of the relegated West Ham.

It was a freakish run-in, but proved that anything can happen in the final months of a campaign.

In contrast, in 2009/10, Bolton were 18th with 23 points – two more than Rovers now – after 25 games.

But nosedives for Hull and Burnley saw the rest needing only 31 points to stay up, something they achieved comfortably. Last season was the closest the relegation race has come to the 40-point mark for some time.

Birmingham took the final relegation spot on 39 points with Wolves finishing 17th on 40, although they would have stayed up on goal difference with a point less.

In the past nine seasons, 36 points has been the average mark needed for a side to remain in the Premier League.

For Blackburn that would mean 15 points from their final 13 games of the season. Whether they will need that many, though, only time will tell.