By George Overhill

26th May, 2023 | 6:40pm

Everton, Leeds and Leicester given immediate promotion predictions by Simon Jordan live on talkSPORT ahead of final day

Simon Jordan believes that any two of the final three relegation candidates can bounce straight back up from the Championship, including Everton.

The Toffees have the upper hand going into the final weekend meeting with Bournemouth, with a two-point lead over Leeds and Leicester in the battle to avoid joining Southampton in going down.

But of the at-risk trio the former Crystal Palace chairman has delivered an encouraging viewpoint if the worst is to happen on the last day of the season (28 May), even if he isn’t so confident about the already-relegated Saints.

Jim White asked live on talkSPORT (26 May): “Judgement day almost upon us for Everton, Leicester and Leeds… Will any of those three clubs be away for long if and when they drop down? Whoever drops down, will they come straight back up?”

Jordan answered: “I think the two teams that go down are Leicester and Leeds, specifically Leeds… The answer to your question is, yes I think they can bounce back again, whoever goes down, including Everton.”

Optimistic

On paper Everton probably should be capable of getting straight back into the Premier League if they drop out of it for the first time.

But on paper they probably shouldn’t open the door against Bournemouth anyway, and they arguably should never have been at risk of the drop in the first place.

So, while parachute payments obviously give newly-relegated sides somewhat of an advantage, given the track record of the spending at Goodison Park in recent years it is surprisingly positive of Jordan to tip the Toffees to get straight back up.

If dropping down to the Championship means avoiding any potential sanctions from the profit and sustainability referral unless or until they get back, and probably also sidesteps the threat of legal action from rival sides, perhaps there would be a silver lining to going down.

But it will still be bad news overall, and only the expected investment from MSP Sports Capital being on the horizon should help prevent it from being an outright catastrophe.

All in all it is not an equation that the club should be looking to get involved with, as one win in front of the home fans is all it takes to stay up now.

Given that equation when he arrived in January Sean Dyche would likely have accepted so he and his injury-hit side just have to finish the job with a one-off game to secure a late, late escape.