Last week, another club took a roll of the dice in the high-stakes contest to avoid the drop in the Premier League. Aitor Karanka parted company with Middlesbrough on Thursday, leaving the club in 19th place, three points from safety, with the league's lowest number of wins (four) and goals scored (19). A defensive record bettered only by Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea might have reflected more kindly were it not for the fact that 'Boro have been turgid to watch as a result.
Their slide down the table during a 10-game win-less run has coincided with a flicker of life in the teams who surround them, surges precipitated in each case by a change in the dugout.