Top 4 race 2016/17

AshfordLad said:
I doubt any Chelsea fans (apart from maybe bluecelery) on here were confident of 3 points. Most were probably hoping for a draw, but dippers dropping points to moyes made the diff between draw/loss irrelevant really.
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I wasn't confident about that game at all unlike the reverse fixture. All the signs pointed towards a loss. The winning streak had to come to an end eventually & it was perfectly set up for Tottenham to do it.

SirHenryPercy said:
These things are said all of the time, maybe they were just trying to scare your lads, if so it worked perfectly as we just bullied your little boys from start to finish.

Do our fanbase make little flags and banners like you lot did for the game last year. Even sending the dozy bird off your tv channel down to the Lane with one, giggling like she was being really naughty. Honestly we aren't into flags and banner waving with you little weirdos.

Our rivals will always be Arsenal, we hate them with a passion, they killed our feckin parrot and we won't forget. We also have a bit more of a fan based rivalry with West Ham which is a lot more intense than with Arsenal fans which is pretty much fully football based. But honestly you lot, over the years we've just had fun with you and that's been for 2 or 3 generations now, that's why you make your little flags and banners to hide behind.

You should try and focus on your pretend rivalry you've been trying to create with Liverpool, created out of need because out of the London clubs only Fulham and QPR are interested in you. North and East London has always been the centre of London football and no amount of a Putin puppets money or plastic fans will change that.
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Those are a lot of words for a club you deem irrelevant.
 
BlueCelery said:
I wasn't confident about that game at all unlike the reverse fixture. All the signs pointed towards a loss. ...
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As I've already said, prior to the game you said "Wouldn't be surprised if we beat them."
 
Shubham Ahuja said:
I'm willing to bet on Wenger losing out on top four this time (finally)! My only concern is we might join them because we have a difficult end to the season.

Keep in mind that United, Spurs and Arsenal play each other back to back in May. The net winner of these three fixtures might get fourth place..
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We need to keep ourselves near or be in the mix by that stage.
Imagine if we need to see a points haul from those 2 away to qualify.

Would be one heck of a finish though.
 
Spurs win a few games and suddenly their fans are sticking their chests out like they're about to coast to the title. :rolleyes:

And if I read one more time from a Spurs fan that they "played us off the park" I'm going to vomit. There was almost nothing in the game between the teams at all. It was a very even match decided by two moments of quality (and they perfectly exploited our lack of height on the right side of our defense). Hazard missed two golden opportunities that he'd normally score. We weren't dominated at all. In fact, Spurs played significantly better in the first half at the Bridge.

The unwarranted arrogance is actually hilarious. People, even non-Spurs fans keep going on about how amazing they are, yet Man City (who everyone would agree have been shit) can draw level with them this coming weekend.
 
BlueCelery said:
I wasn't confident about that game at all unlike the reverse fixture. All the signs pointed towards a loss. The winning streak had to come to an end eventually & it was perfectly set up for Tottenham to do it.



Those are a lot of words for a club you deem irrelevant.
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Few of them are about you, apart from the ones like 'weak & little'.
Orc said:
Spurs win a few games and suddenly their fans are sticking their chests out like they're about to coast to the title. :rolleyes:

And if I read one more time from a Spurs fan that they "played us off the park" I'm going to vomit. There was almost nothing in the game between the teams at all. It was a very even match decided by two moments of quality (and they perfectly exploited our lack of height on the right side of our defense). Hazard missed two golden opportunities that he'd normally score. We weren't dominated at all. In fact, Spurs played significantly better in the first half at the Bridge.

The unwarranted arrogance is actually hilarious. People, even non-Spurs fans keep going on about how amazing they are, yet Man City (who everyone would agree have been shit) can draw level with them this coming weekend.
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We played you off the park.

And then bullied you just for the fun of it.
 
Orc said:
Spurs win a few games and suddenly their fans are sticking their chests out like they're about to coast to the title. :rolleyes:

And if I read one more time from a Spurs fan that they "played us off the park" I'm going to vomit. There was almost nothing in the game between the teams at all. It was a very even match decided by two moments of quality (and they perfectly exploited our lack of height on the right side of our defense). Hazard missed two golden opportunities that he'd normally score. We weren't dominated at all. In fact, Spurs played significantly better in the first half at the Bridge.

The unwarranted arrogance is actually hilarious. People, even non-Spurs fans keep going on about how amazing they are, yet Man City (who everyone would agree have been shit) can draw level with them this coming weekend.
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Which Spurs fans on here think we're going to coast to the title?
 
SirHenryPercy said:
None of us, and I've never read it anywhere.

I'd still take 4th personally.
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Exactly. I've literally not heard or seen a single Spurs fan anywhere with that opinion. I'm sure they must exist somewhere. But where are they?

Still, fits in nicely with certain people's caricatures of Spurs fans. Those silly twats still think they'll win the title despite being 30 points away with 5 games left!

I'd also bite your hand off for 4th. And it would signify incredible progress for the club.
 
SirHenryPercy said:
Few of them are about you, apart from the ones like 'weak & little'.


We played you off the park.

And then bullied you just for the fun of it.
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You know nothing about football if you watched that game and thought you played us off the park. Playing someone off the park is what you did to West Brom yesterday or what we did against Leicester. Where the other team had absolutely no chance.
 
africanspur said:
Which Spurs fans on here think we're going to coast to the title?
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I didn't mean that you think you will win the title, just that your fans act as though you've actually accomplished something just by winning a few.
 
We should be aiming for 40 points out of the remaining 51 available. That allows for 11 points dropped (3 losses and a draw) in 17 games. 80 points has historically been enough for a top 3 finish and this target doesn't seem completely unreasonable to me given where we currently stand. It'll be drawing the easy games that will cost us if anything.
 
Orc said:
You know nothing about football if you watched that game and thought you played us off the park. Playing someone off the park is what you did to West Brom yesterday or what we did against Leicester. Where the other team had absolutely no chance.
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Very comfortable, once we scored you managed the square root of nothing. We coasted the second half in third gear and purely managed the game, that was obvious.

To be fair it's a rare occurance but it was a very comfortable win and we never needed to push, you were very disappointing. I was hoping for a bit of blood and thunder but you didn't turn up on the day.
 
GlastonSpur said:
Me too, if it was a guaranteed offer.

However, I do think our chances for higher are decent.
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I won't complain if we completely drop our interest in the EL and go for the PL and FA Cup as hard as we can.

4th and an FA Cup and I would be ecstatic! I think if we can get past Wycombe and then get favourable home 5th & 6th round draws we could win that, as we are hard to beat.

But if not I'd still be happy with 4th when all is said and done.
 
Cannot see us finishing higher than 4th but ultimately if we do it it'll be satisfactory considering the competition. We'll have bested 2 very good teams to the spot.

If City lose to Spurs which I think they will we have a chance to leapfrog them. We need to just take it 1 game week at a time.

But we must also beat City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs. realistically at least 2 wins and 1 draw
 
Sandikan said:
It seems unthinkable that City and Arsenal would fail to make top 4, but that's based on the last however many years.
I'd still see Tottenham and Liverpool falling out of the mix before them.
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No way Spurs and Pool are falling away from the top 4 now. Guess you haven't learnt anything from the last season.

As to the Spurs fans, dunno where this confidence suddenly comes about winning the title. There is still a 7 point gap. And the victory over Chelsea at WHL was anything but a confident thrashing. It was a 50-50 type of a game where our player missed the goal and yours didn't. No other players had any clear cut chances to score. And we were never confident of a victory there. A draw was going to be enough for us which we sadly couldn't get it.
 
Hemil said:
No way Spurs and Pool are falling away from the top 4 now. Guess you haven't learnt anything from the last season.

As to the Spurs fans, dunno where this confidence suddenly comes about winning the title. There is still a 7 point gap. And the victory over Chelsea at WHL was anything but a confident thrashing. It was a 50-50 type of a game where our player missed the goal and yours didn't. No other players had any clear cut chances to score. And we were never confident of a victory there. A draw was going to be enough for us which we sadly couldn't get it.
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I don't think either are guaranteed by any means, 2nd to 6th are very tight. 5 point gap with about 17games left?

Not entirely sure what you mean about last season? Tottenham managed to finish 3rd in a 2 horse race in a very strange season, while Liverpool were miles off top 4.

I'd say have "you" not learnt anything from Arsenal, haven't failed to be top 4 in 20 years or so, and City, when were they last out of top 4?

Point is, we don't normally have 5 teams so close together
 
SirHenryPercy said:
I won't complain if we completely drop our interest in the EL and go for the PL and FA Cup as hard as we can.

4th and an FA Cup and I would be ecstatic! I think if we can get past Wycombe and then get favourable home 5th & 6th round draws we could win that, as we are hard to beat.

But if not I'd still be happy with 4th when all is said and done.
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You're asking a lot to get past my boys son ;)
 
RobinLFC said:
I don't think it's Spurs you should be looking at. As long as City doesn't win, the outcome of that game will be favourable to United.
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I'd actually say the opposite, a Spurs win would mean another team looking out of reach along with Chelsea and Liverpool. 5th place City aren't the problem.
 
Leftback99 said:
I'd actually say the opposite, a Spurs win would mean another team looking out of reach along with Chelsea and Liverpool. 5th place City aren't the problem.
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5 points off with a possible 51 to collect is hardly what I'd call out of reach.
 
RobinLFC said:
5 points off with a possible 51 to collect is hardly what I'd call out of reach.
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Not impossible but your easier fixtures remaining, far superior goal difference and lack of European games make it unlikely that we'll catch you, in my opinion anyway.
 
I have a feeling City definitely won't make the top 4. Guardiola will definitely focus CL more now that they are effectively out of the race for the title and their aging squad will definitely be rotated for some PL games. I think we should hope for them to get into semis and get trashed there. It will still mean nothing as a result while still ensuring that they play some tough games which will blunt their PL performance further. Return leg against Monaco is on March 15th and then they play Liverpool at home on March 18th for example...The fact that our game against them will be moved cause of League Cup final actually hurts them more than us in case they do get into CL semi since, apart from Tottenham and one of Villareal/Roma (they meet each other), I can't see a team that we would have to work as hard against over two legs.

The other team I feel we have the best chances of overtaking is Arsenal. They tend to have Arsenal like blip in them every season and in 3-4 games their run of easy games will end...just in time for CL and then their schedule gets pretty brutal. They have a return leg against Bayern on March 7th and they play Liverpool on March 4th...I will actually root for them against Bayern, for the same reason I want City to beat Monaco. Both of them are not winning it anyway, the more extra important games they play the better.

Liverpool or Tottenham is the least likely to get overtaken. Pool would be my choice if we won the game but seeing that they have no Europe to worry about and the point above where City and Arsenal will have to rotate squad somewhat due to playing huge CL matches 3 days before/after Liverpool games just makes it somewhat of a perfect storm for them to snatch the top 4 spot. They will somewhat rue the fact that Chelsea had that insane run cause otherwise they would be in such a good position to chase the title. I expect big dip net season if they get CL, unless they spend really big to get the proper depth.

Tottenham just plays so well lately that it's hard to look past them...not much to add there.

Disclaimers: Both Liverpool and Tottenham have small squad or rather not much past first 11. Injuries could ruin them, more so than other teams in top 6. Liverpool could get into trouble later in the season, Klopp teams tend to do that do the exhausting style they play, even with no European games. If that happens they will have a hard time to finish top 4. Tottenham plays EL and if they get serious about it it could hurt them pretty much in PL. I do think they will not focus it and will try to get to quarters/semis while resting tired and key players. They did have a spectacular collapse at the end of previous season, let's see if they learned from it.
 
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Orc said:
Spurs win a few games and suddenly their fans are sticking their chests out like they're about to coast to the title. :rolleyes:

And if I read one more time from a Spurs fan that they "played us off the park" I'm going to vomit. There was almost nothing in the game between the teams at all. It was a very even match decided by two moments of quality (and they perfectly exploited our lack of height on the right side of our defense). Hazard missed two golden opportunities that he'd normally score. We weren't dominated at all. In fact, Spurs played significantly better in the first half at the Bridge.

The unwarranted arrogance is actually hilarious. People, even non-Spurs fans keep going on about how amazing they are, yet Man City (who everyone would agree have been shit) can draw level with them this coming weekend.
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Hazard's chances were no better than the ones that fell to Dier, Eriksen, and Wanyama that weren't put in.
 
Sandikan said:
I don't think either are guaranteed by any means, 2nd to 6th are very tight. 5 point gap with about 17games left?

Not entirely sure what you mean about last season? Tottenham managed to finish 3rd in a 2 horse race in a very strange season, while Liverpool were miles off top 4.

I'd say have "you" not learnt anything from Arsenal, haven't failed to be top 4 in 20 years or so, and City, when were they last out of top 4?

Point is, we don't normally have 5 teams so close together
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A lot of factors have to be taken into consideration ... not just the points difference which most people seem to focus on. Euro matches, remaining schedule, goal difference, which teams at home and which away, current form, any other factors which are likely to feature/influence (cup runs, injuries, new arrivals, absenteeism due to AFCON etc.e
tc.
The best at summing all that up are those that make their living at it : the bookies. They seem to strongly favour three sides to make Top 4 and three sides battling for 4th :

http://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/top-4-finish
 
If we are to get into top 4, i think it will be Arsenal and City that we'll need to overtake. Liverpool and Tottenham will finish in the top 3 IMO. We really need to get some consecutive wins under our belt in the next few months where we won't be facing any top 6 team. By the time we face Chelsea in April, if we are not already in the top 4, we won't have much of a chance.
 
What happened to injuries, this season? From memory, none of the big players seems to have had a month out or so.
 
ROFLUTION said:
What happened to injuries, this season? From memory, none of the big players seems to have had a month out or so.
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We've had injury problems, Kane and Alderweireld have both been out for 2 months. Lamela has been out for a couple of months and counting, Vertonghen is going to be out for a good whole. Dembele has been out injured for a while and suspended for the first 4 games.

I think Arsenal have had a lot of injury problems, no?
 
SirHenryPercy said:
We've had injury problems, Kane and Alderweireld have both been out for 2 months. Lamela has been out for a couple of months and counting, Vertonghen is going to be out for a good whole. Dembele has been out injured for a while and suspended for the first 4 games.

I think Arsenal have had a lot of injury problems, no?
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Kane I would say is a good shout. But this is not what I meant big the BIG players. Aguero, Kane, Costa, Hazard, etc. Every team has an Alderweireld that gets injured sometime.
 
ROFLUTION said:
Kane I would say is a good shout. But this is not what I meant big the BIG players. Aguero, Kane, Costa, Hazard, etc. Every team has an Alderweireld that gets injured sometime.
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I suppose if you only view attacking players as big players your point stands.

However there are many Spurs fans who will tell you that Alderweireld is one of our most important players if not the most, he was a huge miss for us and we lost our only 2 games so far without him.

Sides are equally affected by losing important players all over the pitch, no?
 
SirHenryPercy said:
I suppose if you only view attacking players as big players your point stands.

However there are many Spurs fans who will tell you that Alderweireld is one of our most important players if not the most, he was a huge miss for us and we lost our only 2 games so far without him.

Sides are equally affected by losing important players all over the pitch, no?
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Alderweirald is our most important player imo.

And yeah, we've had Kane, Dembele, alderweirald and lloris out at various points (sometimes ag the same time).

I thought arsenal had quite a few early on and man utd had a lot of defensive injuries at the beginning of the season?
 
africanspur said:
Alderweirald is our most important player imo.

And yeah, we've had Kane, Dembele, alderweirald and lloris out at various points (sometimes ag the same time).

I thought arsenal had quite a few early on and man utd had a lot of defensive injuries at the beginning of the season?
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Agreed.

I know Arsenal have had a lot of injuries, maybe not to the likes of Sanchez but they've definitely had defensive problems.
 
SirHenryPercy said:
I suppose if you only view attacking players as big players your point stands.

However there are many Spurs fans who will tell you that Alderweireld is one of our most important players if not the most, he was a huge miss for us and we lost our only 2 games so far without him.

Sides are equally affected by losing important players all over the pitch, no?
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I see your point, but yeah... you know what I mean by "big" players. Especially when pointed out in my last post too. Player-of-the-year (of the league) type of players. None of the top sides, except Spurs with Kane has had that yet I think. It must come sooner or later with either Sanchez, Zlatan, Costa/Hazard, Aguero/De Bruyne getting an injury.

Coutinho was injured for a few weeks. Liverpool is well guarded in aspect to back-ups for their key players too. If Firmino goes out, Origi or Sturridge is ready. + They can cover on the wings.
 
ROFLUTION said:
I see your point, but yeah... you know what I mean by "big" players. Especially when pointed out in my last post too. Player-of-the-year (of the league) type of players. None of the top sides, except Spurs with Kane has had that yet I think. It must come sooner or later with either Sanchez, Zlatan, Costa/Hazard, Aguero/De Bruyne getting an injury.

Coutinho was injured for a few weeks. Liverpool is well guarded in aspect to back-ups for their key players too. If Firmino goes out, Origi or Sturridge is ready. + They can cover on the wings.
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Yeah, I definitely wouldn't mind seeing Chelsea without Costa or arsenal without Sánchez for a run of games.....
 
ROFLUTION said:
I see your point, but yeah... you know what I mean by "big" players. Especially when pointed out in my last post too. Player-of-the-year (of the league) type of players. None of the top sides, except Spurs with Kane has had that yet I think. It must come sooner or later with either Sanchez, Zlatan, Costa/Hazard, Aguero/De Bruyne getting an injury.

Coutinho was injured for a few weeks. Liverpool is well guarded in aspect to back-ups for their key players too. If Firmino goes out, Origi or Sturridge is ready. + They can cover on the wings.
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Why are you expecting or wishing injuries for other team players? It's not like injuries are a given, are they? Costa and Hazard were not injured in 14-15, Mahrez and Vardy were not injured in 15-16 for Leicester, injuries are a rare occurrence, not a common one apart from Arsenal ones.
 
Hemil said:
Why are you expecting or wishing injuries for other team players? It's not like injuries are a given, are they? Costa and Hazard were not injured in 14-15, Mahrez and Vardy were not injured in 15-16 for Leicester, injuries are a rare occurrence, not a common one apart from Arsenal ones.
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Agreed. Had Robin Van Persie been injured in 2013 we'd have had a different season. He wasn't injured though.

At this stage we can't count on coincidences. We simply have to focus on winning our own games. If we are able to do that the teams above us might be pressured into slipping up.

It all comes down to our own results. Looking at anyone else is futile.
 
It'll be difficult. City are the obvious ones you don't see making top 4 atm. Other than that I really don't know who is supposed to drop out. Arse?
 
Orc said:
I didn't mean that you think you will win the title, just that your fans act as though you've actually accomplished something just by winning a few.
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How do our fans act as if we've accomplished something? The only thing we've accomplished is put ourselves in a good position. We're barely half way through the season. As you've seen, three of the five Spurs fans on here just said they'd be happy with 4th. That doesn't strike me as behaviour if a group who are acting as if they've won or achieved something?


Hemil said:
As to the Spurs fans, dunno where this confidence suddenly comes about winning the title. There is still a 7 point gap.
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Again, I don't get this. The three Spurs fans that have commented have have all said we'd be happy with fourth.

I personally think the title is Chelseas and that Liverpool are still the main competitors because of your lack of midweek games (amongst other factors too). But nobody is confident on winning the league at all?
 
endless_wheelies said:
Anyone seen Arsenal's fixture list after this month?

They aren't getting anywhere near top four.
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From Feb through to Apr 1:

Chelsea (A)
Hull (H)
Bayern (A)
Soton (A)
Liverpool (A)
Bayern (H)
Leicester (H)
WBA (A)
City (H)

Also doesn't include an away trip to potentially Soton in the FA Cup.
 
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