Top 4 race 2016/17

Keeping up the pressure.

Liverpool vs Arsenal is the next big clash in March, when we're at home to Bournemouth.

Could find ourselves in the top four then.

Hoping Liverpool v Spurs ends in a draw.
 
March
Bournmouth H (4th March)
Southampton A (12th March)
M'Boro A (19th March)
April
West Brom H (1st Paril)
Everton H (4th April)
Sunderland A (8th April)
Chelsea H (15th April)
Burnley A (22nd April)
Swansea H (29th April)
May
Arsenal A (6th May)
Tottenham A (13th May)
C. Palace H (21st May)

So we are not going to play in the premier league until 4th of March. I hope they adjust Man City fixture at the most difficult time for City, like they did with us few years back (Chelsea away). But in any case, April is going to be absolutely vital in determining our Top 4 chances. Very winnable games even the Chelsea game is at Old Trafford. The two away fixtures in April are against Burnley and Sunderland so if the squad is rotated wisely, we should be able to come up with ateast 15 points in April.

I have started to feel optimistic now :drool:
 
Havak said:
Yeah, all credit to Conte though. He found the right formula before Jose and Pep to get on that immense run and will surely know what kind of players his squad is missing to challenge for multiple honours. Next season will be even more of a challenge when (I assume) Pep and Jose finally have their desired first 11 + most reliable sub/squad players. If Spurs keep their current squad and add a few more, they'll be stronger too. Not sure on Arsenal and Liverpool yet, but anything can happen in the top four race and next season. It'll be interesting if Conte can do it again, it has to be a closer race next time.

I think the top six teams are typically quite evenly matched overall, with Chelsea the stand-outs for now. I will be amazed if Chelsea don't win the title this season though, they can take a draw at Burnley IMO (good result) as I expect a draw between Liverpool/Spurs. Another game-week out of the way and I can't see any team in close enough proximity managing to out-do Chelsea by four results in the final 13 matches.
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Something tells me this league isn't over yet. It's only 9 points, and if you're sucked back into within 3 or 4 points then the teams behind you become more motivated.

If this was La Liga, I'd say just give em the trophy, but I'm not convinced it's in the bag yet.
 
JinnerJamie said:
As it stands it's 2 between 2nd and 6th
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Makes it frustrating that if we'd just got ONE win from any of those numerous home draws, we'd have been joint second!!

However, you can only look forward, so although Liverpool not winning might have suited better, the positive is that we'd be within 1 result of overhauling/equalling a few teams going forward.
 
charlenefan said:
Still going to be 6th

Really annoying
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Yeah but it's a different ball game now. Another win and you're almost certain to take over somebody because they're all dropping points and it's so compact. The biggest hurdle for you is that ideally you need to create a small gap from 5th before you hit that horrible run of games, which is hard to do when you're 6th.

City have a similar run of fixtures but in April. Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool in a row. That makes a win on Monday very important in order to start working on a similar gap as above.
 
Big win for Liverpool today it seems. Would have been huge to go ahead of them this weekend.
 
It's annoying if the scousers win, but on the bright side being 2 points behind second (unless City win on Monday) is fairly big considering off far we were off a few months back.
 
The gap at the top is getting smaller but somehow we'll still finish the weekend in 6th. Plus, with us not playing another league game for 3 weeks, and having to make up a game against City, really need our rivals to drop points in the next few games.

Results never seem to go the way we need them to though. Might as well save myself the heartbreak and accept that we're finishing the season in 6th :(
 
It is annoying we don't play till March, but it's more annoying that Arsenal and City don't play till March too.
 
SomeRandomPerson said:
The gap at the top is getting smaller but somehow we'll still finish the weekend in 6th. Plus, with us not playing another league game for 3 weeks, and having to make up a game against City, really need our rivals to drop points in the next few games.

Results never seem to go the way we need them to though. Might as well save myself the heartbreak and accept that we're finishing the season in 6th :(
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We've had plenty results go our way in the last few weeks but didn't take advantage then drawing with Liverpool hull stoke. Our position is our own Making.
 
SomeRandomPerson said:
The gap at the top is getting smaller but somehow we'll still finish the weekend in 6th. Plus, with us not playing another league game for 3 weeks, and having to make up a game against City, really need our rivals to drop points in the next few games.

Results never seem to go the way we need them to though. Might as well save myself the heartbreak and accept that we're finishing the season in 6th :(
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Arsenal's next league game is Liverpool away so someone will drop points.
 
If City don't win at Bournemouth on Monday night, that'll be a huge result and a great weekend for us. That's a big game. Absolutely no confidence in the home side though, considering their run of form and their pathetic bottle-job even when they went 3-0 up with half an hour to go at home against Arsenal.
 
NYAS said:
If City don't win at Bournemouth on Monday night, that'll be a huge result and a great weekend for us. That's a big game. Absolutely no confidence in the home side though, considering their run of form and their pathetic bottle-job even when they went 3-0 up with half an hour to go at home against Arsenal.
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City will mince them.
 
2 points off Spurs now. Liverpool winning is never a good thing, but that wasnt the worst result in the world looking at the table.
 
We are better than at least 3 of the teams above us.. this is why I'm confident we'll finish top four.
 
Firmly believe that we are chasing down Liverpool, and Arsenal.

Liverpool have some horrible looking fixtures, and Arsenal look the weakest of the rest imo, is interesting that Arseanl don't actually play in the prem until after we do, so if Leicester can get something against Liverpool, we could go fourth before the Liverpool - Arenal game.

Still a tough ask for us, but you have to be pretty optimistic now.
 
2 points separating 2nd and 6th. :lol:

City go 2nd if they beat Bournemouth away on Monday.
 
Raw said:
Imagine if results went in our favour and we jumped from 6th to 2nd after 1 match :lol:
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problem is we dont play another EPL match till march. Last week in february other teams will have their chance to play while we go to wembley
 
C'est Moi Cantona said:
Firmly believe that we are chasing down Liverpool, and Arsenal.

Liverpool have some horrible looking fixtures, and Arsenal look the weakest of the rest imo, is interesting that Arseanl don't actually play in the prem until after we do, so if Leicester can get something against Liverpool, we could go fourth before the Liverpool - Arenal game.

Still a tough ask for us, but you have to be pretty optimistic now.
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Liverpool have an easy run in and no cup football to get in the way. Bad result tonight which puts them back in the driving seat.

Arsenal have looked the weakest of the top 6 all season and will challenge us for 6th. There's too much to do for us with our fixture list.
 
Leftback99 said:
Liverpool have an easy run in and no cup football to get in the way. Bad result tonight which puts them back in the driving seat.

Arsenal have looked the weakest of the top 6 all season and will challenge us for 6th. There's too much to do for us with our fixture list.
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Liverpool lost against some dire sides that we would have thought they would steam roll. There is no easy run. They actually tend to do best against the top 6. I can see them ending outside of 4th even with the win against spurs today
 
Leftback99 said:
Liverpool have an easy run in and no cup football to get in the way. Bad result tonight which puts them back in the driving seat.

Arsenal have looked the weakest of the top 6 all season and will challenge us for 6th. There's too much to do for us with our fixture list.
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I think we have been more consistent than any of the challengers over the last few months, though. We faltered the beginning while the other teams were racking up points, but now they're dropping more points than we are. With us 2 points off 2nd place it's crazy to say there's too much for us to do. Any of the teams above us could lose multiple games that they shouldn't be losing
 
Something tells me City will be fine. They look decent, and Pep will get them over the line.

That leaves the remaining two spots. Still think Liverpool will drop out, and one of Tottenham/Arsenal. Possibly Tottenham, they really have a severe lack of depth.

Chelsea
City
United
Arsenal
 
I don't understand all this negativity. We're two points off second and haven't lost in 16 games, we haven't conceded a goal for four games. We're as good if not better than all of our rivals.
 
ChaddyP said:
Liverpool lost against some dire sides that we would have thought they would steam roll. There is no easy run. They actually tend to do best against the top 6. I can see them ending outside of 4th even with the win against spurs today
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I expect it will be a different story now they are back to one game a week with all their key men back but hope you're right.
 
shahzadi said:
March
Bournmouth H (4th March) - easy rollover win
Southampton A (12th March) - tough
M'Boro A (19th March) - semi-tough but you should win
April
West Brom H (1st Paril) - easy rollover win
Everton H (4th April) - easy rollover win
Sunderland A (8th April) - relegation battlers - beware!
Chelsea H (15th April) - tough regardless of league title wrapped up by then
Burnley A (22nd April) - easy rollover win
Swansea H (29th April) - relegation battlers - beware!
May
Arsenal A (6th May) - oh yeah baby!
Tottenham A (13th May) - oh yeah baby!
C. Palace H (21st May) - relegation battlers beware!

So we are not going to play in the premier league until 4th of March. I hope they adjust Man City fixture at the most difficult time for City, like they did with us few years back (Chelsea away). But in any case, April is going to be absolutely vital in determining our Top 4 chances. Very winnable games even the Chelsea game is at Old Trafford. The two away fixtures in April are against Burnley and Sunderland so if the squad is rotated wisely, we should be able to come up with ateast 15 points in April.

I have started to feel optimistic now :drool:
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Have updated my feelings on the games you have remaining. With Europe and cups surrounding your "relegation battlers - beware!" games these will not be easy. Physically or mentally. Not forgetting Man City "- oh yeah baby!" in there somewhere. :)

Its not inconceivable with everything at stake for the three clubs concerned and your fatigue by then that you may end up with 1 point or even zero points in the whole of May. Now that's rough!
 
Those 4 home draws aside and we'd have practically locked in a top four finish by now. Frustrating.

On the other hand, will be funny having the 2 point battle for 2-6th place completely overshadow Chelsea's stroll to the title.
 
Dumbstar said:
Have updated my feelings on the games you have remaining. With Europe and cups surrounding your "relegation battlers - beware!" games these will not be easy. Physically or mentally. Not forgetting Man City "- oh yeah baby!" in there somewhere. :)

Its not inconceivable with everything at stake for the three clubs concerned and your fatigue by then that you may end up with 1 point or even zero points in the whole of May. Now that's rough!
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Fatigue? Carling Cup has one more game left and we haven't played our starting 11 in the FA cup as of yet.
A resounding win on Thursday would allow us to rotate for the 2nd leg after already rotating for the Blackburn game.
This busy month could see us play our first 11 three times in four weeks. Again if it goes well but it would hardly be taxing.
What's with everyone's obsession about predicting what will happen months from now? It's a waste of time.
 
El Zoido said:
I don't understand all this negativity. We're two points off second and haven't lost in 16 games, we haven't conceded a goal for four games. We're as good if not better than all of our rivals.
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We're also prone to a Stoke/Burnley/West Ham/Hull result at home

There are no easy away games in the PL so couple that with not great home form means the pessimism is understandable
 
Liverpool winning was a bitch but it kinda dragged everyone together, fingers crossed City drop points now.

What's really annoying me is were going to be a game behind in a few weeks, so we're likely not moving from 6th any time soon.
 
Devil81 said:
What's really annoying me is were going to be a game behind in a few weeks, so we're likely not moving from 6th any time soon.
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Not as bad as it could have been, thankfully the cup final will put all of us, City and Arsenal behind the rest
 
It is on like Donkey Kong. A big bonus for us is that we are playing very well. Not all the challenging teams can say that.
 
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