Who will finish 4th this season?

cw1984

Presuming the top 3 is made up of United, City and Chelsea who will finish 4th? I reckon it will be between Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham.

I personally reckon Spurs' late activity in the window will see them clinch it. They've got real strength throughout now and the likes of Adebayor, Bale, VDV and Modric would challenge for a spot in almost every side in the World.

puNANI

Depends on January signings. So far I think Tottenham has the strongest squad out of the contenders you've mentioned. They're crying out for a better defense though. Kaboul is dire, and Dawson and Ekotto are very hit and miss.

Solius

CnutOfAllCnuts

Hopefully QPR.

Probably Liverpool.

cw1984

I'm not a huge Dawson fan but I'm not sure how you can describe him as being "hit and miss". He's extremely consistant. Agree on BAE though. He's prone to the odd absolute shocker.

GlastonSpur

A lot may hinge for Spurs on how many league games can be squeezed out of King. He's started the last two league games: 2 clean sheets ... no coincidence.

And it's not just his own performance, it also the confidence he transmits right across the back line.

LLMU

Between Arse and Spurs (as long as Gomez is not in goal)
Arsenal should improve as the season progress

cw1984

I don't think that can be purely down to King. In the last 2 league games your team has been stronger throughout. Especially in midfield.

Decotron

I still think Arsenal will personally.

cw1984

I think they'll get their act together but they've got to turn it around pretty fucking quickly.

Amir

Exactly the same for the other two, though. Spurs probably still have better quality at the back than Arsenal.

Easy to get carried away by the weekend's results, though. Spurs have a bit of an edge right now, but Liverpool aren't as bad as yesterday scoreline suggests. It's between them. Arsenal have too many issues way too early.

marrakoosh

That's true but even my colleague who's a Liverpool fan said he felt whether Liverpool would do well depended on King playing.

amolbhatia100

It's still a bit too early to tell. Liverpool started the season really well in terms of their overall play as well as results (7 out of 9). But Spurs have won two in a row now with Liverpool losing two in a row and Arsenal have picked up a win in that time so hopefully it's a lot more wide open that it initially seemed.

holyland red

Liverpool

All 3 have shit defenses, but I reckon once the new arrivals settle in the dippers will come good.

Havak

I thought Liverpool would end up taking it quite comfortably, but Adebayor has started better than I thought. I was thinking that Tottenham's lack of a top class striker in comparison with the other top six sides in England would cost them the points they'd need to finish 4th. All three have shaky defences, but Liverpool have Suárez and Arsenal have van Persie. However, van Persie will probably get injured and I think Suárez will run the likes of Aguero, Rooney, and Hernández close to finishing as top scorer this season.

After Tottenham smashed Liverpool though, I'm going to question it, but for the time being I still think Liverpool will finish 4th if they settle on a system when Gerrard is back.

Varun_Utd

The january window will be interesting imo. all 3 lack quality in certain areas. whoever fills the gaps better will clinch it i believe.

Ronaldo No.9

If Adebayor stays fit and motivated then Tottenham should get 4th

MPTutd

Liverpool. Unfortunately.

gooDevil

I think Arsenal will win it by default. But they will have to turn it around a bit, and I'm not at all sure they will.

But I think it will be Spurs if not them.

mjs020294

Spurs have a well balanced squad. 4th is between them and Liverpool. Arsenal will finish 6th or 7th.

ecantona7

Arsenal.

Name Changed

Liverpool.

Zen86

Spurs

MadDogg

As long as Adebayor stays fit and hungry, I'm tipping Spurs.

KM

Spurs have a very good midfield and attack if Adebayor remains motivated. I think they'll sign someone like Cahill in January. I'm tipping Spurs.

Coxy

Spurs - they have the best balance across their team in terms of quality.

Varun_Utd

Spurs need another CB though. king is injured half the time. get a quality CB in and i'd be betting on them too

bergen

Adebayor, VDV, Modric, Bale, Parker & King are all top notch. They have a deceptively strong squad. I'm going to put my imaginary money on them.

Raven Blade

Arsenal.

They surely can't be this pathetic for much longer. Even though they've lost big players they still have a more talented squad than the vast majority of the league. When all their injured players come back and they find some confidence, I could see them putting a run together.

AlwaysRedwood

Spurs

cw1984

Cahil would be a great buy for whoever gets him. His contract is up in January too so he'll be very very cheap.

cw1984

Arsenal CBs: Vermaelen, Mertesaker, Djourou, Koscielny + Squillaci.
Liverpool CBs: Carragher, Agger, Skrtel + Coates.
Spurs CBs: King, Gallas, Dawson, Bassong + Kaboul.

I agree Spurs need another CB but when you compare them with the other 2 teams likely to be challenging for 4th I'd take Tottenham's over both Liverpool's and Arsenal's.

charlenefan

Spurs

Their squad is far better than Arsenal and Liverpools

Plan M

Arsenal. They'll get their shit together soon enough and still have a better squad of players and manager than Liverpool.

Spurs will be up there too.

Liverpool will finish 6th-8th in my opinion. Kenny Dalglish hasn't got a clue what he's doing - the "new manager syndrome" has faded away now and he'll be really feeling the pressure from the fans and board seeing as they've spunked £100 billion on Andy Carroll and a few other average players.

Spurs and Arsenal aren't under the same pressure - everyone is predicting Wenger's Arsenal to fail so they'll quietly go about their business. Spurs aren't expected to finish 4th either and they have looked very good in their games against Wolves and Liverpool. They have the best squad of players out of the bunch too.

GlastonSpur

I'll say what I said before our recent 2 league wins, namely that Spurs have a decent chance of finishing in the top 4.

I think Arsenal will be a stronger contender than Liverpool. I was surprised to see how easily we dominated the match on Sunday even prior to the first red card. I had expected Liverpool to be a tough opponent, but no, they came across as a disjointed collection of largely mediocre players ... with Henderson, Adam and Caroll a shockingly bad waste of money considering the huge sums paid.

Aquilani and Meireles out, with Henderson and Adams in? That's a terrible downgrade right there for starters.

Gerrard's return will improve them, but for my money the Spurs squad is significantly better, most especially in the key midfield area.

BaldwinLegend

How is it? Aquilani barely played in the PL, didn't convince when he did and never looked like fitting in. Adam has already done well in the PL.

For everyone knocking Henderson (and Carrol) - these players were bought for the future. They were so expensive precisely because they represent possibly 10 years of service to the club - it's daft to start making definitive judgments on them 3 or 4 games into the season. They've been bought for the long term, not now. Judge them at the end of this season, or next season even.

RedLars

Liverpool will have a go at it, but I expect Arsenal to start firing up their cylinders soon enough, and Spurs have a better team than Liverpool as well, so I expect it to be between the two London-teams.

I said before the game yesterday that I expected Spurs to beat Liverpool quite comfortably, especially pointing out the gulf in class of the two midfields, but even I was surprised by just how much the dominated them even before the first red card.

Snow

Now that City have money and are doing ok with it I care less and less about Liverpool and Arsenal.

Team Brian GB

When Sky announced the line ups yesterday and did their players posing thing yesterday I thought Tottenham looked a far better team which played out to a devastating effect. Parker is a fantastic purchase to partner Modric though it will be interesting to see what happens when VdV returns ase Defoe and Adebayor look to be a balanced pairing as well.

So Liverpool struggled to a win against a ravaged Arsenal, stumbled at home to Sunderland, stumbled away to Stoke and got run ragged by Tottenham - if they lose Suarez for any amount of time and they are in trouble.

I thought Arsenal would get fourth and Liverpool would be there nearest contender but right now I'd substitute Tottenham for Arsenal despite being badly beaten by Man City and Man United. I am particularly looking forward to Man City versus Liverpool - your game never depends on the nature of the teams but that shouldn't apply when Silva and Aguero make Carragher look like a mug.

GlastonSpur

Well, I'd guess 95% of managers, given the choice, would rather have Aquilani and Meireles than Henderson and Adam.

Henderson just looks lost and out of his depth, whilst Adam looks slow and thuggish. Adam can pick a good pass if given time and space, but when he doesn't get that time and space he looks pretty mediocre.

As for "buying for the future", if I spent around 55m on two players (Henderson and Caroll) I'd expect them be bloody well more than ready for the here and now.