Arsenal fan TV is always great fun after a loss for sure
It's tough to know what to want really though. Who is the bigger threat? Arsenal probably, based on them never missing top 4.
Top 4 race 2016/17
- Thread starter Yorkeontop
- Start date
It's tough to know what to want really though. Who is the bigger threat? Arsenal probably, based on them never missing top 4.
Next 5 league fixtures :
United: Bournemouth, Boro, West Brom, Everton, and Sunderland.
City: Sunderland, Stoke, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea
Spurs: Everton, Palace, Southampton, Burnley, Swansea
Arsenal: Liverpool, West Brom, Man City, West Ham, Palace
Liverpool: Arsenal, Burnley, Man City, Everton, Bournemouth
Chelsea: West Ham, Stoke, Palace, Man City, Bournemouth
Both us and Chelsea should have a game in hand i believe....
United: Bournemouth, Boro, West Brom, Everton, and Sunderland.
City: Sunderland, Stoke, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea
Spurs: Everton, Palace, Southampton, Burnley, Swansea
Arsenal: Liverpool, West Brom, Man City, West Ham, Palace
Liverpool: Arsenal, Burnley, Man City, Everton, Bournemouth
Chelsea: West Ham, Stoke, Palace, Man City, Bournemouth
Both us and Chelsea should have a game in hand i believe....
Don't some of these games need rearranging?
You mean City? Arsenal also have a game in hand due to their game v Southampton being postponed.
We should be winning at least 4/5 of our fixtures there.
We should be winning at least 4/5 of our fixtures there.
Think we could do with Arsenal dropping points most here as they'll inevitably win the last 5 or 6 games of the season after they're out of all the cups.
Liverpool I'm close to declaring 'not a threat' but they're still a point ahead of us despite their woeful form and we have a manic fixture list.
Think City and Spurs will be to consistent overall to not make top 4 as the likes of Aguero and Kane are brilliant against the fodder.
We have to win all 5, in fact I think we can't drop any more than 2 games for the rest of the season. We still have a lot of fixtures left thanks to the 3 competitions, but this is precisely the time our squad needs to show their mental strength. I hate saying we should give up on a cup, but if we must, we might want to drop FA Cup. Because even if we win at Stamford Bridge, Conte could very well come up with a better tactics against us at home, and I would rather take 3 points over the uncertainty of a FA Cup win. Plus winning Europa would be our safety net should we don't get top 4, FA Cup has to be lowest priority right now.
Hard for me to get too hopeful of Top 4 given our run-in of City, Arsenal, and Spurs away in quick succession.
Why do you think we'll lose them all? We're being managed by Jose now, not a gutless pleb, like some of our fans.
We can definitely drop more than two games when you consider we have one of the easier fixture lists and a game in hand over most others. We have a difficult final run up but then again its not like the other clubs are in the best of form. I like our chances to finish 3rd or better.
We're a top four team, that much has been obvious for a few weeks now. Both Liverpool and Arsenal are the ones most likely to be overtaken.
Providing we're in the top four towards the back end of the season, heading into the tough away fixtures, Mourinho can do what he does best. Shut up shop.
I'm not missing out on Champions League football to the showers that are Liverpool and Arsenal.
Providing we're in the top four towards the back end of the season, heading into the tough away fixtures, Mourinho can do what he does best. Shut up shop.
I'm not missing out on Champions League football to the showers that are Liverpool and Arsenal.
We only beat Spurs in the reverse fixtures, all of which were at home
One game at a time. Us winning against Bournemouth with Arsenal/Liverpool dropping points will be pressure enough for all ahead of us. It'll be the first time in a while where we're genuinely breathing down their necks.
I don't see Spurs keeping up their pace. In fact they have lost two and drawn one in the previous 5 fixtures.
All that means is that we can learn from our mistakes. Again, we need to start believing again. We're being managed by a winner, nothing less.
If we're not in the top 4 before the last 5 games then it's over for us
We really need to win all of these IMO. The remaining games after these are very difficult (City/Arsenal/Spurs away, Chelsea at home), so we should be comfortably in top 4 by the end of these 5 games if we want to have any hope of finishing there by the end of the season.
We should win them but they aren't must win. The must win ones are the remaining fixtures we have against the top 4 later on.
I think you'll be fine. One meaningless defeat since November says to me that you're going to end up in the top three.
I think we're going to be an inconsistent mess for the rest of the season so it's between Spurs, Arsenal and City for the other two spots.
I think Europa league will probably mess up our season. Expecting both of us to finish outside the top 4. Spurs and Arsenal will only have the league to focus on + City will probably go out soon too
We need to win Europa but Roma look very good
Who else is in the Europa for you to worry about?
I think its only Roma really. Losing to any of the other teams would be very disappointing
Celta Vigo (Spain) v FC Krasnodar (Russia)
Apoel FC (Cyprus) v Anderlecht (Belgium)
Schalke (Germany) v Borussia Moenchengladbach (Germany)
Olympique Lyon (France) v Roma (Italy)
Rostov (Russia) v Manchester United (England)
Olympiacos (Greece) v Besiktas (Turkey)
Gent (Belgium) v Genk (Belgium)
FC Copenhagen (Denmark) v Ajax (Netherlands)
I think that's a bit dramatic
United have been in Europe plenty of times til near the end and won the league / got stronger late in the season
If United don't get top 4, i doubt Europa will be the reason
That's not correct.
In our last 5 league games we have lost only 1, away to Liverpool, and have drawn two ... but one of those was away to City.
It's the difficulty of the fixtures combined with Europa league that is the problem. Arsenal (a), Spurs (a), City (a) and Chelsea (h) while we are dealing with Europa league. Most of those teams will most likely have no Europe to deal with during this period.
Simply cannot afford to lose any more games against the bottom half opponents. We have to keep this momentum up.
I really want to see Pogba, Martial, Mkhi and Ibra all playing well together in the same match at the same time.
I really want to see Pogba, Martial, Mkhi and Ibra all playing well together in the same match at the same time.
Can we wipe Arsenal from this list? I'd play them every game from now to the end of the season if I could
Do you not think our opposition are also fearing having to play us too? I don't get all of this fearing of fixtures. We aren't challenging for the title, we're challenging for the top three, while in a European competition well below our current level.
Jose has got this.
We do really need to do very well here. This is a dream line up of fixtures.
3 home & 2 away and the trickiest opponents (Everton & West Brom) are at home. The away games are against relegation strugglers.
Need 4/5 wins minimum.
At home, yes. Away, not so certain.
If we get 12 or 13/15, we'll have top 4 sorted as is almost impossible for the other clubs, given the no of 6 pointers they play amongst themselves.
Given the form we are now in, we should certainly not be losing to any of the next 5 teams we play.
I don't understand the apprehension either. I'm confident we'll be in the top four by the time those away fixtures come around. And the manager you'd pick over anyone to steer you through said games? Jose Mourinho.
Agreed. And don't forget the game in hand we will have at that point.
I didn't say league games - I said previous 5 fixtures, during which you've lost to Liverpool and Gent, and also drawn with Gent.
City's season could self implode after next 5 games!!!
You could see how tired our players were in the final and we really didn't play well. I think top 4 will be really difficult unless we give guys proper rest weeks. Chelsea, Tottenham will be 1st and 2nd and I get the feeling City will go out of Europe quite early and be able to concentrate on getting top 4.
Chelsea
Tottenham
City
Man Utd (hopefully)
Arsenal
Everton
LPool
Chelsea
Tottenham
City
Man Utd (hopefully)
Arsenal
Everton
LPool
Well, EL results are hardly relevant in a thread about the league top 4 race.
In the league we are 5th in the form table - last 6 games.
You can't separate them. The last five fixtures you have played in, you are 2-1-2 .
It's not really a case of fear, as much as it is just facing a series of difficult opponents in games we're not going to be favourites for - we've been tight and compact so will be hard to beat but realistically we'll drop some points in there since any team would.
I'm not talking about PL form. I'm talking about overall form and how it applies to upcoming league fixtures.Have it your way ... citing EL results as relevant to PL results
