Our remaining fixtures as compared to City

[Anduin]

If West Ham is definitely played before the derby, we will know a bit more whether the derby really matters or not. As I said multiple times, we need to win our four very winable home games vs. Reading, Norwich, Swansea and Villa. I back us to do this 99 times out of 100. Then we need 10 more points. Assuming we beat West Ham AND Sunderland away, 6 out of the necessary 10 points would already be in the bag.
I'm aware that after that we would still have to play Swansea and Villa at home (games I take as three points in this calculations), but given the position we would be in it's likely Swansea wouldn't even matter anymore.

In short (loads of crap written above ), win the next four league games before the derby and it's curtains. City will most likely look at our fixture list and hope we drop points exactly at Upton Park and the Stadium of Light before the derby.

 

[Keltoi]

I think Sunderland away will be a tricky one. We usually win it but they have certainly imporved in recent months and I reckon they'll give us a tough game.

Agree that the next two homes are very winnable though. Win both of those and I'd be very confident going into the big home ties at the end of the season.

Away its usually tricky like last season where while everyone was watching city-qpr we only beat them 1-0. Likewise a couple of years back in the run in we had a tough game where Macheda scored the winner in a 2-1 win, it was the week after his goal at villa and I remember thinking this lad is going to be the shit!

 

[Shark]

I have a feeling that City will go on a bit of a run now, so we'll have to keep our concentration. Once we keep picking up the points, there's not a thing Mancini and the rest of his mercenaries can do about it.

Bring on Norwich now!

 

[el eric]

Just looking at the possible fixtures, if we progress in both the Champions League and the FA Cup. The City game would be wedged between both legs of the quarter final (providing we get thru of course) so I'd imagine it'd be switched to Sat 12.45 . Arsenal away would be between the 2 semi Final games and the chelsea game after the 2nd leg of a semifinal. Progression in the FA cup would mean the West Ham, Stoke and Swansea games would have to be rescheduled too (if required). Could be a hell of a lot of games if it comes down to it ( * probably wont but you never know ). The next 3 or 4 games ( presuming west ham away will be played on 13th March if it needs to be moved) are huge really. Get the points on the board now

 

[Ruud10]

I think Sunderland away will be a tricky one. We usually win it but they have certainly imporved in recent months and I reckon they'll give us a tough game.

Agree that the next two homes are very winnable though. Win both of those and I'd be very confident going into the big home ties at the end of the season.

United better bring everything they've got and beat Sunderland. I'm not traveling 6,000 miles to witness a dire performance!

That said, with the fixtures coming up right after March 30 I can see Fergie resting a few key players.

 

[SER19]

If we win our six home games we win the league. this assuming city get no more than 30/33 points which is beyond them.

so to say we can win our 6 home games and lose all 5 away ones and win the league is amazing. 18 points from 33 available however way you want them and we'll win it, even ignoring the city game:

Norwich h
Reading h
Swansea h
Aston Villa h
Chelsea h

should be at least 13 there, plus 5 from away trips to sunderland,stoke,arsenal, west ham and west brom.

 

[wr8_utd]

I played that BBC predictor and predicted wins for City in all their remaining games other than Goodison and WHL where they draw and had United winning just 4 of their remaining 11 games (including Derby defeat) and we lose the title on GD. That made me feel slightly better.

 

[Plechazunga]

Our fixture list just got a feck of a lot easier

 

[hp88]

Is the derby going to be played on Saturday 6th April?

 

[Chabon]

Our fixture list just got a feck of a lot easier

Yup, the first positive thought I could find after the final whistle was that there's no longer any need to dread the derby, which we could easily have been playing Saturday morning after playing away in Europe on the Wednesday night. Now that we'll have at least five days to prepare for it on the Monday (there's a good chance West Ham will be scheduled for the week before) I have to say I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[NM]

Let's smash the cnuts. I want to beat them 6-1. And win the title in front of them (if thats possible)

 

[Dargonk]

Our fixture list just got a feck of a lot easier

One positive out of tonight.

 

[Sam]

Our fixture list just got a feck of a lot easier

Yay!

Spoiler

 

[JakeC]

We really need to beat Reading and Sunderland. Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City all coming up.

 

[coolredwine]

The only good thing I can hope for. We can actually go for the record points total now, picking ourselves up after last night. The only consolation after yesterday. Or maybe not.

 

[RDCR07]

I dont think we should worry about the points total. I would just happy if we win the title from here on in. When has that extra pressure ever paid for us? The pressure to go unbeaten all season two seasons ago? How did that go? One of the few teams to win UCL and Europa League last season? Going for the treble this season? We dont need unwanted pressure on us.

 

[Platato]

Yup, the first positive thought I could find after the final whistle was that there's no longer any need to dread the derby, which we could easily have been playing Saturday morning after playing away in Europe on the Wednesday night. Now that we'll have at least five days to prepare for it on the Monday (there's a good chance West Ham will be scheduled for the week before) I have to say I'm really looking forward to it.

While it's better for our schedule, I wonder what it means for our momentum. I'm sure we'll bounce back because of the team we've been this season. However, beating Madrid would be quite the confidence booster and for me, if had won last night, I dont think we would have looked back. That's just me though.

Sometimes having too much time can be more harmful than helpful.

 

[Man-United]

The home match against Manchester City is confirmed for Monday 8 April (KO 20:00) following United's defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League.

Likewise, the match against Aston Villa is confirmed for Monday 22 April (KO 20:00) and Arsenal away game is on Sunday 28 April (KO 16:00).

 

[Mystry]

Let's smash the cnuts. I want to beat them 6-1. And win the title in front of them (if thats possible)

Not possible. Closest we can get is if they lose to Everton and Newcastle and we win our other games then beating them means we only need a point to win the title.

 

[samabachan]

Doesn't matter now - Fergie will make certain that it doesn't go wrong from here. Wouldn't be surprised if we break the record points total now too.

 

[Shark]

Chelsea, West Ham and Reading will all be smashed.

 

[Shark]

I dont think we should worry about the points total. I would just happy if we win the title from here on in. When has that extra pressure ever paid for us? The pressure to go unbeaten all season two seasons ago? How did that go? One of the few teams to win UCL and Europa League last season? Going for the treble this season? We dont need unwanted pressure on us.

As much as last night hurt, people need to also realize that the Champions League is a lottery competition. Being apart of it is great, but it's a luxury. Lets now just concentrate on two honors that we can most definitely win. The league and FA cup.

 

[Keltoi]

If we dont beat Chelsea at the weekend this season is really going to petter out, cant see us losing it from here.

 

[Ronnie O'Sullivan]

City yet to visit Everton, Tottenham, Swansea and of course us. There's every chance they will drop points.

 

[elisha27]

Interesting article: http://www.sportingintelligence.com...their-worst-ever-finish-wont-stop-it-080301/?

Mathematically, our worst ever finish won't even prevent us winning the league.

 

[wr8_utd]

Like I said in the other thread, City need to go on an extraordinary run of winning 8 games and drawing just the two vs Everton and Spurs while we need to go on an extraordinarily poor run of just 3 wins from our 10 games for us to lose this title ...on goal difference. As long as we beat Reading and Villa and make sure we don't lose to City we should be fine.

 

[Ainu]

Interesting article: http://www.sportingintelligence.com...their-worst-ever-finish-wont-stop-it-080301/?

Mathematically, our worst ever finish won't even prevent us winning the league.

The last bit of that article caught me eye:

Spoiler

Wigan will perhaps take some comfort from this reprieve given the history between the pair in the Premier League. They totally dominated their early head-to-head meetings with City but it’s been one-way traffic for City wins for some years.
The paid have played each other 15 times in the Premier League. (The two clubs also met in the third tier of English football when City achieved the double over Wigan in 1998-99.)
But in the Premier League Wigan have won five, Man City have won seven and three games have been drawn. That apparent degree of equality masks a most remarkable sweep of results.
Wigan’s five wins came in the first seven games before City had won their first. City’s seven wins have come in the most recent eight games without a single Wigan win amongst them.
In the last six games, all won by City, Wigan have not even managed a goal. The last Wigan goal was scored by Charles N’Zogbia in the 1-1 draw of October 2009.

So much attention always goes to the impact on the title race when talking about sugar daddy teams like City and Chelsea, and how unfair it is to the other title contenders. But the impact at the other end of the table is just as important. Wigan had won 5 in de Prem before City cheated their way to the top, with City failing to win even a single game. Since then, Wigan haven't won a single game against them. Just goes to show just how disgusting it all is.

 

[Antisocial]

So much attention always goes to the impact on the title race when talking about sugar daddy teams like City and Chelsea, and how unfair it is to the other title contenders. But the impact at the other end of the table is just as important. Wigan had won 5 in de Prem before City cheated their way to the top, with City failing to win even a single game. Since then, Wigan haven't won a single game against them. Just goes to show just how disgusting it all is.

Absolutely agree - the effects are wide reaching across the table, from taking teams like City away from relegation fights (Chelsea less so, but who knows what could've happened without Roman) thus costing some other less lucky sides their Premier League lives, as well as pushing down other clubs who might actually financially need to finish higher in the table, even if it's only the cash difference between finishing 11th instead of 10th, never mind pushing Champions League-worthy clubs down into the Europa league, or Europa league-worthy teams out of Europe altogether.

That's part of the reason I fear QPR will survive this season due to their spending, and some other club that deserves to be in the league will be relegated in their place.

Back on topic - the placement of the West Ham game will be interesting; it's one of quite a few difficult away games that we'll be facing along with West Brom (on the last day), Arsenal, Stoke and Sunderland; and I can just see it being pushed in around that tough run where we play City, Chelsea and Arsenal so close together.

 

[Man-United]

Can't expect any help at all from Everton next week. Without Howard and Jagielka they look awful.

Lucky Man city.

 

[Chabon]

City struggle to beat the likes of Villa, QPR and Southampton away from home. Even in this state Everton will be a huge challenge for them. It's also reassuring that Wigan are moving into their last season insanity, just in time for their trip to Eastlands.

 

[Man-United]

just in time for their trip to Eastlands.

That is postponed until middle of april.

Our hope is that Moyes and Everton will be more motivated to show a reaction next week.

 

[Chabon]

Well it'll be the last chance to save their season, so you'd hope they'd be up for it at the very least. And Everton have always been game-raising cnuts (with the dishonourable exception of their derby).

Also I'm near certain that City will play Wigan at home the week before the derby, so it'll be soon enough.

 

[Judge Red]

The league won't be thrown away. Even if there was a wobble, it wouldn't take four games for the players to wake up. But it's only the 12-point lead that keeps me confident because it looks like we can expect them to sleepwalk on the pitch until the derby.

 

[RUUD_10_LEGEND]

When will they announce when they're squeezing in the Chelsea replay? Can't find any kind of news on that yet, and you'd think it'd have to be sorted ASAP.

 

[AngeloHenriquez]

When will they announce when they're squeezing in the Chelsea replay? Can't find any kind of news on that yet, and you'd think it'd have to be sorted ASAP.

won't be confirmed for a few days I wouldn't have thought.

 

[JustAFan]

Title race going down to the last week again? Seems a bit of a stretch but I am starting to have a bad feeling about this.

 

[Chabon]

If you're at all worried, watch highlights of City's recent league games.

 

[wr8_utd]

Doubt it'll go down to the last week if City drop points this weekend.

 

[Beachryan]

Oh FFS, reports emerging that Reading might have fired their manager...what is up with us always being the team to face new managers?

 

[Chabon]

Unless they've fired all the players too I wouldn't worry about it. They're the worst team in the league.