I think Spurs have the best trajectory right now out of the contenders, and if everyone were to only play league matches until the end of the season I think we'd finish outside the top 4 honestly. Thankfully, the Europa League and Champions League complications for those around us should see us home as I (still) expect that Southampton will fall away at some point.
[Season 14/15] The race for fourth
- Thread starter The Azzurri
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
Just realised, we beat West Ham and we are 3 points off 2nd.
With currently only 6 goals less in GD, would be less with a win.
That shit ain't half bad.
I believe we will get CL.
With currently only 6 goals less in GD, would be less with a win.
That shit ain't half bad.
I believe we will get CL.
Spurs next 3 prem games are Liverpool, West Ham and then Chelsea. Take anything above 5 points out of that and they've done amazingly, not to mention helped us out. We're a few games after that.
Liverpool's next 4 are Spurs, Palace, Southampton and then City. We're a few games after that.
Arsenal have Leicester, Palace, Everton and West Ham.
Our fixtures in that period are relatively comfortable in comparison. West Ham, Burnley, Swansea, Sunderland.
We *should* have breathing room after those 4 games in 3rd at least for a while. It then depends how we ride out the big games when they come for us. Still maintain that Arsenal are the biggest threat. Their runs of fixtures is comfortable too. We need them to slip up some more when the FA Cup and CL games start piling in.
We are hanging on to 4th by GD
What concerning for me is our fixtures from March to April which will basically decide if we get a CL spot or not
Feb
Burnley H 11-Feb
Preston A 16-Feb FA Cup
Swansea A 21-Feb
Sunderland H 28-Feb
March
Newcastle A 4-Mar
TBC TBC FA Cup
Spurs H 15-Mar
Liverpool A 22-Mar
April
Aston Villa H 4-Apr
City H 11-Apr
TBC TBC FA Cup
Chelsea A 18-Apr
Everton A 25-Apr
May
WBA H 2-May
Palace A 9-May
Arsenal H 16-May
Hull City A 24-May
TBC TBC FA Cup
Thats a very tough run for us not sure how many points we can collect there.
Feb
Burnley H 11-Feb
Preston A 16-Feb FA Cup
Swansea A 21-Feb
Sunderland H 28-Feb
March
Newcastle A 4-Mar
TBC TBC FA Cup
Spurs H 15-Mar
Liverpool A 22-Mar
April
Aston Villa H 4-Apr
City H 11-Apr
TBC TBC FA Cup
Chelsea A 18-Apr
Everton A 25-Apr
May
WBA H 2-May
Palace A 9-May
Arsenal H 16-May
Hull City A 24-May
TBC TBC FA Cup
Thats a very tough run for us not sure how many points we can collect there.
The next 3 PL games in Feb are must win games. With those tough fixtures in March-May barring one or two I'd be surprised if we finish 3rd which ideally would have been the target all along. LVG needs to sort out the team balance and his philosophy fairly quickly.
i think if we win all our home games we will finish third. i don't mean that that we will need 0 points from the away matches. but, i don't see us winning more than 3 of our 7 remaining PL away games. hence it will have to be our home games that take us to our target.
our home games: burnley sunderland spurs villa city westbrom arsenal. getting 19-21 points from these games is not going to be easy, but we will need these points.
our away games: swansea newcastle liverpool chelsea everton palace hull. i will be glad if we win at least one out of the swansea and newcastle games.
our home games: burnley sunderland spurs villa city westbrom arsenal. getting 19-21 points from these games is not going to be easy, but we will need these points.
our away games: swansea newcastle liverpool chelsea everton palace hull. i will be glad if we win at least one out of the swansea and newcastle games.
The games agaisnt Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal, Southampton and Liverpool so far this season we've gotten decent results in or performed OK. I'm not that worried about a tough run of games as I think we're more likely to get something out of them, it's the easier away games on paper that we're not getting the results in. Win the next three games and I'll be quite confident.
Southampton dropped a coulple of points at home tonight so we're back to third. European football starts again soon as well which will hopefully cost Arsenal/Liverpool/Spurs a few points here and there.
Hopefully they all do well and get distracted. Heck, I hope they all progress as far as possible with out winning their respective competitions (maybe root for Spurs to claim the Europa, since they've been so unfortunate when it comes to getting to the CL).
Southampton is going to be a wild card. They've been good enough to hold 3rd and I can easily see them get a top 4 spot. They'll have to make sure they beat up on all the lower sides, which seems to create more trouble for the other contenders.
Can someone pull up the remaining fixtures of the contenders for 4th spot side by side as a comparision?
Did this sometime ago, but too much work to do again. If I recall rightly, most of our contenders are in a similar position to us. Both us and Liverpool have to play 5 of the top 7, I think Spurs and Southampton have 4. Arsenal have it slightly easier. On paper, if us and Arsenal get 8 wins we should make 3rd and 4th. As Liverpool and Spurs having to get 10 wins is quite a tall order. Spanner in the works is Southampton.
It's a continuum based on strength of opponent. More green means opponent has more points, more red means less. Listed in order for remaining 12 fixtures.
Southampton looking good.
Here's a detailed list of the remaining fixtures including key dates like potential European and FA Cup games.
Southampton seems like running out of gas, but still couldn't rule them out.
Tonight's matches are crucial
Tonight's matches are crucial
So this is pretty much over then, so much for the huge build up, win today and it'll be an 8 point gap I think...
I called it back in November though when we had 10 points in 10 games!
I called it back in November though when we had 10 points in 10 games!
As I said in the other thread, nothing is over now. We lose agaishf City and Chelsea and it could be two points. The next stretch of 2-3 games will decide if this is close or not.
Agreed. We have done brilliantly to win back to back against top 4 contenders, and then to see Liverpool drop a second in a row. However, we could also easily lose two in a row against City and Chelsea. Must win against AV to keep momentum and protect the points gap for a cushion.
It's a three-way race for 2nd now. Gonna be a good one too.
8 points and 18 goals between us and Liverpool. Barring some kind of unprecedented collapse, we've sown top four up. Now let's go for second.
If Tottenham win their game in hand, it's 6 pts away from 5th. They will become our main competitor instead of Liverpool.
But let's not worry abt this. Next game vs city, if we win, we will leapfrog over them... Huge incentive
But let's not worry abt this. Next game vs city, if we win, we will leapfrog over them... Huge incentive
How many tough games does Tottenham still need to play in their remaining games?
Win against City and that should do it.
Southampton(Away), City, Everton(Away), Stoke (Away)
The squad is in terrific form that United seems more likely to finish 2nd than 4th.
Smalling, Fellaini, Mata and Herrera are just about undroppable right now. Di Maria has been poor, but has the class to force his name back onto the former with some good training sessions and a good match. Rooney will probably improve and end this down tick before the season ends. The role players remain strong.
I was pretty discouraged a month ago, but it's looking good.
Smalling, Fellaini, Mata and Herrera are just about undroppable right now. Di Maria has been poor, but has the class to force his name back onto the former with some good training sessions and a good match. Rooney will probably improve and end this down tick before the season ends. The role players remain strong.
I was pretty discouraged a month ago, but it's looking good.
It's in the bag surely now isn't it?
I think only injuries to key players can stop it based on current form. That's why the Carrick injury is a worry...
feck fourth! I will now be immensely gutted if we allow City to overtake us.
I imagine we'll draw at Chelsea while Arsenal play their FA Cup Semi-Final, then Arsenal themselves draw with Chelsea the week after so if we beat Everton we could sneak into 2nd having played a game more. Arsenal's run of form is even better than ours at the moment though so I think they might pip us to 2nd in the end.
I'm quietly confident we can do it. We still play Asnl at OT where i think we can turn it on and get some much needed revenge!