My gut feeling says Chelsea and United squeeze in there, but for what it's worth, I agree, it's too close to call.
Top 4 Race 19/20 | duffer: "We [Chelsea] are getting 3rd. Despite what the lunatics in here think, Man United are not all that."
- Thread starter Andy_Cole
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Logic shows I should be optimistic, but whenever I've felt like we should go on a good run, we tend to always disappoint in recent years. Last year after a great start with Ole, our end of season run in during van Gaal's 1st season after beating Spurs, Liverpool and City as examples. That and the fact that Wolves, Leicester and, to a lesser extent, Sheffield don't look like they're going away add to my pessimism.
Like @charlenefan says above, our remaining fixtures may look easy, but they're the games we've tended to struggle in more. With Pogba and Rashford back alongside Martial and Bruno, and maybe Greenwood stepping up even more, I am more optimistic than I was, but I'm not as expectant as some that we'll start blowing these teams away now. We'll need to have good coaching at breaking these teams down as a team on top of relying on individual brilliance as well.
I'm not sure, tbh. I haven't been keeping up with that stuff.
If you beat Villa and City then its over imo
I never said it was a target, I just don't think we'll get 4th.
I think Leicester are still reachable for Chelsea and us (and maybe Wolverhampton).
But first of all it would be good for everybody that Chelsea don't win tomorrow
But if we don't beat Sheffield United on the next matchday then we don't deserve it......yes Sheffield United are a very good side this season but either this match will be our start in the top 4 in the next weeks with the "good looking" fixture list (No excuses anymore because no main player is injured) or at least my hope would be over to create something special here in the next months (CL qualification + at least a cup title + a few interesting signings).
But first of all it would be good for everybody that Chelsea don't win tomorrow
But if we don't beat Sheffield United on the next matchday then we don't deserve it......yes Sheffield United are a very good side this season but either this match will be our start in the top 4 in the next weeks with the "good looking" fixture list (No excuses anymore because no main player is injured) or at least my hope would be over to create something special here in the next months (CL qualification + at least a cup title + a few interesting signings).
If Villa get anything from Chelsea, it will be of virtue of having 90 minutes under their belts and not much else. They look clueless for all the money they have spent.
Nah, I think we're all in for some up and down results in this freaky run-in.
One of my favourite threads this. The mental gymnastics and arbitrarily assigning points based on nothing more than feelings are amazing.
I reckon the top 4 will look exactly like they look right now at the end of the season. The last game have given me no confidence that we will suddenly start looking better against defensively setup teams.
Wolves are ones to keep an eye on. Floating under the radar a bit but these cnuts just aren’t going away.
I think Wolves can easily pip man united for 5th.
Ye, always my favourite thread. 3 points out of top 4 at christmass and the doomsayers will announce it's over.
Chelsea in the driving seat but our remaining fixtures are so much better. Need to get all our just gifted players on the pitch together
They play Chelsea last so if they do get 5th then theres a good chance theyll help United to 4th.
All of our rivals play each other so theyll be cannibalising themselves
3rd place is ours.
Other than maybe Rudiger, none of those players were as crucial to you as Pogba, Rashford, Martial, McTominay were to us - before you say Kante, he is not the same player when he's been deployed the way Lampard has deployed him and if anything him being out has allowed Kovacic to blossom.
The difference in quality between our bench options and yours in those key positions, is sizeable. That's not your fault, obviously, but listing your Phil Jones (RLC), promising youngsters who weren't even considered first choice at the start of the season (James), a player who has struggled, post-injury (CHO), and a player who was and is on the way out (Willian), isn't the smoking gun you think it is. Otherwise, I could have also listed Axel Tuanzebe, Eric Bailly and yes, Phil fecking Jones to name just three.
Also, Pulisic was your Hazard replacement. And outside of one game v Burnley, he hasn't been great. If he hadn't got injured, maybe he'd be better, sure, but you can't say that for certain. As equally, there's the chance that he wouldn't. He wouldn't be the first or last to do so.
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Pray Villa can produce something.
I will just pick out Pulisic because i dont have time for the other ones.
In your first paragraph you wrote only Rüdiger was vital to us and losing the others was no big deal but then again you wrote Pulisic was our Hazard replacement. How is that not vital if he is the direct replacecement?
Then you go on how he could be great or maybe not. Okay.
it is always worse on his own ground right?
Villa battered all first half and grab a goal.
Praying they can hold on, but can see the second half being a siege on their goal.
Gaining points on top 4 in this game week wouldn't have been expected even if we won so this result could potentially be massive.
Praying they can hold on, but can see the second half being a siege on their goal.
Gaining points on top 4 in this game week wouldn't have been expected even if we won so this result could potentially be massive.
If Chelsea don’t come away with a win here — we’ve got no excuse not to get top 4. We’ve a better squad and a far, far easier run in.
Looks like they'll win it now unfortunately but I'd say there's still going o be loads of twists and turns still ahead.
Chelsea playing some good football now. Just have to hope it’s a sign of how bad Villa are, rather than them starting hot. They have a lot of options to handle all the games too
Before the game started I think most would have expected a Chelsea win. The midweek games are the ones where we could close the gap.
Villa are useless
They’ve still got tough run of fixtures and I’d fancy our chances to close the gap.
Let’s see how the lay of the land is after they play city, and hopefully we can get a result against Sheffield.
If Chelsea avoid defeat againat City then it's probably over. But lets wait abd see for both pur midweek fixtures
Well, two things can be right at the same time.
@Dancfc said that Chelsea hadn't bought a Hazard replacement. I said they did, with Pulisic being that player.
The fact that he hasn't performed to expectations is neither here nor there in terms of that particular argument. Likewise the fact that he was bought as the replacement for Hazard is irrelevant to the fact that he was being outperformed by the likes of Pedro and Willian, who themselves haven't exactly been shining lights themselves this season.
Is that simple enough to understand?
Not only Chelsea I'm worried about. Wolves level with us now and they have some good games left and are very hard to beat. Second fewest defeats after scousers I think.
5th place (if it comes to it)
might not even be guaranteed for us.
5th place (if it comes to it)
might not even be guaranteed for us.
Yeah we need them to lose that game and to go on a run ourselves. 5 points is a decent margin at this stage
4th spot very much Chelseas to lose at this stage.
Yeah, but if Wolves go on a run then it helps us since it means they get a result v Chelsea?
Anyway its Leicester who are in trouble imo. Their run in is trickier than anyone elses and it looks as if the league has sussed their style of play.
They have Everton away next, drop points there and we are right on them. Could be 5 points behind with us still to play them.
I really think Vardy is done, age has caught up with him
If we win six out of our last eight then I think Chelsea and Leicester will drop enough to make it interesting. Granted, they might go on a similar run but I’ve watched both of their games upon return and don’t feel too threatened.
Not so sure, if they get results against City and Liverpool then yes. Our fixture list is definitely the most favourable.
Aside from City and Liverpool, they're yet to play Leicester, Sheffield and Wolves.
Not sure why some are overreacting and acting like it's all over because Chelsea beat Villa. They have some very tough fixtures coming up. It's all to play for still.
Liverpool will be on their holidays by the 2nd to last game. Leicester is in the cup.
I don’t understand why people are declaring it’s over with 8 games to go, that’s bizarre.
A United win at home to a team that have just lost 3-0 and looked tired, plus a Chelsea loss to one of the best teams in Europe, means there are 2 points in it with 7 games to go! It can go either way.
Am I missing something?
A United win at home to a team that have just lost 3-0 and looked tired, plus a Chelsea loss to one of the best teams in Europe, means there are 2 points in it with 7 games to go! It can go either way.
Am I missing something?
We just need to do our bit, win every game, if we do that we'll get 4th. It's doable.
Why?! Because we're simply incapable of going on a sustained run. It's been the story of our season. Time and time again whenever we've had a chance to make up ground on the top 4, we've bottled it.
I have absolutely no faith in this team or manager.