Top 4 race / race abandoned (or maybe not) / Leicester & Chelsea in the process of bottling it

charlenefan

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Chelsea got to be looking nervously over their shoulder now, both Spurs and West Ham could be above them by Monday night
 

Irwin99

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Feels weird that Spurs or West Ham could be top 4 after this weekend. Liverpool back in it if they can beat Arsenal (or at least avoid defeat).
 

Dancfc

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Am I the only one that doesn't really find the top 4 race nerve wracking? Maybe it's my subconscious wary about us morphing into Arsenal.

I mean don't get me wrong I understand it's crucial from a financial POV and would still be gutted to miss out but I don't get anywhere near the same tension as I do when fighting for the PL/CL. If today happened while we were fighting for the league it would mess with my head for days, now I've already mentally moved on to Porto (where a defeat would truly wound me).
 
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Bertie Wooster

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Am I the only one that doesn't really find the top race nerve wracking? Maybe it's my subconscious wary about us morphing into Arsenal.

I mean don't get me wrong I understand it's crucial from a financial POV and would still be gutted to miss out but I don't get anywhere near the same tension as I do when fighting for the PL/CL. If today happened while we were fighting for the league it would mess with my head for days, now I've already mentally moved on to Porto (where a defeat would truly wound me).
Yeah, I'm completely the same.

I'm always nervous during competitive games, and the emotion of wanting to win takes over. But knockout cup games, or league games when we're battling for the title, make me sick with nerves as we just can't afford to lose / draw them and they mean so much.

But you can afford to lose / draw more games when just battling for the top 4 so each one isn't as heart in the mouth, sick with nerves feeling that I get with cup matches / tight title races.

And missing out on top 4 for a season, while a blow financially, isn't as heart wrenching as missing out on a trophy.
 

Bertie Wooster

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3rd and 4th lost

If United win tomorrow, it should be a formality
I wouldn't say that, even if we do win tomorrow - which definitely isn't a formality given our inconsistency and injury problems.

We've got revolving injury problems up front at the moment, and a reliance on a small group of players which means we might tire more than some clubs towards the end and we've got some difficult games left.

Also, Liverpool have a perfect run in - mostly very winnable games plus a match against us which they'd need to win to take points off us. I'd feel much better if they also fail to win today as well.

We're in a strong position for top 4, obviously, and it would be a really poor effort to miss out from here - but it's definitely not a formality.
 

cyberman

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I wouldn't say that, even if we do win tomorrow - which definitely isn't a formality given our inconsistency and injury problems.

We've got revolving injury problems up front at the moment, and a reliance on a small group of players which means we might tire more than some clubs towards the end and we've got some difficult games left.

Also, Liverpool have a perfect run in - mostly very winnable games plus a match against us which they'd need to win to take points off us. I'd feel much better if they also fail to win today as well.

We're in a strong position for top 4, obviously, and it would be a really poor effort to miss out from here - but it's definitely not a formality.
Win tomorrow and we are 11 points clear of 4th with 8 games left. Even the most pessimistic fan cant see us dropping out of top 4 surely.
 

Judas

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We'd need to go on the sort of bad run of form that we've simply not had happen this season really, and need the chasing pack to all suddenly become consistent winning machines.
 

Leftback99

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Win tomorrow and we are 11 points clear of 4th with 8 games left. Even the most pessimistic fan cant see us dropping out of top 4 surely.
Maximum 9 point to Spurs if they beat Newcastle. And we play them next week after a Thursday night away in Spain. Far from over yet.
 

Bertie Wooster

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Win tomorrow and we are 11 points clear of 4th with 8 games left. Even the most pessimistic fan cant see us dropping out of top 4 surely.
No. Win tomorrow and we're maximum 11 points clear of 5th. 9 if Spurs also win. And less than 9 if Spurs win and we don't.

But 'win tomorrow' is the big thing in that. We've got some tough games left - home to Liverpool and Leicester; away to Tottenham, Leeds, Wolves, Villa.

Those home games against Brighton, Burnley and Fulham are must wins in my book. Win those, and a lot of the work is done. The more points we drop from those, the more points we need to pick up from those 6 harder games.
 
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cyberman

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Maximum 9 point to Spurs if they beat Newcastle. And we play them next week after a Thursday night away in Spain. Far from over yet.
If they beat Newcastle. Even if they do the whole point of the gap is that we can slip up every so often. 3 teams arent going to suddenly go on a massive run to beat us now. Theres no proof of that what so ever. We have lost 1 league game in 5 months!
 

Leftback99

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If they beat Newcastle. Even if they do the whole point of the gap is that we can slip up every so often. 3 teams arent going to suddenly go on a massive run to beat us now. Theres no proof of that what so ever. We have lost 1 league game in 5 months!
If we beat Brighton. We've got some dangerous games coming up if we're not on top of our game. Tomorrow is one, as well as Spurs, Liverpool, Leicester, Leeds, Wolves on the last day. Potential to drop a lot of points.
 

Judas

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If we beat Brighton. We've got some dangerous games coming up if we're not on top of our game. Tomorrow is one, as well as Spurs, Liverpool, Leicester, Leeds, Wolves on the last day. Potential to drop a lot of points.
Yes. But everyone else is dropping points too. That's the point. It requires our form to really turn, and everyone else to gain the level of consistency that has evaded them all season.
 

WeePat

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If United were to somehow lose tomorrow, it would make things really interesting.
 

cyberman

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If we beat Brighton. We've got some dangerous games coming up if we're not on top of our game. Tomorrow is one, as well as Spurs, Liverpool, Leicester, Leeds, Wolves on the last day. Potential to drop a lot of points.
I dunno. 8 games left after tomorrow with so many games left between our rivals to play amongst themselves. I just cant see it. Its not really about us winning our games, its our rivals dropping points every week.
 

Dumbstar

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If United were to somehow lose tomorrow, it would make things really interesting.
As hilarious as it would be us oppo fans need to keep our eyes on the prize: [Rio] Ole needs to get that contract signed! [/Rio]
 

Sandikan

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Agreed. Win tomorrow and we are done.
Hardly.

We could easily lose a few games, drop points and let any other teams back in.

However, a win tomorrow is critical though. Liverpool aren't out of it by a long shot, and I think they'll slip back in. They simply can't stay as crap as losing 6 home games in a row!
 

charlenefan

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If United were to somehow lose tomorrow, it would make things really interesting.
why would it? We started the weekend 8 points ahead of 5th and if we lose worst case is we're 6 points ahead of 5th
 

Nero

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A win tomorrow and it's over.

The points lead we will have, plus the fact the other teams will obviously also drop points during the final 8 or so games, means that ultimately we'd have to drop about 15+ points in 8 games.

Job done.
 

Bertie Wooster

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Obviously we're very well set for the top 4, but I think there's some over confidence on here assuming it's absolutely done and dusted.

We're one point clear of 3rd placed Leicester. Which means the gap is more about the final place downwards. Chelsea are 6 behind, which is definitely retrievable. Obviously a win tomorrow would move it to 9 and look better.

As for those below that: Liverpool are clearly the big threat to the top 4. Their last 8 matches are:

Villa, Leeds, Newcastle, Man United, Southampton, WBA, Burnley, Palace.

There's plenty of likely points there. In all leagues, there's often teams that have a late surge, and teams that have a late decline. There's absolutely every possibility that Liverpool, with those set of fixtures, will have a decent run in points wise and will likely make the top 4. It's who drops out. Probably it'll be Chelsea or Leicester, but we've got a tough run in and really need to win the 3 home matches against Brighton, Burnley and Fulham. If we do, we don't need too many other points from those tougher games. If we drop some points in those home games, which we've done before against similar opposition, then increased pressure is added to those tougher 6 games and we start to need to pick up more points from them to be certain.

It's very unlikely that we'll miss out. But it's still a possibility and a valid thing to discuss.
 

Bojan11

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Hardly.

We could easily lose a few games, drop points and let any other teams back in.

However, a win tomorrow is critical though. Liverpool aren't out of it by a long shot, and I think they'll slip back in. They simply can't stay as crap as losing 6 home games in a row!
That requires the other teams going on a run and winning games. None of them have been consistent. If we win tomorrow, we will have 11 points on Liverpool with 8 games remaining. Do you really believe that we are going to lose 4 games in 8? They will need to win all their games too. Come on.
 

Cheech Wizard

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Thought we'd be in a better position than we are but looking again we've still got the clingers and bitters underneath ready to go back above us if they win their games in hand.
 

Sandikan

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That requires the other teams going on a run and winning games. None of them have been consistent. If we win tomorrow, we will have 11 points on Liverpool with 8 games remaining. Do you really believe that we are going to lose 4 games in 8? They will need to win all their games too. Come on.
We lost a league with Fergie when we had an 8 point lead with 6 games to go.

So i'd certainly never say never with our lesser team.
 

Bojan11

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We lost a league with Fergie when we had an 8 point lead with 6 games to go.

So i'd certainly never say never with our lesser team.
And the team chasing was pretty good. None of the teams chasing us in this situation are good and that includes Liverpool who have been shocking this season.
 

WeePat

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As hilarious as it would be us oppo fans need to keep our eyes on the prize: [Rio] Ole needs to get that contract signed! [/Rio]
This may come across as playing to the crowd :lol: but I have no grounds to mock Ole. He is on course to finish above Chelsea for the second time in two seasons, and his win-lose record against us is excellent.
 

arnie_ni

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We'd need to go on the sort of bad run of form that we've simply not had happen this season really, and need the chasing pack to all suddenly become consistent winning machines.
Didn't we sort of just have one, which is why this thread is even alive.

Aresenal
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Everton
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Palace.

13 point dropped over a 10 game period was it in total?

So it is conceivable it could happen again.

But it really shouldn't
 

Guapa

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If we can't win tomorrow we don't deserve top four.Simple.
 

AgentSmith

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If we can't win tomorrow we don't deserve top four.Simple.
If we don’t win tomorrow we’re 8 points clear of 5th with a much better goal difference. How exactly would we not deserve top 4?
 

thegregster

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Didn't we sort of just have one, which is why this thread is even alive.

Aresenal
Sheffield United
Wba
Everton
Chelsea
Palace.

13 point dropped over a 10 game period was it in total?

So it is conceivable it could happen again.

But it really shouldn't
We have 9 games left.

If we drop 13 points out of 27 it means we will get 14 more points.

That would comfortably see us get top 4 IMO.
 

Kentonio

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Am I the only one that doesn't really find the top 4 race nerve wracking? Maybe it's my subconscious wary about us morphing into Arsenal.

I mean don't get me wrong I understand it's crucial from a financial POV and would still be gutted to miss out but I don't get anywhere near the same tension as I do when fighting for the PL/CL. If today happened while we were fighting for the league it would mess with my head for days, now I've already mentally moved on to Porto (where a defeat would truly wound me).
I'd be gutted. We've put most of a terrifically talented young squad together and with the right extra couple of pieces its good enough for the title. No CL means the best options are closed off to us. The best players usually won't move without CL football.
 

Dancfc

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I'd be gutted. We've put most of a terrifically talented young squad together and with the right extra couple of pieces its good enough for the title. No CL means the best options are closed off to us. The best players usually won't move without CL football.
I don't think that's as big a factor as made out. Ziyech, Pulisic, Werner and Havertz were convinced to come here when CL football was still far from secure (3 of which from teams all but assured of CL football) while Jorginho, Kovacic, Luiz and Kante all came here from CL clubs when we didn't have it, a top class manager like Conte came here with no CL football, flavour of the month at the time Sarri gave up CL to come here.

If we look across to our competitive rivals Arsenal managed to nab Auba and Pepe without CL (as much as he's been a disappointment he was one of the hottest properties in that market), United got Pogba, Di Maria and Ibra, Liverpool got Suarez, City got Silva and Tevez, Bayern got Ribery, Juve got Pirlo etc.

I mean if Leicester and/or WHU with all due respect to them make it over us would they beat us to signing's? It would take a very short sighted player to make a decision based on what could end up being six games.

The players that do tend to make CL footy a deal breaker are the one's who tend to end up in Spain. The likes of an Mbappe/Haaland is a closed market for us even if we win the CL.

I think a combination of our club reputation (all the active young/prime players grew up seeing nothing but Chelsea success) plus the good package we offer will convince many a player to overlook the odd season out of it.
 

Nicolarra90

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That requires the other teams going on a run and winning games. None of them have been consistent. If we win tomorrow, we will have 11 points on Liverpool with 8 games remaining. Do you really believe that we are going to lose 4 games in 8? They will need to win all their games too. Come on.
Not only that, also one of chelsea, spurs, westham or everton should win 5-6/8
 

SAFMUTD

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Win tomorrow and top 4 is almost sealed. It would require a major feck up to miss on it if we win tomorrow. Ultimately it will be Chelsea missing out of top 4.

I think it will be City, us, Leicester and Liverpool.
 

amolbhatia50k

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We're close to it

Sadly Liverpool will also make it imo. Was hoping a year out of the CL would hurt them but it's probably not happening