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

charlenefan

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Football bloody hell!
I would be very happy if we finish less than 7-8 points behind them. Some may disagree but I think that will be positive for the squad and supporters
I agree which is why PL is still the priority for me over the Europa, finish as close to City as possible
 

ZolaWasMagic

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I think we will lose to City away. And on the same matchday i think west ham drop points to everton
 

cyberman

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I think we will lose to City away. And on the same matchday i think west ham drop points to everton

So long as we can hopefully beat brighton, west ham and fulham, we can afford a loss to citeh i think (provided they dont beat everton ). I think after city its arsenal and leicester both home
Everton are games in hands away from being a point behind you!
 

roonster09

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Did we have "Top 4 is in our hands" debate?
 

Offside

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Leicester should be nervous once again. Another year they've spent almost entirely in the top 4 but could miss out late on with Chelsea and Liverpool hovering about. If West Ham keep on winning that could really mess things up though. Would not be surprised to see Chelsea miss out.
 

Bobcat

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Its wide open right now

Liverpool have by far the easiest run in, and besides having to play us on 01.05 they only have bottom half teams

Chelsea vs West Ham on 24.4 is going to be absoloutely massive regarding top 4. And honestly, Chelsea have a pretty nasty fixture list from here on in. Brigton next weekeend then they have WHU, Fulham, City, Arsenal, Leichester and Villa

West Ham have Newcastle, Chelsea, Burnley, Everton, Brigton, West Brom, Soton

Leichester have West Brom, Palace, Soton, Newcastle, United, Chelsea and Spurs

None of them cant really afford to drop many points
 

Lay

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I did a predictor a week ago and did a near collapse for our part and we still finished 4th
 

Alemar

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Chelsea (and to a lesser extent Liverpool) still have a back door to the Champions League (via winning it this year). So depending on how it goes, one of these teams might concentrate on the CL which would benefit teams like West Ham or Leicester.

Same is true for United and Europa League, although of course we have a big enough gap already to be more or less assured of a top 4 finish
 

LawCharltonBest

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I did a predictor a week ago and did a near collapse for our part and we still finished 4th
Same. I had us win just 3 games out of 8 and somehow we still finished 4th

If we beat Burnley on Sunday, we will go 10 points clear of 3rd place for a few days
 

duffer

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Chelsea (and to a lesser extent Liverpool) still have a back door to the Champions League (via winning it this year). So depending on how it goes, one of these teams might concentrate on the CL which would benefit teams like West Ham or Leicester
Chelsea will have Real Madrid either side of a home game to Fulham. The final is a week after the last game of the prem season.

If (and it's a big if) we can beat Porto AND Real Madrid, it won't have much of an impact on our league games.
 

El Zoido

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West Ham have a shot here, their fixture list is the softest of the lot. If they can get a result against Chelsea it’ll put them in a great position, but you often see teams bottle it when they’re not used to this scenario.
 

Dancfc

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West Ham have a shot here, their fixture list is the softest of the lot. If they can get a result against Chelsea it’ll put them in a great position, but you often see teams bottle it when they’re not used to this scenario.
"Easier" fixtures aren't as prominent in top four races, if any team were sweeping up in those type of games they wouldn't be fighting for 4th.

Furthermore, if anything that could work against West Ham. It's no secret that Moyes works better under the radar than with big expectations to perform, if they suddenly become fancied to secure a place the United Moyes could resurface.
 

Theo88

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If city drops points in the following 2 games (Villa and Chelsea?) this will turn out to be one of the most exciting seasons in recent times.
 

WeePat

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We'll the CL, you lot just make
I'm the opposite I think their experience will mean they knuckle down and get the required results nessesery to make it comfortably in the end, even if the performances don't warrant them.

Similar to us in 10/11 when we were utterly hopeless for the most part but managed to shit house second.
If I was placing a bet right now, I'd bet on West Ham and Chelsea. I think Liverpool will drop points in 2 of their next 3 games.

I don't like West Ham at all, but it would be interesting to see them in the CL.
 

ZolaWasMagic

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Everton are games in hands away from being a point behind you!
I dont think west ham will beat them, and its on the same matchday as we play city away, so can almost afford a loss, provided everton help us haha
 

VojjE

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West Ham have a shot here, their fixture list is the softest of the lot. If they can get a result against Chelsea it’ll put them in a great position, but you often see teams bottle it when they’re not used to this scenario.
The way Lingard has slotted into the team I think he can have a very positive influence both on and off the field for their chances for top 4. Would honestly pay them back any loan fee if they kept Chelsea and the scousers out from CL football. :lol:
 

Alemar

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If city drops points in the following 2 games (Villa and Chelsea?) this will turn out to be one of the most exciting seasons in recent times.
But it’s not like us winning all 7 remaining fixtures is certain. Especially if we play semifinal of the EL in between some of those
 

WeePat

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If city drops points in the following 2 games (Villa and Chelsea?) this will turn out to be one of the most exciting seasons in recent times.
City's form always become a bit iffy when people start going on about that damn quadruple, so this scenario wouldn't even be that shocking :lol:
 

ZolaWasMagic

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City are not doing the quadruple. They'll balls the CL up. Win the league, EFL, and the winners of us v them wins the FA cup. And they'll claim it to be a better treble than Utd 99

Guaranteed. No doubt they;re the best side in England right now, but i cant stand the arrogance on bluemoon. fecking nauseating. You'll never, ever, ever see them lose a match and the ref not be blamed or accused of being bias/paid off
 

RobinLFC

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So depending on how it goes, one of these teams might concentrate on the CL which would benefit teams like West Ham or Leicester.
We'll know by our next league whether we still have CL games or not. Two games extra won't affect us that much imo, especially if it's (probably) just travelling to London.
 

Mike Smalling

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Think Leicester will drop out to make room for either Liverpool or Chelsea. Liverpool have the easier run-in and most likely will be done in the CL, while Chelsea have better momentum, but also has to focus on a CL semi-final.

Will be really tight - so happy we are not part of it ourselves.
 

rotherham_red

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Yep, I had them as just managing to hold on a few weeks back, but looks likely now they will miss out right at the death again. Will be so frustrating for them if so, they've spent like 98% of the past two seasons in the top 4.
I wouldn't rule them out just yet. Their next four before that horror run in the last 3 are eminently winnable, and the last game of that horror run is likely not going to be that horrific if our game against Spurs was anything to go by.
 

Doracle

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City are not doing the quadruple. They'll balls the CL up. Win the league, EFL, and the winners of us v them wins the FA cup. And they'll claim it to be a better treble than Utd 99

Guaranteed. No doubt they;re the best side in England right now, but i cant stand the arrogance on bluemoon. fecking nauseating. You'll never, ever, ever see them lose a match and the ref not be blamed or accused of being bias/paid off
They’ve already done the domestic treble a couple of years ago, so that wouldn’t be anything new. I think that’s more or less a certainty this season as well but hope you are correct that someone manages to stop them in UCL.
 

CM

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West Ham have a shot here, their fixture list is the softest of the lot. If they can get a result against Chelsea it’ll put them in a great position, but you often see teams bottle it when they’re not used to this scenario.
Rice and Antonio potentially out for the run in though
 

CM

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They actually looked very good without Rice on the weekend. I don't think they'll miss him that much.
They've started games really well recently and Lingard has been a huge part of that but they've also thrown away a 3 goal lead against Arsenal and clung on in their last two having gone 3-0 up.

They have Chelsea in a couple of weeks. I'm sure they'd much rather have Rice in for that one than Mark Noble.
 

charlenefan

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Chelsea will have Real Madrid either side of a home game to Fulham. The final is a week after the last game of the prem season.

If (and it's a big if) we can beat Porto AND Real Madrid, it won't have much of an impact on our league games.
What about the games before and after Madrid? Before the first Madrid game you've got West Ham away and after the second Madrid game you've got City away. Of course the UCL is going to have an impact on your league games
 

groovyalbert

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If city drops points in the following 2 games (Villa and Chelsea?) this will turn out to be one of the most exciting seasons in recent times.
Not saying it's not possible/won't be exciting, but 18/19 season literally went down to the last day. Liverpool would have been champions if games finished at half-time (I think). We won't push them that far unfortunately.
 

Bobcat

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Liverpool can get an absolute maximum of 73 points if they win all of their remaining 7 fixtures (including us)
Chelsea can get an absolute maximum of 75 points, and on the way they need to beat both WHU and Leichester which means those two can get a maximum of 74 and 73 points respectively

If we win our next two PL games vs Burnley and Leeds we will be at 69 points, 6 more points in our last 5 remaining games and it would be mathematically impossible to either of Liverpool or Chelsea to catch us