Top Four Race 2017/18

[Havak]

Liverpool and Spurs are such odd teams. Realistically, they should've both sealed top four by now. The media love them, their managers, style of play and get all the praise. Yet, if they fluff it, which they continually prove they're more than capable of, it's all for nothing. Yet a team like United will be berated for comfortably finishing second and Chelsea will get little praise for nicking it if they manage to do so. The media won't be too harsh on Liverpool or Spurs if they finish 5th either, other than maybe a few reader-grabbing stories about Salah or Kane leaving. They are like the reverse of United though. I feel like we keep taking our foot off the gas as soon as we have any chance of doing so. Becoming complacent because the teams below us just aren't going to get more points than us. While Liverpool and Spurs are just offering Chelsea every chance of besting them in the end when they really, really shouldn't be allowed to this season.

Remaining Fixtures

May 9th

Chelsea vs. Huddersfield
Tottenham vs. Newcastle

May 13th

Liverpool vs. Brighton
Tottenham vs. Leicester
Newcastle vs. Chelsea

Newcastle will want points to stay in the top half, so they won't exactly be a pushover. However, I think Chelsea will win their remaining games now and show a bit of character. Liverpool will have to go full strength to make sure they can beat Brighton who have been decent lately. I'm sure that's not something Klopp wanted to do before the Champions League final. I think Spurs will at least fall over the line, probably with a draw and a win.

Obviously, hoping Liverpool mess it up and lose in the final as well!

 

[Cal?]

That CL final would hopefully be the downfall of Liverpool's season.

The players will definitely have that game on their minds against Brighton, it's human nature. How many CL games can any of those players realistically expect to play in in their entire career?

Most of them will be too worried about getting injured and that could have a very big effect on the game if Brighton haven't mentally gone on holiday.

 

[Kapardin]

That CL final would hopefully be the downfall of Liverpool's season.

The players will definitely have that game on their minds against Brighton, it's human nature. How many CL games can any of those players realistically expect to play in in their entire career?

Most of them will be too worried about getting injured and that could have a very big effect on the game if Brighton haven't mentally gone on holiday.

Before we dream, Chelsea will first have to beat Huddersfield to set it up. Anything less than a win is of no use since Brighton likely won't beat Liverpool at Anfield and the most they could do would be to draw the game.

Reminds me of Arsenal's chase last season. Was the same shit with Liverpool, deja vu now with Chelsea. Seems like 75 points only gets you 5th, Top 6 have become more competitive.

 

[roonster09]

Before we dream, Chelsea will first have to beat Huddersfield to set it up. Anything less than a win is of no use since Brighton likely won't beat Liverpool at Anfield and the most they could do would be to draw the game.

It's at bridge, Chelsea should win that one easily.

 

[P-Nut]

Be typical of these run ins every season for Chelsea to slip up against Huddersfield and end all hopes of an exciting final day.

There could be zilch to play for if...

Southampton win and Huddersfield get a draw at Chelsea.

 

[ShadesOfTomato]

Liverpool's league form has been a shit show recently. The CL campaign has been great but the lack of squad depth has been absolutely exposed in the league, and to compound things we've been struck down a multitude of injuries. Top four should have been sealed a long time ago.

 

[charlenefan]

Liverpool's league form has been a shit show recently. The CL campaign has been great but the lack of squad depth has been absolutely exposed in the league, and to compound things we've been struck down a multitude of injuries. Top four should have been sealed a long time ago.

Have Liverpool really had that many injuries? Ok it's effected your squad depth but as far as you're first choice XI goes it's been fine

 

[Swift Football]

Liverpool and Spurs are such odd teams. Realistically, they should've both sealed top four by now. The media love them, their managers, style of play and get all the praise. Yet, if they fluff it, which they continually prove they're more than capable of, it's all for nothing. Yet a team like United will be berated for comfortably finishing second and Chelsea will get little praise for nicking it if they manage to do so. The media won't be too harsh on Liverpool or Spurs if they finish 5th either, other than maybe a few reader-grabbing stories about Salah or Kane leaving. They are like the reverse of United though. I feel like we keep taking our foot off the gas as soon as we have any chance of doing so. Becoming complacent because the teams below us just aren't going to get more points than us. While Liverpool and Spurs are just offering Chelsea every chance of besting them in the end when they really, really shouldn't be allowed to this season.

Remaining Fixtures

May 9th

Chelsea vs. Huddersfield
Tottenham vs. Newcastle

May 13th

Liverpool vs. Brighton
Tottenham vs. Leicester
Newcastle vs. Chelsea

Newcastle will want points to stay in the top half, so they won't exactly be a pushover. However, I think Chelsea will win their remaining games now and show a bit of character. Liverpool will have to go full strength to make sure they can beat Brighton who have been decent lately. I'm sure that's not something Klopp wanted to do before the Champions League final. I think Spurs will at least fall over the line, probably with a draw and a win.

Obviously, hoping Liverpool mess it up and lose in the final as well!

Brighton are already on holiday. It will be an easy win for Liverpool.
The toughest fixture in that lot is Chelsea vs Huddersfield but I think Chelsea will manage to win that game.

 

[Cal?]

Brighton are already on holiday. It will be an easy win for Liverpool.
The toughest fixture in that lot is Chelsea vs Huddersfield but I think Chelsea will manage to win that game.

If this was Italy I’d agree Brighton have no hope of getting anything. But not all Prem sides are as unprofessional as QPR, you often have teams with nothing to play for get results at the end of the season

 

[Addictive]

Have Liverpool really had that many injuries? Ok it's effected your squad depth but as far as you're first choice XI goes it's been fine

Lallana, Ox, matip and Can have been out for a lengthy time, and they were/are all vital to us.

 

[Finn MacCool]

Have Liverpool really had that many injuries? Ok it's effected your squad depth but as far as you're first choice XI goes it's been fine

Can and Ox would play most matches if fit. Lallana and Matip would also be playing quite a lot. Gomez would have been rotating with Trent. What these injuries have meant is that we haven't been able to rest players without a serious drop off in level because our bench is now very average (and that is being kind). Its exposed our lack of squad depth. If Lallana and/or Can don't get fit before the final an injury to any of our remaining midfielders would mean Trent playing midfield against Madrid. Even if Lallana or Can do make it they will be very ring rusty.

But first things first we need to beat Brighton otherwise if we end up finishing 5th then league wise we will have gone backwards.

 

[ElectroManiac]

Hopefully Liverpool is beating Brighton 3-0 after half time and on the second half Brighton get an offside goal, a hand ball goal and a dive penalty and end 3-3 with Liverpool at 5th place

 

[ShadesOfTomato]

Have Liverpool really had that many injuries? Ok it's effected your squad depth but as far as you're first choice XI goes it's been fine

Injuries to Chamberlain, Lallana, Can have left us with only starting CMs. We've had to play TAA and Moreno there in recent games. Also have Matip and Gomez injured. Certainly all players who'd be in and around the first team.

 

[Catt]

If Liverpool fall out of top 4 and lose the final I will.. hmm.., do whatever the caf wants.

 

[Fitchett]

If Liverpool fall out of top 4 and lose the final I will.. hmm.., do whatever the caf wants.

We're all too shocked to make a response to that

 

[breakout67]

If Liverpool fall out of top 4 and lose the final I will.. hmm.., do whatever the caf wants.

If that happens, I want you to predict a United win for every game next season. It's a big ask but I know you can do it.

 

[Catt]

If that happens, I want you to predict a United win for every game next season. It's a big ask but I know you can do it.

You have my word.

 

[Tommy]

Can get 25/1 on Chelsea finishing 4th. Might put a tenner on it so even if we lose, I win, and vice versa

 

[RedMane]

Hopefully Liverpool is beating Brighton 3-0 after half time and on the second half Brighton get an offside goal, a hand ball goal and a dive penalty and end 3-3 with Liverpool at 5th place

Sorry mate, even if that happens, we are still finishing in 4th.

 

[RedMane]

If this was Italy I’d agree Brighton have no hope of getting anything. But not all Prem sides are as unprofessional as QPR, you often have teams with nothing to play for get results at the end of the season

QPR? Get over that league title defeat mate, They scored three against the eventual champions, away from home and played with 10 men. That for me is a very good performance for a team which barely escaped the relegation on the last day of the league( if my memory serves me right?)

Professional or not, individuals always face lack of motivation after the job has already been done. It's like your boss making you stay at work one hour more to check if the work you finished two weeks back, is upto the par and that too after he himself OKed it two weeks back.

 

[Cal?]

QPR? Get over that league title defeat mate, They scored three against the eventual champions, away from home and played with 10 men. That for me is a very good performance for a team which barely escaped the relegation on the last day of the league( if my memory serves me right?)

Professional or not, individuals always face lack of motivation after the job has already been done. It's like your boss making you stay at work one hour more to check if the work you finished two weeks back, is upto the par and that too after he himself OKed it two weeks back.

As far as I'm concerned, QPR handed that title to Man City on purpose after they found out they were safe, I wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire.

As for Brighton, what you said is true, but there are examples of the opposite happening.

 

[aman92]

Liverpool and Spurs are such odd teams. Realistically, they should've both sealed top four by now. The media love them, their managers, style of play and get all the praise. Yet, if they fluff it, which they continually prove they're more than capable of, it's all for nothing. Yet a team like United will be berated for comfortably finishing second and Chelsea will get little praise for nicking it if they manage to do so. The media won't be too harsh on Liverpool or Spurs if they finish 5th either, other than maybe a few reader-grabbing stories about Salah or Kane leaving. They are like the reverse of United though. I feel like we keep taking our foot off the gas as soon as we have any chance of doing so. Becoming complacent because the teams below us just aren't going to get more points than us. While Liverpool and Spurs are just offering Chelsea every chance of besting them in the end when they really, really shouldn't be allowed to this season.

Remaining Fixtures

May 9th

Chelsea vs. Huddersfield
Tottenham vs. Newcastle

May 13th

Liverpool vs. Brighton
Tottenham vs. Leicester
Newcastle vs. Chelsea

Newcastle will want points to stay in the top half, so they won't exactly be a pushover. However, I think Chelsea will win their remaining games now and show a bit of character. Liverpool will have to go full strength to make sure they can beat Brighton who have been decent lately. I'm sure that's not something Klopp wanted to do before the Champions League final. I think Spurs will at least fall over the line, probably with a draw and a win.

Obviously, hoping Liverpool mess it up and lose in the final as well!

Would have to do something with the fact that Liverpool are in the CL final. Their league form is clearly attributable to that. Agree about Spurs though.

 

[Goochy]

Can get 25/1 on Chelsea finishing 4th. Might put a tenner on it so even if we lose, I win, and vice versa

I just had $50 on that....just in case!

 

[KM]

Would have to do something with the fact that Liverpool are in the CL final. Their league form is clearly attributable to that. Agree about Spurs though.

Yes. It's a CL final which attributes to the fact that you failed to defeat Stoke WBA and lost to Chelsea in your last three matches.

Played your full strength team(injuries permitting) against Chelsea too.

 

[Primativ]

Spurs now likely to finish 3rd. That would be three seasons under Poch of finishing 3rd, 2nd, 3rd.

That is pretty fecking impressive. Yes, we do need to win at least a trophy, but our league form isn't to be sniffed at. Especially when everyone predicted us to finish 6th this season due to Wembley.

End the season as London's top club and the only one in the CL next season.

Finishing above Liverpool, Chelsea and arsenal despite them playing at their own stadiums all season and us playing 38 away games.

 

[roonster09]

Spurs now likely to finish 3rd. That would be three seasons under Poch of finishing 3rd, 2nd, 3rd.

That is pretty fecking impressive. Yes, we do need to win at least a trophy, but our league form isn't to be sniffed at. Especially when everyone predicted us to finish 6th this season due to Wembley.

End the season as London's top club and the only one in the CL next season.

Finishing above Liverpool, Chelsea and arsenal despite them playing at their own stadiums all season and us playing 38 away games.

Yeah, Poch did really great job. He changed them from "Lads it Spurs" to "fecking hell it's Spurs".

Btw disagree with 38 away games. How is Wembley home game for other 19 teams when you have 70 thousand fans in the stadium? Calling it is as neutral ground itself is wrong, to call it as away ground is just nonsense.

 

[Primativ]

Yeah, Poch did really great job. He changed them from "Lads it Spurs" to "fecking hell it's Spurs".

Btw disagree with 38 away games. How is Wembley home game for other 19 teams when you have 70 thousand fans in the stadium? Calling it is as neutral ground itself is wrong, to call it as away ground is just nonsense.

Just because it's away for us doesn't mean it home for the other team. Both teams are away from their usual stadium. Yes we eventually made it feel like home but you can't deny at the start of the season playing at Wembley cost us valuable points. Points that may have had us finishing 2nd if we were still at WHL.

My point is - spurs had a perfect excuse to have a very average season. The fact we will likely finish 3rd despite playing all season at an unfamiliar stadium is massive credit to the manager, staff and players. Many on redcafe wrote spurs off in the summer saying Wembley would screw us over.

 

[roonster09]

Just because it's away for us doesn't mean it home for the other team. Both teams are away from their usual stadium. Yes we eventually made it feel like home but you can't deny at the start of the season playing at Wembley cost us valuable points. Points that may have had us finishing 2nd if we were still at WHL.

My point is - spurs had a perfect excuse to have a very average season. The fact we will likely finish 3rd despite playing all season at an unfamiliar stadium is massive credit to the manager, staff and players. Many on redcafe wrote spurs off in the summer saying Wembley would screw us over.

You lost 1 game since loss against Chelesa and that was against City. It was your home stadium with 70K plus Spurs supporters.

Can you explain how Spurs performance was so much different from playing in Wembley to playing at Old Trafford? Wembley was your home and you smashed us 2-0, Old Trafford is away and barely created chance and lost to ManUtd.

Yeah, credit to Spurs for finishing 3rd but stop making up things like 38 away games. At a stretch you can argue 19 neutral venues and even that would be wrong as Stadium is full of Spurs fans.

 

[Addictive]

Hopefully Liverpool is beating Brighton 3-0 after half time and on the second half Brighton get an offside goal, a hand ball goal and a dive penalty and end 3-3 with Liverpool at 5th place

I hope that happens too, 4th on goal difference is fine by me.

 

[Trikie]

My point is - spurs had a perfect excuse to have a very average season. The fact we will likely finish 3rd despite playing all season at an unfamiliar stadium is massive credit to the manager, staff and players. Many on redcafe wrote spurs off in the summer saying Wembley would screw us over.

Personally I think Spurs had a massive advantage playing at Wembley this season. Yes they got off to a bit of a shaky start, but once they found their feet the advantage was there. For most of or a lot of players/teams playing in the prem this season A trip to Wembley was a first and as such became a big deal for some of them and became as much about playing at Wembley as it was to be playing Spurs. Well that's my opinion anyway.

 

[JustFootballFan]

Can get 25/1 on Chelsea finishing 4th. Might put a tenner on it so even if we lose, I win, and vice versa

LFC should put 5M on it and then another 5M in a parlay with Real Madrid. So they either come away with 250M or 125M and a CL title.

 

[Cal?]

LFC should put 5M on it and then another 5M in a parlay with Real Madrid. So they either come away with 250M or 125M and a CL title.

You can’t get Real Madrid at 1/1.

 

[Kops 'n' Robertsons]

You can’t get Real Madrid at 1/1.

Not to lift the trophy but in normal time yes, 6/5.

 

[Redderp]

Personally I think Spurs had a massive advantage playing at Wembley this season. Yes they got off to a bit of a shaky start, but once they found their feet the advantage was there. For most of or a lot of players/teams playing in the prem this season A trip to Wembley was a first and as such became a big deal for some of them and became as much about playing at Wembley as it was to be playing Spurs. Well that's my opinion anyway.

Nah that’s nonsense. You can just as easily turn it around and say that playing at Wembley makes the other team step up more because it’s Wembley and not just any normal stadium. But in reality there are two major things that makes playing at home easier. Familiarity and crowd support(which also effects refs). Spurs had to adjust to a new stadium like the rest of the League and the atmosphere is god awful. Wembley is like a library.

It’s underrated how much those two things help the home team. Playing football at any level will tell you that. Even for kids playing football.

I think Spurs can be very happy with getting top four and CL in their new stadium. They didn’t win a trophy, but they had a good season considering the circumstances(Wembley and tough CL group). It helps them immensely to keep their players for at least a year more. No CL would mean players are more likely to leave.

But they are still on the verge of going backwards because they have a lot of important players with two years left on their contract. I don’t think they can afford to lose Kane or Eriksen...

 

[GlastonSpur]

... in reality there are two major things that makes playing at home easier. Familiarity and crowd support(which also effects refs). Spurs had to adjust to a new stadium like the rest of the League and the atmosphere is god awful. Wembley is like a library...

Next season we still will have the unfamiliarity factor to deal with to some extent (1st season in our new stadium), but the atmosphere should be cracking, what with all the specially designed acoustics and all.

 

[Klopper76]

There was never much chance of Brighton getting anything today. No idea why some in here were trying to convince themselves that Chelsea had a realistic shot.

 

[RobinLFC]

@SirAF you actually owe me £200 now but I'll give you a pass this time

 

[SirAF]

@SirAF you actually owe me £200 now but I'll give you a pass this time

Jesus, what was the bet again? I said Liverpool wouldn't make top 4?

I appreciate the pass though!

 

[RobinLFC]

Jesus, what was the bet again? I said Liverpool wouldn't make top 4?

I appreciate the pass though!

That we wouldn't achieve a top 4 finish in consecutive seasons under Klopp, yeah

 

[SirAF]

That we wouldn't achieve a top 4 finish in consecutive seasons under Klopp, yeah

I probably thought you wouldn't last as long in here

Naah, fair play.