I want us to finish 7th just so we can all infiltrate that Everton forum and let them know we are a ‘Top 7’ club.
Yes agreed, that Reading team was exciting to watch and served up some tremendous games. Also, we're forgetting the George Burley Ipswich team of the early 2000's that came up via the playoffs and then finished about 5th or 6th was it? Marcus Stewart leading the line. They did get relegated the following season though...
Considering we're now 6 points clear of Everton, with a much kinder fixture run-in than them, I think it's highly likely we'll finish higher than Everton this season. That fact alone (if indeed it becomes fact) will be enough to destroy them on bragging rights. They took our "best" player and manager, pumped in £240m revamping their squad over the past two seasons, yet still cannot finish higher than a club they consider not worthy of wiping their boots on. That would be very satisfying indeed.
Capoue (almost certainly) being suspended for 2 games could also play a big part, though I'm confident Quina can be useful.
Yes, but by the same token, given their points total is the same as ours, they must also be less consistent than us against the rest of the division, meaning they are more likely to drop points. It's a fools errand trying to predict the ease of a run of games, especially in the last few weeks of the season. Form goes out the window, crap teams suddenly go on winning runs, top sides get beaten by already relegated teams etc. We're in a great position and it's all in our hands. Let's just watch and see which method we use to stuff it up. Top ten will still be decent.
It would. But we have to destroy the final insults that they have for us - they are a Top 7 club and we have not won anything. 7th and the cup and it’s curtains.
According to the FA website, he's one booking away from a 2 match ban but that only applies if his next booking is before we've completed 32 league matches. A booking in the FA cup won't count I believe.
I think that if we can get a single scalp from any of our 4 remaining 'top 6' games that this would have a big effect on a top 10 (7) finish. Be interesting to see what the 'grown ups' do with team selection for the Palace cup game.
Yep. They were done by Fulham on goal difference in one of those “great escapes” you inevitably find in a top 10 list.
We are averaging 1.48 points per game over 29 games and there is no reason to presume that will drop off now. That equates to over 56 points for the season. That's 13 more points. It may be we drop a bit from there, so maybe 54 points as a finish which total got Burnley Europa last season. Out of our away games left - City, United, Huddersfield and Chelsea, is it possible we will gain 3 or 4 points? Out of the home games left - Fulham, Arsenal, Wolves, West Ham, Southampton (tba), is it possible we will gain 10 points? Definitely possible and all those games are going to get a bigger and more electric atmosphere as we go along. 7th is attainable except for the matter of the cup and I hope I'm wrong but if we got to the final we are unlikely to make 7th place but you can never rule out this squad. The other problem is Capoue getting through the next 3 league games without a card which is unlikely so best if he gets a card against City which would rule him out of United and Fulham games. They may choose to rest him against City to save him, that is a possibility also. If we beat Palace then Southampton and the Fulham match would need to be rescheduled for mid-week which will complicate matters and we will have to use the full squad and will the amount of games and Wembley affect league form? Night matches are usually great atmosphere so will be fun for sure I'm really looking forward to the next couple of months!
City L United L Huddersfield W Chelsea L Fulham W Arsenal L Wolves L West Ham L Southampton D 7 points. About 10-12th finish We wont beat a top team again this season. Probably have enough to scrap a win against relegation fodder. Will bottle it in Watford style to West Ham and Wolves. Ill be optimistic and say we get a 0-0 draw with soton We are a mid table team. I think that's more realist than pessimist. But on a brighter note I cant see Everton getting 13 points so fingers crossed.
Some people have made the observation that other teams do better against the top six than we do, which could be key on who will finish 7th. Here's a look at how all the contenders have faired this season against the top six so far. Wolves- P 8 W2 D3 L3 Pts 9 (Wolves also beat Liverpool in the FA Cup) Watford P 8 W1 D0 L7 Pts 3 West Ham P 9 W2 D2 L5 Pts 8 Leicester City P 9 W2 D1 L6 Pts 7 Everton P8 W0 D2 L6 Pts 2 So us and Everton are the worst at picking up points against a top six opponent. Wolves are very consistent. Conversely, if we are so bad a getting results against a top six side, we must therefore be better than all our rivals in getting good results from "the rest". We've only lost to 3 clubs all season that sit outside of the top six, which is a remarkable record. Trying to crunch the numbers, but Leicester and West Ham only having 3 top six sides still to play, may be actually beneficial to us, as they both seem vulnerable to dropping points against the rest. The more I look at this, the more it would seem that we just cannot afford to lose to Wolves.
Well, by the time we play West Ham, it will be a case of knowing exactly what's needed. There will be no speculation at that point.
It could be that come the final day we're equal on points with West Ham and 1 ahead of Wolves. Meaning a draw would possibly hand it to Wolves in an otherwise winner takes all.
I'd take that (provided we're ahead of Wet Spam on goal difference). What a game that would be at Vicarage Road on 12th May !
This article doesn't fancy us at all. Finish 9th is the best we can hope for according to this. https://www.hammers.news/club-news/...-between-west-ham-everton-wolves-and-watford/ For us to get 54 points, they must have had us down to lose at home to Arsenal, and to draw both the West Ham and Wolves games. All plausible of course, but I just think we'll do better than that.
Bit of a pointless article without discussing where he thinks each team's respective points are coming from.
Yes, looks like they think we'll win vs Hudds, Fulham, Soton; draw vs Spam & Wolves & lose the other 4. TBH that doesn't look too unreasonable, although their estimate of 16 points for themselves is very optimistic!
Not too one-eyed. As it is a Hammers article, I thought it was going to predict Wet Spam finishing 7th ………..
Me too. It was obviously looking on the bright side for Wet Spam but other than arguably a slightly high 16pts which he says it on the optimistic side it’s remarkably sane. As pointed out though needed a bit more analysis of the games rather than just chucking out a points total.
Just to settle this fewer vs less thing: Fewer for things on a continuum like say "Id like fewer tea in my cup please" Less for things that are discrete "We are less than 50 miles away" Also people need to stop using the phrase "a few more" clearly from the above rules we should be saying "less more" as the sentence "Id like a less more Watford wins this season"