Villa or Derby?

Charlton are the first ones that come to mind!

 

I think Norwich are far too weak defensively. They will be next season's Fulham in terms of a leaky defence.

Villa will need to strengthen but I think they do have pulling power. It will be hard for all three promoted clubs. Then Burnley, Bournemouth, Brighton making up the strugglers. Newcastle and Palace should do well, but have handicaps. Newcastle's problem is their owner, and Palace's issues are Hodgson. We could be down there, but much depends on what we do in the transfer market. If we do nothing to improve the defence and miss out on a striker, then we'll be in the bottom 6 or 7.

 

Brighton have a lot of problems, but they have a much better shout of avoiding the drop next season with Potter at the helm. Newcastle are apparently in the process of being taken over by a Dubai billionaire who may not know anything about football but I'm guessing won't be as afraid to splash the cash as Ashley. I'd say at this stage we've finally got to the stage where most people think we'll be OK, but have a bad window and we could be involved in a scrap

 

Villa also have rich owners who will now be free to splash the cash without worrying about EPL financial fair play. With Newcastle new ownership it’s getting tougher.

 

I'd agree with this, but our end of season form, plus that cup final embarrassment will see us as most people's "dark horse" side to go down. Merson will also have us a bankers for relegation, and that will never change.

 

Our end of season form isn't likely to attract any attention though. It was actually very average - 12th in the league over the last 6 games. Same as Bournemouth, West Ham, Newcastle - better than Southampton, Brighton, Arsenal and Man Utd. It clearly was no where near good enough to sustain the push for 7th but it's hardly Mazzarri level of dire.

SkyBet has us as 10th favourites to go down next season currently. Priced as the best of the rest.

 

That doesn't stop the pundits who go out of their way to find as much negativity to throw at Watford. Four defeats on the spin and the last three being real thrashings will be enough for them.

 

I expect the lazy pundits will just resort to the cliche about us being distracted by the cup final to explain our mediocre end of season form.

 

Merse did have a Damascene revelation (although he might not call it that) about us in the early Sssssilva era. He was v positive for a while.

I'm not sure if the moccasin statement means he has recanted as I'm not sure what it meant.

 

Those odds have Everton, Lesta & Wolves a v distinct mini league below the top 6.

Us, WHU, Muff etc as the mid tablers & the promoted teams & Burnley & Brighton as the tail end Charlies.

 

Did the thought cross anyone else's mind that the last 2 "high stakes" play off finals have seen glaring GK errors....