19. Aston Villa | 26 points | -23 goal difference Wednesday, June 24: Newcastle (a), 6pm (Half chance of Europe, but probably content enough with what they've done so far) Saturday, June 27: Wolves (h), 12.30pm (Everything to play for) Sunday, July 5: Liverpool (a), 4.30pm (Might have wrapped the title up by then, may play the kids, although 5 subs allows that chance anyway. Regardless, you'd hope they're more in synch with each other than Sunday) Thursday, July 9: Manchester United (h), 8.15pm (Everything to play for) Sunday, July 12: Crystal Palace (h), 2pm (Level on points with Tottenham for a possible Europa League place, though they'll probably be happy with what they've got already) Wednesday, July 15: Everton (a), TBD (Half chance of Europa, which may have gone by then) Saturday, July 18: Arsenal (h), TBD (Champions League dreams fading fast, Europa may be possible by then, but they can always implode spectacularly) Sunday, July 26: West Ham (a), TBD (Gargantuan game, pray it's a straight shootout with us safe by then) 18. Bournemouth | 27 points | -20 goal difference Wednesday, June 24: Wolves (a), 6pm (Everything to play for) Wednesday, July 1: Newcastle (h), 6pm (Half chance of Europe, but probably content enough with what they've done so far) Saturday, July 4: Manchester United (a), 3pm (Everything to play for) Thursday, July 9: Spurs (h), 6pm (Still in the hunt for the Champions League, though looking fairly unlikely, and can also implode) Sunday, July 12: Leicester City (h), 7pm (Probably safe for the Champions League, though they'd like to rubber-stamp it sooner rather than later) Wednesday, July 15: Man City (a), TBD (Whether or not the league is gone by then, they're basically guaranteed second, and will probably be more focused on the Champions League. Their second team can still rip everyone apart though) Saturday, July 18: Southampton (h), TBD (Half chance of Europe, which will probably have faded by then, but probably content enough with what they've done so far) Sunday, July 26: Everton (a), TBD (Half chance of Europa, which will probably have gone by then) 17. West Ham | 27 points | -17 goal difference Tuesday, June 23: Spurs (a), 8.15pm (Still in the hunt for the Champions League, though looking fairly unlikely, and can also implode) Wednesday, July 1: Chelsea (h), 8.15pm (Everything to play for) Sunday, July 5: Newcastle (a), 2pm (Half chance of Europe, which will probably have faded by then, but probably content enough with what they've done so far) Wednesday, July 8: Burnley (h), 6pm (Threadbare squad, will almost certainly have nothing to play for, and may be a case of damage limitation) Saturday, July 11: Norwich City (a), 12.30pm (Will probably be down by then, hopefully have the stomach for a battle, but I'm not counting on it) Wednesday, July 15: Watford (h), TBD (Big chance for us to hopefully secure survival before a difficult last two games) Saturday, July 18: Manchester United (a), TBD (Everything to play for) Sunday, July 26: Aston Villa (h), TBD (Gargantuan game, pray it's a straight shootout with us safe by then) 16. Watford | 28 points | -17 goal difference Thursday, June 25: Burnley (a), 6pm (Threadbare squad, big chance for us to hopefully get some daylight between us and the bottom three, though they should have more in the tank for this game than the West Ham game) Sunday, June 28: Southampton (h), 4.30pm (Half chance of Europe, which may have faded by then, but probably content enough with what they've done so far. How much can we rotate from the Burnley game?) Saturday, July 4: Chelsea (a), 8pm (Everything to play for) Tuesday, July 7: Norwich City (h), 6pm (Relegation might have been effectively sealed by then, hopefully don't have the stomach for a battle, but I'm not counting on it) Saturday, July 11: Newcastle (h), 12.30pm (Half chance of Europe, which will probably have faded by then, but probably content enough with what they've done so far) Wednesday, July 15: West Ham (a), TBD (Big chance for us to hopefully secure survival before a difficult last two games) Saturday, July 18: Man City (h), TBD (Will be basically guaranteed second by then, and will definitely be more focused on the Champions League. Their second team can still rip everyone apart though. Hopefully due some degree of payback!) Sunday, July 25: Arsenal (a), TBD (Champions League dreams fading fast, Europa may be possible by then, but they can always implode spectacularly) 15. Brighton | 32 points | -7 goal difference Tuesday, June 23: Leicester City (a), 6pm (Probably safe for the Champions League, though they'd like to rubber-stamp it sooner rather than later) Tuesday, June 30: Manchester United (h), 8.15pm (Everything to play for) Saturday, July 4: Norwich City (a), 12.30pm (Will probably be down by then, hopefully have the stomach for a battle, but I'm not counting on it) Wednesday, July 8: Liverpool (h), 8.15pm (Might have wrapped the title up by then, may play the kids, although 5 subs allows that chance anyway. Regardless, you'd hope they're more in synch with each other than Sunday) Saturday, July 11: Man City (h), 8pm (Whether or not the league is gone by then, they're basically guaranteed second, and will probably be more focused on the Champions League. Their second team can still rip everyone apart though) Wednesday, July 15: Southampton (a), TBD (Half chance of Europe, which may have faded by then, but probably content enough with what they've done so far) Saturday, July 18: Newcastle (h), TBD Sunday, July 25: Burnley (a), TBD (Oh **** it, Brighton will probably be looking at ******* Europe by then...)
Brighton looked decent and another point. Beginning to look like a 5 horse race. Let’s hope West Ham and the others lose, we win and we can make it a 4 horse race
Only 4 of the 8 relegation related matches so far have gone our way. Really need Spurs to win this one.
So a win on Thursday and we open up a 4 point gap Unfortunately I can only see us getting a draw at best
I know it’s just the bookies pricing odds and it’s affected by where the money goes, but since the restart we’ve gone from 23/10 to 4/1 for relegation.
Well West Ham gave it a bit of a go for a bit, but gave up late on really. Tottenham should have had about 4, but at least it's another multiple goal loss for West Ham in the end after it looked like Tottenham might have been frustrated, could get tight with them wrt goal difference
I can’t remember who we played, but I do remember during that great early run under Pearson, we had a chance to put some proper space between ourselves and the bottom group. Possibly the Villa and Everton last minute debacles, where we absolutely **** the bed at the worst time. Tough game on Thursday, but you’d have to hope the chance to give ourselves a small buffer and really put the pressure on the bottom teams ahead of another favorable fixture for us, is more than enough motivation.
Villa game we started out of the drop zone by a point, went 4 clear temporarily before dropping back in. We've had a few false dawns like that where we really looked like we turned a corner, can't afford to take anything for granted, even if Tottenham did us a favour and Burnley are struggling atm
I agree Brighton have a bit to do yet but another 4 points should pretty much see them over the line. Good to see West Ham lose last night. We would like to see Villa and Muff lose tonight. As for Norwich, as long as they don't win I would be happy.
Bournemouth away at Wolves really should be another defeat for them. Villa away at Newcastle is massive for them. Lose this one and their next three games are against Wolves, Liverpool and Man Utd. Football is a funny old game, but I can’t see them picking up any points in their next three games after tonight.
Nearly the perfect night for us, just a shame that Dubravka gifted Villa a point C Wilson picked up a 2 game ban for Bournemouth tonight as well, which is a nice bonus
Their next match is against Newcastle which is probably their most winnable. Hopefully King is still out for it as well and they only have Solanke up front.
Annoying that the Toon conceded such a **** goal, but Villa possibly shaded it in the end, so I'll take that all day long. Won't be an absolute quivering wreck tomorrow, will only be slightly nervy instead!
A good result against Burnley and things will start to look a little better. Things have gone our way (ish) tonight so it is now up to us to capitalise.
In terms of things going our way I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect every one of our rivals to lose every game. As far as I’m concerned everything other than a win is the result going our way, so in that respect the restart has been very good so far.
Most Muff fans seem happy about it because they don't think he should be in the team right now anyway (poor performances). Apparently Saint Eddie has been playing him despite his form being dire. A forced change might not be a blessing, unfortunately.
I think you'll find it's the Muff fans saying that. Go ask them, I don't watch their games enough to be able to answer that. I can't stand the cheating gits.