As things stand I would think Swansea look poor enough to go down: Just not enough quality there. Brighton and Huddersfield are surprising people although it remains to be seen if they can keep it up season-long. Described above as a Jekyll and Hyde Club, Leicester have some really good players and are starting to pick up: I think it's possible they'll challenge for top ten well before the end of the season. West Ham, on the other hand.... I wonder if Moyes is now regretting his new job - they don't seem to be able to find a new manager bounce and that might indicate they really haven't got it in them. I think some are forgetting Moyes did a good job for a good length of time at Everton; but since then he seems to have a knack of picking very big but very difficult jobs. Some of the forgettable clubs like Stoke and WBA will stay up, but longer-term WBA need some better players. But all this can be shredded by the Jan transfer window and it is only after that we can be more sure.
Despite Brighton picking up useful points before the international break, I can't see them surviving. Of promoted clubs they have by far the weakest squad and that's starting to show now. As the season goes on I can see them picking up hardly any points. Huddersfield too are struggling of late so even though West Ham are playing **** at the moment, they have enough experience to avoid the drop.
Yes Brighton and Huddersfield seem to be fulfilling the usual pattern of promoted clubs doing much better than expectation initially, then slowly falling down the toilet.
I am quite surprised to see people picking Brighton, I have seen a few of the games on TV and they look quite good. I don¨t see how losing 2 of the last 7 against Man Ure and Liverpool as falling down the toilet. I wonder if a19tgg has been attending the Paul Merson school of predictions.
You could look it at that way, you could also look at the fact that they just got spanked 5-1 at home and they’ve also drawn against palace and stoke in their last few games. They’ve certainly looked hard to beat initially, but they (in my opinion) are showing signs of taking a turn for the worse, likewise Huddersfield. I’m not necessarily saying they will go down, just that their early form seems to be sliding.
I forgot Newcastle. They must be outsiders for the drop. And Crystal Palace I think will escape relegation: The oft-maligned Hodgson has intelligence, decades of experience, no little success over the years and a calm demeanour and he will slowly bring them round. But everybody has a lot of time to change - the Huddersfields might lose their impetus and the Newcastles might buy their way out of trouble.
If you look at the stats Brighton actually have a better home record than us, don´t forget we lost 6-0 to Citeh. Home form is of upmost importance in staying up if you look at the fact Swansea have only won 1 home match all season and they have played all the so called little teams at home I would put my money on them to finish bottom in similar circumstances to Sunderland last year.
And what odds do you reckon you'll get that - should Swansea sack Clement in the next few weeks - A certain Tony Pulis will be brought in to keep them up?!
Yes, good shout that, I think Clement will now be on borrowed time. Still too early to say with certainty who will go down. Thought Swansea were gone a year ago. I would like Palace, West Brom and West Ham but I'd be surprised if it's even one of those
If Pulis is appointed by Swansea... well I always thought they had a philosophy of trying to play football in a certain way, certainly Rodgers and Monk set a precedent there. I appreciate the riches being in the PL brings and the blind panic the possibility of dropping out of it generates, but surely there is a line.
We play Huddersfield, Brighton and Swansea on the next few games. So we can see who will be down there. from watching Newcastle last week I would say they are in trouble as are West Spam. West Brom aren't great either. Sadly can see Palace getting out of it as they have some decent players. At this stage of the season I would predict it will be Swansea, Huddersfield and West Ham. With Brighton, Newcastle and West Brom running them close.
I think Swansea are more or less down as their squad isn't good enough. West Ham, Muff and Newcastle will spend their way out of trouble in January. So my picks to go down with Swansea are Huddersfield (I hope they stay up as I like their manager) and Stoke. Palace may just scrape clear provided that Benteke and Zaha stay fit.
Swansea won't go down, they borrowed an amazing young player called... er.... something something... anyway everyone said how brilliant it was clement could borrow something something because he will be one of the best players in the world ever
Another example of a young star making his move to a big club too early .. A warning for Richarlison maybe?
If WBA go down, we should make a big bid to bring Foster back to the club on a permenant basis this time.
Zaha is the big one for them. If he got injured they would be in deep trouble. Benteke has scored 1 goal this season
Mr IBB keeps frindalling on and on about Benteke* and how he will never score again. This means,almost certainly,that he will score a week today! Wretched. *I imagine,just as Lemsford becomes 'Lemsip' in winter, so Christian becomes 'Benturkey' at this festive time?
