I think we’ll be fine, we’ve slowly but surely edged higher and higher under big Nige, with our current position being the highest we’ve been all season.
I agree with Norwich and Muff, but we're still very much in it for the third spot. A couple of poor results could pull in Newcastle. Brighton, although they had a good win today, still need a couple more wins. They could easily go on a bad run. Then Watford, Villa and Spam are really vulnerable. Having said that, I just think we've got more about us then most of these teams. Maybe I'm biased, but I think we've got a good team spirit an inspired keeper plus the x-factor in Sarr. It SHOULD be enough to tip things in our favour, but we cannot think it's job done by any means. Get this round of games over and done with then they R value will go up and we'll be at level 5 again pretty quickly. It's unlikely this season will complete, IMO, so it's vital we put as much clear water between us and the bottom three in the early stages of this comeback as possible. Today is job done on that score. Even if Villa win their game in hand (which is unlikely against Chelsea), we'll not be in the bottom three after everyone has played 30 matches. Its very important to be above the red line after EVERY round of matches from now on. On another note, I think 38 points would be enough to stay up. Theoretically could we draw all our remaining games and stay up with just 6 wins......that would be remarkable.
The AFCB forum is a thing of beauty tonight...... https://bournemouth-forum.vitalfootball.co.uk/threads/say-goodnight.11716/
I think we'll have a bit of a gap with 2 games to go, maybe not totally safe, but probably enough for nobody to claw it back even if we don't pick up any points in those games (and Arsenal is very winnable, and I just have a funny feeling we'll finally come good against City at long last)
Feels very weird talking about a team who are still only a couple of goals away from safety like that, but yeah, Bournemouth must be big favourites for the drop now. Annoying that Villa got a point from Wednesday, we could have a mini cushion on them by now, though I'm still fairly confident that if nothing disastrous happens, that we'll finish above them. I don't know about West Ham, on paper they shouldn't be where they are, but if they don't pick up points from their next few difficult games, they'll be under huuuuuuge pressure, and even though there are no fans, you still feel the general toxicity of the club could get to them
Given we never reached ‘level 5’ even at the height of things in March and April, I’d say there’s zero chance of this happening.
There won't be a second lock down whatever happens, it would be nothing short of economic suicide. The season will finish come what may.
A lot has changed since the PL pulled the plug back in March, mainly to do with perception. I think football players and the vast majority of those directly connected to clubs see Covid as a non event for them now. With 1-2 amongst them in a 1000 or so testing positive at the moment, even if that figure went up to 50 or more I can’t see the league getting suspended again.
The country is opening up, yet cases and deaths are going down (albeit slower than we'd all like), think it's just fizzling out for the summer, no chance the Prem will be called off again. As for the winter, who knows? A second wave could wreak absolute havoc with all footballing plans
The season finishes in July. The second wave will be in August/September. It takes a 2-3 months for exponential growth to really kick in.
A tad early to be revelling in others’ misfortune, wouldn’t you say? We’re hardly out of the woods yet ourselves.
There won't be a second national lock down, anywhere, in any country. This one will cost $4-$8Tn. There isn't the money for a second, no matter the R number. It was a one shot deal.
I have to say if I was a Bournemouth fan, after that performance last night and their next run of fixtures I wouldn’t be so optimistic:
not if they don't improve after last night's showing. They were dreadful- no cohesion between defence and midfield, or midfield and attack. There was no desire to get forward and even try and score. They will go down
Yeah, a quick browse of the forums show that generally they're a lot more upbeat than the others, the break came at a good time for them the jammy ****ers. West Ham and Bournemouth are all doom and gloom
Villa unchanged since Wednesday, Chelsea make 4 changes from their last match in March, most interestingly, Giroud starts up top, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek makes his first appearance in a year, seemingly out wide
Thank **** for that, Chelsea turned on the style in the end, very happy with that weekend now. Newcastle perhaps isn't looking so appetising for Villa now as well, another outside shot for Europe now...
Burnley v Watford (3 pts) Watford v Southampton (1 pt) Chelsea v Watford (0 pts) Watford v Norwich (3 pts) Watford v Newcastle (1 pt) West Ham v Watford (1 pt) Watford v Man City (0 pts) Arsenal v Watford (1 pt) 38 points, should be enough. We could easily turn Newcastle and West Ham over, but then again we could just as easily lose to Southampton & Burnley! Norwich gone, Bournemouth look in trouble and I don't think Villa have enough in the locker to score goals to win games. West Ham should have enough quality along with us and Brighton to stay out the bottom 3.
I'm quietly confident as long as we keep our key players fit, and I don't think it'll take 38 points to survive, but still, to go unbeaten against everyone outside the top 4 will be an ask
West Ham on paper do have on paper a decent squad, but a very uninspiring manager, and even without fans, surely the general malaise about the club will have an impact, especially if they lose their derbies coming up
We have enough games to get the required points. 12 points would definitely be enough I would think. 4 points in the coming week and I think we are on the home straight. Failure to do so and we are going to continue with squeaky bums to the final day and possibly slip.
