Race for top 4 | Finito.

AlPistacho said:
I think we’re (Man Utd) either gonna challenge for the tittle or get a few key injuries and get into a battle for top 4.
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Yeah.

I mean 3rd looks very possible. It won’t shock me if we go on a great run and end the season looking like proper title challengers. The problem we’ve got is Arsenal have a nine-point head start from here.

As you say, injuries could cost us. If we lose, say, Rashford and Casemiro, we’ll be in a tough scrap for 4th.
 
Loon said:
It’s only halfway in the season. People talking with so much certainty...
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Because it's half the season. Second halves tend to be similar and normally is +- 5 points bar some outliers like liverpool last season. But it's more likely to assume that liverpool, chelsea and spurs will get 25 - 35 points again and we will get 35 - 45 again rather than us collapsing or one of them getting 45+ points to reach us.
Could happen but I don't remember any team doing this bar liverpool last season who went from 41 to 51 or A. Madrid that collapsed a few seasons ago from 50 to 36 (although they woke up in time to still win the title)
 
Is Arsenal’s squad any deeper than ours? What happens if they get a couple of injuries like people are always fearing happens to us. They haven’t missed Jesus really, but if another forward gets injured?
 
We are 5 points clear in 4th but with a game in hand. I would make us favourites of all the clubs to finish third. There will be some bumps, but we look very solid and organised. And confidence is high. I think 4th is between Newcastle, Spurs and Liverpool (who will go on a run at some point).
 
Just realised Firmino has been out for a while for Liverpool. No doubt he will go on a mad run for them annoyingly when he comes back soon.
 
Another month like January and the Top 4 will have broken away, with only the order to be decided.

Chelsea and Liverpool are still in disarray so its going be too late to sort themselves out and then climb the table.
 
dwd said:
Just realised Firmino has been out for a while for Liverpool. No doubt he will go on a mad run for them annoyingly when he comes back soon.
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Liverpool's midfielders and to a lesser extent their defenders are their problem. Firmino coming back might improve their forward play a bit but what they really need is some better/younger midfielders.
 
BorisManUtd said:
Agree with all of this. I too just don't feel we're there yet, but don't mind players believing we are and picking as many points as possible.

Possible win at Palace would put us in strong position top 4 wise which is most important atm.

it's probably wishful thinking but I'd like to think we're in a position similar to Chelsea back in 2013/14, where they looked like they could go win it but ultimately were 3rd best team in the league. Then they got Fabregas and Costa in summer and won it comfortably. It was a different league back then but I hope we follow that path of doing fairly well and upgrading on it with few quality signings to get us on that next level.
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Yeah that is quite a suitable comparison and like you say this team still needs progressive CM, Kane/Osimhen for first XI alone along with some cover for important players
 
RuudTom83 said:
Another month like January and the Top 4 will have broken away, with only the order to be decided.

Chelsea and Liverpool are still in disarray so its going be too late to sort themselves out and then climb the table.
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They're also facing eachother next in the league
 
For the first time confident we’ve got this in the bag. Liverpool and Chelsea are just so shit. And I doubt Fulham and Brighton will be able to hit 60+ points. Spurs are still good at beating the trash but pretty much useless when it comes to facing the top teams so that should keep them behind us.
Doesn’t look like the Newcastle drop off is happening but may not even need to finish above them.
 
Just realized that not only do Arsenal have to play City twice, but SPURS also still have to play City 2 times. Meanwhile we don't have to see them for the rest of the season. To me that's massive!!! Considering I think City are favorites for any Premiere game they are in, if they win all 4 of those games that is HUGE for us.

Don't get why everyone thinks we can't catch Arsenal, if we beat them and they lose to City twice, assuming we have a similar records against the rest of the league, couldn't we give them a run?
 
As far as squad depth, yes we would be in trouble if we lost certain players (Casemeiro, Bruno, Rashford), but we still have players to step in who can do a shift for us-can revert back to McFred if necessary, they can at least keep us in games even if we lose a bit of creativity.

While City and Liverpool, and even Chelsea are fine for squad depth, I think Newcastle are totally dependent on their Bruno (Gremaires) and he just went down with an injury. Could you imagine if Spurs lost Son or Kane? Bye Bye. I do think Arsenal have some nice depth, but losing Odegaard still seems like it would deflate them.
 
giggslover said:
Just realized that not only do Arsenal have to play City twice, but SPURS also still have to play City 2 times. Meanwhile we don't have to see them for the rest of the season. To me that's massive!!! Considering I think City are favorites for any Premiere game they are in, if they win all 4 of those games that is HUGE for us.

Don't get why everyone thinks we can't catch Arsenal, if we beat them and they lose to City twice, assuming we have a similar records against the rest of the league, couldn't we give them a run?
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Fair but beating Arsenal after playing another game against Palace while they're resting is going to be harder than what it looks on paper for us. Winning at the Emirates is something that will help us big time though.
 
As I said in the matchday topic: If Spurs get a result tomorrow you lot could be second on sunday evening.
 
Rapsel said:
As I said in the matchday topic: If Spurs get a result tomorrow you lot could be second on sunday evening.
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City despite their flaws will be able to deal with Spurs who are too reliant on specific moments. But it's all dependent on whether Kane and Son score for Spurs or not.
 
Gasolin said:
City despite their flaws will be able to deal with Spurs who are too reliant on specific moments. But it's all dependent on whether Kane and Son score for Spurs or not.
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Since 2019 I have a hard time hoping for Spurs to score but let that be water under the bridge as per tomorrow.
 
giggslover said:
As far as squad depth, yes we would be in trouble if we lost certain players (Casemeiro, Bruno, Rashford), but we still have players to step in who can do a shift for us-can revert back to McFred if necessary, they can at least keep us in games even if we lose a bit of creativity.

While City and Liverpool, and even Chelsea are fine for squad depth, I think Newcastle are totally dependent on their Bruno (Gremaires) and he just went down with an injury. Could you imagine if Spurs lost Son or Kane? Bye Bye. I do think Arsenal have some nice depth, but losing Odegaard still seems like it would deflate them.
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Yeah Partey and Odegaard are their key players
 
Gasolin said:
Fair but beating Arsenal after playing another game against Palace while they're resting is going to be harder than what it looks on paper for us. Winning at the Emirates is something that will help us big time though.
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Still got this horrible feeling Casa or Fred will pick up that dreaded yellow card tonight
 
We're not so far ahead of Palace on quality in midfield that we can run the risk of dropping points to them by dropping Casemiro to save him for Arsenal. That said, he probably could use the rest to retain fitness for Arsenal but only he and ETH will know the state of his fitness to be able to make that decision.

But on the main point at hand, top four is pretty well set now.
 
Wait, people actually believed we're in the title race ?

It has always been top 4 as a target for this season.
 
We will get top 4 very comfortably. Stop panicking.
 
We're in a decent position for a top 4 spot. We just don't have the squad for a title challenge so this is the consolation and it wouldn't be a bad achievement given the problems at the start of the season.
 
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