Top 4 Race 19/20 | duffer: "We [Chelsea] are getting 3rd. Despite what the lunatics in here think, Man United are not all that."

Irwin99 said:
Looking at Arsenal's schedule and I can't see them getting anywhere near despite my earlier thinking that they could be a dark horse (there has been improvement under Arteta I think). Think Everton have left it too late as well.



...and they do have a history of throwing games against Chelsea just to spite United :mad:
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Yeah I will never ever forget Gerrard gifting it to Drogba in 2010 at Anfield
 
Massive Spanner said:
It feels like Arsenal are having the worst season imaginable yet somehow they're only two fecking points behind us.
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I was going to laugh at spurs losing again at the moment but Burnley will only be a point behind us this weekend if we lose tomorrow, plus arsenal will have a game in hand to go above us and the same goes with Sheffield United who would have the chance to go 4 points clear!
 
Can't even begin to care about what other teams are doing really, we've got it in our own hands as far as I'm concerned. We need to go on a winning run starting tomorrow. Do that, we'll get 4th.
 
I am not worried. Even if we lose next two games (and i think we will), we have best schedule and we will get CL spot. 4th or 5th it doesn't matter.
 
We've got the most favourable run in of the contenders and we seem to have players coming back from injury and making the squad stronger. Plus we strengthened in January.

We really should be making the CL one way or another. No excuses.
 
Your away games are very tricky imo, not sure good home form will be enough. Add in europa league complicating things.

I actually think you're got more than decent chance of repeat of 16/17 which would still mean CL football next season.
 
FootballHQ said:
Your away games are very tricky imo, not sure good home form will be enough. Add in europa league complicating things.

I actually think you're got more than decent chance of repeat of 16/17 which would still mean CL football next season.
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Well one's at Villa Park so that's 3 points straight away :D
 
Looking interesting now. Chelsea Everton is a big game for Lampard. Fail to win and the teams below them will fancy it.

I think Fernandes is going to inspire a United victory tomorrow.
 
Djemba-Djemba said:
Well one's at Villa Park so that's 3 points straight away :D
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:lol: We did play well at OT earlier this season so think we'll give you a game but......yeah three points.

However by same logic you need to factor in the usual loss at Brighton no?;)

It was a surprise to me when I was checking your away record, thought you'd have won more than 4 given you were very good at Man. City and to lesser extent at Chelsea. Lack of consistancy really. Play exceptionally well at Man. City then lose poorly at Watford. Dig out a win at Burnley then lose to Arsenal 3 days later.

I'd still say likes of Spurs, Leicester and even Palace (although your record at Selhurst Park is probably even better than at Villa Park in recent times) will be tough away games to win especially if they're in between europa.
 
FootballHQ said:
:lol: We did play well at OT earlier this season so think we'll give you a game but......yeah three points.

However by same logic you need to factor in the usual loss at Brighton no?;)

It was a surprise to me when I was checking your away record, thought you'd have won more than 4 given you were very good at Man. City and to lesser extent at Chelsea. Lack of consistancy really. Play exceptionally well at Man. City then lose poorly at Watford. Dig out a win at Burnley then lose to Arsenal 3 days later.

I'd still say likes of Spurs, Leicester and even Palace (although your record at Selhurst Park is probably even better than at Villa Park in recent times) will be tough away games to win especially if they're in between europa.
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Yeah I'm not overly confident but I still think if you get to mid March and you've got games against City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal, Wolves and even Everton out the way then your run in should be pretty decent. We're wildly inconsistent but so is everyone else it seems.

It'll be a battle of who can be least shit to make the CL.
 
Actually just seen Chelsea's schedule...now that is rock hard. Loads of tough homes and aways and add in quite a few injuries for them.
 
Andycoleno9 said:
I am not worried. Even if we lose next two games (and i think we will), we have best schedule and we will get CL spot. 4th or 5th it doesn't matter.
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5th will not get CL this season. Even our legal advisers think it won't happen.
 
We’d be mad to play as if 5th is enough, none of the chasing pack will be thinking it is. Everyone will be going for 4th, anyone even thinking about 5th is being a bit naive and overly optimistic.
 
Andycoleno9 said:
I am not worried. Even if we lose next two games (and i think we will), we have best schedule and we will get CL spot. 4th or 5th it doesn't matter.
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This. We have a good run from fixture 31 to 37 and teams like Chelsea have it tough.

Expecting a full blown meltdown here though after we don’t win tomorrow or we beat City then lose to a bottom 3 team.
 
Judas said:
We’d be mad to play as if 5th is enough, none of the chasing pack will be thinking it is. Everyone will be going for 4th, anyone even thinking about 5th is being a bit naive and overly optimistic.
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How do we even do that? It's not like if we get into 4th we'll just sit back with a cigar knowing that 5 th will be good enough anyway, we'll be trying to win every game, it's just a case of if we're good enough, and if the teams around us are better, right now given the form of the teams above us I think we could finish 3rd, but we've been here before, so anything could happen yet.
 
The race for the top four is wide open at this point.

There's an 8 point gap between Chelsea in 4th and Everton in 12th with 9 game weeks to play.

I fancy us to get in by the skin of our teeth.
 
Random Task said:
The race for the top four is wide open at this point.

There's an 8 point gap between Chelsea in 4th and Everton in 12th with 9 game weeks to play.

I fancy us to get in by the skin of our teeth.
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Wouldn't rule out Leicester either. No league win in February and only just 5 points ahead of Chelsea just now.
 
Random Task said:
I didn't realize the gap between them and Chelsea had closed that much, to be honest. They were miles ahead at one point.
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They were indeed miles ahead at one point but their recent league form has been well shaky. Didn’t win a single league game in February and Vardy has been injured recently too.

Right now, I’d say they are definitely in the mix.
 
I'm not very optimistic and cant see us finish in the top 4. We will lose tomorrow against City (we have a terrible record versus them at Old Trafford, City are also in great form), Spurs can go either way, and then the last 8 games are "winnable". But these 'winnable" games are the games we struggle the most with as this season has proved.

There is a key injury or two waiting to happen. Probably Martial (the man is made of glas) or a Bruno Fernandes injury would be peak United.

Our shot to get CL is to win the Europa League imo.
 
bondsname said:
I'm not very optimistic and cant see us finish in the top 4. We will lose tomorrow against City (we have a terrible record versus them at Old Trafford, City are also in great form), Spurs can go either way, and then the last 8 games are "winnable". But these 'winnable" games are the games we struggle the most with as this season has proved.

There is a key injury or two waiting to happen. Probably Martial (the man is made of glas) or a Bruno Fernandes injury would be peak United.

Our shot to get CL is to win the Europa League imo.
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Yeah my gut feeling is this could be like 16/17 and will need us to win europa league to qualify. I am worried about bumping into our old friends at Inter with a point to prove though.
 
Massive Spanner said:
It feels like Arsenal are having the worst season imaginable yet somehow they're only two fecking points behind us.
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Madness. I'm not even sure that the team finishing in the top 4 deserves any serious praise this year. The standard has been abysmal.
 
Think there is a very slim possibility of results going our way today and ending the day in 4th place,however realistically I can see us being 5 pts off Chelsea as expect them to win and us maybe draw.
 
Big win for Man. United to keep in touch with Chelsea. Suddenly getting past the 60 point barrier dosen't seem that big a challenge. Do that and will have a very good chance for 4th/5th.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Madness. I'm not even sure that the team finishing in the top 4 deserves any serious praise this year. The standard has been abysmal.
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The run in to last season was even worse. Sarri was getting praised for getting Chelsea 3rd but think they only won 2 of their last 8 games, chasing pack won even less.
 
A massive 3pts vs City. Even if we get two points from Spurs and Sheffield you'd say we'd be the favourites to get 4th place
 
I’m still so confused - so does 5th place get CL or not?
 
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