Top 4 race / race abandoned (or maybe not) / Leicester & Chelsea in the process of bottling it

With the possible exception of Leicester, I think that top 4 is beginning to take shape and the teams there at the moment will pull away from the rest, barring a massive collapse. It is a weird old season though.

Unless Tuchel inspires Chelsea to go one one hell of a winning run I don't see them or Spurs having the consistency to make it. West Ham and Everton will slide down the table soon, even after their games in hand.
 
Irwin99 said:
With the possible exception of Leicester, I think that top 4 is beginning to take shape and the teams there at the moment will pull away from the rest, barring a massive collapse. It is a weird old season though.

Unless Tuchel inspires Chelsea to go one one hell of a winning run I don't see them or Spurs having the consistency to make it. West Ham and Everton will slide down the table soon, even after their games in hand.
Click to expand...
I think Thursday is crucial for us, if we can win i think we can make it, lose and it's likely too much.
 
Both Manchesters and Liverpool should all pull away now but think 4th will have a few twists and turns in it.

Leicester collapsed last season from a very strong position, europa is starting again next month and they've stopped winning with Vardy and Ndidi injured so can't say they'll make it with enough certainty even though they've been good to watch again.

Think it will be low 60s for 4th so that should keep most of the current top half in the hunt until the last 2-3 games.
 
Imagine I didnt get to watch this game only kept checking the scoreline. Shocking result. But we are due one, I think our attacking play is brilliant it's just our of the ball movement which is average but today with one man down we killed the game so well. I wish we had all that drive and confidence playing 11 v 11. BtW 9:0 could be as a crucial win in our title/top4 race with the goal difference deficit we had.
 
Good win for Leicester, considering Vardy is back soon too.
 
Win tomorrow and we're just 4 points behind Liverpool

#putthepressureonfc
 
WeePat said:
Very true. Wolves is a winnable game for Arsenal now - 6 weeks ago was looking your upcoming run of games [Wolves, Villa, Leeds, City and Leicester] as another potential bad losing streak. We have gained 4 points on United in the last two games and 3 on Leicester. It looks promising, but I've been scarred by the last 6 weeks, so I don't dare to get my hopes up too much.
Click to expand...

Hows that? Before Southampton our last two games was a defeat and a draw, Chelsea's last two games were a draw and a defeat, so 3 points gained no?
 
For the sake of an unlikely title push I’d like Liverpool to beat city at the weekend but if they lose they are really in danger of dropping out of the top 4. Teams are piling up behind them now.
Could anything be sweeter than Liverpool crashing out of CL in the next round and playing europa next year?
 
The Purley King said:
For the sake of an unlikely title push I’d like Liverpool to beat city at the weekend but if they lose they are really in danger of dropping out of the top 4. Teams are piling up behind them now.
Could anything be sweeter than Liverpool crashing out of CL in the next round and playing europa next year?
Click to expand...
A draw, mate. We are hoping for a draw, and two reds for each team!
 
Certainly think Man. United can finish 2nd. Of course I can understand you still wanting the league but 2nd would still be very good progress for where you've come from and shouldn't just be dismissed given the huge points gulf last season to it.

Leicester will have a go aswell, nice win for them.
 
We're only 6 points above 5th and the league is packed in tight. Couple of bad results and we'll be looking over our shoulders again.
 
FootballHQ said:
Certainly think Man. United can finish 2nd. Of course I can understand you still wanting the league but 2nd would still be very good progress for where you've come from and shouldn't just be dismissed given the huge points gulf last season to it.

Leicester will have a go aswell, nice win for them.
Click to expand...

City are really turning the screw now, they have to be red hot favourites. Wouldn't be too disappointed with 2nd if we finished the season strongly with attacking football
 
FootballHQ said:
Certainly think Man. United can finish 2nd. Of course I can understand you still wanting the league but 2nd would still be very good progress for where you've come from and shouldn't just be dismissed given the huge points gulf last season to it.

Leicester will have a go aswell, nice win for them.
Click to expand...

Sad thing is there would be people on here complaining that we had "bottled" a title race. Ole out.

Finishing second within single digit points to City would be superb progress.
 
The Purley King said:
For the sake of an unlikely title push I’d like Liverpool to beat city at the weekend but if they lose they are really in danger of dropping out of the top 4. Teams are piling up behind them now.
Could anything be sweeter than Liverpool crashing out of CL in the next round and playing europa next year?
Click to expand...
People are still a bit too premature. Same people who thought we are going for the title. Liverpool dropping out of top4? hmm will never happen this season. They might be out of form but once they get going they will roll over teams again. City is the real contender this year it seems. Then slighlty behind I can see us and Pool and then Leicestr Chelsea fighiting for the 4th. Of course I will behappily wrong and take the title:-)
 
FootballHQ said:
Certainly think Man. United can finish 2nd. Of course I can understand you still wanting the league but 2nd would still be very good progress for where you've come from and shouldn't just be dismissed given the huge points gulf last season to it.

Leicester will have a go aswell, nice win for them.
Click to expand...
I can easily see Liverpool finishing with less than 80 points now unless they go on a crazy run and get 40 plus points from the remaining 48. I would be disappointed if we don't finish in 80 points region. Ofcourse winning the league is what the priority should be but this city side have found their groove again and I can see them finishing with 90 plus points.
 
Nero said:
Sad thing is there would be people on here complaining that we had "bottled" a title race. Ole out.

Finishing second within single digit points to City would be superb progress.
Click to expand...

Man. City are looking good to get minimum 85 points now which to me is points target to win the league. They have a tricky few weeks with who they're playing but they'll still win a couple and then it's a relatively straightforward run in.

Man. United is capable of 75 points and perhaps pushing up towards 80 so you can stay in touch but need to change the narrative in games against top 6/7. That would be similar haul to what you did in 17/18 and I doubt things will collapse like they did when Mourinho didn't get his transfer targets so you're on a decent course again.
 
Not sure why Leicester didn’t sign a striker but I think it’ll cost them, not sure Vardys been great this season even when fit
 
Not that many were counting us in the race, but I thought we had an outside chance. Think the defeat to Wolves coupled with Leicester winning at Leeds has squarely hit that in the head.

Still as open as ever from Villa up, although you would think out the 2 teams tonight because of Spurs game in hand Chelsea need the win more.

Rather interestingly, Leicester finish off the season with their final 3 games vs Man Utd, Chelsea & Spurs. That looks like it's going to have a massive bearing on top 4 positions.
 
It's gonna be an intense one this year!

If you count current games in hand as wins, the standings are (virtually) something like:

2. Man Utd 45 pts
3. Leicester 43 pts
4. Everton 43 pts
5. Aston Villa 41 pts
6. Liverpool 40 pts
7. Tottenham 39 pts
8. Chelsea 39 pts
9. West Ham 39 pts

Might very well come down to goal differences in the end.
 
Botim said:
It's gonna be an intense one this year!

If you count current games in hand as wins, the standings are (virtually) something like:

2. Man Utd 45 pts
3. Leicester 43 pts
4. Everton 43 pts
5. Aston Villa 41 pts
6. Liverpool 40 pts
7. Tottenham 39 pts
8. Chelsea 39 pts
9. West Ham 39 pts

Might very well come down to goal differences in the end.
Click to expand...

Everton's game in hand is against Man City though.
 
Once the Champions League and Europa League come back, combined with domestic cups, the games are going to come really thick and fast. There's a lot of talk about tiredness now but it's probably going to throw up some weird results. Should be an exciting race.
 
Forget about the title race, this is the race we need to be concerned about. Next 2 league games are must win.
 
What a shame, given a more resolute backline, we could have been competing for the title this season, where all the other top teams, bar City, are struggling to maintain consistency.

Chelsea seems to be on the ascendancy but I'd attribute their form to the initial bounce of having a new manager.

I feel we may just snatch 3rd place accounting for De Gea's occasional brain-farts and Maguire's static pace.
 
Flying up the table, 3 behind Leicester and 1 behind Liverpool now.

Chelsea vs United in a couple of weeks will be a lot more interesting than I thought a couple of weeks ago.
 
Offside said:
We should be looking up not down.
Click to expand...

This could backfire disastrously but I'm really not concerned about a top 4 fight, it would take one hell of a fall off of a cliff for us not to finish top 4. Us, City and Liverpool will make up 3 of the places then between the rest for the other position
 
H
charlenefan said:
This could backfire disastrously but I'm really not concerned about a top 4 fight, it would take one hell of a fall off of a cliff for us not to finish top 4. Us, City and Liverpool will make up 3 of the places then between the rest for the other position
Click to expand...
Yep. No way theres 4 other better teams than us this season. Even Chelsea are just getting by with their new manager bounce.
 
1 win in our last 4 league games (and 2 wins in 6) has really made us vulnerable, including games we should easily be winning like Sheffield at home.

Our next 2 are West Brom away and Newcastle home which you couldn't really ask for kinder fixtures, these are must win to give us some breathing room.
 
charlenefan said:
This could backfire disastrously but I'm really not concerned about a top 4 fight, it would take one hell of a fall off of a cliff for us not to finish top 4. Us, City and Liverpool will make up 3 of the places then between the rest for the other position
Click to expand...
Yeah. Liverpool should bounce back you would think but their performances would be of bigger concern and they can easily slip out if they aren't careful. It's hard when you have a disappointing season, can get careless and drop out altogether. For United, it's a very positive season overall, our performances are good and I think we'll kick on. We won't win the title but it's still a step forward overall and we'll have our own aims to look forward on, not taking top 4 for granted. Still a long way to go, but I just don't see us really dropping into the fight. I think we'll have these bad results here and there because we aren't of title winning level, but we'll finish in upper 70's points range and be fine.
 
Everyone minus City are going to drop loads of points before the end of the season, we've got a nice gap from 4th place, and enough quality that it would be unforgivably poor to not finish top 4 from here.
 
charlenefan said:
This could backfire disastrously but I'm really not concerned about a top 4 fight, it would take one hell of a fall off of a cliff for us not to finish top 4. Us, City and Liverpool will make up 3 of the places then between the rest for the other position
Click to expand...
You can’t tell me any of Chelsea, Leicester, Spurs or West Ham are better than us.
 
I think United, Chelsea and, sadly, Liverpool will make top four.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.