Next five matches - how many points?

[Richard E]

the 2nd half of season should be relatively calm after previous seasons.

Apart from the FA Cup Final, which will be tense until Benteke completes his hat trick.

[villan from luton]

Swansea away WIN
Sunderland home WIN
Palace home WIN
Leicester away WIN
Liverpool home WIN

Good man

[cdbearsfan]

We'll get a backs-to-the-wall win at Swansea and beat Sunderland convincingly. Just when I'm starting to think we might be okay after all we'll then draw with Palace, get knocked out of the cup by Blackpool and lose to Leicester and Liverpool.

[peter w]

6 points.

17 games and a record of 5-5-7 isn't dreadful. The performances have been though in quite a lot of those games. If it had have been 17 games where we always looked like we wanted to take the game to the opposition then it would be something to build on. As it is, we're 12th and that feels like as high a position as we can achieve. i expect us to lose more and we do rely a lot on Benteke. Without him we can finish anywhere from 19th upwards, with him and we can finish anywhere from 7th/8th down.

[Gregorys Boy]

We have the makings of a very decent side now. The defence of Guzan, Hutton, Cissoko, Okore, Vlaar and Clark looks as good as most in the top half. Sanchez and Delph are in form and motoring. Bacuna looked the part yesterday and either Cleverley/Westwood can do the donkey work to let Bacuna/Delph press forward. The only problem we have is getting in a partner for Benteke in the Jan window who can score goals
and contribute to the team performance. Then Weimann and Agbonlahor can come on when required and N'Zogbia can be transferred listed as soon as possible for all I care.

Its beginning to look quite encouraging isn't it?

I agree there is the basis of a decent team there but keeping Benteke on the pitch is crucial.

I think the defence is decent, I am not convinced by Cissoko though.

The balance of the midfield does not look right  and we are hugely reliant on Benteke.

A decent manager would have us competing for a top 6 spot.

Disagree here.  We are much improved, but right now are roughly the 11th or 12th best side in the league.  If we have a steady season this year then we can start thinking about the top 8-6 next year depending on holding on to our top players (some of them at least), and adding a few more of real quality.  And if needs be bringing in a new manager.

[Witton Warrior]

Swansea away     
Sunderland home
Palace home         
Leicester away     
Liverpool home     

Reality = L D W D D
Hope springing eternal = D W D W D

[robbo1874]

LWDWD

8 valuable points.

We should beat palace, but can't see us winning 2 on the bounce at home- love to be proved wrong though.

[rob_bridge]

1
1
1
3
0

[supertom]

I'd quite fancy us to take something from Swansea as they're not in brilliant form at the moment. They're inconsistent. We just need to keep Bony at bay but with the form of our CH's I would hope we could do that.

[aj2k77]

8 pts.

Swansea lose
Sunderland win
Palace win
Leicester draw
Liverpool draw

This run of games should put us close to 30 pts and have us safe for this season.

[mrastonvilla]

8 pts.

Swansea lose
Sunderland win
Palace win
Leicester draw
Liverpool draw

This run of games should put us close to 30 pts and have us safe for this season.

This is what I'm hoping happens, and rather than the horrible collapse we experienced last season after the Chelsea match we can push on to finish top 10

[silhillvilla]

Hoping swans leave Bony on the bench again on Friday.
Sunderland have hull on Boxing Day so win that they will be resurgent when they come to villa park after yesterday's result.
Palace we should destroy on NYD
Leicester away will be another burnley away 1-1
Liverpool at home, another bogey side like Yanited but sense a 1-1

[dave.woodhall]

Sunderland have hull on Boxing Day so win that they will be resurgent when they come to villa park after yesterday's result.

Of course, when we win two in a row we're bound to lose because we're not good enough to win three.

[RussellC]

Palace we should destroy on NYD

We haven't 'destroyed' anyone since Sunderland 2 seasons ago, and that includes several lower league sides. Any win would be gratefully received.

[silhillvilla]

Palace we should destroy on NYD

We haven't 'destroyed' anyone since Sunderland 2 seasons ago, and that includes several lower league sides. Any win would be gratefully received.

Agree but if we destroy one team per annum say, then this for me is destruction day.