Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Legion on April 30, 2023, 11:07:23 PM
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Well it's nice to be at the right end of the table for a change, so...
Wolves (A): W [L]
Spurs (H): D
Liverpool (A): L
Brighton (H): W
Final position: 8th
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Brighton have Everton and Southampton at home in their run-in. I'd love to finish 6th or 7th but just can't see it happening. That said, when Gerrard was sacked after the Fulham game and we were outside the bottom three on goal difference, I'd have gladly taken 8th position regardless of who came in. I expect the worst, hope foe the best. 8th for me.
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I'll be gutted, because you never can tell when you'll have the opportunity for Europe again, but 8th for me.
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12 points, 6th.
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8th unless Spurs go to pieces.
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7 points. Seventh.
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9 points, 7th
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Wolves (A): D
Spurs (H): W
Liverpool (A): L
Brighton (H): W
Final position: 7th
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Can we have Spuds and Hove's fixtures ?
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7th. Spurs are a mess.
Our games
Wolves (A): W
Spurs (H): W
Liverpool (A): L
Brighton (H): D
We end up on 61
Spurs run in
Palace (H): D
Villa (A): L
Brentford (H): D
Leeds: (A): W
They end up with 59
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I'll be gutted, because you never can tell when you'll have the opportunity for Europe again, but 8th for me.
Next year.
I know exactly what you mean, but that's based on experiences under our previous managers.
Under Emery, we'll be challenging for CL next season, and Europa will be a formality. That's not club-based arrogance or overrating our squad, I just think we have one of the very best managers in the world.
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Brighton put 6 past wolves and they have THREE games in hand. I still think Spurs will end up in a European position as somehow they always do. Brighton have to be favourites to get 7th now.
Could be quite a depressing end to the season if we play Brighton and they already have secured 7th spot and we're 'on the beach'
I think we needed more than one point from our last two fixtures and to be honest we have been poor in both. Let's hope we put up a fight away at Wolves as we haven't got a great record there.
We really need some players back from injury.
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Based on how we've played the last three games, it's hard to see us getting much against Liverpool or Brighton. Spurs have got a much easier run than in us now, so unless we reignite that spark quickly, it'll probably be 8th. Which would still be a great achievement based on where we were when Emery arrived, but after the run we've been on would leave a bit of a flat feeling.
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As long as we beat the dog heads next week then Europe is in our own hands. A home win over Spurs then puts us a minimum of 3 points ahead of them with 2 games to play, and on top of that Brighton still play Man Utd, Arsenal and Newcastle before coming to Villa Park on the final day.
Sixth or Seventh are still on, and if we win 3 out of the last 4 then we will definitely be in Europe next year.
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I tend to err on the side of caution with Villa predictions so to avoid disappointment.
I have a final 4 of DWLD with an 8th place finish on goal difference
Brighton 61
Spurs 59
Villa 59
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I agree that no European football will feel like a bit of a disappointment, when it shouldn't really. We have no right to be this close given the mess the ****** before left us in.
Spurs won't be this shit next season, but Brighton might not be as good especially if they end up in Europe.
If Poch goes to Chelsea I can see Spurs going for Nagelsmann which will put them back up there.
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I knew this'd happen, we're starting to look a bit tired and don't have options to freshen things up, which is a shame.
I think we'll finish seventh which will feel disappointing given the insane point harvesting of recent games, but is still an amazing achievement.
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I knew this'd happen, we're starting to look a bit tired and don't have options to freshen things up, which is a shame.
I think we'll finish seventh which will feel disappointing given the insane point harvesting of recent games, but is still an amazing achievement.
Seventh would still be Europe though, which would be great. That's not "typical Villa" enough though, it has to be 8th or 9th for that real feeling of disappointment!
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First task was to re establish ourselves as a Top 10 club - tick.
For me anything else is a bonus as I think next season will be when we challenge strongly in every competition.
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To be honest, after 12 games I really was fearing a long and crappie season to come. To have four games left and still have an outside chance of playing in Europe is miraculous. We will be fighting for top four next year with three or four of the managers chosen signings in the squad, absolutely no doubt about it.
As for this year, the lads look a bit knackered now so 8th will still be an excellent return.
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By hook or by crook, we need a win at the custard bowl on Saturday.
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To be honest, after 12 games I really was fearing a long and crappie season to come. To have four games left and still have an outside chance of playing in Europe is miraculous. We will be fighting for top four next year with three or four of the managers chosen signings in the squad, absolutely no doubt about it.
As for this year, the lads look a bit knackered now so 8th will still be an excellent return.
It's not an outside chance, it's in our own hands.
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It's not an outside chance, it's in our own hands.
Being in our own hands doesn't affect the likelihood though.
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Whatever happens Emery has done a magnificent job so far. WE will get Europe if not this season then next. I'm not getting too worked up about this season, just enjoying the reincarnation of the Villa we love the most.
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We have looked a little jaded but that's because we don't currently have a squad that can play 3 times a week without there being a drop in performance levels. But we're back to playing one a week now. Emery will have a plan for each opponent and we should be getting bodies back this week. Next 2 games are huge. 7th.
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Whilst it's unbelievably cliched I'm looking at it on a 'take it one game at a time' basis. If we win at Wolves, which is very much within our capability, then Spurs at home becomes enormous regardless of what they do at home to Palace.
Also, looking at Brighton's fixtures (excluding their final day trip to Villa Park) there are two games they should win and four games they should lose. They're unlikely to get more than 8/9 points from those fixtures, so I think we'll probably need 4/5 points from Wolves, Spurs and Liverpool to make sure we can still go above them by beating them on the final day.
It's very much a three team mini-league between Spurs, us and Brighton, and whilst we're certainly third favourites to win that, we've only got to finish above one of them.
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It’s a season where we’ve experienced a bit of everything. From fear of relegation with a useless manager to the relief of Emery stabilising us then the tantalising hope of European football and with players that were nearly written off proving they had a future. Whatever happens we can be confident that the club is in the best position, on and off the field, that it has been for many, many years.
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Whatever happens Emery has done a magnificent job so far. WE will get Europe if not this season then next. I'm not getting too worked up about this season, just enjoying the reincarnation of the Villa we love the most.
Spot on. If we get it this year, it's a huge bonus - I'm just so relieved we have a world class manager and world class owners who will invest. Next season is going to see us challenging top 6.
Good times.
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Brighton have Everton and Southampton at home in their run-in. I'd love to finish 6th or 7th but just can't see it happening. That said, when Gerrard was sacked after the Fulham game and we were outside the bottom three on goal difference, I'd have gladly taken 8th position regardless of who came in. I expect the worst, hope foe the best. 8th for me.
They’ve also got to play Man Utd, Arsenal. Man City and us, its not a done deal they’ll finish above us.
I think we’ll beat Wolves and Spurs because we simply have to. Probs lose to Liverpool and it may well then come to the last game for 6th7th/8th place.
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We will finish in a very unexpected but honourable 8th place. The players and manager are welcome to prove me wrong though.
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Spurs match is the biggie, if we can win that can see us finishing with 9 points and 6th, which would be an amazing season.
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It's not an outside chance, it's in our own hands.
Being in our own hands doesn't affect the likelihood though.
That's only if you think Spurs and Brighton are going to beat us ;)
I expect Emery to have a Newcastle-type "statement win" planned for at least one of those games.
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4 points and 8th position but an extremely encouraging start to Emery's reign and a summer of hope.
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8th for me too, I did think that after the Brentford game. It’ll be a real achievement considering where we were after Fulham away. Get the right players in and as pointed out we really have to have a good chance of Europa league qualification next season.
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I think we needed more than one point from our last two fixtures and to be honest we have been poor in both.
We got 3. Tone down the doom a bit eh?
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I think 7th is our most realistic target given our squad is so thin just now.
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I think the top 4 is almost certainly the top 4 now, barring a complete meltdown at Man Utd. It's difficult to call it after that. If I were a betting person, I'd have Liverpool in 5th and Brighton in 6th, with 7th a toss up between us a Spurs.
To finish higher than 8th we will likely need another crazy run, starting with a win against Wolves. They will be massively fired up, especially after getting humiliated by Brighton, so that won't be easy.
Anyway, 6th, 7th or 8th, it's an impressive end to a season where we looked (after a quarter of it) that we could be down *there* again.
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Beat Wolves and it’s on.
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Defeat fucks Emery off no end so I expect him to spend hours finding ways to put 10 past Wolves next weekend before thrashing Spurs.
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Wolves - W
Spurs - W
Liverpool - L
Brighton - D
61pts 7th position
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4 points, 8th.
Still an excellent turnaround by Emery and a position most of us would have been delighted with when he took over. A superb launching point for next season wherever we finish now.
But, even so, regretting the lack of activity in Jan. I know there's an argument we may not have had the brilliant run we have with different players through the door and of course this may be true. But I still feel the lack of depth will do for us in the end.
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But, even so, regretting the lack of activity in Jan. I know there's an argument we may not have had the brilliant run we have with different players through the door and of course this may be true. But I still feel the lack of depth will do for us in the end.
Same here. Having a tight knit squad is good, but in the end having more good players is always better than not having them. It feels like the lack of options is starting to bite now, as we make subs that then have no discernible impact on the game. Hope we give Wolves a good twatting to get things back on track.
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If we fall short it will be because we took the grand total of 2 points from the games against Bournemouth, Palace, West Ham, Leeds, and Forest under Gerrard and you can maybe add the Chelsea and Fulham games as well.
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If we fall short it will be because we took the grand total of 2 points from the games against Bournemouth, Palace, West Ham, Leeds, and Forest under Gerrard and you can maybe add the Chelsea and Fulham games as well.
Nobody is denying what came before Emery was awful, or that he's done a great job. But if we fall short from where we are now it will be because we don't get enough points in the final 4 games. But I agree, losing to Man U or Liverpool away does not define our season. Emery's superb impact does, wherever we finish.
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I don't think it's the end of the world if we finish 8th. It's been a remarkable turnaround, and I'd suspect most folk would've taken an 8th place finish at the start of the season, and certainly after the Bournemouth game.
Anything better will be an incredible achievement. I don't think it's worth considering what ifs about squad size, they could've as easily not worked in our favour, e.g. would Watkins have gone on the incredible scoring run had he been competing with Ings for a place? Who knows.
It's all in our hands though. The games we have left are against our direct competitors for that space (plus Wolves) so if we don't beat them, fair enough they deserve the place more than us anyway. If we do take the spot, whoever misses out can't have any complaints either.
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If we fall short it will be because we took the grand total of 2 points from the games against Bournemouth, Palace, West Ham, Leeds, and Forest under Gerrard and you can maybe add the Chelsea and Fulham games as well.
Of course the perverse argument is that if we had taken more points from those games we would still have Stevie G, and just falling over the 40pt threshold.
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I think we will come up just short for Europe in 8th but that does nothing to diminish the magnificent work done by Unai Emery. Missing Cash, Kamara and Bailey really showed against ManU as we were leggy and lacked the strength to stretch them properly. I think it's fair to say our season probably peaked against Newcastle. If Unai can raise the players back to the previous levels it would be nothing short of miraculous but it wouldn't surprise me. The futures bright.
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I can't get on board with any notion that we'll finish below spurs. Not happening. I still fancy us to finish sixth, but if it is seventh by virtue of being nudged out by brighton, then I like to believe it'll be down to them having a better May than I thought they would rather than us messing up.
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I think finishing 8th would be a huge disappointment after the European dream was made a possibility. Let's hope we can work some magic and get some injured players back on the pitch
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I think finishing 8th would be a huge disappointment after the European dream was made a possibility. Let's hope we can work some magic and get some injured players back on the pitch
I recommend meditation.
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We’ll beat Wolves, was never confident against United but we have the week to recover and prepare….would be handy for some of Cash / Kamara / Coutinho or Bailey to be fit if only for the bench.
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I think finishing 8th would be a huge disappointment after the European dream was made a possibility.
It would be a huge disappointment given it would mean a big drop in the form we've recently become accustomed to.
However, it would be both a huge disappointment AND a phenomenal achievement given the circumstances under which it happened.
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I agree with Fred. It's the hope that kills you!
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We could win all four remaining games. Certainly we should be looking to beat wolves, spurs and Brighton.
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I think Liverpool will drop points, maybe to us maybe somewhere else. They can’t keep a clean sheet, their manager has just upset every referee in the country, and only a few weeks after Robertson tried to get a linesman sacked with his “wah he elbowed me” nonsense.
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I tend to err on the side of caution with Villa predictions so to avoid disappointment.
I have a final 4 of DWLD with an 8th place finish on goal difference
Brighton 61
Spurs 59
Villa 59
I was going for Spurs 59 and US or Brighton o 58 or 61 depending on the last game. I reckon us 6th Spurs 7th Brighton 8th. They may have three games in hand but they have a lot of games and it will take its toll. My 61 assumes we cock up Wolves as well.
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I tend to err on the side of caution with Villa predictions so to avoid disappointment.
I have a final 4 of DWLD with an 8th place finish on goal difference
Brighton 61
Spurs 59
Villa 59
I was going for Spurs 59 and US or Brighton o 58 or 61 depending on the last game. I reckon us 6th Spurs 7th Brighton 8th. They may have three games in hand but they have a lot of games and it will take its toll. My 61 assumes we cock up Wolves as well.
One thing I'm as close to certain on is that Brighton aren't finishing 8th. They've had a big collapse if they do.
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It starts with Wolves, that result will determine our final place. To do that I think we need some fresh legs.
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7th. Spurs are a mess.
Our games
Wolves (A): W
Spurs (H): W
Liverpool (A): L
Brighton (H): D
We end up on 61
Spurs run in
Palace (H): D
Villa (A): L
Brentford (H): D
Leeds: (A): W
They end up with 59
Spurs have 2 teams on the beach, a team likely down by the last day and us left. I'd much rather have their run in than ours.
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Why the hell did I choose the weekend of Villa v Spurs to go on holiday... 😞
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8th nailed on and a very good season.
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If we’d kept Gerrard (I know) and finished Eighth, he’d probably have been seen as a success.
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If we’d kept Gerrard (I know) and finished Eighth, he’d probably have been seen as a success.
To look at it another way - it is because of Gerrard that we may finish 8th.
If Unai had been in charge from the start of the season, we would be top 4 and well ahead of the chasing pack.
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Not sure if this is deliberate pessimism, but to finish in 7th involves beating Spurs and matching thrm across 3 games. I dont feel that's beyond us or a particularly tall order.
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Not sure if this is deliberate pessimism, but to finish in 7th involves beating Spurs and matching thrm across 3 games. I dont feel that's beyond us or a particularly tall order.
On the other hand they've got a much easier run in than us, and however bad they've been Kane and Son are still scoring just as Ollie's goals have dried up. The season's been great since Emery took over, but it feels like we're spluttering now. I think it'll be a draw today, a draw against Spuds and defeats against Liverpool and Brighton. Hopefully it'll be enough to keep us ahead of Brentford.
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Think we've reached consensus here.
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Not sure if this is deliberate pessimism, but to finish in 7th involves beating Spurs and matching thrm across 3 games. I dont feel that's beyond us or a particularly tall order.
Seems even predicting a draw today was over optimistic.
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After today's disappointing result I think we are now likely to finish 8th, with an outside chance of pipping Spurs to 7th.
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Must be honest, I was hoping for that Liverpool win to stay ahead of Brentford. I’m resigned to finishing 8th but am clear that this represents good progression under Unai. A couple of quick transfer deals will get the pulses going for next season.
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I tend to err on the side of caution with Villa predictions so to avoid disappointment.
I have a final 4 of DWLD with an 8th place finish on goal difference
Brighton 61
Spurs 59
Villa 59
I was going for Spurs 59 and US or Brighton o 58 or 61 depending on the last game. I reckon us 6th Spurs 7th Brighton 8th. They may have three games in hand but they have a lot of games and it will take its toll. My 61 assumes we cock up Wolves as well.
One thing I'm as close to certain on is that Brighton aren't finishing 8th. They've had a big collapse if they do.
Us down to 60 now. Edging Spurs for 7th. Brighton will be 6th.
Tbh I am more than happy with 8th considering where we could have been.
Can Leeds go down as compensation please.
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We're a point behind Smith's 20/21 tally of 55 points. Hopefully we can at least better that, as to get our highest points total for 13 years after such a poor start to the season would be good going.
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I tend to err on the side of caution with Villa predictions so to avoid disappointment.
I have a final 4 of DWLD with an 8th place finish on goal difference
Brighton 61
Spurs 59
Villa 59
I was going for Spurs 59 and US or Brighton o 58 or 61 depending on the last game. I reckon us 6th Spurs 7th Brighton 8th. They may have three games in hand but they have a lot of games and it will take its toll. My 61 assumes we cock up Wolves as well.
One thing I'm as close to certain on is that Brighton aren't finishing 8th. They've had a big collapse if they do.
Us down to 60 now. Edging Spurs for 7th. Brighton will be 6th.
Tbh I am more than happy with 8th considering where we could have been.
Can Leeds go down as compensation please.
Well we could be wrong with Brighton now! Beat Spurs then this is back on. Just need Brighton to only get 1 point from Arsenal, Newcastle or Man City then we can afford a loss against Liverpool and still beat them to top 7 by beating them last game.
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Injuries and a small squad has hit us hard, keep in mind these are the same players that some were predicting would get us relegated, it's been a minor miracle.
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Not sure if this is deliberate pessimism, but to finish in 7th involves beating Spurs and matching thrm across 3 games. I dont feel that's beyond us or a particularly tall order.
When our other games are Liverpool and Brighton and theirs are Palcace, Brentford and Leeds? I think it's a very tall order.
8th is a great achievement from Emery. But it would still be a disappointing, if predictable, end to the season.
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Not sure if this is deliberate pessimism, but to finish in 7th involves beating Spurs and matching thrm across 3 games. I dont feel that's beyond us or a particularly tall order.
When our other games are Liverpool and Brighton and theirs are Palcace, Brentford and Leeds? I think it's a very tall order.
8th is a great achievement from Emery. But it would still be a disappointing, if predictable, end to the season.
I just don't want the season to end on a whimper, and fizzle out with more limp displays. I hope that if we do fall short, we've at least gone out swinging, with a fight. We've beaten Spurs and Brighton already this season, so let's go all out to do them again. If we could manage a draw at Liverpool as well, that would be 61 points for the season. Possibly just enough to stay ahead of Brighton who would need 6 points from their other 4 games, including Arsenal, Newcastle and Man City. Depending on goal difference, Spurs would then need 4 or 6 points from their last two games.
More Newcastle at home displays please, less Brentford, Man U and Wolves way.
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Well it's nice to be at the right end of the table for a change, so...
Wolves (A): W [L]
Spurs (H): D [W]
Liverpool (A): L [D]
Brighton (H): W [W]
Final position: 8th [7th]
Wrong, as usual. Love it.