Will we qualify for the CL?

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Is this the same Opta computer which at the start of the season predicted 1st Man City, 6th Man U, 7th Spurs, 15th Bournemouth, 17th Forest ?

https://theanalyst.com/2024/08/premier-league-predictions-2024-25-opta-supercomputer

[Somniloquism]

Yep, Opta computer might be advanced but it can only predict on current form. If someone with our current form goes on a run of 5 wins in 6, it wouldn't be shown up on Opta predictions until after it happens.

[Dave]

Forest have beaten Brighton 7-0, lost 5-0 to Bournemouth and had the double done on them by Newcastle and Fulham.
Manchester City won comfortably against Forest and Newcastle but lost to Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Brighton.
Newcastle hammered Villa but conceded four in defeat to Manchester City, Bournemouth and Brentford.
Bournemouth put five past Forest and four past Newcastle but lost to Chelsea.
Chelsea have beaten and lost to both Aston Villa and Brighton.
Aston Villa won deservedly against Manchester City and Chelsea but lost equally convincingly to Chelsea and Newcastle.
Brighton have suffered heavy defeats to Forest, Chelsea and Fulham but won at St James’ Park and Dean Court.
Fulham have done the double over both Forest and Newcastle but were poor in defeat to Villa.
Brentford have beaten both Newcastle and Bournemouth but lost or drawn with everyone else.

These are stupid teams playing for a stupidly lucrative prize and it is showing.

And while “the first trophy is to finish in the top four,” it is wonderful that eight of those nine teams still have an actual trophy to play for and thus competitions to juggle: Forest, Manchester City, Bournemouth, Aston Villa, Brighton and Fulham have a rare genuine chance to win the FA Cup, Newcastle have eyes on both that and the Carabao Cup final in their bid for the most plastic of all Trebles, and Chelsea are busy googling their Europa Conference opponents.

All eyes on Brentford, basically.

[ADVILLAFAN]

Only realised today that only 4 of our remaining League games are at home.

[PeterWithesShin]

You know it's a weird season when looking at remaing fixtures and instead of thinking the games at Man C and Man U are the toughest you think it's the ones at Bourenmouth and Brentford.

[LeeB]

You know it's a weird season when looking at remaing fixtures and instead of thinking the games at Man C and Man U are the toughest you think it's the ones at Bourenmouth and Brentford.

And why I'm not bothering to try and look at other teams fixtures to work it out, we just need to get a run of wins.

[VillaTim]

Only realised today that only 4 of our remaining League games are at home.

Is that a glitch in the scheduling isn't it generally H A H A etc

[Somniloquism]

Nope, there has been batches in the past. But also one of the H games that was coming up was played earlier.

(If we go far in the FA Cup, City away and Spurs at home are two which will need changing).

[cdbearsfan]

Nah, Man U will always be one of our toughest games.

[Brazilian Villain]

Get 7 points from the next 3 games and I'd be feeling pretty confident. Even 5 would leave us in the mix, but we'd probably need to beat Forest and Newcastle at home and get at least a point at Citeh. I think Forest will fall away but Bournemouth's run-in looks decent and they could be the dark horses.

[boozey182]

The margins are razor-thin at the moment - I don't think anyone can be sure either way about how it will all pan out. Just take our last week: An incredible save in injury time by the Ipswich keeper which cost us two points, a miss-of-the-season contender to help us gain a point on Wednesday, and then up the other end we could have won it with the last kick of the game. Then on Saturday, their keeper threw one into his net to give us two points, not long after Palmer should really have scored with our keeper on the floor. We could have ended up with anything between 1 and 9 points with very little difference in those matches, with pretty much the exact same performances from our players.

All season I have been expecting our performances to get better and better, but now it almost doesn't matter. It's purely about results, however they come. It's about those moments now; the split-second decisions, connecting with the ball properly, the clearances off the line, capitalising on the dodgy backpass. We need to take advantage of every opportunity if we're going to qualify for the Champions League, with very little margin for error.

But it is doable. Our January signings are looking even more astute in this context with Rashford and Asensio, in particular, used to this kind of pressure. I'd have taken Asensio off on Saturday, it felt like the game was passing him by, but when the moment came, he got a decent enough connection on the ball. Rashford picked out the right pass.

The injuries we've had, the questionable refereeing performances, the fixture congestion, bogey teams (or grounds) - none of that matters. We're in control of our own destiny, and if we go on a bit of a run now, we'll give ourselves a huge chance of getting ourselves in there again next season. To be in with a shout at this stage of the season, when we have been far from our best, is amazing, and speaks to how good our manager really is.

Qualifying for the Champions League once is great. Doing it in back-to-back seasons would transform the club, in terms of revenue, how we're seen around the world, the confidence of our players and the signings we could make. A big push is needed.

[VillaTim]

Bournemouth will start to choke , I watched them v wolves Saturday and they were gash.

[Chris Smith]

Bournemouth will start to choke , I watched them v wolves Saturday and they were gash.

They were playing with only 10 men for an hour.

They’re like a lot of teams, us included, that have good results but have so far been unable to sustain over a longer period.

[Somniloquism]

Although even before then Wolves were on top and could have been 2-0 up.

[ozzjim]

I think it's going to be 3-4 points come the last game covering 5-6 sides. At which point some of our draws this season will haunt us badly.