Will we qualify for the CL?

[Dave]

Yeah, if 19th placed Forest are in that group then the likes of Palace have reason to feel a bit put out.

[eamonn]

Roma look all over the shop at the moment.

While they've been pretty ropey in Europe so far they're a point of the top of Serie A having conceded fewer goals in the league than anyone in Europe apart from Bayern and Arsenal.

That's pretty tight for "all over the shop".

I blame the quality of Serie A...

[PaulWinch again]

If we want a chance of that we need to get way more output from the attackers. I’m not writing any off, but Guessand, Elliott, and Sancho have brought little to nothing in terms of attacking support to date.

[Percy McCarthy]

If we want a chance of that we need to get way more output from the attackers. I’m not writing any off, but Guessand, Elliott, and Sancho have brought little to nothing in terms of attacking support to date.

Sancho has hardly any minutes, but the signs are good.

Got a feeling that Unai doesn’t rate Elliott, or at least doesn’t think he’s an efficient use of scant resources.

A return to last season’s form for Tielemans and Rogers, and a fulfilment of early promise from Sancho, Barkley, Buendia and Malen will be key to our chances.

[ChicagoLion]

I wouldn't say Chelsea are guaranteed a spot and if we win the Europa League, it doesn't matter where we finish.

And we're still heavy favourites to do that - more than twice as likely (based on the odds) as second favourites Porto.

Caveated of course by the fact that we were massive favourites in the Conference League too.

Even under Emery we seem to have an unerring ability to blow it on the big occasion.

[Dave]

Feels like Europa League is still the more likely route, but the English clubs are going to have to mess up in a pretty spectacular way for top five to not be enough again this season:

[eamonn]

Denmark? Thanks to Walter Mittyland, absolutely slaying it in the Europa.

[Tony Daleys Shorts]

Well it’s looking a lot more likely all of a sudden.

I don’t think second/third is beyond us.

[eamonn]

Could have won the league if Martínez and SCR hadn't fucked-up our August.

[Dave]

Given our attacking options of Watkins / Malen / Sancho / Guessand / Elliott / Buendia / Rogers, I think most would have it something like:

Overperforming - Buendia
Performing at the level needed - Rogers / Malen
Underperforming - Watkins / Sancho / Guessand / Elliott

Then it's pretty darn impressive that we've found the consistency to get to fourth place given how badly most of our attackers are doing. Even if one or two of them found a bit a form then things would start to look pretty strong.

[Tony Daleys Shorts]

Our midfield depth is as good as anybody’s in the league, especially with Barkley now fit and Bogarde starting to look the part.

[Smirker]

Get a striker in January and we might challenge for the title.

If we're within 5 points of 1st after Christmas it's a realistic aim.

[SoccerHQ]

IMO we have the third best squad in the league. Not the third best 11 if people can grasp it.

I looked at Liverpool's bench before the Forest game and it looked poor and none of them could do anything when Slot was making subs at 2-0 down.

Newcastle just relying on their regular 11 from last two seasons still.

Man. United bench will be weak tonight but they have improved their first 11 this season.

Chelsea bench was strong on Saturday but Caciedo and Garnacho were only there with them playing Barcelona tomorrow.

In last two months we've had Buendia looking lively from the bench and then becoming starter, Barkley has had some excellent cameos and we can put Maatsen and Sancho on to quicken the tempo to our play.

Then you get to yesterday and Malen is putting in a great cross to set up a goal. If Onana had been fit then Youri might've been rested for another week.

This will help us massively as the season goes on. We certainly have far better depth in most areas compared to 23/24 anyway.

[Dave]

IMO we have the third best squad in the league. Not the third best 11 if people can grasp it.

I'd say fourth, behind Arsenal, Man City and Chelsea.

I think where we're massively ahead of the game is against those teams that are overperforming - if you look at Palace's squad, I think they've got about 15 players before you start looking at teenagers and elderly stop-gaps.

Assuming they're going to be in the Conference League until very late in the competition and they're seeing four players in teams expected to do well at AFCON, it's hard to see how they'll be putting a team out for the last third of the season.

Brighton and Bournemouth look similarly thin once you get past the core 12-15 or so players.

[PeterWithesShin]

I can't see Arsenal, ManC and Chelsea failing to be top 5 which leaves two spots for the chasing pack. We're well in that mix but I do think we need to stop giving away silly freekicks, and create more clear chances consistently.