Will we qualify for the CL?

[eamonn]

And 5th wasn't good enough for CL that season.

[Percy McCarthy]

Ours and our rivals’ fixtures:

Villa:

Bournemouth (a)
Brighton (h)
Leeds (h)
Wolves (a)
Chelsea (h)
Man Utd (a)
West Ham (h)
Forest (a)
Sunderland (h)
Fulham (a)
Spurs (h)
Burnley (a)
Liverpool (h)
Man City (a)

Man Utd:

Spurs (h)
West Ham (a)
Everton (a)
Palace (h)
Newcastle (a)
Villa (h)
Bournemouth (a)
Leeds (h)
Chelsea (a)
Brentford (h)
Liverpool (h)
Sunderland (a)
Forest (h)
Brighton (a)

Chelsea:

Wolves (a)
Leeds (h)
Burnley (h)
Arsenal (a)
Villa (a)
Newcastle (h)
Everton (a)
Man City (h)
Man Utd (h)
Brighton (a)
Forest (h)
Liverpool (a)
Spurs (h)
Sunderland (a)

Liverpool:

Man City (h)
Sunderland (a)
Forest (a)
West Ham (h)
Wolves (a)
Spurs (h)
Brighton (a)
Fulham (h)
Everton (a)
Palace (h)
Man Utd (a)
Chelsea (h)
Villa (a)
Brentford (h)

[Percy McCarthy]

^^ Chelsea up against it out of the three IMO.

[eye digress]

Arsenal only have Chelsea to play among the top 6. Surely they can't choke it from here...

[Meanwood Villa]

8 points or more from the next four would guarantee we can't be caught before the Chelsea and Man Utd league games

[ChicagoLion]

8 points or more from the next four would guarantee we can't be caught before the Chelsea and Man Utd league games

trying to work out how you get 8 points from 4 games

[Dave]

Two wins and two draws?

[Demitri_C]

Yep chelsea  have the tpughest run but we git the hardest  last two. Lets hope its settled by then

[algy]

For it to all go south on us, all three of Yanited, Liverpool and Chelsea would need to hit title winning type form. If you think about it, that's highly unlikely - not least as they have to play each other.

Our points per game would also have to decline to a level that we have not yet experienced under Unai.

So while there will undoubtedly be some ebb and flow, we really are in the box seats.

This is the thing.

We had a similar dip at the start of the season.  Suppose we come out of it for our next game, then maintain the form we had prior to Everton.  Suppose Arsenal and Man City have exactly the same form as they've had since the start of the season.  In that scenario, we win the league.

It's a rough patch, but if we can come out of it quickly we'll be fine.  And as eye_digress says, even if we weren't to - we'd need lower mid table form, and the other 3 to all hit title-winning form, for us to finish out of the top 5 now.  Not to say that there's no chance of it happening, but I'm still reasonably confident on that front.

[Meanwood Villa]

I guess the worry is that our form dips to a detrimental level while our first choice midfield are out injured, which wouldn't be entirely unexpected. I trust Unai to find a way and we need Luiz, Onana, Bogarde to really step up over these next few weeks.

[Bent Neilsens Screamer]

^^ Chelsea up against it out of the three IMO.

Certainly looks that way from their fixtures.

[Brazilian Villain]

I think Yanited are the most likely to catch us if they can remain relatively consistent. Only 5 points behind, their run-in isn't bad, and they can concentrate 100% on the league (with no matches in the FA Cup or Europe). It's hard to see all three overtaking us, unless out form really drops off.

[eye digress]

I guess the worry is that our form dips to a detrimental level while our first choice midfield are out injured, which wouldn't be entirely unexpected. I trust Unai to find a way and we need Luiz, Onana, Bogarde to really step up over these next few weeks.

I think one thing we can be confident in (and the reason his points per game record is so good) is that Unai, on a game by game basis, will make us competitive most of the time - even with a few B- or C-listers in the team.

[eye digress]

I think Yanited are the most likely to catch us if they can remain relatively consistent. Only 5 points behind, their run-in isn't bad, and they can concentrate 100% on the league (with no matches in the FA Cup or Europe). It's hard to see all three overtaking us, unless out form really drops off.

They certainly should, for the reasons ypu set out.

Have a funny feeling they won't though. If Carrick was an elite manager, it would be common knowledge by now.

[Ads]

Be suprised if they remain consistent.