The Race for Fourth

CorkMan

I hope Spurs get in, would nice to see a change every couple of years. I can remember Newcastle playing Inter in the San Siro, that is the type of games teams outside your "typical top 4" should get.

Yakult

Xavi6 wrote: »

Going by the poll there are a lot of faithful Liverpool fans about.

Well ya, whats wrong with a Liverpool supporter having faith in the team? Considering the amount of 'pool supporters on here the poll was kinda obvious.

Mister men

R_H_C_P wrote: »

Well ya, whats wrong with a Liverpool supporter having faith in the team? Considering the amount of 'pool supporters on here the poll was kinda obvious.

Don't take the bait

5ForKeeps

If Liverpool get taken over I wonder what odds we will become the end of the transfer window!

Boskowski

5ForKeeps wrote: »

If Liverpool get taken over I wonder what odds we will become the end of the transfer window!

I'd say the odds on the 31st of August to remain the end of the transfer window are quite high

Patsy fyre

Here is my opinion.
Manutd and chelski will be 1st and 2nd come the end of the season. Arsenal will be third with loserpool 4 th. Vill 5th citeh 6th everton 7th spurs 8th sunderland 9th newcastle 10.
Spurs are gona struggle big time this season with villa having a good season.

Chardee MacDennis

~Rebel~ wrote: »

A team with Torres, Gerrard, Reina, Cole, Agger, Johnson, Aquilani and close to 25mill to spend on Masch's replacement should never have just 6th as a realistic expectation...

sorry where is this 25 to spend? first off we havent sold him and secondly its ambitious to think we will have all that money to spend.

Coillte_Bhoy

Boskowski wrote: »

I'd say the odds on the 31st of August to remain the end of the transfer window are quite high

Think you're right. Massive odds on i'd say, not worth a bet really.

Frisbee

1 - Chelsea
2 - Utd/City
3 - Utd/City
4 - Arsenal

Kiwi_knock

Chelsea and Man Utd challenging for the title. Arsenal, Everton, Liverpool and Man City challenging for fourth. I see Spurs having a good run in the CL but not having the players to handle both competitions. If Villa lose Milner I can not see them doing anything of note this year, I say they will be mid table.

1. Chelsea
2. Man Utd
3. Arsenal
4. Man City
5. Liverpool
6. Everton
7. Spurs
8. Sunderland (seem the most likely to make a big improvement this year)

Xavi6

R_H_C_P wrote: »

Well ya, whats wrong with a Liverpool supporter having faith in the team? Considering the amount of 'pool supporters on here the poll was kinda obvious.

I just thought people might be able to be a bit more realistic and objective.

Mister men wrote: »

Don't take the bait

I'm not sure what you're inferring but bait would be this -

Patsy fyre wrote: »

Here is my opinion.
Manutd and chelski will be 1st and 2nd come the end of the season. Arsenal will be third with loserpool 4 th. Vill 5th citeh 6th everton 7th spurs 8th sunderland 9th newcastle 10.
Spurs are gona struggle big time this season with villa having a good season.

Prufrock

Xavi6 wrote: »

I just thought people might be able to be a bit more realistic and objective.

The realistic choice has to be City. Large squad full of quality players.

Villa, Spurs and Everton will find it hard to maintain the form needed to keep up with MC.

Liverpool...could pull it off. However, new manager needs to find his starting 11. Captain is 30 and not getting younger. Had a terrible season and WC. Torres looked injured in the WC. He doesn't have that yard of extra pace atm. Joe Cole is injury prone but a good player. Real question is will new tactics help cover Liverpools shortcomings that they showed last year?

everdead.ie

Just thought I'd bring this up for discussion it seems that now it is no longer a race for fourth as much as City, Spurs and Chelsea battling it out for the third and fourth places in the league. It looks like only Arsenal can put up a fight at this stage to united to stop them winning what would be an immense 19th title.

What is really interesting however is the number of games yet to be played among the current top six.

Spurs have yet to play Arsenal at home and City,Liverpool and Chelsea away from home. Spurs early struggles to balance Champions league and premier league football has in truth hindered us immensely this season early season losses to Wigan and West Ham had most of us convinced a fifth place finish was in no doubt however since November of last year only Manchester United have acquired more points and conceded just one less goal then Spurs. But three away games against three of Englands top teams is a big ask to get results.

Man City yet to play Spurs at Home as well as Liverpool and Chelsea away.
Man City have been pretty consistent all year bar the odd hiccup such as home games against Everton and Arsenal and a loss to bottom club Wolves(Despite Wolves managing to beat most top teams at Home this year). They surely have the squad and with Tevez the fire power to keep them in one of the top four places?

Chelsea have still to play United twice,City and Spurs at home.

Despite Chelsea' strong start to the season which saw them amass 28 points from there first 12 games that left them top of the league the 14 games since have seen them acquire just 17 points. Indeed in that time City have acquired 28 points and Spurs 31 albeit the former having played a game more.

Chelsea have a very good team and if Torres settles quickly could be home and dry with third place but if there form continues they could see themselves outside of the champions league and dependent on winning the champions league to gain access to next years competition.

68-70 points should be enough to finish in the champions league places again this year I think
Team -Current PPG--Needed PPG
Spurs

---

1.81

---

1.84

City

---

1.81

---

1.84

Chelsea--1.73

---

1.84

Anything above 70 points will probably suffice to getting third place and I am aware it is ridiculous how there is a race for fourth but it is immensely important to all three clubs if they wish to compete at the highest level. The funny thing is whoever gets knocked out of Europe first will probably have the best chance at getting a place in the top 4!

kryogen

Its the fact that Spurs have to play City Liverpool and Chelsea all away from home, and Arsenal at home isnt exactly a cake walk that leads me to believe they will not finish in the top 4, good chance of going out of Europe in this round though which may help

Mr. Guappa

everdead.ie wrote: »

Just thought I'd bring this up for discussion it seems that now it is no longer a race for fourth as much as City, Spurs and Chelsea battling it out for the third and fourth places in the league. It looks like only Arsenal can put up a fight at this stage to united to stop them winning what would be an immense 19th title.

What is really interesting however is the number of games yet to be played among the current top six.

Spurs have yet to play Arsenal at home and City,Liverpool and Chelsea away from home. Spurs early struggles to balance Champions league and premier league football has in truth hindered us immensely this season early season losses to Wigan and West Ham had most of us convinced a fifth place finish was in no doubt however since November of last year only Manchester United have acquired more points and conceded just one less goal then Spurs. But three away games against three of Englands top teams is a big ask to get results.

Man City yet to play Spurs at Home as well as Liverpool and Chelsea away.
Man City have been pretty consistent all year bar the odd hiccup such as home games against Everton and Arsenal and a loss to bottom club Wolves(Despite Wolves managing to beat most top teams at Home this year). They surely have the squad and with Tevez the fire power to keep them in one of the top four places?

Chelsea have still to play United twice,City and Spurs at home.

Despite Chelsea' strong start to the season which saw them amass 28 points from there first 12 games that left them top of the league the 14 games since have seen them acquire just 17 points. Indeed in that time City have acquired 28 points and Spurs 31 albeit the former having played a game more.

Chelsea have a very good team and if Torres settles quickly could be home and dry with third place but if there form continues they could see themselves outside of the champions league and dependent on winning the champions league to gain access to next years competition.

68-70 points should be enough to finish in the champions league places again this year I think
Team -Current PPG--Needed PPG
Spurs

---

1.81

---

1.84

City

---

1.81

---

1.84

Chelsea--1.73

---

1.84

Anything above 70 points will probably suffice to getting third place and I am aware it is ridiculous how there is a race for fourth but it is immensely important to all three clubs if they wish to compete at the highest level. The funny thing is whoever gets knocked out of Europe first will probably have the best chance at getting a place in the top 4!

I reckon 72 points is a good target to guarantee top 4 and probably be enough for 3rd place. For Spurs that would mean 25 points from our remaining 12 fixtures. We have 5 very winnable home games against WBA, Birmingham, West Ham, Stoke and Blackpool - if we can get 13 points from those games then we would be looking for 12 points from 7 games (Arsenal at home plus away games at City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Wolves, Wigan and Blackpool). If Spurs can keep Dawson fit then I fancy us to grab at least 4th.

redzerdrog

out of interest i done the bbc predictor thing as fair as possible (well maybe slightly biased);)

i had arsenal winning on GD from utd miles clear of city in 3rd and chelsea in 4th with liverpool 5th and spurs 6th

BERBA

redzerdrog wrote: »

out of interest i done the bbc predictor thing as fair as possible (well maybe slightly biased);)

i had arsenal winning on GD from utd miles clear of city in 3rd and chelsea in 4th with liverpool 5th and spurs 6th

Liverpool 5th , Spurs 6th , you made me LOL , thanks redzer

Mr. Guappa

redzerdrog wrote: »

out of interest i done the bbc predictor thing as fair as possible (well maybe slightly biased);)

i had arsenal winning on GD from utd miles clear of city in 3rd and chelsea in 4th with liverpool 5th and spurs 6th

I did that yesterday and interestingly I also had Arsenal winning the league by a point, United 2nd followed by Spurs, Chelsea and City. I only filled in the results for the big teams so not sure where Liverpool finished.

bamboozling

Mr. Guappa wrote: »

I did that yesterday and interestingly I also had Arsenal winning the league by a point, United 2nd followed by Spurs, Chelsea and City. I only filled in the results for the big teams so not sure where Liverpool finished.

Nice casual dig there. Trafford Reds have such a lead, surely they can't blow it?

redzerdrog

Mr. Guappa wrote: »

I did that yesterday and interestingly I also had Arsenal winning the league by a point, United 2nd followed by Spurs, Chelsea and City. I only filled in the results for the big teams so not sure where Liverpool finished.

LOL

premierstone

bamboozling wrote: »

Nice casual dig there. Trafford Reds have such a lead, surely they can't blow it?

4pt lead with a very tough fixture list including a trip to the second place team is hardly 'such a lead' and I bet if the roles were reversed Utd would still be favourites, Im not claiming Arsenal will win the league but the suggestion that united need to throw it away is wide of the mark

Johner

bamboozling wrote: »

Nice casual dig there. Trafford Reds have such a lead, surely they can't blow it?

They have by far the toughest run in, I fancy Arsenal to do looking at the fixtures.

lordgoat

bamboozling wrote: »

Nice casual dig there. Trafford Reds have such a lead, surely they can't blow it?

So much fail in this post.

Can we have an award next year: The Graham Poll 3 Yellow Card You don't Know What You're doing Poster?

lordgoat

Johner wrote: »

They have by far the toughest run in, I fancy Arsenal to do looking at the fixtures.

While I am hopeful on uniteds experience being able to see them over the line, to assume anything is over in Feb is just plain stupid.

flahavaj

United's run in is very tough, they'll be taking nothing for granted. Arsenal's is much nicer looking on paperand they'll almost certainly be free from European worries after the Barca games. Its gonna be close, very close.

I can Chelsea coming 3rd. City 4th, just pipping Spurs. Liverpool comfortably 6th.

Johner

lordgoat wrote: »

While I am hopeful on uniteds experience being able to see them over the line, to assume anything is over in Feb is just plain stupid.

Yeah that's true, most of United's squad have won the league and no what it takes, when you have experienced players like Giggs and Scholes it gives you an advantage, Arsenal could very well bottle it, this is a huge chance for them this year though.

redzerdrog

flahavaj wrote: »

United's run in is very tough, they'll be taking nothing for granted. Arsenal's is much nicer looking on paperand they'll almost certainly be free from European worries after the Barca games. Its gonna be close, very close.

I can Chelsea coming 3rd. City 4th, just pipping Spurs. Liverpool comfortably 6th.

looking at the fixtures i think it will be very close with the title being decided on Goal difference or a point between the two of them. I hope arsenal win it but I have a feeling utd will see it out.

roryc

bamboozling wrote: »

Trafford Reds

Not this muck again... you were made to look quite the fool the other day with this crap, do you really want to bring it up again?


I had a shot of the predictor, came up with United winning by a point, Arsenal second, then a gap of 4 points with Spurs taking third, and Chelsea another few points back in 4th. Another big gap then Sunderland 5th and Liverpool 6th.

Would be pretty confident this is how it will finish.

karma_

roryc wrote: »

Not this muck again... you were made to look quite the fool the other day with this crap, do you really want to bring it up again?


I had a shot of the predictor, came up with United winning by a point, Arsenal second, then a gap of 4 points with Spurs taking third, and Chelsea another few points back in 4th. Another big gap then Sunderland 5th and Liverpool 6th.

Would be pretty confident this is how it will finish.

I'm guessing in your universe City don't exist.

roryc

karma_ wrote: »

I'm guessing in your universe City don't exist.

Haha my bad, I have City third, Spurs fourth, Chelsea fifth, Sunderland sixth and Liverpool seventh. Don't know how I misread that...

Paully D

roryc wrote: »

Haha my bad, I have City third, Spurs fourth, Chelsea fifth, Sunderland sixth and Liverpool seventh. Don't know how I misread that...

Liverpool will finish comfortably 6th IMO. We (Sunderland) have so many tough games between now and April that Liverpool will be well ahead by then.