The race for 4th..

KingdomYid

irishmover wrote: »

I'm sure Arsenal fans will be feeling a little confident next week...

I would not worry about United not turning up to be honest. They will want to win all their remaining games and set a Premier League points record.

ziedth

United have such a big part to play in the last few games. I can't see them going easy on anyone,

I think 9/10 points and not loosing to Chelsea will hopefully be enough. I do wonder if West Ham get a result at City How they are going to react.

SuprSi

Well there is no pressure on Utd now, so it remains to be seen whether this has a positive effect on their play or whether they don't care about their performances. Hopefully they'll keep playing really well and win every remaining match, especially against Arsenal as that'll give us a real chance.

Sugarlumps

Can’t believe anyone thinks Utd are just going to roll over for teams now they've won the title?

ziedth

What's the points record? Would they hit it before Arsenal if they win every game?

Here Precious2

ziedth wrote: »

What's the points record? Would they hit it before Arsenal if they win every game?

points record is 95 points ...win their final 4 games and they get to 96.

2nd Row Donkey

I have a feeling we will beat chelsea and still lose out on a top 4 finish by failing to beat 1 from stoke/Southampton/Sunderland, and it will probably come down to goal difference and we will probably miss a penalty in the 94th minute versus Sunderland that could have put us through.

Leinstersqspur

Chelsea looked fatigued against Liverpool on Sunday. Should have had them beat with their squad. We've had a welcome rest.

They're away to Basel Thursday, then Swans at home Sunday, could drop points on Sunday. Then the following Thursday at home to Basel followed by an away trip to United on Sunday..

If they draw to Swansea, lose to United and we beat Wigan and Southampton we'd be four points clear of them before we head to Stamford Bridge the following Wedensday to kick their ass!

We got a bit of momentum now, fancy our re-energised squad to do the business! BELIEVE!

Antisocialiser

*Swansea have won only one of their last six matches and scored five goals since winning the League Cup.

Not so confident that the Swans will be doing us any favours!

SuprSi

Antisocialiser wrote: »

Not so confident that the Swans will be doing us any favours!

I fully agree. I think it would take a miracle for Chelsea to miss out on 3 points in this game. Swansea are in free fall at the moment and if they hadn't accumulated so many points earlier in the season would be relegation contenders now.

nbar12

2nd Row Donkey wrote: »

I have a feeling we will beat chelsea and still lose out on a top 4 finish by failing to beat 1 from stoke/Southampton/Sunderland, and it will probably come down to goal difference and we will probably miss a penalty in the 94th minute versus Sunderland that could have put us through.

Christ this will definitely happen...just don't let adebayor take the peno

SuprSi wrote: »

I fully agree. I think it would take a miracle for Chelsea to miss out on 3 points in this game. Swansea are in free fall at the moment and if they hadn't accumulated so many points earlier in the season would be relegation contenders now.

this is always the case when a team has won the league cup. Same happened to us under Ramos, Birmingham got relegated, so I can't see Swansea getting anything against Chelsea unfortunately

2nd Row Donkey

If we do beat chelsea, that will be all of the 'top 4' teams we have beaten at some stage this season.

ziedth

2nd Row Donkey wrote: »

If we do beat chelsea, that will be all of the 'top 4' teams we have beaten at some stage this season.

What a difference that makes....

PogMoThoin

ziedth wrote: »

What a difference that makes....

I stated before, don't look at this statistic. Ferguson realised long ago that you don't win titles by beating the top 4, you do it by consistently beating everyone below that, even when you're playing bad

Ormus

PogMoThoin wrote: »

I stated before, don't look at this statistic. Ferguson realised long ago that you don't win titles by beating the top 4, you do it by consistently beating everyone below that, even when you're playing bad

You win titles by consistently beating everyone and accumulating more points than them.

Obviously beating a title rival is worth more because it takes points away from them.

Kiith

I'd happily lose some games against the top 4, if it meant we beat everyone else. So would any team to be fair.

golfball37

PogMoThoin wrote: »

I stated before, don't look at this statistic. Ferguson realised long ago that you don't win titles by beating the top 4, you do it by consistently beating everyone below that, even when you're playing bad

100% correct. In 2011 we took 2 points from a possible 18 against West Ham, Wigan and Blackpool. Had we taken the max we would have finished 2nd. We ended up 5th.

2nd Row Donkey

You win the title by been on top of the league at the end of the last game of the season.





:pac:

but seriously,
Looking at the BBC PL predictor thing (again), I reckon we need 13 points from 15 to be sure, 12 from 15 gives us a really good chance and anything less means we need other results to go our way.

If we beat Wigan and Arsenal drop 2 or 3 points to united this weekend things will look completely different.

Edit - while arsenal have to be commended for the run they want on since we beat them in the last 2 or 3 games they have been very poor. I fancy Van Persie to score a few against them this weekend.

Here Precious2

Just throwing it out there. Now that United have won the league , Heaven forbid but could we see RVP this weekend in on goal 1 on 1 with the keeper and deliberately miss knowing that it doesn't matter if he misses but also at the back of his mind knowing that if he scores and they beat the goons ( the club he loved for 8 years), then the crowd across the road will end up in the champo league.

You'd hope he'd be professional enough to do his job.

Too much time on my hands................

2nd Row Donkey

Here Precious2 wrote: »

Just throwing it out there. Now that United have won the league , Heaven forbid but could we see RVP this weekend in on goal 1 on 1 with the keeper and deliberately miss knowing that it doesn't matter if he misses but also at the back of his mind knowing that if he scores and they beat the goons ( the club he loved for 8 years), then the crowd across the road will end up in the champo league.

You'd hope he'd be professional enough to do his job.

Too much time on my hands................

Not a chance in hell he will do that. He might not go for a few 50-50 balls and he might not celebrate when he scores but there's no chance he will deliberately miss.

Ormus

golfball37 wrote: »

100% correct. In 2011 we took 2 points from a possible 18 against West Ham, Wigan and Blackpool. Had we taken the max we would have finished 2nd. We ended up 5th.

We didn't take max points against the top 4 that season either though.

All it shows is that dropping points is bad for league position.

DubPerryman

Here Precious2 wrote: »

Just throwing it out there. Now that United have won the league , Heaven forbid but could we see RVP this weekend in on goal 1 on 1 with the keeper and deliberately miss knowing that it doesn't matter if he misses but also at the back of his mind knowing that if he scores and they beat the goons ( the club he loved for 8 years), then the crowd across the road will end up in the champo league.

You'd hope he'd be professional enough to do his job.

Too much time on my hands................

I think Fergie wants to achieve the 96 point mark. It's a great opportunity for him to set the record and he's intelligent to know that it might not happen again in his tenure. It's a fantastic motivation for the players to do well, knowing Fergies hasn't got long left in the job.

SuprSi

Good news from the Beeb;

Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon returned to training on Wednesday having not played since hobbling off with a knee injury in the 2-2 draw against Basle

Sugarlumps

That's awesome news.

2nd Row Donkey

^^^ no need to rush him back for the wigan game. A place on the bench is more than enough. too risky to start him.

Bodie Doyle

Here Precious2 wrote: »

Just throwing it out there. Now that United have won the league , Heaven forbid but could we see RVP this weekend in on goal 1 on 1 with the keeper and deliberately miss knowing that it doesn't matter if he misses but also at the back of his mind knowing that if he scores and they beat the goons ( the club he loved for 8 years), then the crowd across the road will end up in the champo league.

You'd hope he'd be professional enough to do his job.

Too much time on my hands................

Was thinking something similar myself. Will Fergie put out a full team v Arsenal? He knows RVP will get abuse from the crowd and maybe a few hefty challenges so why put him through that. Usually when Man u have the title wrapped up they tend to play some of the fringe players/youngsters to give them experience. This could be disastrous for Spurs as they have to play Arsenal & Chelsea in the next two games. If they play like Champions and take all 6 points from the 2 games, we should have a relatively straight forward task of finishing in the top 4. ( our game v Chelsea may not even matter).

I will be cheering on Man u next two game ( something i don't do very often). they have a huge say on where we finish up this season.

Sugarlumps

Even if he didn't play RVP his bench is strong, if RVP does start then the abuse will only spur him on. Ferguson and Rafa dislike each other, he’ll want revenge from the FA cup exit. I wouldn't worry about it, Utd aren't a team to roll over for anyone. I'm more worried about securing 3 points off Wigan.

Bodie Doyle

Sugarlumps wrote: »

Even if he didn't play RVP his bench is strong, if RVP does start then the abuse will only spur him on. Ferguson and Rafa dislike each other, he’ll want revenge from the FA cup exit. I wouldn't worry about it, Utd aren't a team to roll over for anyone. I'm more worried about securing 3 points off Wigan.

If we lose to Wigan AGAIN we don't deserve to be in the top 4.

Leinstersqspur

Can't see RVP starting, he'll probably be on the bench. Probably give Hernandez a run out which is good as he loves to score goals and should be played more often, would be a great signing for Spurs. Rooney will probably be dropped as he was subbed off against Villa and SAF was not happy with his second hand performane (even though he was playing him out of position).

That should welcome the likes of Cleverly back into the team who is another good player. Lads who don't play regularly will be eager to impress. Also, Arsenal have been pretty poor their last three games but got through by the skin of their teeth, fancy them to get beat.

Chelsea keep dropping points and Spurs have Bale! COYS!:D

Leinstersqspur

Possibly the campest picture you will see today but great to see him out training