Race for the Top 4 - 2017/18

[spursfast]

No its not that game im concerned about.. Its that they play Chelsea Sunday who would have a weeks rest whilst City would be on their 3rd game in 7 days.

as long as we keep winning it doesn't matter

 

[Led's Zeppelin]

No its not that game im concerned about.. Its that they play Chelsea Sunday who would have a weeks rest whilst City would be on their 3rd game in 7 days.

Yes, but it was against Arsenal.

Playing a pretend football team who can’t run, can’t tackle and can’t shoot on target is possibly not the most tiring way of passing the odd 90 minutes that a professional athlete could come up with.

 

[bomberH]

You are saying Chelsea wins the champions league and Arsenal wins the Europa league.

Chelsea has to go to Barca and win to get to the next leg

Arsenal have AC milan.

4th is fine.

Arrogance.

The other poster implied that only 3rd is guaranteed and he is correct.

It’s not just Chelsea is it? Liverpool and Man Utd could also finish 5th and win the CL. So there are 3 potential teams who could fuck our chances up if we finish 4th. Not quite as straight forward as you thought...

Arsenal winning the EL is an absolute possibility too. How many times in recent seasons have we laughed at their collapse only for them to either overtake us or win a cup. Yes they were shit yesterday but you can never write them off over 2 legs against anyone (except Bayern.....) If they manage to beat Milan, who aren’t the Milan of old by the way, then they only have to overcome Atletico because they can certainly beat anyone else left in there.

As it goes, I think (hope) we’ll finish 3rd or 4th and we’ll be ok but to rule it out like you have is a bit arrogant and underestimating a quite possible scenario.

 

[talkshowhost86]

We've done brilliantly in a very tough run of fixtures, and we now just need to follow it up with three wins in games that we should be winning.

9 points against Huddersfield, Bournemouth and Newcastle and we'll really have put the pressure on our rivals, particularly in a period where some of them are playing each other or otherwise have tough games.

I do agree though that we cannot rely on finishing 4th. Arsenal could very easily win the Europa League, and the Champions League is as open as its ever been.

I'm hoping that Poch is telling the team that they need to be aiming for 2nd.

 

[nicdic]

We've done brilliantly in a very tough run of fixtures, and we now just need to follow it up with three wins in games that we should be winning.

9 points against Huddersfield, Bournemouth and Newcastle and we'll really have put the pressure on our rivals, particularly in a period where some of them are playing each other or otherwise have tough games.

I do agree though that we cannot rely on finishing 4th. Arsenal could very easily win the Europa League, and the Champions League is as open as its ever been.

I'm hoping that Poch is telling the team that they need to be aiming for 2nd.

We should be aiming for 2nd, and I think it's possible. I think we'll finish above fourth.

 

[oohaahedgar]

We've done brilliantly in a very tough run of fixtures, and we now just need to follow it up with three wins in games that we should be winning.

9 points against Huddersfield, Bournemouth and Newcastle and we'll really have put the pressure on our rivals, particularly in a period where some of them are playing each other or otherwise have tough games.

I do agree though that we cannot rely on finishing 4th. Arsenal could very easily win the Europa League, and the Champions League is as open as its ever been.

I'm hoping that Poch is telling the team that they need to be aiming for 2nd.

If we finish 4th, Arsenal win the Europa League etc we still qualify unless the team who comes 5th wins the Champions League. Is that right?

 

[Led's Zeppelin]

Arrogance.

The other poster implied that only 3rd is guaranteed and he is correct.

It’s not just Chelsea is it? Liverpool and Man Utd could also finish 5th and win the CL. So there are 3 potential teams who could fuck our chances up if we finish 4th. Not quite as straight forward as you thought...

Arsenal winning the EL is an absolute possibility too. How many times in recent seasons have we laughed at their collapse only for them to either overtake us or win a cup. Yes they were shit yesterday but you can never write them off over 2 legs against anyone (except Bayern.....) If they manage to beat Milan, who aren’t the Milan of old by the way, then they only have to overcome Atletico because they can certainly beat anyone else left in there.

As it goes, I think (hope) we’ll finish 3rd or 4th and we’ll be ok but to rule it out like you have is a bit arrogant and underestimating a quite possible scenario.

Yes, we need to finish 3rd to be sure of CL qualification. But 2nd is only 4 points away though, so that's not an unrealistic target either.

And even though Arsenal may well end up winning the EL, I'm still laughing at them because they've been laughable and I'm not scared of them anymore.

As you say, there are a number of clubs that could stop us qualifying. It's all up to us. Fuck the rest of them.

 

[talkshowhost86]

We should be aiming for 2nd, and I think it's possible. I think we'll finish above fourth.

I think if we win the next three in the league I'll be much more confident that we'll finish at least 3rd.

But I'm also fairly confident that we will win those three games.

The way we're playing (or the way we're winning) at the moment, only the Chelsea and City games look like places where we'll drop points, and even both of those games could be made slightly easier by Chelsea's implosion and City's focus on the Champions League.

I'm sure we'll drop points in some of the other games at some point...but it's hard to see where at the moment.

 

[brendanb50]

Yes, we need to finish 3rd to be sure of CL qualification. But 2nd is only 4 points away though, so that's not an unrealistic target either.

And even though Arsenal may well end up winning the EL, I'm still laughing at them because they've been laughable and I'm not scared of them anymore.

As you say, there are a number of clubs that could stop us qualifying. It's all up to us. Fuck the rest of them.

Agree with this - aim for 2nd, no reason not to.

Thankfully, unlike the teams of yesteryear, where odd points and goal differences would be looked at to see if we can scrape 4th - i have so much more faith in Poch and this team to go out and win most weeks - they know what's expected and they're not shying away from it. With that mentality, 2nd is definitely achievable.

 

[talkshowhost86]

It's also very worth noting that if we're worried about Liverpool, Chelsea or United winning the Champions League to stop us, we are equally as likely as those teams to win the Champions League anyway. So I don't have too many concerns on that front.

 

[Lilbaz]

It's also very worth noting that if we're worried about Liverpool, Chelsea or United winning the Champions League to stop us, we are equally as likely as those teams to win the Champions League anyway. So I don't have too many concerns on that front.

Don't think anyone is that worried. Just saying that writing them off and arsenal in the el is a mistake.

 

[bomberH]

Yes, we need to finish 3rd to be sure of CL qualification. But 2nd is only 4 points away though, so that's not an unrealistic target either.

And even though Arsenal may well end up winning the EL, I'm still laughing at them because they've been laughable and I'm not scared of them anymore.

As you say, there are a number of clubs that could stop us qualifying. It's all up to us. Fuck the rest of them.

Agree. Very much in our hands now and there’s no reason to think we can’t finish 2nd.

And don’t get me wrong, I laugh at Arsenal on a daily basis, even when they win because they think it’s the beginning of a 20 game winning streak that fails after 2 games. But they can never be written off, especially over 2 legs. The thought of that scenario (with the 5th place team winning the CL) would be a thousand times worse than when Chelsea qualified in 2012.

Chelsea away will be massive.

 

[brendanb50]

Agree. Very much in our hands now and there’s no reason to think we can’t finish 2nd.

And don’t get me wrong, I laugh at Arsenal on a daily basis, even when they win because they think it’s the beginning of a 20 game winning streak that fails after 2 games. But they can never be written off, especially over 2 legs. The thought of that scenario (with the 5th place team winning the CL) would be a thousand times worse than when Chelsea qualified in 2012.

Chelsea away will be massive.

Yep huge game - get a result there and we put to bed the demons from the draw there (in spite of the fond memories of kicking them all over the pitch) as well as setting ourselves up for City.

 

[Shadydan]

#funfact

This time last season we had 1 more point and let in 4 less goals, we've scored exactly the same amount of goals as we had last season (53), difference is we were 2nd and above City, Utd and Liverpool who have improved but behind Chelsea who have gone backwards this season.

 

[longtimespur]

Just win our games and not worry about the other teams. That way we will be in the top 4 and with a bit of luck top 3.

 

[thebenjamin]

What's a bit of a skank is that Chelsea have a free week to prepare for the City game, whereas City have the Scum on Thursdays, so only 2 days recovery. My hope is that Pep rotates for the Scum and brings everyone back for Chelsea.

 

[King of Otters]

#funfact

This time last season we had 1 more point and let in 4 less goals, we've scored exactly the same amount of goals as we had last season (53), difference is we were 2nd and above City, Utd and Liverpool who have improved but behind Chelsea who have gone backwards this season.

Remarkable really considering the move to Wembley. Just a shame we're not as comfortable in the top 4 this year as we were last.

 

[danielneeds]

What's a bit of a skank is that Chelsea have a free week to prepare for the City game, whereas City have the Scum on Thursdays, so only 2 days recovery. My hope is that Pep rotates for the Scum and brings everyone back for Chelsea.

They’ve spent 400m on the squad in the last few seasons, FFS! They should be able to handle a slightly busy week!

 

[thebenjamin]

They’ve spent 400m on the squad in the last few seasons, FFS! They should be able to handle a slightly busy week!

Indeed they should, but we've seen many times to our expense that playing on a thursday before a big game on a Sunday is a huge disadvantage.

 

[dannythomas]

If we finish 4th, Arsenal win the Europa League etc we still qualify unless the team who comes 5th wins the Champions League. Is that right?

I believe that is right. That's why there were 5 English teams this year. Nightmare scenario is Arsenal win EL, we finish 4 th and 5th place team win CL. I don't think they allow 6 English teams.