I am still nursing the hangover of last night's win so my enthusiasm is understandable.

After reading JT's comments that if we win both our games against United we have a real shot, I started to do some math.

Following is United's fixture list for the rest of the season:

25 Jan Blackpool A

01 Feb Aston Villa H

05 Feb Wolves A

12 Feb Man City H

26 Feb Wigan A

01 Mar Chelsea A

06 Mar Liverpool A

19 Mar Bolton H

02 Apr West Ham A

09 Apr Fulham H

16 Apr Newc Utd A

23 Apr Everton H

30 Apr Arsenal A

07 May Chelsea H

14 May Blackburn A

22 May Blackpool H

The italicized games are the one where we can expect them to drop points, so call it a draw and the bold are the ones where I expect them to lose all three points. So the overall at the end of the season = 78 (Big assumption: we win both against United)

Below are our fixtures for the rest of the season:

Feb 1 Sund'lund v Chelsea

Feb 6 Chelsea v Liverpool

Feb 14 Fulham v Chelsea

Feb 26 Chelsea v Birmingham

Mar 1 Chelsea v Manchester United

Mar 7 Blackpool v Chelsea

Mar 20 Chelsea v Manchester City

Apr 2 Stoke City v Chelsea

Apr 9 Chelsea v Wigan Athletic

Apr 16 W B A v Chelsea

Apr 23 Chelsea v West Ham United

Apr 30 Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur

May 7 Man Utd v Chelsea

May 14 Chelsea v Newcastle United

May 22 Everton v Chelsea

We need 39 points from the remaining 15 games. 13 wins?

So this is how we win the title. Win at least 13 of the remaining games (including the 2 against United) and hope Arsenal, Liverpool, City etc do us a favor!

Big ask of course but doable?

Edited January 25, 201115 yr by rahul

Highly optimistic and you're also discounting the Arse or Citeh as possible winners.

Still mathematically possible, highly improbable, I prefer to be optimistic, Manyoo are not good enough to be invincible this season, they will have a little wobble, we not only need to beat them twice but citeh as well, and they've become our bogey team of late, we have no say in the remainder of the gooners season, but they won't win the league, they're too sh*t, if we close the gap, we might make the teams above us panic, we need to put on the run of all runs to make any of this possible though

Highly optimistic and you're also discounting the Arse or Citeh as possible winners.

Arsenal don't have the balls for it, & City not mentally there yet.

Realistically I think the best we can hope for is 2nd.

Think you're probably right about Citeh, but the Arse seem to have a bit more steel to them this season. Hopefully not enough, but I wouldn't write them off.

I am still nursing the hangover of last night's win so my enthusiasm is understandable.

After reading JT's comments that if we win both our games against United we have a real shot, I started to do some math.

Following is United's fixture list for the rest of the season:

25 Jan Blackpool A

01 Feb Aston Villa H

05 Feb Wolves A

12 Feb Man City H

26 Feb Wigan A

01 Mar Chelsea A

06 Mar Liverpool A

19 Mar Bolton H

02 Apr West Ham A

09 Apr Fulham H

16 Apr Newc Utd A

23 Apr Everton H

30 Apr Arsenal A

07 May Chelsea H

14 May Blackburn A

22 May Blackpool H

The italicized games are the one where we can expect them to drop points,

Why do you think Wolves will take point(s) from them and West Ham and Blackburn wont. I´d consider Upton park and Ewood much tougher places to go for manure than Molineux. And Blackpool away today..... remembre Burnley away for them last season?

And they have the best fixtures remaining of the lot.

Wolves are very tough to beat at home as we and Arsenal found out at our expense. They seem to be the Boro of this season, sh*t against lower teams but able to up the game against the big boys. Agree that Ewood park is always a tough place to go and with Fat Sam out, I expect them to put up a good fight against United. West Ham on the other hand have been pants and I dont expect any favors from them.

Its obviously wishful thinking, but if we can cross the 80 points mark, we are in with a real shout and I choose to be optimistic about our chances.

It would be a very very tough ask. But if we do the double over the mancs, and by some miracle they draw against both City and Arsenal, its not totally out of the question. I think we will very soon catch fire and go on a good run again, so hopefully closing the gap a bit can make the teams we are chasing nervous.

I actually believe in City's title credentials more than Arsenals. Arsenal were here last year. They were here in 2008. They have been here before, and yet every time something has happened tdown the stretch and they havent been good enough.

If our players see the gap closing, and realize that we have an outside shot at being in the title conversation again, I am sure, mentally, that will give them an extra edge because they know others might be choking it away a little. The fact of the matter is, we are 7 points off the leaders, potentially 10, but can draw it down to 4 through our own efforts. After the disaster of the last few months, that has got to be a huge incentive. If we can close the gap on Utd, I really believe the rest will take care of itself.

That said, down the stretch I expect Utd to be the best of the three teams we are chasing, and reality tells me they are going to smash Arsenal in that game.

Edited January 25, 201115 yr by TheWestwayWonder

Why do you think Wolves will take point(s) from them and West Ham and Blackburn wont. I´d consider Upton park and Ewood much tougher places to go for manure than Molineux. And Blackpool away today..... remembre Burnley away for them last season?

That game against Everton is at OT they already played at Goodison, throwing away a 3-1 lead going into 90 minutes. But i agree i think Everton at OT will be tougher than Wolves away for them. I also think Citeh will go there and beat them. But i think it is very optimistic. I think if we put a run together and finish second that will be a good achievement after the run we had recently. But this is only one competition. We still have the FA cup and champions league.

We basically have to win out our season, which is yes, a big ask.

Win our remaining games and we are TREBLE winners! We can even afford to lose some in the Champion's league, as long as we win the other leg by more!

We can do it, come on Chelsea!

Putting the cart ahead of the horse this kind of talk I think. We'd do well to just focus on winning each match and try and finish as high as we can. We're three points ahead of Spurs, and that is the minimum standard as far as I'm concerned.

And they have the best fixtures remaining of the lot.

So did Arsenal last season, and they fell apart. We have shown a season can come unstuck quite quickly, until its mathematically impossible then I will always think we can win it.

United have more difficult away games in Arse, Pool and us. We only have Everton and United as potentially tough places to go.

Of course we have take one game at a time but that is for the players and Carlo. We, as fans, can speculate and hope to our heart's content.

United have more difficult away games in Arse, Pool and us. We only have Everton and United as potentially tough places to go.

Of course we have take one game at a time but that is for the players and Carlo. We, as fans, can speculate and hope to our heart's content.

And we must BELIEVE we can retain the title!!!

in Carlo we trust

I find it difficult to write off Man Utd. At present they look odds-on to win the league.

I believe it will be a two way scrap for second place between Chelsea and Arsenal. Despite having one of the best attacks in the league the Gunners are weak defensively. But they certainly are a team to be reckoned with.

If we continue on our winning track we can edge out Arsenal and end up second.

Man City have a strong squad but are not quite ready to win the league. I expect them to end up in the fourth slot.

My predictions are:-

1. Man. Utd.

2. Chelsea.

3. Arsenal.

4. Man City.

For us to be champs the title would have to be won with no more than than the 86 points we gathered last season. And right now we would have to win every one of our remaining fixtures to reach that total. I reckon it'll be won with about 81-83 points this season so we've got very little margin for error. But it can be done.

Well.........Blackpool 2 - 0 up atm

Not looking as good for M.U. vs Blackpool now

Edited January 25, 201115 yr by KrazyTea

Well.........Blackpool 2 - 0 up atm

Fail.

Fail.

indeed!

Look thats what I'm talking about. Pool f**ked it up but there are others who are capable of defending 2 goal leads. United are not invincible and I would be very disappointed if it turned out the other way round at the end of the season.

Just win the next 15 matches, easy! Seriously, I think the title talk is way too premature, we need to put up a 8-9 winning streak before we can even think about it.