I think it's safe to say both Manchester clubs can consider themselves 1st and 2nd respectively, there's at least no way of them missing out on CL, not with huge gaps between them and 5th (13 and 18 points respectively).

 

How does everyone else see the battle going? In an ideal word I'm sure we'd all love it to be us 3rd, Everton 4th but I can't see it. Everton draw too many games and have United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs all to play away, I think they'll drop off and finish 7th behind Liverpool (5th) and Arsenal (6th). Spurs are the biggest threat, they are playing with real belief under AVB from start to finish in games (something we aren't doing with FSW).

 

Strangely enough going away to the Manchester Clubs is nowhere near as daunting as it has been in recent seasons. United in particular have displayed enough weaknesses at home to suggest we can go there and win. City will be more difficult with the likes of Yaya Toure and Aguero fit and firing, they have a far better quality of player and I think they'll end up winning it (just) again.

 

Looking at the fixtures If Arsenal aren't within 3 points of Spurs by the time they play them at WHL I can't see them usurping them. Their next 4 games after that are:

 

Everton (H)
Bayern (A) - CL
Swansea (A)
Reading (H)

WBA (A)

 

I reckon winning 8 games from our last 15 should pretty much seal the deal for top 4 and winning 10 from our last 15 (including a win over Spurs) should guarantee 3rd.

 

If I had to call it now I'd say:

 

1. City

2. United

3. Chelsea

4. Spurs

5. Liverpool

6. Arsenal

7. Everton

 

I just hope we finish 3rd, it would be something we could take from what has been a miserable season off the pitch, it would be infuriating beating Arsenal and possibly Spurs twice and still not finishing above them.

 

Would love to see the Arse miss out on 4th, I wonder if the club will finally be done with Wenger should that happen.

Edited January 22, 201313 yr by Jonty

Would love to see the Arse miss out on 4th, I wonder if the club will finally be done with Wenger should that happen.

 

Same. I hate them and Sp*rs almost equally. If we get 3rd it's a win-win. Seeing AVB and their gobsh*te fans in tears yet again at missing out of the CL or the Arsenal meltdown and slide into midtable mediocrity.

Same. I hate them and Sp*rs almost equally. If we get 3rd it's a win-win. Seeing AVB and their gobsh*te fans in tears yet again at missing out of the CL or the Arsenal meltdown and slide into midtable mediocrity.

 

I actually felt bad for AVB the way he was treated here and hoped he would go on to do big things at his next club, unfortunately his next club was Spurs, but still i'd rather he succeeds than the voyeur.

i saw a retweet earlier from a journalist (can't remember who but they had 30,000+ followers so i assumed they were respectable) who swore on his word that Mourinho has already arranged to replace Wenger 

just found the tweet, apparently he's the presenter for LBC (Londons Biggest Chat) radio station , @IainDale

We are 6 points behind City with 15 games to go. I'd still keep thinking bigger than 3rd or 4th. I know the reality and the rollercoaster results but lets not give up so soon.

i saw a retweet earlier from a journalist (can't remember who but they had 30,000+ followers so i assumed they were respectable) who swore on his word that Mourinho has already arranged to replace Wenger

Can't see it. Jose is not their man.

"Don't talk about Bolton with direct football. Cause we are more direct", Jose Mourinho.

Its unimaginable to understand us not being in the top 4.....Man city are very catchable....(but) there are so many on off teams vying for 2nd 3rd and fourth place its madness....It shows that the devide with so called top teams is NO MORE....IF we were to look at MANX 1st n 2nd, the battle is a tough one with us Arsenal, Spurs, everton and 2 or three that are in ascendence....This season no one can predict the 2 others from the top 4.....It will be a battle of atrician that we hopefully come through....The club needs this income

I would like to see United, City, Chelsea and Liverpool as the top four. As much as I hate Liverpool, our European nights with them were nothing short of incredible. 

Think I said at the start of the season it would be us and Spurs for 3rd and 4th. 

 

Can never rule out Arsenal though, they always find a way back towards the end of the season  to get 4th.

Edited January 22, 201313 yr by Remodez

We are only 6 points behind City at the moment, I don't think 2nd place is out of reach for us.

 

As for who get's 4th? Let Spurs get it then lose their qualifying match so that they still end up in the Europa League. 

I think the top 4 will finish as it stands now.

My ideal is for Spuds to finish 4th, L'Arse to finish 6th but to win the Champions League so that, for the second year running, Spuds miss out on CL football because of a hated rival winning :)

I would never ever want to see Arsenal win the champions league.

Still a long way to go and we have some very tough away games to come. I wouldnt suggest we are nailed on for top 4 just yet. Especially bearing in mind our stop start form and especially bearing in mind the donkey we have in charge of team affairs.

My ideal is for Spuds to finish 4th, L'Arse to finish 6th but to win the Champions League so that, for the second year running, Spuds miss out on CL football because of a hated rival winning :)

 

 

If you'd been born a medieval man, YB, you'd have made a good torturer - you know exactly where to insert the knife!

My ideal is for Spuds to finish 4th, L'Arse to finish 6th but to win the Champions League so that, for the second year running, Spuds miss out on CL football because of a hated rival winning :)

 

 

Well, I think if that happened, you might see a large, sudden decrease in the population of Spurs fans...and I'm not talking about those leaving the bandwagon.

Still looking up, and not down, I can see Utd & Citeh dropping points, so who knows.

As much as d love Arsenal to not finish in the top 4 I think they will still finish 4th.

It says a lot for our season that we're even having a discussion over whether we're gonna finish in the top 4 or not! Nevertheless,I'm pretty confident we'll get third. We clearly have more quality in our squad than Spurs and Arsenal do, there's no question about that. As was said in the initial post, 8-10 wins out of 15 should be enough, and looking at the fixtures remaining that should be the least that we can expect from this side.

 

In fact, with the players we have we really should be closer to the Manchester clubs. Next season, with hopefully a few quality additions to the squad and a top manager in place, this should be the bare minimum.

 

As for the other CL spot, its going to go down to the wire, that's for sure. I reckon Spurs will snick it just about over Arsenal. They seem to have a little belief more than Arsenal this season, and for me the squads are quite evenly matched now in terms of overall talent. Everton will fade I feel, and whilst I expect Liverpool to improve I don't see them being a real threat for 4th spot.

Still looking up, and not down, I can see Utd & Citeh dropping points, so who knows.

If we cant beat West ham or QPR then we will certainly lose a lot more points than they will.

 Premier League Odds

 

 

Man Utd   1/3

 

Man City   5/2

 

Chelsea   25/1

 

Tottenham  200/1

 

Arsenal   300/1

 

Liverpool   400/1

 

Everton   500/1

I agree about looking up rather than down we will finish 3rd comfortably and get more points than we have done in the last two seasons 71 and 64.

 

Get to two finals and lose one to the mighty bradford! and beat Atheltico in the other with Frank scoring the winner, knowing the way our season is going.

Edited January 22, 201313 yr by pete

I'm confident we'll get 3rd and I don't think Everton or Arsenal have enough in the tank to beat Spuds to 4th.  They could well capitulate but it'd be a major bottle job at this point.