Wasn't flying back at the last minute partly the issue with their loss against Boro at the weekend?

Now they want to do the same with Toure and Bony?

plus African nations players have a habit of disappearing for a few days once their team gets knocked out

As long as Ivory Coast don't get beat they are going nowhere.

It's going to be very interesting from here on out, had we opened an 8 point gap yesterday I think it would have been very hard for City to catch us.

5 points at the top still is better than been 5 points behind, massive game against Villa next week Jose has never won there and without Costa & Fabregas it's gonna be tough.

I fully expect City to pick up three points at home to Hull next Sat

Edited February 1, 201511 yr by Bobbywoodhogan

It's going to be very interesting from here on out, had we opened an 8 point gap yesterday I think it would have been very hard for City to catch us.

5 points at the top still is better than been 5 points behind, massive game against Villa next week Jose has never won there and without Costa & Fabregas it's gonna be tough.

I fully expect City to pick up three points at home to Hull next Sat

Is Fabregas definitely out? Confident in Remy to do a job and hopefully we'll have Cuadrado too but need that vision in midfield.

Weeks rest though. Needed.

Is Fabregas definitely out? Confident in Remy to do a job and hopefully we'll have Cuadrado too but need that vision in midfield.

Weeks rest though. Needed.

Sounds like it they reckoned a few weeks for Fab on Sky.

based on todays result, and their form this season i cant see us dropping points at villa no matter how bad our record is against them

based on todays result, and their form this season i cant see us dropping points at villa no matter how bad our record is against them

 

Football is never that easy. Usually teams bounce back after a hammering like that. I think it would have been better for us if Villa had got a draw or lost by a smaller margin.

Has a team in Premier League history ever been top from the first game to the last before?

^ I don't think we were top after the first round of matches. I seem to remember another team was above us on goal difference.

^ I don't think we were top after the first round of matches. I seem to remember another team was above us on goal difference.

We were top

 

http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/matchday/league-table.html?season=2014-2015&month=AUGUST&timelineView=date&toDate=1408402799999&tableView=CURRENT_STANDINGS

In 05-06 we were top from the third match onwards.

We were top

http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/matchday/league-table.html?season=2014-2015&month=AUGUST&timelineView=date&toDate=1408402799999&tableView=CURRENT_STANDINGS

What about after the second or third round?

I seem to remember early on we were second on goal difference, maybe to Spurs?

Could have got it all wrong.

Spurs were above us after the second round of matches, I just checked.

What about after the second or third round?

I seem to remember early on we were second on goal difference, maybe to Spurs?

Could have got it all wrong.

 

You must be thinking of a different season. We've been first since Burnley away.

 

Edit: Never mind, you were right.

Edited February 1, 201511 yr by Amputechture

So next two games coming up. Weekend and midweek.

 

We play Villa away and Everton at home. Two tough games against traditional PL oppenents. In normal circumstances, we usually take a maximum of 4 points from these two, but we absolutely need 6 to keep that cushion for the harder games that will come.

 

City meanwhile have Hull at home (banker) followed by a cold Wednesday night away at Stoke. Lets hope City faulter in one of those games. We just need to extend that gap to 8 points from now until the end of the season. Once the gap becomes that big, IMO it will be the final nail in the coffin.

So City are now closer to 5th placed Spurs than they are to us.

 

I just thought this was a perfect quote to bump this thread up a bit - so many CFC fans were going bonkers that the 8 point lead had vanished - now it's back up to 7. Everything is like a tide - You have high tides then the tide goes out & you have low tides - just another cycle - right now we are at a high tide - let's enjoy this a bit

To be honest after I saw Cities fixtures I expected to still stay above them when January had finished but I certainly didn't expect this gap.

 

Regardless I'm not going to write City off, you must respect your rivals, City have been written off in the past and still come out with the title twice. I have complete trust in Jose though, we need this, we have to concentrate on each game, a gap doesn't matter it is winning the title what matters most of all, so we shouldn't be relying on any teams to beat City it's all on us.

 

No blaming Frank Lampard, no blaming FFP nothing, it's up to Chelsea to win the title, we don't then that is on us, still a long way to go so it's not our title to lose by any means however I still think we need to raise the bar a bit if we are to win the league. Which I think we will, I can't wait to have Fabregas back in the side already.

City will finish strong, they usually do. They will Toure and Bony back which will be a massive boost for them. They are so reliant on Toure. No win in 6 games this season without Toure. That shows how important he is to them. I do expect them them to push us.

I think if we increase our lead again in midweek then it will be too much for city catch up. They still have some very difficult away fixtures left including liverpool, United, and spurs.

Most of our tough games are gonna be at home, the only teams we have to play away in the top 12 are West ham and arsenal. So even though our away form hasn't been outstanding, I still fancy us to get enough points to see this through.

City's next 5 league games

Stoke (A)

Newcastle (H)

Liverpool (A)

Leicester (H)

Burnley (A)

Out of those you're probably thinking Stoke and Liverpool away are the games where they might drop points if any.

Only that they have their Champions League fixtures wedged in there too might they take their eye off the ball but mainly I think it's important we don't drop many points ourselves over the next five games.

We  are now in the position of worrying about winning 12 games of football doesn't matter which ones of the fourteen remaining. Sounds easy when put like that, it won't be. I'd much rather be in our position though than any of the group chasing us, the FA Cup defeat might be a blessing in disguise and if we get past Everton unscathed the rest that Costa has got too..... thanks Jamie. City tonight will be worried about us and so they should!

Im writing City off, Title over. You should never ever give Mourinho a headt start because your always be trying to catch up. Mind the gap City.

If Manchester United win against West Ham that's going to put the cat among the pigeons, they'll only be there points behind City then.

I don't think City are a team with great character as they themselves like to believe. When you look at their key players, Kompany, Toure, Aguero, Silva, Zabaleta, I would only describe Zabaleta as having great character and perhaps Aguero also.

 

They have simply had a better squad than other teams before this season and still not managed to convincingly win a title. And this may also be the reason they are so bad in the champions league. You don't do well in that competition without character.

 

Another point, is that they have one of the oldest squads in the league. I can really see us pulling away from City over the next few years if we can continue to do the type of transfer business we have been doing.

Edited February 8, 201511 yr by footballoholic