14 minutes ago, Bobbywoodhogan said:

I’d take EL over top four, get CL football and a trophy.

Evenbetter if it denies Spurs/Arsenal a CL spot despite making 4th....... that was part of what made 2012 so sweet 

If we are going to make the top 4 we are going to need to get some results in some tricky away fixtures. We still have to go to Liverpool, United, Everton, and Leicester. I would say we need at least 2 wins from those games to keep us in with a chance. Certainly not impossible but little room for error as the games are running out.

1 hour ago, Barry Bridges said:

Evenbetter if it denies Spurs/Arsenal a CL spot despite making 4th....... that was part of what made 2012 so sweet 

I think they changed the rules in that a bit now. Still possible but an English side would have to win both European cups to deny 4th place. 

 

1 hour ago, Barry Bridges said:

Evenbetter if it denies Spurs/Arsenal a CL spot despite making 4th....... that was part of what made 2012 so sweet 

Icing on the cake.

My prediction:

Win: Everton, Brighton, Cardiff, Burnley and Leicester.

Draw: West Ham

Lose: United and Liverpool

 

Edited March 11, 20197 yr by JMaher94

On 10/03/2019 at 21:53, Semper Fi said:

We will be 6th by the end of season. That is for sure. Quote me on this. 

 

 

However, I do think we are more then capable of winning Europa League. 

I don't see us winning the Europa League, Sarri doesn't have a good record in Europe from Napoli and it's easy for any opposition to prepare against our lineup.

3 hours ago, Barry Bridges said:

Evenbetter if it denies Spurs/Arsenal a CL spot despite making 4th....... that was part of what made 2012 so sweet 

That was amazing but rules have changed since then. We’re allowed 5 CL teams now.

An English team not in the top four would also have to win the CL for it to happen. So you’re looking at Man U winning the CL and us the EL with either Spurs/Arse in 3rd and 4th for the 4th place to miss out.

13 minutes ago, Bobbywoodhogan said:

That was amazing but rules have changed since then. We’re allowed 5 CL teams now.

An English team not in the top four would also have to win the CL for it to happen. So you’re looking at Man U winning the CL and us the EL with either Spurs/Arse in 3rd and 4th for the 4th place to miss out.

It could be a London derby Chelsea v Arsenal EL final, a Manchester derby Man city v Man u CL final.

With top four in the league like this...

1 City

2 Liverpool

3 Spuds

4 Chelsea

5 Man u 

6 Arsenal

If Arsenal and Man u win the European tournaments, we will be devastated as 4th place losers and losing finalists twice in a season.

Looking around this morning, surprisingly neither Sutton or Keown think Chelsea or Arsenal will make top 4.

The Utd chaps on Redcafe think they will with some mentioning Arsenal's poor away form.

I looked on the fighting cock forum too and some of them think they could end up in 6th.

Spurs go into a new stadium next month which effectively damages their home form for a couple of matches, IMO.

It's all still to lay for, I wonder if some players will be allowed to miss the trip to Kiev?

 

If we make top 4 and/or win the Europa League, I promise never to frequent these forums again....... I'm confident that Ill still be here come August.

Edited March 12, 20197 yr by Old Shaggy

It's gone. I don't see two of the teams above us suddenly collapsing and us not dropping anymore points this season. At the moment, it's hard to see us getting more than 2 or 3 wins out of the remaining 8.

Our only chance of getting in the Champions League next season is through the Europa League.

10 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

It's gone. I don't see two of the teams above us suddenly collapsing and us not dropping anymore points this season. At the moment, it's hard to see us getting more than 2 or 3 wins out of the remaining 8.

Our only chance of getting in the Champions League next season is through the Europa League.

I think the same as we cannot seem to string two victories together.

Once we are behind we do not appear to be able to come back and win either, think it has only happened once this season.

I can't seeing us winning the Europa though we may get to the final.

 

I'm More Worried About The Battle For 6th With Wolves

On 11/03/2019 at 15:05, JMaher94 said:

My prediction:

Win: Everton, Brighton, Cardiff, Burnley and Leicester.

Draw: West Ham

Lose: United and Liverpool

 

Sadly wrong on the very first of those matches...

I would be more confident in predicting:

Win: Brighton

Draw: West ham, Burnley

Lose: Cardiff, Leicester, Liverpool, United

Edited March 17, 20197 yr by axman2526

At this point I'm not sure how beneficial top 4 finish will be apart from bragging rights. I would rather win the Europa given a choice. Even then I'm not sure how important it will be to make Champs League next season. We cannot sign any players so the lure of Champs League won't matter. The current squad would struggle to make it much further than the group stages. It is more important that we try to make Champs League for 20/21 season when we will be able to sign players again. We should be using the transfer ban as a true excuse to rebuild and get rid of the driftwood from the squad. 

2 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

It's gone. I don't see two of the teams above us suddenly collapsing and us not dropping anymore points this season. At the moment, it's hard to see us getting more than 2 or 3 wins out of the remaining 8.

Our only chance of getting in the Champions League next season is through the Europa League.

They don't need to collapse, they just need to be that little less average.

We could still actually get it, will likely take others f**king up over anything we do but still.

2 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

It's gone. I don't see two of the teams above us suddenly collapsing and us not dropping anymore points this season. At the moment, it's hard to see us getting more than 2 or 3 wins out of the remaining 8.

Our only chance of getting in the Champions League next season is through the Europa League.

No chance cause Sarri will put out his first XI from the PL in the semi or final and we’ll get beat as he drops the usual EL team who can score goals and win games

 

if we get to the final, I’ll tell you the lineup right now...

Kepa

Azpi - Rudiger - Luiz - Alonso

Kante - Jorginho - Barkley

Pedro - Higuain - Hazard

 

Maybe Kovacic for Barkley or Willian for Pedro. The rest are bankers I’d say.

2 hours ago, EdinburghBlue said:

No chance cause Sarri will put out his first XI from the PL in the semi or final and we’ll get beat as he drops the usual EL team who can score goals and win games

 

if we get to the final, I’ll tell you the lineup right now...

Kepa

Azpi - Rudiger - Luiz - Alonso

Kante - Jorginho - Barkley

Pedro - Higuain - Hazard

 

Maybe Kovacic for Barkley or Willian for Pedro. The rest are bankers I’d say.

I agree. One of the main reasons we have looked so much better in Europe has been the lineup. The team that played in Kiev was far better balanced than what we have seen in the league. As soon as we reach the critical stages of the Europa we will see the typical league lineup and I fear that will cost us.

Do we give up on top 4 and go all in for europa glory?

Or do we try to juggle both and see if we succeed in one?

Or do we focus on the league?

With 1 point currently separating 3rd to 6th (Before Arsenal get 3 points tonight) I feel it would be daft to give up on top 4 when we are still right in it with United still to play.

Remaining fixtures for top 4 contenders as it stands

Tottenham - Palace (H), Huddersfield (H), City (A), Brighton (H), West Ham (H), Bournemouth (A), Everton (H)

United - Wolves (A), West Ham (H), Everton (A), City (H), Chelsea (H), Huddersfield (A), Cardiff (H)

Arsenal - Newcastle (H), Everton (A), Watford (A), Palace (H), Wolves (A), Leicester (A), Brighton (H), Burnley (A)

Chelsea - Brighton (H), West Ham (H), Liverpool (A), Burnley (H), Man Utd (A), Watford (H), Leicester (A)

I think the priority should be winning the EL. I think we will lose against Liverpool and United, as well as dropping points at Leicester and maybe against Watford at home. 

That being said i think we would probably lose against Frankfurt in the semi's of the EL, or against Arsenal/ Napoli in the final.

Ever the optimist, me. 

We definitely have the hardest run in. I wouldn't give up on either and want to see our best team every match, however i'd rather us win the Europa league and finish 6th than finish 4th with no silverware.

Looking at the fixtures coming up, I think there is a chance we may sneak back into top 4 in the short term but hard to see us still that position by the end of the month. We have United and Liverpool away in April and will probably need at least 1 win from these 2 games to stay in the top 4. In the past I would have been optimistic of getting the results, but not with the way we are playing at the moment. Our away form in the league is abysmal in 2019.

My prediction is that we will finish with a point tally in the low 70's and that won't be enough.

Our form in Europa has been better but mostly because of the lineups we have put out. I think Sarri has prioritized the league, and given more opportunities to other squad players in the Europa. This has led to much better performances in those games, although the weaker opposition should also be noted. Based on our fixtures in April this may continue when we play Slavia. However if we make the semi-finals I expect Sarri to play the usual suspects at which point we will probably flounder.

I don't have the least bit of confidence we can achieve either because I haven't seen anything from our manager that gives me any confidence we can set up to win a match.  Our current manager is most likely to persist playing Alonso, Willian, Pedro, Kovacic, and Barkley when we are quicker and more dangerous in attack with Emerson, RLC, & CHO.  

 

I guess we will have more of an idea in the next week. 2 home games in 4 days against Brighton and west ham, if we win both we will still be very much in the mix in the league. 

Any dropped points in the next 2 though and I think it will be game over.