12th is where it’s at. The new elite. The ultimate mid-table flex. It’s the footballing equivalent of being fashionably late to every party but still somehow getting tagged in the group photo.

Let’s be honest — what is top 4, really? Champions League? Overrated. You get knocked out in the quarters by Bayern and cry into your overpriced third kit. But 12th? That’s freedom. That’s no Thursday nights in Moldova. No injuries from midweek clashes with Galatasaray. Just pure, uninterrupted weekend football and the occasional FA Cup run to give us hope before reality slaps us like a Reece James hamstring update.

And think of the consistency! 12th this season. 12th next season... That’s stability. People say we’re underachieving. I say we’re redefining success. The big six? Nah. We’re the bold twelve. Trailblazers. Pioneers. Visionaries in blue who don’t need European nights to validate our existence — we have Caicedos engine, Palmer’s penalties, and Cucurella’s hair.

So as the others claw at each other for fourth place, let them. We’ll be chilling in 12th, sipping overpriced Stamford Bridge lattes, nodding knowingly. Because we know the truth...

We should also remember that 12 is a holy number in our religion:

Title updated, so are we able to hold off the likes of Fulham and Bournemouth?

Thanks @Mod

When is it going to be changed again into Relegation Battle 🙄?

1 hour ago, Valerie said:

When is it going to be changed again into Relegation Battle 🙄?

With Big Enz holding the reigns while under the leash of our incompetent sporting directors and arrogant owners? Probably next season.

1 hour ago, Valerie said:

When is it going to be changed again into Relegation Battle 🙄?

Maybe it is arrogance, maybe blind faith, maybe denial....but I dont see a time when we will be in a genuine relegation battle. At least not in the short term.... There is too much on the line for the money men to allow that to happen.

9 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

Maybe it is arrogance, maybe blind faith, maybe denial....but I dont see a time when we will be in a genuine relegation battle. At least not in the short term.... There is too much on the line for the money men to allow that to happen.

Keep hope alive!

I think 10th should be doable.

6 minutes ago, Scott said:

I think 10th should be doable.

for who?

Just now, nonotnowjim said:

for who?

Brighton

6 minutes ago, Valerie said:

Brighton

The real Brighton? Or Brighton Lite at SW6?

3 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

The real Brighton? Or Brighton Lite at SW6?

That depends. Do Brighton have another useless keeper for us?

On 16/04/2025 at 09:41, nonotnowjim said:

12th is where it’s at. The new elite. The ultimate mid-table flex. It’s the footballing equivalent of being fashionably late to every party but still somehow getting tagged in the group photo.

Let’s be honest — what is top 4, really? Champions League? Overrated. You get knocked out in the quarters by Bayern and cry into your overpriced third kit. But 12th? That’s freedom. That’s no Thursday nights in Moldova. No injuries from midweek clashes with Galatasaray. Just pure, uninterrupted weekend football and the occasional FA Cup run to give us hope before reality slaps us like a Reece James hamstring update.

And think of the consistency! 12th this season. 12th next season... That’s stability. People say we’re underachieving. I say we’re redefining success. The big six? Nah. We’re the bold twelve. Trailblazers. Pioneers. Visionaries in blue who don’t need European nights to validate our existence — we have Caicedos engine, Palmer’s penalties, and Cucurella’s hair.

So as the others claw at each other for fourth place, let them. We’ll be chilling in 12th, sipping overpriced Stamford Bridge lattes, nodding knowingly. Because we know the truth...

Somehow finishing above 12th now has me excited! We could stretch ourselves and get a nosebleed in 8th to 10th place!

4 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

for who?

Chelsea - that's who we re talking about correct?

There’s a very real possibility we finish 12th & Spurs come 16th yet are playing Champions League football next year.

7 hours ago, The Boehly Babes said:

There’s a very real possibility we finish 12th & Spurs come 16th yet are playing Champions League football next year.

Spurs could definitely finish 16th and make the Champs League now. They have what looks like a favorable draw in the Europa Semi so they will likely make the final. Then again it is Spurs so perhaps they will go out to Bodo Glimt ;).

Even that it is mathematically possible for us to finish 12th, I highly doubt we will finish lower than 10th now as I don't see the teams in 11th/12th picking up enough points. We really ought to finish top 7 given there is a 6 point gap to 8th, but given our form 10th is very possible.

So how many points are we going to need to get Top 5 and qualify for next year's CL ?

Would 66 points be enough ? Maybe 67/68 to be sure ?

3 wins minimum from remaining 5 games ...

45 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

So how many points are we going to need to get Top 5 and qualify for next year's CL ?

Would 66 points be enough ? Maybe 67/68 to be sure ?

3 wins minimum from remaining 5 games ...

It's hard to determine. 66 wasn't enough last season. 3 wins may depend upon who those wins are against.

Not even sure who I want to win out of City and Villa.

I did my own predictions for the upcoming fixtures between Forest, Newcastle, Chelsea, City and Villa. We don't make top 5. We needed to get 6 pts from Ipswich to have had the chance.

I currently predicted that we realistically end the season on 62 pts. I see us losing the Newcastle and Forest games. Getting a point from Utd and Liverpool, and winning the everton game.

In no particular order I had the following end of season pts total:

Chelsea = 62 pts

City = 67 pts

Villa = 66 pts

Forest = 71 pts

Newcastle = 70 pts

I was even being generous to us. Honestly, we might not even beat Everton. I would fully hope and expect us to beat them, but this team without an in form Palmer and Jackson is struggling hard.

Edited April 22, 20251 yr by Sunspear_88

On 21/04/2025 at 05:43, Sexyfootball said:

So how many points are we going to need to get Top 5 and qualify for next year's CL ?

Would 66 points be enough ? Maybe 67/68 to be sure ?

3 wins minimum from remaining 5 games ...

Before the weekend fixtures, Opta estimated 68 would be needed. Hard to be sure but I would say anything less than 66 won't be enough. The games against Newcastle and Forest will be critical as they are rivals for top 5. I'd say we cannot afford to lose either of those games.

On 21/04/2025 at 04:43, Sexyfootball said:

So how many points are we going to need to get Top 5 and qualify for next year's CL ?

Would 66 points be enough ? Maybe 67/68 to be sure ?

3 wins minimum from remaining 5 games ...

To give us the chance in our own hands, imo we would need to go in to the last game at Forest with a minimum of a draw at Newcastle plus 2 wins and a draw from Everton, Liverpool and United at home.

Possibly 3 home was with a loss at Newcastle might also give us a chance, depending on if we are fighting Newcastle for a spot or not.

That's a pipe dream though, I don't see any wins coming from Pool, Newcastle or united.

Think we beat Everton, UTD and Forest - and lose the rest.

Unfortunately for us the two strongest teams (Newcastle and City) have by far the easiest run-in and will likely finish 3rd and 4th. It's realistically between Forest, Villa and us for 5th, and both Forest and Villa have a much easier run too.

However, it would absolutely be peak current Chelsea if we win the next 5 games to secure 5th, the board keeps Maresca as a result, and we can't play in the CL anyway because Strasbourg finished higher.

I struggle to see how we even beat Everton. We can’t win against any decent teams. It’s only rubbish teams that we can beat.

1 hour ago, SydneyChelsea said:

1 hour ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Unfortunately for us the two strongest teams (Newcastle and City) have by far the easiest run-in and will likely finish 3rd and 4th. It's realistically between Forest, Villa and us for 5th, and both Forest and Villa have a much easier run too.

However, it would absolutely be peak current Chelsea if we win the next 5 games to secure 5th, the board keeps Maresca as a result, and we can't play in the CL anyway because Strasbourg finished higher.