The run in

Hopefully they will also be knackered from chasing Citeh all over the park tomorrow. Maybe as knackered and injury hit as Burnley were a couple of weeks ago, resulting in another easy 3 points coming our way

 

Haha nonsense.

Just a convenient excuse to rest them against City so they are fresh for us. City will roll them over 5-0.

 

Unfortunately this seems to be the case.

 

Watch them be fit as a fiddle against us. Just so unfair that managers can make up injuries/knocks when they feel like it.

 

This would be fantastic, especially if Saint-Maximum is out, we can only live in hope

 

I just want to smash grealish’s stupid smug ****y face in.

just saying

 

It's going to be tight... There's still room for a couple of shock results.

My worry is Bournemouth might wake up a bit and West Ham will get more points than us from what's left...

 

Wet Spam will end up on more points than us, they have a much better run in

 

IMO Welbeck is beginning to look reasonably sharp, and his movement is so much better than Deeney's has been for quite some time, so maybe it's time to start Welbeck instead of Deeney. If we do that, touch wood I think he might score a few goals for us before the end of the season providing his fitness holds up. We looked so much better going forward once Welbeck came on, Massina also seemed to make a fair difference, but I'm not sure if Cleverly even touched the ball.

Above is an extract from #450 on this thread and the 1st of hopefully many goals was last night. Just imagine he might have got even more if he was playing up front instead of Deeney

 

We are now 10-3 to be relegated, Wham 8-1, Villa 1-6 and Muff 1-16 - seems very generous to us as Villa don't have a bad run in after Man U tomorrow - games against teams with nothing much to play for (including Arsenal by the time they play them). Muff have apparently been written off by the bookies, if not by us.

 

I think those odds are fair and reflective of the situation as we stand today. However, it will radically change if Villa or Bournemouth unexpectedly win their match on Thursday.

 

What result do we want in the Burnley vs West Ham game this eve?

I just can't envisage a scenario in which we finish above West Ham even if we beat them, given that they also still have Norwich to play after Burnley. Therefore, if West Ham pick up a win today then they could be on the beach already by the time they play us.

 

If City's CL ban is upheld then 7th will probably still get a Europa League place, and there's a decent chance that spot will go to the wire between Arse and Spurs.

 

It won't be upheld

 

It’s normally 1st-4th CL, 5th + cup winners EL. If one or both cup winners are placed 1st-5th then 6th and/or 7th get EL. With City’s ban, 8th place will most likely be enough to make Europe next season.

 

Burnley 100% the more teams we can keep in the relegation battle the better.

West Ham are not as good as everyone keeps saying they are. There’s a reason their down the bottom. A loss tonight puts them right back in the mix which is a good thing. Lots of pressure on them then going into the game against Norwich. A game I can see Norwich winning, with no pressure on them, relegation already confirmed (basically), and all the pressure on West Ham to get a result.

I want it to go to the last game between Villa and West Ham, where a draw does no favours and a winner is needed. Then we’re safe.

 

For us to overtake West Ham we'll probably need them to fail to beat Norwich and then for us to beat them - how likely are those two scenarios really?

 

Its West Ham so it’s very likely. The pressure they have on them the better. We’re level on points with them right now. A loss tonight keeps them there, plus damages their GD which is only 4 better than ours at the moment. A shock defeat against Norwich wouldn’t surprise me one bit.

 

More likely than most of us think, I reckon. It's certainly a long way from impossible.

 

Probably not fair to label it a "shock defeat", then!

 

Well let's see how they do tonight anyway, but they've been been playing pretty well in their last couple of games I thought.

 

Liverpool were playing alright when we spanked them.

Ultimately, football matches feature two teams and are generally low scoring affairs. I think it's pretty rare to have a scenario where one team has e.g. a 99.9% chance of winning. That's one of the reasons I (and probably most of us) like football: the underdog always has a chance of sneaking a 1-0 (or 3-0 in our case), or a red card can change the game, or the opposition strikers could miss everything...

While I think West Ham are more likely to win than Norwich, for example, I don't think Norwich's chances of winning are comparatively all that low, and I don't think our chances of beating Spam are that bad either.

 

This has been gone over a number of times on here already - they really weren't.

 

I don't think West Ham will go down, they're not great but have more about them than Villa and Bournemouth anyway, we have to hope they have something to play for on the final day, and that they can't just play for a draw to relegate us

 

That's your opinion, one that not everyone shares.

But regardless of where someone wants to sink that particular pin, they were playing far better than we were. That is really all that matters here.

 

I really don't understand this from Moyes. His team had 2 months off

 

ASM not in their squad tonight and Almiron on the bench.

 

Resting them for their big match on Saturday.

 

If West Ham get a Scum vs Reading result tonight (and the difference between them and Burnley is pretty similar to the other two) we will go above them without kicking a ball.

Not going to happen of course, but a defeat is far from beyond the realms of possibility and I'm certainly not ruling them out of the relegation mix as many others seem to be doing, and the more teams are involved, the better for us. We may rue last night as a missed opportunity to really improve our goal difference...

 

Without question. Bruce made six changes for tonight

 

Ich bin ein Burnleyer

 

Based on points earned by opposition still to play:

• West Ham (137) - have the easiest run-in then
• Aston Villa (168) - could be a threat if manage a couple of wins
• Watford (193) - vital we get at least another win and maybe a draw
• Norwich (209) - are gone
• Bournemouth (217) - have the hardest run-in but were unlucky in their last game and I can see them getting at least 1 win.

 

It's interesting but sometimes normal goes out of the window at the end of the season.

I remember Oldham winning their last 3 games in 92/93 to stay up. Eight point gap closed in a week.

 

Looking at the form league since the return, with the exception of Crystal Palace, only the bottom 5 teams are earning less than a point a game. All teams are still playing hard for points so I don't see that any of the games for the bottom 5 are simple. However what it does seem to suggest is that if we can earn 3 or 4 points from our four matches we are likely to be safe.