In a months time…

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Out of boredom, I have sort of compared the next five matches the four teams competing for fourth place have in the next month or so.

Bear in mind that City and Villa have a game in hand on us, and might or might not still have it in a months time – scheduling changes do happen when the fixture list builds up.

Also, all these predictions are my opinion, and so things could happen in a very different matter. Injuries, suspensions, fatigue etc could all have an effect – especially as the FA Cup and the League Cup come in to play. We ourselves have a tie against Unirea Urziceni in between those ties.

Oh, and I haven’t taken into account Birmingham’s fixtures either – they could pull off some surprises as well.

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Liverpool: Currently have 37 pts.

26th Jan: Wolves A: should be a win.

30th Jan: Bolton H: Bolton could pull off a surprise, but given their ability to gift goals to the opposition, I’m going for a Liverpool win.

6th Feb: Everton H: Without wanting to underestimate our dear rivals, I’m going for a draw.

10th Feb: Arsenal A: Going to the Emirates and getting anything from there will be a result, but can’t see it with the way that lot are playing at the moment. Loss.

21st Feb: Manchester City A: Big match. Bigger than the Arsenal game probably. Really need to win, but under Mancini they aren’t as generous as they used to be. Draw?

Probable points total at the end: 45 pts.

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Manchester City: Currently have 38 pts.

31st Jan: Portsmouth H: City win.

6th Feb: Hull A: City win again.

9th Feb: Bolton H: Hopefully Coyle could do us a favour, but going to have to go for a City win.

16th Feb: Stoke A: Tricky side to beat Stoke (as we well know). City players will have to be up for it, but seeing as it is at the Britannia, going for a draw.

21st Feb: Liverpool H: Draw

Probable points total at the end: 49 pts.

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Tottenham Hotspur: Currently have 38 pts.

26th Jan: Fulham H – Hodgson has got Fulham playing a way that could rival the best on their day. They have it in them to beat Spurs like they did us. Its at the Lane though, so Spurs win.

30th Jan: Birmingham A: McLiesh has got Birmingham playing above themselves. I can’t see it lasting, but they could cause an upset against Spurs. Still reckon Redknapp will see them off though. Win.

6th Feb: Aston Villa H: Big match for Spurs. The draw will be the most likely option.

10th Feb: Wolves A: Should be a win.

21st Feb: Wigan A: Another win.

Points at the end: 51 pts.

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Aston Villa: Currently have 36 pts.

27th Jan: Arsenal H: Arsenal win.

30th Jan: Fulham A: Tight, but I think Villa will win.

6th Feb: Spurs A: Draw.

10th Feb: Manchester United H: Hopefully that lot at Old Trafford can do us a favour and do Aston Villa. Don’t bet on it though, but it should be an United win.

21st Feb: Burnley H: Villa win.

Points at the end: 43 pts.

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It seems, by my amateur predictions, we will be behind City and Spurs in the table. That is taking into account how we have been playing, but if we play like we did against Spurs, a win against Everton is not out of the cards, and maybe dare I say it, something from the Emirates. Either way, the next month is vital as at the moment we are relatively confident following that Spurs win. If we don’t continue that momentum at least up until the Merseyside Derby, we could/should be back where we were before the Spurs match by then, as the teams around us have a better chance of getting 4th place given their fixture list, and in the cases of City and Villa, games in hand. Obviously even if we are playing catch-up in a month, we can still finish 4th, but this is going into the business end of the season, and now is the time to come good.

In the next five games, Fulham play both Spurs and Villa, so they could do us some favours there. Arsenal play us and Villa as well, so those two teams could have a big say in how the battle for 4th place pans out. Also Villa and Spurs play each other, whilst we have to play City. If we beat City, given the other side’s fixtures, I reckon we will either need Villa and Spurs to draw, or Villa to beat Spurs. A Spurs win would not be in our best interest (neither would a Villa win, but moreover Spurs).

So at the end of all guessing, it seems that things could be as vague as they are now in a months time. I’m sure Rafa will keep telling us (and his players) to not take any notice of how other teams get on, just try to win our games.

What do you think?

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11 Comments

  1. good read,
    just down to earth, i feel that your predictions are spot on, except the arsenal game for us.

    Dont think we’ll get 1 point there, a loss is on the cards for me.

    given our recent form, which is poor, we have to restrict our ambitions and hope for the best.

    YNWA, its hard to be an optimist at these dire times

  2. How can you say our form is poor, we are the form team in the league with 3 wins and a draw out of our last 4.

    Have faith lads, wins all the way from here :D

  3. 6th Jan: Wolves A: win
    30th Jan: Bolton H: win
    6th Feb: Everton H: win.
    10th Feb: Arsenal A: lose.
    21st Feb: Manchester City A: lose.

    Probable points total at the end: 46 pts.
    not too different..however i’m hoping we could pull a surprise vs Citeh

  4. I feel that essentially it is all so unpredictable. After losing to Reading and having a less than average game at Stoke, now one predicted the reaction of the Spurs game. I read Harry Rednapps comments and he conceded we were better hands down!
    I would not be surprised we could loose points againts the minnows and gain points against the giants!
    That’s the english game and that has been our pattern this year: unpredictable!

  5. Hmm..good read Maithri..accept your predictions but ..if you are correct (which i dont hope that even you dont want)..we will be 6 points shy of the top 4..will be a tall order there from..given the series of injuries and LUCK our team has had..
    We gotta beat Arsenal and City..Arsenal are known to have nervous breakdowns at this stages..(Remember DEC 2007 and May 2009..a world changed for the worse for them)..Hope to see some of it (but not against our top 4 rivals) ..

  6. I would like to think our chances depend on two “CITY’s”(besides our own effort’s)..Birmingham City and Man City..Hope Birmingham is able to do no more or less than a draw with all our rivals(we know they are capable to do so)..and more importantly..Man city find portsmouth as tough as we did…and keeps faltering…(even with the other City’s like we did last time..like Hull and Stoke City..Then may be by March we will be in a decent position to see ourselves through..(with some decent displays and a fit Squad of course!!..)

  7. 6th Jan: Wolves A: win
    30th Jan: Bolton H: win
    6th Feb: Everton H: win.
    10th Feb: Arsenal A: Win.
    21st Feb: Manchester City A: Draw.
    Points : 50

    I dont think we will play poor against big clubs. Do you remember we beat manchester united 2-0 after losing to sunderland?

  8. Going away to Arsenal midweek is never going to be easy, can’t remember the last time we went down there and won in the lights. Now I’ve said that it was probably only a coupld of years ago!

  9. The fact remains….to keep the top 4 berth by the end of next month..we gotta win all our games..and xpect help from birmingham,arsenal, fulham etc…But i belive if the players can really play with passion and commit to the cause..IT IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE..After all,the SPURS were beaten at home by wolves and they drew against hull, Man city drew against Hull and were beaten by Everton last day, Aston Villa drew west ham and so on..I belive a lot of the easy looking draws won’t be that easy both for us or our Rivals…but i hope that our lack of form gets buried in the past and we begin a GOLDEN RUN hereon..

  10. Yeah kaustav, I hope we do better than my predictions.

    But like you say, if we put on a run now, we could do ourselves a lot of good going up to the Everton and Arsenal matches.

    Not to forget that Spurs and City could under-/over- achieve in their respective matches so regardless of what I think will happen, anything can happen…

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