Best of the Rest

I can now see why some fans get wound up with the media love in for us since we came up....Wolves are this seasons golden boys. [ Even with many AFCB fans who were wetting themselves over them at one time! ].

Obviously they have some great players and have done very well against most of the top six. But they have also been just as capable of playing poorly and dropping points against lower sides, hence why there is only six points between us despite our horrific run the last couple of months.

They are pretty much like us...and to be honest, the other teams mentioned here - all capable of getting a result against anyone else or capable of having a 'mare. Its why we are all around the middle of the table.

I haven't looked at fixtures for everyone but as it stands, I can't see us finishing 7th sadly. But with that slightly more straightforward end to the season for us, I would love us to be beating our record points tally and finish top ten. Think that is achievable, when you think of Callum and Brooks to come back in a couple of weeks hopefully and then Solanke and Mepham up to full match fitness.
 
Think we’ll hit a good stride for the run in .Would be really nice to get a bit more of a points tally against the top six ,we really should if we’re trying for 7th .
Personally I’ll be satisfied with a top ten finish .We’re never going to break into the top six even if we’re here for another ten seasons .
 
Monmouthred said:
Wilson and Brooks back for that run in.

We also haven't (I think) lost at home to a non top 6 side since Burnley in Dec 17. I would expect us to get the majority of the points available in Newcastle, Burnley and Fulham games.

The defining moments will be can we repeat our Watford and Fulham away games in those last five away games to pick up 8+ points?

Or will we see Burnley, Newcastle and Cardiff type performances?
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Our defence is rather good at stopping head-on attacks. However, when the opposition gets behind the back four we are in trouble. Although it was a while back now, my memory tells me that this is the major reason why we let in four at Burnley.
 
Neil Dawson said:
I also think Eddie has to develop a more fluid system which I’m hoping with a midfield of Lerma, Cook and Brooks he will. King, Wilson and Fraser ahead of them. Now that’s a top eight team if you chuck in a top class right back.
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Lewis Cook creates a good oppertunity for the opposition most games as well, but gets a pass unlike the others for some reason.
 
I think errors come from pressure - pressure from playing quality opponents and also the pressure from playing at optimum level every game.

One option is to pack a defence like Burnley which is not fun to watch or just accept this will happen (esp against the top sides) and gradually improve the team each season we are in the prem. I can put up with the occasional lapse from the likes of Steve cook given his fantastic will to win and regular strong performances.
 
If we can get healthy, the final 9 games could be a very good litmus test. Just about all of those teams may still be playing for something, and will be doing whatever they can to nick points (with the exception of Hudders which we play at the beginning of the 9 game run, and possibly Fulham by mid-April). I see it different from 2 years ago when we ran into 9th position, but some of the teams near the end (Stoke, Burnley) had pretty much packed it in after guaranteed safety.
In fact, I hope for the following:
1) a win over Wolves and then
2) a really competitive run of 9 games so that we can measure what we are.
Can't wait (and by then, hopefully this fricken foul winter will be over!).
 
So far we have only drawn 3 games, normally we draw about 10 per season. with only 12 games left does that mean we are going to draw 7 of them ?
 
Toronto John said:
If we can get healthy, the final 9 games could be a very good litmus test. Just about all of those teams may still be playing for something, and will be doing whatever they can to nick points (with the exception of Hudders which we play at the beginning of the 9 game run, and possibly Fulham by mid-April). I see it different from 2 years ago when we ran into 9th position, but some of the teams near the end (Stoke, Burnley) had pretty much packed it in after guaranteed safety.
In fact, I hope for the following:
1) a win over Wolves and then
2) a really competitive run of 9 games so that we can measure what we are.
Can't wait (and by then, hopefully this fricken foul winter will be over!).
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I agree.

An "easy" run-in is not necessarily a run of games against the lesser teams. A lot of them will be desperate for points to avoid relegation and would probably view the game against us as a great opportunity ( and be fired up for it ! ). In a way we'd be better off playing the top six at the end of the season, when most of them are already on the beach and have nothing much left to play for. At least this time we have Spurs to come and we might catch them on a day when they are feeling a bit casual - with hopefully a top four spot secured and not much else to aim for.

I think a truly good run-in is a mix of mid to lower order teams and a couple of the top six who have nothing much left to play for. We're not too far off that with our fixture list to be fair, so if we can get our important players fit and our non-firing players firing again, I truly believe we can finish the season strongly.

Beating Wolves would be a massive help to us, both points-wise and for motivational purposes. If we could win that game it would give the boys the incentive to kick on and keep fighting for that tantalisingly close seventh spot until the end of the season ! If we can stay in the hunt, we still have plenty to play for.

:utc:
 
NWCherries98 said:
I agree with most of your post, but Fraser gave the ball away more in that game than Ibe did, and had a largely terrible game IMO.

With Cook, hopefully the arrival of Mepham will help him improve regarding these brain fart moments, but honestly I doubt it. Like you say though, he offers more than enough overall to make up for it.
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A couple of Brentford supporters I know reckon that Mepham is comfortable on the ball but makes the odd rickett. Sounds familiar .
 
Doubt we will finish in 8th..

Got Liverpool, Man C/U and Chelsea so won't get much more on the road - and a pumped up Cardiff next .

Good run of home games potentially but then we've not really been that great at home .

Wolves seem to think 7th is theirs to lose ...but I agree against the lesser sides they seem to dip in form .

West Ham and Leicester are so hit and miss in that they fluctuate a lot !

I agree you hus have the most dangerous attack when fully fit with King, Wilson and Fraser .

Away form seems to be letting you guys down .
 
So this weekend has a couple of interesting games for the "best of the rest"...

Cardiff City vs Watford
West Ham United vs Fulham
AFC Bournemouth vs Wolves
Leicester City vs Crystal Palace
*no game for Everton

A win against Wolves puts us just 3 points behind them, and with Watford and West Ham having fairly easy games, they could be knocked off of 7th by Watford. Just shows that they genuinely haven't even secured Top 10 at the moment, let alone a place in the Top 7. Anything can happen. Or, of course, they could go 9 points clear of us. This could be a season defining game for us; with the long gap since the last one and the reasonable "stakes", I'm actually particularly excited for this game :utc:.

And then Palace have a chance to bridge the gap between the two mini leagues to just 2 points by beating Leicester. Would this put Puel under even more scrutiny? Could Silva's job be under pressure now as well; Everton have not had a good season at all, can't imagine they'd be happy to finish outside the Top 10, given the money they've spent and the bad press they got in bringing Silva in?

F***ing love football.
 
Any result against Wolves will be a big boost for the team before a couple of big six games. then we will shoot up the league again.
 
Team GP W D L GF GA GD Points

5. Man United 27 15 7 5 52 35 17 52
6. Chelsea 26 15 5 6 45 29 16 50
-----------------------------------------------------------------
7. Watford 27 10 7 9 39 35 4 40
8. Wolves 27 11 6 9 34 33 1 40
9. West Ham 27 10 6 11 35 40 -5 36
10. AFCB 27 10 4 13 38 48 -10 34
11. Everton 27 9 6 12 36 39 -3 33
12. Leicester 27 9 5 13 32 38 -6 32

Cardiff City 1-5 Watford
AFCB 1-1 Wolves
West Ham 3-1 Fulham
Leicester City 1-4 Crystal Palace

Draw with Wolves lifts us back up into the top half, and helps to keep them in relative touching distance. A win would obviously have been more ideal but it wasn't meant to be.

Great week for Watford, who reach the 40 point mark and leapfrog Wolves into 7th. Don't fancy our chances if it comes down to GD somehow. :grinning:

West Ham get a comfortable win against Fulham to improve their GD a bit, while Leicester have allowed Palace to close the gap to just 2 point between them.

With the next round of fixtures, its entirely possible that we'll drop down to 13th and be effectively out of this "mini League" for 7th- temporarily at least. I think Arsenal are definitely beatable, but you can't go into that game expecting a win, and then we have City after that. We'll have to keep the faith for a little bit and trust the team to deliver once the easier games come around.

EDIT. The formatting on this site is fucking atrocious.
 
I didn't think that West Ham comfortably beat Fulham to be fair, it took that handball goal to change the game.

Other than that....I think you are right, we have to look beyond the next two games when it comes to a final target. If we can finish fairly strongly, we won't be far away but I still say top ten would be a good season.
 
Thanks for the update ... good fun.

13th would require some math gymnastics and a rather big upset. Palace play Man United and then Burnley. Burnley also play Newcastle. So maybe Burnley gets 4-6 points out of that.... big maybe. Or Palace beats ManU? Possible of course, but against the odds.

Also, Watford away to Liverpool, then home to Leicester. Leicester also home to Brighton, with a new manager.

Everton in Cardiff then home to Liverpool in their derby.

Anything can happen, of course, but I suspect we will be well in the "mini-league" after March 2, then 7 straight games against teams currently below us, where we will need to be on form and healthy. I said a while ago that if we can reach 35 points before Huddersfield, a 50-point season is available. Will stand by that.
 
Killing a little time on a Sunday, feeling a bit sorry for myself that both Watford and Wolves have stretched the race for 7th to 9 points. Thought I would do some schedule browsing ........

Only thinking of teams ahead of us, 7-11. If we are getting overtaken by those behind us, given our fixtures list, we are headed for lower mid-table. So ....

Wolves - 2 against the bottom 4, 4 against the top 6 and 1 6-pointer with Watford.

Watford - 3 against the bottom 4, 4 against the top 6, and 2 6-pointers with Wolves and Hammers.

West Ham - 3 against the bottom 4, 3 against the top 6 and 3 6-pointers with Everton, LCFC and Watford.

Everton (after today against Liverpool) - 1 against bottom 4, 4 against the top 6, 1 6-pointer with Hammers.

LCFC - 2 against bottom 4, 3 against top 6 (final three weeks) and 2 6-pointers with Hammers and AFCB.

Us (as we all know) 3 against bottom 4, 1 against top 6, 1 six pointer LCFC.

We have endured a couple of months of pain, but this lifted my spirits. No game in the PL is easy, we have to avoid injuries, got to get back on form ..... yada, yada. But it is still there in front of us.
:utc:
 
Good post John; favourites for 7th considering the fixtures are probably Watford, unfortunately. They do love an end of season meltdown though.

We have a lot of opportunities to gain points over the teams ahead; we just need to make our results count first.
 
Yeah, I do love a good statto post. Everyone will have their opportunity, Watford will have it tough with ManC, ManU, Chelsea and Arsenal. And the two six-pointers. Wolves play Chelsea, Arsenal, Burnley and ManU in their next 4 outings.

Obviously, we just need to mind our own business and see how the next few weeks shake out. Should be fun. Thanks for starting the Best of the Rest idea.
 
Next round of fixtures, assuming the logical winners for each game prevail, will probably see us staying where we are in the table.

Saturday
Crystal Palace vs Brighton & Hove Albion
Cardiff City vs West Ham United
Huddersfield Town vs AFC Bournemouth
Leicester City vs Fulham
Newcastle United vs Everton
Manchester City vs Watford

Sunday
Chelsea vs Wolves

Palace and Newcastle could both go ahead of us if we lose this game, which would see us down to a season low position of 14th (the fact that we haven't dipped below 12th yet is quite remarkable, and a testament to our early season form). However, a win puts us just 6 points behind Watford/Wolves; who are likely to lose their games (as long as Chelsea turn up, of course) and well back into contention for 7th. They both look far ahead atm, but it only takes a two game swing of results for us to be right up there again.

West Ham and Leicester will likely stay ahead of us, with easy games on paper. Though tbh, I wouldn't be surprised if we all lost our games to the bottom 3 :grinning:. A Newcastle win wouldn't be bad at all, as long as we win our game. Don't want Everton getting too far ahead of us.

I know there are "no easy games in the league", but if we don't beat Huddersfield tomorrow then I will be very disappointed; especially considering they're in the middle of an injury crisis.
 
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