Let's not carried away on the Fat Sam clichés and legacy, they're basically a championship side, and before that very dodgy win at the weekend, their record was 3 points from 7 games - hardly the stuff great escapes are made from. It all seems too little too late and the squad is too low on quality to survive. Factor in Fulham's mega tough March fixtures, and we have a decent chance.
Fulham are on a good run right now, but a bad March could derail that. Problem is they are draw Kings, and have only won 4 games all season, which is likely to be their downfall.
You fancy them getting something against Everton on Thursday too mate? The same Everton that we beat twice and lost to Fulham. Yea I can see why you would think that.
The fact is West brom and Fulham are now stronger sides than nufc without Wilson max almiron we've lost that edge. Ok there's a points advantage on Fulham but the 3 points is only worth a Fulham draw. 1 Fulham win is enough to put us bottom 3... West brom could be right up our arse with a win vs us on Sunday.
Don't forget we also have a relegation specialist managing us who is looking to avoid an unwanted hat trick. With our injury situation and the fact one of our rivals is being managed by a **** who has never been relegated from the big league. I think that's more than enough food for thought on our current plight.
7 points from our next 3 games is an absolute must looking at our remaining fixtures :- We'll be doing well to pick up more than 2 points in April and I really don't wanna be going into the Sheff Utd and Fulham games needing the points.
Next 5 games are defining. 6 points would be huge from them although I have a suspicion we could take 7-9. (+6 = 32 points) Fulham 5 games - Spurs, Liverpool, City, Leeds, Villa = 2/3 points (+3 = 26 points) 1 point in the next set of 5 (would leave us with 33 points) Wolves, Arsenal, Chelsea, Burnley, Southampton say 4/5 points for them (+ 5 = 31 points) Comes down to Fulham vs Man U and Us vs Sheffield and then the head to head fixture but I think we will be 4/5 points ahead of them by the final day. Been generous to Fulham and harsh on us but the next 5 are vital - need the big boys to drag themselves into Europe vs Fulham and win/not lose to those around us. Spurs Liverpool, Chelsea Villa all looking for European spots so won't roll over for Fulham and the quality in those teams mean it will be tough for Fulham. If they go 5 on the spin without a win/losses in a row that could be enough psychologically to end the debate.
Those injury statistics are interesting. It shows that Fulham have been relatively unscathed and a settled team has helped them build momentum over the course of the season. Of course it doesn't show the quality of the players lost to injury/plague. We now have our three best (indisputably?) outfield players out for a period of weeks at probably the most important time of the season. Factor in the fact we lost our captain and St.Max for lengthy periods earlier in the season and we've had quite a burden to bear. If (instead of our best players) Krafth, DozyJoe and Hendrick had been out for season-long injuries we'd probably have done better this season yet had similar injury stats.
And wow, just saw Soton's recent form, 1 point from the last 27 available, and that includes losing to us FFS. Surprised no one's mentioning them.
