Assuming that the top three will be United, City and Chelsea, our main rivals for that all important fourth spot are Liverpool and Tottenham. In this thread: We compare the next few games for each club, and predict who'll be in that spot come however many games time I choose to compare. Unexpected bits: At the moment its safe to say 1-6 will be the six I've mentioned, but I guess we can throw Newcastle into the mix too. Can they maintain a top four challenge? Possibly. Remember Aston Villa in 08-09? Almost pipped us to fourth, they did. So why not? Also, Chelsea may falter back, but I think they've got a good group of players so let's just include them in the top 3 for now. The top four contenders please log in to view this image Next 5 premiership games with points predictions West Brom (Away) - 1 point Swansea (Home) - 3 Points Chelsea (Away) - No points Man City (Home) - 1 point Fulham (Away) - 3 points Some tough games there, but I feel that with no European games to contend with they can get 3 points in one of their away games. Kenny Dalglish would probably be happy with 8 points from these 5 games, as two are against 'Big 3' clubs. This would give them 23 points. please log in to view this image (And since this is posted before Tommorow's game, let's say Arsenal beat Stoke) Chelsea (Away) - No points West Brom (Home) - 3 points Norwich (Away) - 1 point Fulham (Home) - 3 points Wigan (Away) - 3 points Some good fixtures there for Arsenal. Don't expect anything at Chelsea, but the other four games are winnable, however I think Norwich could pose a threat as they've been performing pretty well this season (And as I type this the 1-1 draw with Liverpool is confirmed) 10 points, plus the three against stoke, would give them 13, putting them equal with Liverpool in my predictions, though I imagine Arsenal would be lower on goal difference. please log in to view this image (For argument's sake, they beat Blackburn) QPR (Home) - 3 points Fulham (Away) - 1 point Aston Villa (Home) - 1 point West Brom (Away) - 1 point Bolton (Home) - 3 points Adding to the three points they will earn tommorow with my prediction, that's a solid 9 points from those 5 games. With 12 points more than they currently have, Spurs will sit above our other two challengers with 25 points and a game in hand. But can they hold on? Stay tuned to find out... The underdog please log in to view this image Stoke (Away) - 1 point Everton (Home) - 3 points Man City (Away) - No points Man United (Away) - No points Chelsea (Home) - No points I see no reason as to why Newcastle can't challenge for the top four in similar style to what Everton and Villa have done in previous years. Still, I think their season will start to come unstuck when they play the 'Big 3' in 3 games. 4 points more than they have now would put them on 23, equal with Liverpool and Arsenal. Not bad.
I don't see why not. Everybody said that about Aston Villa and they challenged for the top four for a large part of the season. You have a quality group of players and I don't see why you can't. Take the Villa side of those years. They were good because they had a team of players such as Ashley Young, Stewart Downing and (in his prime) John Carew. I see players like that at Newcastle. Ben Arfa, Ba and Coloccini have really impressed me, and the sense of team spirit is very good. Even if you don't finish fourth, I would give you a good chance of being in the top 6.
