I think we'll finish behind City and we may well finish behind Forest as well. 5th is fine though, I think we'd all snap someones arm off for that right now. Chelsea have got the hardest run in of the group though - by some margin Fulham (A), Forest (A), Newcastle (A), Liverpool, Man Utd, Everton. Their next game is the only nice one (Ipswich at home). Given we have a game in hand whilst being on the same points we really should be finishing above them. Villa look good and are coming into form at the right time but we have 2 games in hand over them and they have Europe and the FA Cup to contend with. I'd say they have a harder run in than us too, though it's debateable (they have to go away to Bournemouth, Man Utd and Man City). Teams below Villa are irrelevant to us regarding Champions league now. It's not that it's impossible for Fulham, Brighton, etc to finish above us but that if they do we'll have dropped so many points we're finishing below 7th anyhoo. Their games are kind of irrelevant to me now.
I like the fact that we have a league in which a team who could finish second (Forest) could easily deserve to lose at home to a team who were fighting relegation for half the season. I suspect by the end of the game Everton fans will be looking at it and thinking that if Forest can compete for top 4 then why can't they. Aside from 2-3 teams it's a really open competitive top 17 - that's great. All the teams competing 3//4/5th spots are going to drop points unexpectedly, us included.
I agree to be honest. Trying to make up the chasm of a 1 point gap with only 2 games in hand and a +13 goal difference really puts them in the box seat. It's ok though, I've checked and it's mathematically certain we cannot get relegated from here. Close one.
No reason why we can't do both. But I agree, the cup was the breakthrough we all desperately wanted. Qualifying for CL would be a very nice bonus, but nowhere near as big as the cup win.
