Villa v Wigan...suppose we want the usual draw or a Wigan loss. Something at Stoke essential for us in short term thinking. Want us to stay out of bottom three now...I've got used to it
On the other hand, if we win it would be nice to put 4 points between us and Wigan. Choices, choices!
Hey Lambo how's it going? Bad defeat for QPR yesterday. I can feel that particular bet slipping from my grasp unless they buy big in January! A tenner each to charity is what I'm predicting. Good result for you yesterday although sounds like you could have won it second half? 2 from 4 to join Reading now I think.
QPR's hopes now rest entirely on two sides other than Reading failing to gain decent point totals.Assuming that those sides make a point a game QPR now need 28 points from 19 games.That is top six form.
Morning Trix! Yes good result but we need something from Stoke on Saturday. Yes I think Arry has bitten off more than he can chew!
Very tough place to go. Your January/February fixtures don't look much fun either. I assume you are still as positive as ever? It may not seem like it with all my dicking around, but I hope you make it. Reading, Wigan and either Villa/QPR would be my preference for the drop. Despite our bet, I will take a great deal of satisfaction if QPR do drop. To think Tony Fernandes was close to taking over at West Ham and the ongoing feud between him and David Gold - it would be amusing to say the least.
QPR are beginning to look doomed, and Reading have surely now accepted their fate. The third ticket for the trapdoor would appear to be between us, Wigan and Villa, but anyone from West Ham down could get sucked into it. Fulham in particular are starting to wobble.
The decider will be the team that gets draws but not enough wins. We have to make sure we get those three points when we can. We have sorted out the defence at the cost of some of our attacking flair...correct choice as we had to stop losing...now we have to push onto the next stage and weather the tough matches coming up in the New Year.
Yeah Fulham are looking very poor but realistically it's villa and below IMO. I think it will be a low total needed this year. As few as 36 even. Difficult to imagine Newcastle, Fulham, Sunderland, West Ham etc not picking up 4-5 more wins each plus a handful of draws.
Not sure Sunderland are out of the woods yet despite their last few results. Basically all they do is defend in depth and hope that Fletcher scores, or they pick up a freaky goal like yesterday. It's worked 3 times on the trot, but it's not much of a tactic.
In the past, teams have pulled themselves out of bad positions to achieve safety (was often us), so in theory a lot of teams could be pulled back into it. Wigan have saved themselves in 2 seasons when they were 3rd bottom at Xmas. A couple of wins make all the difference as Sunderland have shown, but the season isn't decided at Xmas. I'm glad of a draw yesterday, but we need to get more wins as those below us won't always let us off the hook.
I'd settle for one point at Stoke though. I just hope we don't end up regretting the points we dropped at home to Swansea and Norwich. We worked so hard to get in front in both those games, then couldn't close them out.
I'm not fussed at failing to beat Norwich. If anything, I was thankful to come away with a point because they were better than us in the second half. It's the two points dropped against Swansea and one point against Man Utd that I look back on with regret (yes we almost got all three points against Utd, but there were always going to score a late goal - it's just annoying that they got two). We should have had those three extra points IMO.
I think Wigan are the Southampton of the 2010's: they have used all their lives up in the last few seasons and this year they are going down, probably with Reading and QPR. For that reason I think I'd prefer a Villa win this weekend, along with a nice point for us at Stoke, followed by another one at home to Arsenal.
I refuse to believe that QPR are even the slightest bit doomed right now. I really, really worry about what they could do in transfer window next month. A quiet window for them, coupled with a string of defeats in these five upcoming games I have mentioned, and I'll be feeling a whole lot happier. I've said all season that QPR will survive. I still partly believe it. For them and ourselves, the transfer window is huge I believe. More so than for our relegation rivals.
I agree. It is far from over for them but I am nowhere near as sure about their survival as I was. 0 points from Newcastle and WBA is a massive setback for them considering they were probably targeting 4 from those two. If they buy quick, and buy well, they have a chance. Got a feeling they will beat Liverpool and be right back in it.
I'm not expecting any wins for us, though, during the same period, against a Stoke team with the longest unbeaten record in the Premiership (nine successive games - outright too, not sharing that record with any other teams) and Arsenal at home, where we have failed to beat anyone but Villa, Newcastle, and Reading (ie. teams directly around us). So that would put/keep us in the mire too, it would seem. Hope Villa's run of confidence-shattering losses continues before they play us, and that they continue to ship goals like they're going out of fashion.
I'm mainly afraid of our apparent lack of ideas when we go a goal down, and we don't - like any team, I suppose - take our chances in front of goal. That is key for a team in our position, who are going to get relatively fewer chances per 90 minutes.
