So with 10 games to go (Palace & WBA have 11) and still 11 teams in the mix for relegation, who do we all think is going down? West Ham - 31 Aston Villa - 31 Hull City - 30 Stoke City - 30 Swansea City - 29 Norwich City - 28 Crystal Palace - 27 West Brom - 25 Sunderland - 24 Cardiff - 22 Fulham - 21 For me Cardiff & Fulham are definite goners and I got a feeling that Norwich will join them.
Sunderlands reaction to the LC involvement is key, how many times have we seen cup hangover, 2/3 bad results and they'd be in trouble...those next 3 games are against C.Pal at home, then 2 away games at Norwich then Liverpool. I'd wait till after those two 6 pointers are out the way.
I know you should use this phrase but i see all the teams Swansea and up as being too good to go down. Obviously my first choice would be West Ham, being a resident of Upton Park, but i can't see it happening. Sunderland have some decent players and i think Poyet has a good spirit in the team/squad. Norwich will get the results needed i think. Hughton is decent and they have firepower up front if they hit a bit of form. Pulis has turned Palace round and will keep them up by hook or crook. West Brom on the other hand sacked a good manager and replaced him with someone that is gonna need some serious bedding-in time. Bye bye West Brom (to go with Fulham and Cardiff)
Fulham & Cardiff. The one other could be anyone - you could make out a case for any of the bottom half but Norwich don't score enough and are poor away. Their final four fixtures are unlikely to earn them more than 1 or 2 points at best so they need a minimum of 8 from the next 6 games. If they don't manage it, they're going down. If they do WBA are in a bit of turmoil and Sunderland rely too much on an ageing defence. Either could struggle to get to the 38 points they'll need. EDIT: Sunderland play Palace, West Ham, Cardiff & Swansea at home which could be crucial for them (although they have Spurs, Chelsea, Utd and City away & Everton at home too)
Cardiff are going down, and it's pretty much all Vincent Tan's fault: they were doing fine until he started looking for excuses to sack Malky McKay, and his meddling killed their form overnight. Fulham have been a train wreck all season, now on their third manager of the season and they've looked demoralised since October (which was two managers ago!) For the final spot, I can see Norwich having a bad run that sees them get sucked in, although I'd prefer if the Premier League deducted 20 points from West Ham for...being West Ham.
This Still holding out some remote hope that they go into free fall again and grace the Championship next year!!
Alright lads, hull fan in peace! I came on here to ask if Erikson was going to play today when I noticed this thread. Not one of you think the tigers are going down which is nice. I wish I was that confident. Good luck with the CL push
IMO, you have too many good players to get relegated. Jovetic & Long look like forming a good partnership. But yeah, you could do with a bit more consistency - but then, so could we! For me, Cardiff & Fulham are hopeless cases - who goes with them? Probably Norwich... Cheers....
Steve Bruce is a decent manager (for his level). If look at the clubs he has managed in the premier league then he has done OK and often unfairly attacked but no way will Hull get relegated.
Sunderland, Fulham and Cardiff have been my pick for a while. Swapped Palace for Cardiff as soon as Pulis came in and got them on a run and Mackay got the chop with a rookie coming in.
Cheers lads. So will Eriksson play today? He's in my dream team and I've only got 8 players due to the cup games.
Just casting an eye over my old threads and noticed this, forgot all about it. Seems a few of us were correct, so well done