I think we'll do well to take more than four points out of those games, we've definitely got the toughest run coming up. We've got some bang in form sides in Everton and Spurs, Arsenal are going to want to bounce back after this weekend's defeat and we can't realistically expect to get anything from Old Trafford, which makes the games against Watford and Villa absolutely vital.
I'd say Watford were in good form too. No one is finding them easy to beat or play against. How can a whole new squad, with so many foreign players, gel so quickly and look like a tight team?! I was banking on them doing a QPR!
I wonder whether Watford and Bournemouth will fall away as the season goes on, once the adrenalin of promotion wears off. I know we are newly promoted as well, but we have been in the PL 4 of the last 5 years and have added Jerome, Dorrans, Mulumbu, Jarvis, Wisdom and Brady who all came from the PL and are fully experienced in the hard slog of this league.
That is my view too on Watford, I think they will fade. I think why our odds have lengthened is that we have been to the Etihad and Stamford Bridge and not got hammered. I wonder how many other relegation candidates will only get beaten by the odd goal.
Sunderland have both those tests coming up and Bournemouth have Chelsea and Arsenal away. It's important that we play well in our games against Arsenal, ManUtd and Spurs for that reason. Newcastle: Palace(a), Liverpool(h), Tottenham(a), Villa(h), Everton(h), West Brom(a) Bournemouth: Everton(h), Chelsea(a), ManUtd(h), WBA(a), Palace(h), Arsenal(a) Sunderland: Palace(a), Stoke(h), Arsenal(a), Watford(h), Chelsea(a), ManCity(a), Liverpool(h) Villa: Watford(h), Southampton(a), Arsenal(h), Newcastle(a), West Ham(h), Norwich(a) Norwich: Arsenal(h), Watford(a), Everton(h), ManUtd(a), Spurs(a), Villa(h) I omitted that Sunderland play at Palace tonight, so if they lose that, they are even deeper in trouble. I think I'll have a watch!
Whilst I accept that we have ticked off a couple of our toughest fixtures without losing much ground against those below us (subject to Sunderland doing the decent thing and rolling over for Palace tonight) we have also burned through a number of winnable fixtures as well. Our run to the end of December is pretty grim and we desperately need to beat both Watford and Villa otherwise we are going to get dragged into the bottom three as Newcastle/Bournemouth/Sunderland and Villa can't all keep losing. I think an awful lot will depend on which of the clubs in and around us strengthen in January as a couple of 8-10m players added to any of the teams could make a massive difference. I just hope that AN is given the resources required and that he is able to attract the right sort of player to make an impact and drive us up the table in 2016.I just hope we don't blow a chunk of the budget on yet another 5-6m striker who gives us no more than we already have.
Sunderland were poor, but were gifted a goal on a horrendous balls-up by CB Scott Dann and GK Hennessey to give Defoe an empty goalmouth to slide the ball home. Before that, Sunderland had Packed their goal and played for 0-0. They were poor, but so were Palace, except for Cabaye and Bolasie. Our recent play has been miles above either of these two, but Sunderland, with 33% possession, somehow come out with 3 points. It's a very strange game sometimes (but not 'funny' at all in this case)!
On the plus side, Lafferty scored a stunning goal for the U21s as they beat ManUtd 2-0. Dorrans provided the assist with "a wonderful pass from the centre circle into Lafferty's path and the striker controlled the ball and then smashed it into the top corner". Laffs went off after 69 minutes before Loza got the second goal. Whittaker and Rudd played the whole 90 minutes. http://www.norwich.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=422969
This from the PinkUn: "Halajko insisted the injury scare was nothing to worry about however, ahead of City’s home Premier League clash with Arsenal on Sunday afternoon, saying: “A little bit of a tight groin, nothing major, more of a precautionary thing then anything to worry about we think.” So not too bad then. Full match report here: http://www.pinkun.com/norwich-city/norwich_city_u21s_2_manchester_united_u21s_0_1_4322756
