So a while ago i made an article about how i was very confident Arsenal would maintain top 4 this season and how over the next 5 games we could grab that 4th spot again due to the run of games each team around us had. (At a similar time several other fans on here said or agreed with this as well). Teams like Newcastle, Chelsea and Liverpool had to play each other amongst other fairly difficult fixtures. Now those games have gone past and Arsenal are back in the top 4. So i want to look at our next few fixtures and what could happen to us over this period. Chelsea have a tough few games, playing City tonight, an away fixture to Wigan and then Spurs. Spurs have to play Sunderland who are hungry for a result and then Chelsea. This gives us an opportunity to really push on and make our position more secure. One of Spurs and Chelsea have to drop points or both of them as they play each other. Current Tables: (Played, GD, Points) 3rd: Tottenham 14 - 12 - 31 4th: Arsenal 15 - 8 - 29 5th: Chelsea 14 - 14 - 28 Lets assume all 3 teams beat any non-top 4 challenging team they play. If Chelsea lose to City but beat spurs, Arsenal beat City then we are left with a table like this: (taking all wins as 1-0's for GD) 3rd: Arsenal 17 - 10 - 35 4th: Tottenham 16 - 12 - 34 5th: Chelsea 17 - 14 - 34 Obviously there are loads of combinations of what could happen over the next 2 or 3 games - but my point is we are well and truely back in the mix. And with Utd only 7 points ahead on the same games played and imo starting to look like they may drop points - we could well see ourselves closing the gap on them as well. This season is very interesting in regards to how close it is staying at the top other than City. But if City have a string of bad form then the title is back open for any of 5 teams: City, Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs. Do you guys think we will keep our top 4 spot? Do you think we can do better than top 4 and grab 2nd or 3rd? Or even go for the title? Imo i think we could get 3rd but i also think we could grab 2nd if Utd falter a little more - it will be a very interesting second half of the season. But i see spurs trailing off at some point and City probably walking the league and not having a bad patch of form.
I think it will finish with Man City winning by a margin. Between us an Man U for 2nd and 3rd (depending if Man U strengthen - If not they could well be lower) & then Chelsea and Spuds fighting for 4th with the Spuds taking it.
I think Spurs are having a very good run of form which will fall away as the season goes on. i think they will have more draws and losses cropping up and will fall behind nearer the end of the season. For me Chelsea will grab that 4th spot after most probably reinforcing in January. City to win it - hopefuly with us nabbing 2nd, then Utd and then Chelsea.
