This may be of some interest, the fixtures that all the sides from Stoke who have 19 points play over the festive period: Stoke: Chelsea (H) Everton (A) WBA (H) Man U (H) Villa Man U (H) Swans (A) Sunderland (H) Palace (H) WBA R's (A) City (H) Stoke (A) WHU (A) Sunderland Newcastle (A) Hull (H) Villa (A) City (A) Palace City (A) Saints (H) R's (A) Villa (A) Burnley Spurs (A) Liverpool (H) City (A) Newcastle (A) Hull Swans (H) Sundrerland (A) Leicester (H) Everton (H) Leicester WHU (A) Spurs (H) Hull (A) Liverpool (A) I haven't posted our fixtures as we should all know who we are playing, but alot of the sides around us have some tough fixtures and a number of the have 3 away games. we really need 9 points from the 3 homes games we have over the period...no pressure.....
Definitely three vital home games coming up for us, plus Arsenal away if we don't want to join Bolton in the Premier League record book by registering 9 consecutive away losses. QPR v West Brom Sat 20 Dec 15:00 Arsenal v QPR Fri 26 Dec 17:30 QPR v Crystal Palace Sun 28 Dec 15:00 QPR v Swansea Thu 1 Jan 15:00 Bolton Wanderers 1995-96 Premier League relegation season Even we managed to beat them in Game 9, before they broke their duck in the next away game at Spurs, finally picking up a 2-2 draw over the Christmas period before returning to losing ways at Sheff Wed on New Year's Day. So perhaps North London will also be our stomping ground? I sincerely hope so, although I would sacrifice that if we picked up 9 points with the home games. We were also relegated that season, although I note we still managed the double over Bolton. 19 August 1995 Wimbledon A 2 â 3 22 August 1995 Newcastle United H 1 â 3 26 August 1995 Blackburn Rovers H 2 â 1 30 August 1995 Aston Villa A 0 â 1 9 September 1995 Middlesbrough H 1 â 1 16 September 1995 Manchester United A 0 â3 23 September 1995 Liverpool A 2 â 5 30 September 1995 Queens Park Rangers H 0 â 1 14 October 1995 Everton H 1 â 1 21 October 1995 Nottingham Forest A 2 â 3 30 October 1995 Arsenal H 1 â 0 4 November 1995 Manchester City A 0 â 1 18 November 1995 West Ham United H 0 â 3 22 November 1995 Chelsea A 2 â 3 25 November 1995 Southampton A 0 â 1 2 December 1995 Nottingham Forest H 1 â 1 9 December 1995 Liverpool H 0 â 1 16 December 1995 Queens Park Rangers A 1 â 2 (Game 9) 23 December 1995 Tottenham Hotspur A 2 â 2 (Game 10) 27 December 1995 Leeds United H 0 â 2 30 December 1995 Coventry City H 1 â 2 1 January 1996 Sheffield Wednesday A 2 â 4
Can't see many of our main rivals scoring too many points over the festive period with those fixtures, so it's imperitive that we secure as many points ourselves to start climbing the table. The better position we are in come January, then the more attractive we will look to any potential transfer targets when the window opens.
However our 4 match Christmas fixture list turns out we certainly won't be able to blame our performances on disruptive winter travelling. Everybody gets to sleep in their own beds, even Harry, after his Sandbanks commute to each game. It would be really nice if we could seize the initiative, rather than relying on the woes of the other relegation candidates. I would be very happy if we could pick up 8 points, giving us 22 points (wins against WBA & Palace, draws against Arsenal & Swansea) - an unbeaten end to the year, then another 22 points in the 2nd half of the season to bring us to 44 points and relegation safety.
No Dawson, no strikers, morale down to the floor, unrest amongst the fans.....not a recipe for 12 points!!
Stoke: (5pts) Chelsea (H) L Everton (A) D WBA (H) W Man U (H) D Villa (2pts) Man U (H) L Swans (A) L Sunderland (H) D Palace (H) D WBA (0pts) R's (A) L City (H) L Stoke (A) L WHU (A) L Sunderland (5pts) Newcastle (A) D Hull (H) W Villa (A) D City (A) L Palace (3pts) City (A) L Saints (H) D R's (A) D Villa (A) D Burnley (0pts) Spurs (A) L Liverpool (H) L City (A) L Newcastle (A) L Hull (2pts) Swans (H) D Sundrerland (A) L Leicester (H) D Everton (H) L Leicester (1pt) WHU (A) L Spurs (H) L Hull (A) D Liverpool (A) L
I can't see us remaining unbeaten mate. I'd be very happy with 6 points from those 4 games, although I fear it may be 4.
Stranger things have happened - with 3 points in the bag today, only one more now required to meet your low target?
I can see where COL's coming from. He knows his football. We were fortunate today and it could have been very different. We need to improve considerably to stay in this division.
Stranger things have indeed happened and I really hope they do. I did think that WBA was the most likely game to yield all 3 points though, as I fear Palace at our place and Swansea could well do us too. That's why I reckon we may only get 1 more point from our next two home games. Given our results at home though, we may well do considerably better than that. I think Arsenal will destroy us at The Emirates!
Just watching West Brom carve through us like a knife through butter yesterday I was thinking exactly the same. Maybe Arsenal will do us a favour and play their usual trick of getting a Christmas game postponed...
Hull are doomed IMO. Can't speak for others but by a country mile the worst team we've played this season home or away.
