Not impossible yet. Wins against Wigan, Reading, Stoke and Newcastle gets us to 35. That could be enough. Anything we can pick up against Everton, Arsenal and Liverpool will only help.
I'm not trying to be a doom merchant but I just can't see 35 points being enough. Villa and Wigan are already on 30 and they both play each other so that's guaranteed points picked up, Villa also play Sunderland. Seeing as all the teams down the bottom play each other this could be the year where 40 points may not suffice, for only the 2nd time ever. I can see ending up like the Championship now whereby all the teams at the bottom hit form sucking all the midtable sides back into the fight. I think from 10th to 18th there's only 5 points in it or something stupid.
Sunderland won't get more than 6 points and will probably only get 2-3. We only need to catch one of Villa and Wigan, and Wigan is looking more likely to me. If we don't beat Wigan next week then that's it.
You never know. But the fact Wigan still have to play Swansea and WBA (both of whom have nothing to play for and have gone off the boil) worries me. I was absolutely convinced Wigan were down last season when I looked at their last 10 games and league position. You will need Chelsea and Spurs to perform well because I think both of them play the teams you are chasing. I reckon you'll beat Wigan on Sunday though, they were poor against Norwich and are starting to tire, they will surely have one eye on Wembley as well, Whelan has made it his personal priority to get to the final.
Wigan's remaining fixtures: QPR A (L) Man City A (L) West Ham A (L) Spurs H (L) WBA A (D) Swansea H (D) Arsenal A (L) Villa H (W) That gets Wigan on 35 pts. If we can get 4 wins against Wigan, Reading, Stoke and Newcastle and a draw against one of Arsenal, Everton and Liverpool we get 36 and we stay up.
Bill, that's all well and good but we still need to catch and overtake another side aswell, so we have to look at Villa & Sunderland also....4 wins & 2 draws would give us 37 points, that has to be the target to give us a chance, anything more is a bonus...so can you see villa and sunderland getting to that amount? If so we are in trouble with our goal difference...It is still doable and in a way still in our own hands, simply we have to start winning, sunday is virtually make or break....
For every Ray Wilkins there's a Dave Sexton. Unfortunately there's also a Mark Hughes and Tommy Docherty.
I'd have it more like this: QPR A (L) Man City A (L) West Ham A (W) Spurs H (D) WBA A (D) Swansea H (W) Arsenal A (L) Villa H (D) Can't see Wigan losing to West Ham, Swansea or WBA but you never know, game of opinions. My predictions are usually crap so who knows
Good post . Can I just add though , that when Harry was appointed our manager I said it would end in tears ( for us ) . Because he did not come to us for the good of our club , but he came to us to stick two fingers up at Milan Mandric ( then pompey owner ) . Why I dislike Redkrapp so much is after we were relegated he said Saints were down anyway ( why come then ) . It blew up spectacularly in our faces , I do admit the fact he went back adds extra spice , but yes Ruprt Lowe is also to blame for signing him .
I admire your somewhat misguided loyalty to old Bagpuss, but I think you are under his Svengali like spell....As far as I remember, Mark Hughes was sacked after we beat you 3-1 at Loftus Road, that being your 12th league game of the season...Redknapp took over for the Manure game, the 13th. By my calculations that means that Hughes gained you 4pts in 12 games and you have gained 19pts from 19 games since. Also, you are now 7pts from safety and were only 5pts from safety after Hughes was sacked, so clearly you are further in trouble now...to absolve 'arry from any responsibility at all is crazy, he was brought in as a relegation firefighter on presumably a lucrative contract and so far has failed miserably.
So even by your calculations, Rednapp for a full season would have us out of the relegation zone. A point a game from 31 games is 31 points, thats enough for 16/17th depending on GD.
But my point is that he was brought in specifically to save you from relegation on mega bucks and you are further from safety now than when he started the job...No offence to your club as a whole, but I speak from bitter experience how you can be taken in by this man.
but that was because we had a squad void of confidence, we improved a lot but the others have too. We havent been taken in, most of us thought at the time it was too late, Hughes had handicapped us so much we basically gave away 10 games to every other team. I know you hate him but its Hughes fault and TF for not sacking him earlier.
Fair play and I apologize for my mis calculations, however I will still stand by the fact that with Harry we gained the equivalent of 5 wins from the 7 extra games we have had with Harry. I make it only 18 games under Rednapp in sensu stricto . I was at your emphatic win at Loftus Road and for me Hughes was sacked way too late, there was no way we were ever going to win a game under Hughes. Of course Rednapp was brought in to fight the fire, but there weren't many other candidates out there - hindsight..... What a wonderful thing!
Please do beat Wigan, I'm sick of seeing that crappy little club pull off their great escape each season.
