It's long been said that 40 points is the benchmark for surviving in the Premier League. However, with an increasing number of similarly capable sides in the bottom half, it is more likely these days that a team can stay up with fewer than 40. In the past 5 seasons, only 2010-11 saw the side just above the line on 40 points. In the other 4 seasons a total of 11 teams have stayed up with les than 40 points; no fewer than FOUR in 2009-10. I foresee Saints battling it out with QPR, Norwich, Swansea, West Ham, Wigan and Reading and I can see any three from this group going down, which does, of course, mean four staying up! So how many points do you think it is going to take to stay up?
Hi Devon. I think 38 will be enough. I'm confident that we won't need to worry about that though. I think we will be mid table.
11 wins is my goal...win 11 games, and it would take a bizarrely-low total of draws to get relegated. It has only happened twice in the PL era: during the season where four teams were relegated, and during the first season, when the gap between top and bottom was far smaller. Win four of the seven home games against the teams you list plus Villa, another three against the remainder of the league, and find four away wins, we'll be around come next season.
<QUOTE=Schad;3283269]11 wins is my goal...win 11 games, and it would take a bizarrely-low total of draws to get relegated. It has only happened twice in the PL era: during the season where four teams were relegated, and during the first season, when the gap between top and bottom was far smaller. Win four of the seven home games against the teams you list plus Villa, another three against the remainder of the league, and find four away wins, we'll be around come next season.[/QUOTE] I said something very similar on the other thread.
I just hope that Cortese doesn't panic after the first 4 games from which we will probably only have 3 points at the most. Don't believe the trash newspapers and support Nige and the boys all the way through!
I'm yet to be convinced that we'll be good enough to finish mid table. The results from pre-season aren't that good but that's not what concerns me. It's the lack of goals. We dominated most of the game against Ajax but didn't really come that close to scoring. Only 1 against Bristol City and that was the last kick of the game. Ok 2 against Wolves, that's fine and nothing against Udinese. We need to be more clinical in front of goal than we were in the Championship. In the championship we got a lot of chances in most matches. We won't get nearly as many in the Premier League. Only Billy Sharp has had a good preseason out of the strikers. Scoring goals will be vital for us this season because we'll concede a lot more this season. I know this is stating the obvious, but if we can't score frequently, we'll be relegated.
40 is usually quoted but it's probably closer to 37 most of the time. But it's not really all about that, for example if the top clubs run away with yet more points, the number of points at the bottom goes down. So it's not just how many points you get but what you do against the teams around you. Also I still think there are 11 teams with a realistic chance of relegation, so more teams taking points off each other.
In complete agreement with TOMW19 - I was looking at the stats for last season and looking at which teams who consistently failed to score in games - its obvious which ones were at the bottom. We are also prone to give away goals through stupid errors at the back - we need to keep some clean sheets too. Likewise I am underwhelmed with the preseason and nervous over the lack of cover at centre back. Trying to comprehend why we let Martin go on loan to Palace and not having a replacement to Martin to cover our only two competative centre backs...
I think Adkins expected to sign a new CB not long after letting Martin go out on loan but for whatever reason transfers have been slow. He seemed upbeat yesterday on the transfer front so maybe we´ll see a new CB in the next few days.
A lot of teams will take points off of each other, there won't be a team this year who is a class below the rest (i.e Wolves, Portsmouth, Derby, etc). I reckon about 35 points, Man Utd won the title with 5 away wins so I think we could potentially stay up by having decent home form and getting the odd point or three on the road.
So do we: Jos Hooiveld, Jose Fonte, Dan Seaborne, Jack Stephens. More to come as well. You're a terrible troll.
If Mcleish was still in charge then I would have expected them get relegated but I rate Lambert and I think he´ll do well.
He's a good manager, but every manager needs resources. Villa have been relying on youth, and the youth has so far disappointed. More was expected of Albrighton, Delph, Delfouneso and the likes, so they'll need to really get going this season. Agbonlahor needs to up his game as well.
I agree that Aston Villa don´t have the strongest of teams but nor did Norwich and they finished 12th. I think that they´ll sign a few more players before the transfer window shuts so I´m pretty sure he strengthen the squad. He might not do wonders at Villa but I think there are about 5 or 6 teams who are much more likely to get relegated.
