Fulham may have looked better than Palace but they have a **** defence and players like Hangaland and Scott Parker are under performing.Hangaland is very slow and Parker runs around midfield doing nothing constructive, he started to go downhill at Spurs and injuries have not helped. I still think they will be in a relegation fight at years end unless they can get rid of Jol and get a decent manager by January.
As long as they have players like Berbatov, Ruiz, Kasami, Bent, Stekelelberg I don't see them being in any relegation battle. Palace look doomed. Cardiff have money but little experience. Stoke look likely to struggle. Sunderland have a very disjointed squad and if West Ham struggle to get Carroll back to fitness they will be in trouble, as will we if we don't find a goal scorer from somewhere.
If Mr. Mackay walks, or they sack him, who's going to take over at Cardiff? Would Tan hire a 23 year old Malaysian gardener who made friends with his son?
The key to most team's fortunes (outside the top clubs) will be injuries. Our starting XI (subjective I know) is going to be good enough to stay up but if we have key players out for long periods then our back-up players will struggle and so will the team. This is where the established PL clubs have an advantage in that the squads are stronger overall. Sunday will be a test with Livermore (a key player although overlooked somewhat) not available for selection.
