I understand that we are only in mid- January and there is still plenty of games to be played, and that there will be twists and turns left in this season. But looking at the table, our fourth place trophy is under threat. Southampton are looking very strong and I expected them to tail off by now, but they still seem to be getting positive results. Whether the injuries to Wanyama & Schneiderlin will affect their season is something that remains to be seen. Liverpool have not had a good season by any stretch of the imagination yet they are sitting one point behind us. They will have a pretty congested fixture list over the next month or so, but with Sturridge due back soon and with the upward trend in their results recently, they could definitely pose a threat to our coveted 4th spot. Spurs - one the flukiest and jammiest sides I think I have ever seen. They seem to have a knack of scoring these last minute winners even when their performances have been substandard. They've gone a point ahead of us again which I can't believe considering how woeful they were at the start of the season. I don't get how they are up there, but they are so they will also be a threat. All in all, although we have experience of getting that last Champions League spot no matter what the odds are, it doesn't mean we will keep doing it every season. I think it's very poor how we have added to our squad yet look even further behind challenging the top two than we did last season. With that said, whilst I am a very fierce critic of Wenger, the players have to take responsibility as well. Some of the individual showings from certain players have been unacceptable so they had better raise their game, show some determination and fight, and end the 2014/15 season on a high, after a disastrous season thus far. Let's do this right!
It's a strange old season with us not finding any significant consistency and our direct top 4 rivals - Man U, Liverpool and Spurs all being generally poor. We aren't a poor side and I'm surprised by our struggling season, we should be doing better.If you look at the other three, they generally look poor or have poorer first team squads than us. We do have injured players coming back (in and out) and some players are hitting decent form. But i think there is a lot more to come from our team, I almost expect it. We should get top 4 and I think with Walcott and Ozil coming back, it will give us that much needed injection. As for Southampton, I expect them to fall away. They have the least strongest squad and to sustain a long Premiership campaign, you need the players to last until the end. It would be great to see them get a top 4 but i expect one of the other 3 to get it.
We are not guaranteed top 4 so dont count us out especially when we get spanked at Chelsea and at home to City
I think the race for 4th place is going to be brilliant fun to watch! Still fancy United to finish 3rd and you guys to finish 4th but at the moment as I don't see us continuing this good form we're on until we play against and beat a team challenging for 4th or above. Our wins have been against lower league teams but with Sturridge due back and the younger players picking up some form we could be the dark horses after a poor start. Spurs have this horrible knack of winning games ugly and late which can only give them more confidence, especially going into the final 10 minutes of games. I thought Saints would drop away... they haven't but with their 2 CM's out injured it'll be interesting to see how they get on over the next month.
It's very hard to read this year. I could see us going on a run and getting close to City/Chavs but I could also see us missing out. My feeling is though our second half of the Season will be considerably better than the first.
And drop away like everyone has/had said,let's be honest everyone is scared that Saints don't appear to be going anywhere soon,and to topple the so called big clubs is a complete no no for a club of their size. As it's been they had a great start created a gap then lost a few games on the trot,but now regained themselves to push on again and with winnable games arriving there is a distinct thought that their wont go away and the pressure will truly crank up on the so called big boy's who can't afford to be out of the CL
I quite like the Saints. I would rather you lot finished in the top 4 than the likes of Manure or the Spuds. Don't want it to be at our expense though.