We are currently 16th in the table and safe; we could finish another 3 or 4 places higher with another 3 points in the final game. That could be worth as much as £4-5m for the higher final league position. To counter that i'm sure Brucey won't take any risks with the Cup Final just a week later. So whilst I don't expect players to be 'flying in' on Sunday and doing everything possible to avoid injury, I would hope Brucey goes for it. We've got 3-4 players who I suspect will be 'saved' for the final, but sincerely hope we don't end up with another non entity of a game similar to OT on Tuesday nite.
Sunday will likely be a similar game to the United one, only with a stronger side. Expect Fryatt to start as well.
I don't think he'll start Fryatt on Sunday, I reckon he pretty much knows his cup final team after Tuesday. I'd play Jelavic and Long up top on Sunday.
Harper, Figgy, Davies, Faye, Rosenior, Quinn, Hudds, Meyler, Elmo, Long, Jelavic I think something along those lines. Faye one last game before he goes (battle with Lukaku) as we can't really risk Macca or even Bruce (cover). Huddlestone probably play an hour or so then Fryatt off the bench
I hope SB doesn't put our a side that is likely to get turned over easily. Maybe McShane will get at least part of a game, I wonder what the situation with Dudge is now, and whether he might get 30 minutes replacing Figgy if he plays.
I'd like to see Koren start on Sunday. Likely to be his last start for us and he's done a lot for the club. Also Abby Faye but I'm not as concerned about him. Sunday will be a good test for McGregor and McShane if they're not far from being fit - give them a run out and see if they can handle it.
Never thought I'd be saying wrap Matty in cotton wool until The Final; but with Longy and Jela cup tied its a big risk to play him on Sunday. For me Matty won't even be in the squad for Sunday.
I would play the best team possible and go ALL OUT for the win. If we get 1 or 2 injuries, then so be it. If we win the game we finish higher in the table, get more money & take a bit of good form into the FA Cup Final. For me personally, Bruce hasnt managed the team well since winning the Semi Final... just my opinion...
You've got to look at what it would take to pass the teams above us as well. Realistically I think West Ham (if Man City feel like celebrating in style), one of Swansea/Sunderland, and Villa are the only targets above us, and we'd be lucky to get 2 of those 3 come up for us on the day (they're all achievable individually, but collectively something won't go our way). We're quite fortunate in a sense that Long and Jelavic are cup tied for next week, it means if we protect players for the Final that we have to play an arguably stronger team than if we don't. West Ham are 3 points ahead and have a better goal difference. We need them to lose to Man City and us to win. We also need the combined scoreline to be either a 4 goal win to the Cities with us scoring 2+ more than West Ham manage (2 more than West Ham would see us above them on head-to-head results with everything else equal), or a 5 goal win to the Cities if we don't score 2 more than. Swansea and Sunderland are playing each other. If Swansea win we'll finish above Sunderland with a draw. If they draw we'll finish above them both if we win by 11 (eleven ) or just above Sunderland if we win by less. If Sunderland win we'll finish above Swansea if we win. Villa are playing Tottenham. We'll finish above them if we get a better result than them. West Brom are below us, so we just need to match them. Or if they draw we can lose by 1, or by 2 so long as we've scored 4+ more than them (fancy losing 6-4 whilst they draw 0-0?).
Slightly moving away from City.....interesting to see what Pulis has 'earned' Palace. Read somewhere he was on £1m bonus to keep them up, so they're still quids in after paying him that.
