We need to have enough points on the board by the end of March to survive, i would be very very surprised to get anything from these fixtures. Fulham Liverpool Man United Chelsea Arsenal Our rivals will almost certainly pick up points from the last available 15 so the next 2 months are vital to our survival as ColuMike says FACT
Not sure why people get so hung up on our last 5 fixtures. Everyone plays each team twice, so does it really matter? Also although we have not done well against Fulham it is not a hard fixture in comparison to the others, and our previous performances against them count for nothing anyway. In some ways it may suit us, especially if the big clubs don't have anything to play for at that stage. I would be very surprised if we got 0 points from our last 5 games.
I was about to make the same point Tipsy, like Man City arguably took their eye of the ball somewhat in our game against them last season, there's a chance the same could happen with other teams this year. By that point you'd expect Man United to be long out of contention for anything for starters, and unless the title goes to the final day Arsenal could have little to play for. Both teams have plenty of youngsters they'll want to blood, so we could well be playing against weaker/less experienced sides than our rivals have played earlier in the season. We'll see I guess. It's not ideal playing them all so close together, but if they do still need points then it's no different to playing them at any other point in the season. If we can have a 7 point gap to the bottom 3, ideally with some teams in between us and them, then I think we could survive 5 games without picking a point up.
Haven't people just been saying that when the chips are really down our manager and team tend to deliver. It doesn't just depend on the opposition does it?
It's about time we beat Fulham and Liverpool. What a way to ensure our survival with consecutive wins against our current bogey sides.
Tell you one thing, I would much rather be playing that lot than 5 out of the bottom 6, who will have much more to play for, several of the top places could be sorted by then, whereas the bottom looks as if it could be as tight as anything right to the end.
The other argument is that taking out those games agains the top teams are next few month looks like a good chance to get some flow going.
Stat attack I think we have scored 18 and conceded 35 in 22 games this makes us 3rd lowest scorers and 3rd highest conceded ,we must improve this glaringly obvious flaw by either scoring more or conceding less . It seems simple really unless we change this trend then we will struggle..
Really good stat that! And you are very right, if you concede a lot and don't score many you don't usually get as many points as sides who score lots more then they concede.
To be honest those games do worry me, 4 of the top teams in a row is a tough run in. If we're not safe by then, I fear we won't get anything from those games. Just how I feel about of course, just hope we're safe by then so I won't be so nervous lol.
Although you are having a chuckle about that our confining of the heavy conceding to a few games actually helps in that respect.We get done 7-0 at Citeh but then win a few by odd or two goal margins.Still inferior GD but in fact losing by seven or six can only ever amount to the equivalent of one point at the season's finish.
In any event, the stat is not correct - we've conceded the fifth most number of goals, not third. As you say, our defence has been shocking (admittedly inexcusably) in five away games, but has generally been sound. It's goals scored that needs improving most, but we already knew that.
To emphasise the point, we have the eighth best home defence in the league, but only three teams have scored fewer.
