Thought I would do a thread for the top 6 each week on who they are all playing. Nice to know who our rivals are up against as being at the top is a lot more stressful than being at the bottom I feel. When you're down the bottom it's a lot more likely your surrounding teams won't win, so if you do you'll move up a spot.... but at the top it seems every week the teams below us are keeping up! It must piss Swindon, Preston, MK Dons off too see us winning (especially in the last minute!) but I would much rather have the stress of being top at Christmas than being bottom! Don't want CJS making stats about us again! 1. Bristol City 42 2. Swindon 41 3. MK Dons 38 4. Preston 38 5. Sheffield utd 32 6. Rochdale 30 Anyway here's whose in action this week and against whom! Crewe vs Bristol City A MK Dons vs Oldham D Peterborough vs Preston D Rochdale vs Notts County A Sheffield UTD vs Walsall H Swindon vs Doncaster H Now looking at that we have the best chance... Swindon very likely to win as are Sheff utd... So my predictions for top 6 come 5pm Saturday 1. Bristol City 45 2. Swindon 44 3. MK Dons 39 4. Preston 39 5. Sheff utd 35 6. Notts C 33
As much as it pains me to say it, Swine-town are looking good and now only a 1 point gap with a better goal average I think...
One of the reasons why I do not gamble, especially on football, is because, unlike horse racing where the favourites win more often than not, there are too many unpredictable events in a football match. Having said that, and as I am not wasting money on these, here is my take on next Saturday's games based on this seasons home / away records for each team. Crewe v City; away win MK v Oldham; draw P'boro v PNE ; away win Rochdale v Notts C; away win Sheff U v Walsall ; home win Swindon v Doncaster ; draw 1. Bristol City 45 2. Swindon 42 3. PNE 42 4. MK Dons 39 5. Sheff utd 35 6. Notts C 33
I hope Swindon do have to sell in the January window as it will weaken their team. It's also typical that we're facing 2 teams soon who have hit a bit of form in Yeovil and Gillingham but we need to win both and grab all 3 points at Crewe Crewe v City; away win MK v Oldham; Home win P'boro v PNE ; Draw Rochdale v Notts C; Home win Sheff U v Walsall ; home win Swindon v Doncaster ; Home win
When I look at the league table prior to the next few matches I tend to look more at what will happen if we lose our next match and as long as we don't drop from the top 2 I am more than happy. Staying in the automatic promotion spots is so important and if you remember back to the season when we had to go through the playoffs to get promoted there was a point where if we had won 2 specific matches we would have been in the Premier. That's why I want us to look ahead and ensure that we keep in the auto spots because the playoffs are usually a lottery especially if you have an injury crisis at the same time. Getting back to the Championship must be our priority because it is where we belong and nothing less will suffice. The good news is we cannot drop out of the top 2 this weekend but striving to stay where we are now could become more of a problem if we can't stay on the winning track, but I really believe we can. No banana skins please.
I reckon Peterborough might nick all 3 against Preston. They are due a result. Other than that, results will not go our way. But it's OK as I have a good feeling about 2-0 for us on Saturday.
Swindon are doing well at the moment and have put a run together, but the genuine feeling up here is that their squad is too small and they won't be able to sustain it when they suffer the inevitable injury or ban - they don't have the depth. Their (genuine) fans accept that they will fall away at some point and they are just hoping they have enough points under their belt when it happens. I think they will take top spot from us while we play our cup game(s), but we will retake it from them later in the season when they start to tire. MK Dons are the ones to watch.
They play a league game on January 3rd while we're away at Donny in the FA Cup. So hopefully over the Christmas period we move away from them a bit so if they do win we stay top and have that game in hand at AG against Peterborough, who we should beat!
