01 Jul 2020 22:38:57
Chelsea still play Wolves, Liverpool and Sheffield United (if they can find form) . Three games they could drop points. While they also play Palace who can cause an upset.

Leicester play Spurs, Arsenal, Sheffield United and us yet, 4 of their last 6 where they could drop points. While they also play Palace who given Leicester's current form won't be push overs.

While we have Bournemouth, Villa, Southampton, Palace, West Ham and Leicester.

To be honest looking at our fixtures Bournemouth and Villa look shot of confidence while we are on a high at the moment. I look at Southampton, Palace and West Ham as hard games to predict as they will most likely have nothing to play for. Which means they might be easily rolled over or without any pressure they might play more free and spring a suprise.

I think we are not just in with a shout of top four, but third place could be in our grasp.

1.) 01 Jul 2020
01 Jul 2020 23:00:17
What about wolves?

2.) 01 Jul 2020
01 Jul 2020 23:10:11
I should think we're favourites for 3rd given form and remaining fixtures.

3.) 02 Jul 2020
01 Jul 2020 23:39:34
Jred,

We will know more about wolves after their next 3 games, they have got a couple of 1-0 wins which have kept them up there with us, their next 3 look trickier and if they win them they will also be pushing for top 4. That last game where they play chelsea and they can’t both win might be helpful for us, but if we keep winning we will finish 3rd imo.

4.) 02 Jul 2020
02 Jul 2020 00:08:35
Arguably ourselves and wolves are the form teams and its often easier to play as the hunter rather than being the ones hunted. Chelsea have a few tricky ones still as have Leicester. i'd love to see ourselves and wolves get 3rd and 4th. There could be all sorts of permatations going into the last 2 games of the season with wolves v chelsea and united v Leicester on the last day.
Any of the 4 could go into that game in 3rd and come out 6th or go in 6th and come out 3rd. Form and confidence is everything right now and we are bang at it, Leicester are in a hole, will Chelsea bounce back? Wolves look really solid. Only Liverpool lost less games than wolves this year. 13 draws have hurt them. So i'm saying us for 3rd and wolves just pipping Chelsea for 4th on the last day. i think we could all live with that😁.

5.) 02 Jul 2020
02 Jul 2020 00:19:11
Shappy I agree with everything you have said but let's take it game by game, shall We? We are on a high and playing some fantastic footy right now but I don't think we are consistent enough yet to guaranteed that confidence. I would love to see us winning all the remaining games but an injury to Fernandes and we could start dropping points as well, what a signing he has been. I just hope we get more signings like him from now on. AWB yes, Maguire so so, James not so much but he is still young.

6.) 02 Jul 2020
01 Jul 2020 23:20:19
I know one should have confidence but with teams scrapping for their lives no game will be easy. I would hate us to start a game with a complacent mentality.

7.) 02 Jul 2020
02 Jul 2020 00:48:08
Think we are in a great position now to finish 3rd but need to keep the momentum up. A note of caution would be the big drop off potential when we are needing to utilise our squad players. We play Southampton at home on Monday 13th and Palace away on Wednesday 15th so the fixture computer could’ve been kinder. Especially as both games are before the FA Cup semi so not ideal. Clearly players may need to be rested for the Palace game at least.

All to play for though.

8.) 02 Jul 2020
02 Jul 2020 02:50:29
Halesini,

The fixtures for that midweek haven’t been announced yet, I’d assume we will play Thursday though so Monday, Thursday, Sunday. Still a lot of games to fit in but unlikely we will be asked to play 2 games in 3 days.

9.) 02 Jul 2020
02 Jul 2020 07:01:51
Wolves are in with a shout too obviously, I just wonder that their form since the restart hasn't been great, they are getting results but are scraping them. I suspect they will drop points between now and the end of the season and like ourselves being the teams chasing dropping points with so few games left to play could well be lethal to our chances of a top 4 finish.

I expect Leicester and Chelsea to lose/ drop points in at least one of their remaining games. Maybe two at most, but I would expect them to get results in 4 of the last 6 games (unless they have a catastrophic drop off) .

If they drop points in only one game each then we will need to win all our remaining games. If the one game Chelsea drop points in is against Wolves then it will be very tight.

Our form, and our fixtures compared to those around us give us hope and maybe even confidence to finish in the top four.

Yet ultimately we are still relying on two sides to drop points and for us to win all our remaining games. It's not quite in our own hands yet, but its getting closer and closer to it being within our grasp.

10.) 02 Jul 2020
02 Jul 2020 08:02:02
I think we need to calm down, win the next game and not get ahead of ourselves. When Pogba and Bruno went off Brighton had a few chances and our level fell notably. Suddenly there was space between midfield and defence. Yes we won and yes the third goal was spectacular but as is the tendency on here, people get carried away. I don’t want to say it was only Brighton but I get the feeling the lower teams thrive better when they have a vocal local support close to the pitch and when that isn’t there they are more vulnerable.
It is a bonus that both Leicester and Chelsea lost last night but let’s win our next game. I said before the restart that I felt Leicester may be the ones to drop back and still feel that. Third is up for grabs but feet on the floor time, we can get third with luck and if we win all our games and it would be nice to prove all those “super” computers wrong ( who said we would be 5th) . The key is using Pogba and Bruno well and adapting to what opposition do about it. Don’t kid yourselves that they are not looking at how to deal with it, perhaps man marking on Bruno. We need to have good in game management if that happens.
Until Bruno and Pogba went off we controlled midfield, control midfield and you control games, win games generally. We have cup finals all the way now.

11.) 02 Jul 2020
02 Jul 2020 08:16:06
Shappy i would say the Watford game is a tricky one for Chelsea too. that's the match suits Pearson better. I agree with everything else mate.

12.) 02 Jul 2020
02 Jul 2020 10:11:04
Cheers GDS2. I was going off the BBC Sport apps fixtures. Thought it looked odd!

13.) 02 Jul 2020
02 Jul 2020 10:15:57
Red Man,

Fully agree, I had a mate message this morning saying we shouldn't be happy with anything except at least 5-0 against Bournemouth. Now we might and it would be good if we did but it has been a very long time since we scored 5 past anyone in the league so it is crazy to say we would only be happy with that. I would take 6 1-0 wins from penalties from here to be honest I don't really care about performances at this stage.

Shappy, if last night proved anything it is that you can't predict with any confidence that Chelsea and Leicester will only drop points in 'max 2 games', they could actually drop points in 'max 6 games' as that is how many they have to play. I am guessing this time last week you didn't have them down as beating City and losing to West Ham. This season has been unpredictable, especially for the teams chasing top 4 with some crazy results and losses in games you would expect them teams to win comfortably, so for me we just concentrate on ourselves, win every game if we can and that should be enough for 3rd place.

14.) 02 Jul 2020
02 Jul 2020 10:33:36
Fair points Red Man, we do still NEED Leicester and Chelsea to drop points. However we are within three points of Leicester and play them final day of the season. Goal difference currently would still have them finish above us if we finish on equal points. Yet top four is so nearly in our own hands.

Herrera, no one can take any games for granted, especially against sides fighting for their lives. While Watford are scraping for survival that's the same for our next two opponents in Bournemouth and Villa.

15.) 02 Jul 2020
02 Jul 2020 12:11:37
Since bruno signed we have picked up thd joint most points in the league . The other team is wolves, both are on a good run, last game of the season could be interesting. Wolves v Chelsea, United v Leicester.

16.) 02 Jul 2020
02 Jul 2020 12:44:34
Jred, it could quite easily be a final day shoot out for 3rd and 4th place with any of the four sides being able to finish 3rd or 6th.