Race for the Top 4 - 2018/19

[Sevens]

OK, well I think we could draw one or even two of them and still be well in the mix, providing we win one of them - say Anfield.

Tall order, but not impossible.

I never said it was impossible The fact is we need an amazing run in to win and we need the opposition to be uncharacteristically poor. Liverpool have one league defeat all season. I'd say for us to finish above them this year that needs to be converted to at least 4 defeats for the year. When you look at our record against the top six away from home, combined with the fact we have three of the big six away from home remaining this season? We are more likely to lose three or four of our remaining games than Liverpool are.

 

[smallsnc]

I never said it was impossible The fact is we need an amazing run in to win and we need the opposition to be uncharacteristically poor. Liverpool have one league defeat all season. I'd say for us to finish above them this year that needs to be converted to at least 4 defeats for the year. When you look at our record against the top six away from home, combined with the fact we have three of the big six away from home remaining this season? We are more likely to lose three or four of our remaining games than Liverpool are.

I think both Liverpool and City are more likely to get draws than defeats, especially Liverpool as they are juggling their squad for CL. Hope they make it to the quarters in CL to keep their squad stretched.

 

[Mr Pink]

I never said it was impossible The fact is we need an amazing run in to win and we need the opposition to be uncharacteristically poor. Liverpool have one league defeat all season. I'd say for us to finish above them this year that needs to be converted to at least 4 defeats for the year. When you look at our record against the top six away from home, combined with the fact we have three of the big six away from home remaining this season? We are more likely to lose three or four of our remaining games than Liverpool are.

I didn't say you said it was impossible 😂

Just stating my opinion mate! 😊

 

[JCRD]

I think both Liverpool and City are more likely to get draws than defeats, especially Liverpool as they are juggling their squad for CL. Hope they make it to the quarters in CL to keep their squad stretched.

If we can get to Liverscum game and still within touching distance - then that game would ofcourse be a MUST WIN and lets just hope Liverscum ... ahem.. slip up

 

[RichieS]

I think both Liverpool and City are more likely to get draws than defeats, especially Liverpool as they are juggling their squad for CL. Hope they make it to the quarters in CL to keep their squad stretched.

I hope they go all the way to the final then get schooled again once there.

 

[NorwayFTW]

If only we had brought our shooting boots against Man. Utd., we could have been top of the table after next gameweek, but hey, that`s football.

 

[Sevens]

I think both Liverpool and City are more likely to get draws than defeats, especially Liverpool as they are juggling their squad for CL. Hope they make it to the quarters in CL to keep their squad stretched.

Well there is certainly precedent for success. 09/10. Arsenal, Chelsea and City in the run in. The odds were stacked against us getting to that 4th place ahead of City, but we did all three of them and got it with a game to spare.

It's a massive ask though. Especially as we too may be in the CL.

 

[Tit&Ham]

Been really impressed with our play these last weeks. Very fluent and creative attacking, and a lot of determination. Yes, some errors here and there but would have been quite unlucky to not have 12 points from the last 5 games...

 

[Timberwolf]

We've done incredibly well points-wise this season but, weirdly, our performances have been a marked step down. We've only had a handful of really good performances (Chelsea home, Everton away, Barca away, maybe a couple of others) and have rarely hit the heights of the last 2 seasons.

In 16-17 we had a GD of 60, won 8 games by a 3+ goal margin and were unbeaten at home. Kane scored 4 hat tricks and were it not for some silly draws and Chelsea's back 3/lack of Champions League we would've walked the league. We were an absolute force that season and regularly steamrolled teams.

Last season wasn't as impressive but we still regularly murdered teams and put on great performances. We won 7 games by over 3+ goals and Kane scored 2 hat tricks and 7 braces

This season we've only won 2 games by 3+ goals and there are plenty of games we've won without being anywhere near our best (Fulham x 2, Newcastle x 2, West Ham, Southampton, Leicester, Watford, Palace). Kane has only scored more than one goal twice. We've shown great grit, determination and a hell of a lot of character, but rarely blow teams away.

I think our best hope is that when Kane and Alli return something clicks and we start playing our best football again. Surely we're due a run of not just good results but good performances at some point. We need this to coincide with our big away games and maybe, just maybe we can pull off something special when it really matters.

 

[swarvsta]

We've done incredibly well points-wise this season but, weirdly, our performances have been a marked step down. We've only had a handful of really good performances (Chelsea home, Everton away, Barca away, maybe a couple of others) and have rarely hit the heights of the last 2 seasons.

In 16-17 we had a GD of 60, won 8 games by a 3+ goal margin and were unbeaten at home. Kane scored 4 hat tricks and were it not for some silly draws and Chelsea's back 3/lack of Champions League we would've walked the league. We were an absolute force that season and regularly steamrolled teams.

Last season wasn't as impressive but we still regularly murdered teams and put on great performances. We won 7 games by over 3+ goals and Kane scored 2 hat tricks and 7 braces

This season we've only won 2 games by 3+ goals and there are plenty of games we've won without being anywhere near our best (Fulham x 2, Newcastle x 2, West Ham, Southampton, Leicester, Watford, Palace). Kane has only scored more than one goal twice. We've shown great grit, determination and a hell of a lot of character, but rarely blow teams away.

I think our best hope is that when Kane and Alli return something clicks and we start playing our best football again. Surely we're due a run of not just good results but good performances at some point. We need this to coincide with our big away games and maybe, just maybe we can pull off something special when it really matters.

For the next 13 games I couldn’t care less about ‘performances’ and ‘winning by 3 goals’. Just 3 points each time will do me.

We should have learned from previous years, you don’t win the league just by being the most pleasing on the eye, or playing the right way - you need to win ugly and grind out results.

We have taken monumental leaps forwards in that regard. The performances will take care of themselves.

 

[dtxspurs]

Are you still yearning for Ross Barkley?

Fair, I'd like Barkley as a rotation option. I just get the sense that people want Isco or something like that and if Eriksen is still here I don't see Poch using 2 players like that so long as Dele is in the lineup as well.

 

[Lilbaz]

Fair, I'd like Barkley as a rotation option. I just get the sense that people want Isco or something like that and if Eriksen is still here I don't see Poch using 2 players like that so long as Dele is in the lineup as well.

Think people want isco if eriksen is off, which seems to be the case.

 

[easley91]

If only we had brought our shooting boots against Man. Utd., we could have been top of the table after next gameweek, but hey, that`s football.

Thinking that way, had we won 2 of the 6 defeats we would be top. Watford we led, Arsenal we led, United we really should have put chances away and won.

But, as you say that is football. Every team can probably go through previous games with the same thought process.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

I think what makes this top 4 race and the title race too extra interesting this year is the amount of matches left between top 4/top 6 teams within the final third of the season. It is especially true for Tottenham, facing 4 of 5 top 6 teams. It's really the foundation for the potential demise or left-of-field success, and in no other way could it be more in our own hands than the opportunity to shape the final result based on matches vs. our closest opponents.

 

[JCRD]

I never said it was impossible The fact is we need an amazing run in to win and we need the opposition to be uncharacteristically poor. Liverpool have one league defeat all season. I'd say for us to finish above them this year that needs to be converted to at least 4 defeats for the year. When you look at our record against the top six away from home, combined with the fact we have three of the big six away from home remaining this season? We are more likely to lose three or four of our remaining games than Liverpool are.

We are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO going to win the league

Dont ruin this for me.

 

[Kiedis]

9 home games and 6 away games to go. 3 of the away games are to Chelsea, Liverpool and City.
The 3 next league games are at home vs. Watford, Newcastle and Leicester and 9 points there would mean 60 points with 12 games to go. 75 points probably gets us CL, which means that we would need 15 points in 12 games. Should we lose at Stamford Bridge, Anfield and Etihad (not beyond realms of possibility), then it's 15 points from 9 games needed.

So the next three league games are pretty crucial in terms of keeping a decent distance to the hunting pack.

Our current points per game average would set us at 84 points if we keep it up, so lets just do that instead

Update:

We went and got us 60 points with 12 games to go.
There's now 6 away games and 6 home games left. Our current points per game average would set us at 87 points.

With Arsenal having had their performances catch up to them and started dropping some of the points they "stole" during their undefeated streak and Chelsea seemingly imploding, I actually think we'll be okay for top four. Yep, famous last words.

The next three game sequence of league games are Burnley (a), Chelsea (a) and Arsenal (h). Tricky fixtures with Burnley coming back to life lately., but if we come away somewhat unscathed, then I'd say that's top four sorted.

As for going for the title, I'll just maintain that if we're still somewhat in it after going to Anfield on March 31st, then it really starts getting interesting, but even if our run in from April and onwards is nicer than Liverpool's, it's still trickier than Man Citys.

 

[hellava_tough]

We've done incredibly well points-wise this season but, weirdly, our performances have been a marked step down. We've only had a handful of really good performances (Chelsea home, Everton away, Barca away, maybe a couple of others) and have rarely hit the heights of the last 2 seasons.

In 16-17 we had a GD of 60, won 8 games by a 3+ goal margin and were unbeaten at home. Kane scored 4 hat tricks and were it not for some silly draws and Chelsea's back 3/lack of Champions League we would've walked the league. We were an absolute force that season and regularly steamrolled teams.

Last season wasn't as impressive but we still regularly murdered teams and put on great performances. We won 7 games by over 3+ goals and Kane scored 2 hat tricks and 7 braces

This season we've only won 2 games by 3+ goals and there are plenty of games we've won without being anywhere near our best (Fulham x 2, Newcastle x 2, West Ham, Southampton, Leicester, Watford, Palace). Kane has only scored more than one goal twice. We've shown great grit, determination and a hell of a lot of character, but rarely blow teams away.

I think our best hope is that when Kane and Alli return something clicks and we start playing our best football again. Surely we're due a run of not just good results but good performances at some point. We need this to coincide with our big away games and maybe, just maybe we can pull off something special when it really matters.

Agree with all that.

Not having a home stadium for 2 seasons has taken a massive mental toll on the players; Lloris said as much a few months back.

Then you have the WC messing up our pre-season and the injury problems we've had throughout the last 7 months.

Get CL football and move into our brand new stadium, and next season will be really interesting.

Plus, as a bonus, we've got an outside chance of winning a title this season, so things are looking good. Just got to finish the job this season with a top-4 qualification!!

 

[easley91]

Just imagine a full pre-season with no injuries and a shiny new stadium. We are seriously not far off from being able to win the league. Some may think that's optimistic, but we are only turning two of those defeats into wins from being top.

 

[RichieS]

Just imagine a full pre-season with no injuries and a shiny new stadium. We are seriously not far off from being able to win the league. Some may think that's optimistic, but we are only turning two of those defeats into wins from being top.

One midfielder and another Son-esque player (while keeping Toby and Eriksen) would be an outstanding summer when put together with all those positive factors you mention. The level of negativity around the club this season is completely at odds with what's just around the corner for us.

Our eyes will see the glory...

 

[Monkey boy]

One midfielder and another Son-esque player (while keeping Toby and Eriksen) would be an outstanding summer when put together with all those positive factors you mention. The level of negativity around the club this season is completely at odds with what's just around the corner for us.

Our eyes will see the glory...

Come home Gareth