So with Norwich losing again they are pretty much done and dusted. Which other two teams will join them?
Brighton and Bournemouth. We are lucky to have a 7 point gap on the bottom 3 with games running out. One win and a draw should see us safe.
Go with Hammers and Watford. Watford were absolutely woeful today, and West Ham have really been useless. The manager change has done nothing. I can't see past West Ham, But if they don't drop it's gonna be Villa. They do nothing right.
I'd honestly say anyone in the bottom half could be sucked into it. Southampton look to have pulled up the league, but how long will that last? Burnley haven't got much depth in their squad, but can't see them tumbling that far. We can't surrender so much of the ball and then be ineffective when we do have it.
If Villa get more than 35 points I'd be surprised. Look at their fixtures and you'll see why. Watford look pretty ****e also. We aren't going be in it this season thankfully.
I think people are looking at how poor we are playing and thinking the others can't possibly be worse. Just watch Watford and Villa. I'm surprised Villa even got promoted, they're dreadful.
Beating Aston Villa is crucial - win that and I cannot see them overtaking us even if we get no other points. We look incapable of winning any more games, but the same can be said for the other teams at the bottom. Norwich, Villa and Muff to be relegared.
I really can't see us going doing, I think being 7 points clear at this stage has put us in a good enough position to stay up. Norwich I think are almost certain to go down, 7 points adrift and their form is dire (1 point from the last 4 games), they've gone imo. With them it's 2 from Brighton, Bournemouth, Villa, West Ham and Watford. I would have said Watford would easily stay up after there initial renaissence under Pearson, but their current form is pretty awful (2 points from 5 games), so I could see them dropping. West Ham has the same recent form as Watford and under that clown Moyes things are never comfortable. Bouremouth and Brighton have more quality and I'd expect both of them to stay up. Villa are erratic and don't seem to have any form, they looked good when they played us but they bloody awful versus Saints on Saturday. If I had to pick 3 I'd go for Norwich, West Ham and Villa.
The issue for me is, do Brighton, Bournemouth, Villa and West Ham have enough quality to win a few games? Yes. Do we? No. The very worst thing about our situation is this; we are 7 points above and for those teams to catch up it's going to take about 7 games. And they will, because they are all capable of pulling a win or two out of their collective arse. In 7 games time, we'll have 4 left. What are we going to do? Sack Bruce then? Who is going to make any difference, under Ashley, in 4 games with confidence on the floor? 38 points is likely to be the line, I'd imagine 37 points is the relegation mark. Also bear in mind that we play more or less all of those teams around us in the coming weeks, meaning they could all realistically gain 3 points on us. And believe me, they will ALL be looking at Newcastle United as the easiest team to beat. Then ask yourself, who, in our present state, are we going to beat? By all accounts we should've been beaten by Palace (at home), Chelsea, Everton to name just three. Those three minor miracles have got us to 31 when we really should be on 22. Luck has well and truly run out. We're currently, on form/stats, the worst club in the division - INCLUDING Norwich!! I think we'll maybe scrape to around 35/36 points but that's a relegation total. Everything's aligning at the wrong time. Bruce is clueless, we've got no "big finish" lined up, we're barely missing any players and STILL dreadful. It's really, really foolish to think we're not going down this year.
There's no point stating that we SHOULD have been beaten by those teams, the fact is we weren't and we picked up valuable points! We are on 31 points not 22, yeah we're crap but points are awarded for results, not performances. And saying we're the worst team in the division on current stats is totally wrong, in terms of the 7 teams at the bottom, only Bournemouth have more points from the last 5 games than us. I can definitely see us beating West Ham and Villa (they've both been awful recently), and getting draws from Brighton and Bournemouth. Just cos we've been extra **** recently doesn't mean we're going to lose every game from now on.
We'll see, I suppose. Points > stats. But our stats, in terms of shots, possession, xG is worst in the top flight. Dubravka has made the most saves by a distance - 19 more than next in line.
Let's just wait and see what happens. I think people are purposely calling for a bang on certain relegation so they can dish out a "told you so" and feel better about the situation. We are more than capable of picking up a few wins, we had good spells in the Palace game, they're just very difficult to break down and lethal on a counter. We need to cool down.
Difficult to break down? They have lost 10 games this season. That’s not what I would call difficult to break down. Agree with your general sentiment though. I believe we will stop up but just. Next season depends upon what happens between now and then.
They are tough defenders, they are joint lowest scorers with us and have been consistently in a decent spot all season. I've seen this club play worse than we are now, the people saying we haven't have questionable sanity. Sure we are boring as **** now, But we had Carver for six months ffs. And the entire McClaren season. We have been far worse.