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King of Gipsy Lane

Will we finish in the Top 4

Will we finish in top 4 ?   

568 members have voted

  1. 1. Top 4 finish for the City ?



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Agree with all your points and putting positive spins on those last 3 games, however I would still have preferred the likes of a Palace, Brighton, Burnley etc who would genuinely have nothing to play for, compared to coming up against these 3 who have top quality squads and individuals like Fernandes, Kane, Son etc who will always be a threat in any game. 

 

Hopefully we will have guaranteed top 4 by then, although 9 points clear of 5th might not be that realistic, but certainly doable! 

 

Either way, we are more than capable of beating any and all of those 3 on our day and we have surely learned from last season's decline. :scarf:

 

 

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4 hours ago, STUHILL said:

Hate the look of our last 3 games though..

 

Man U (away)

Chelsea (away)

Spurs (Home) 

 

9 points there which could easily decide our top 4 fate

 

On a positive spin, we could be competing with any of those 3 for a top 4 spot, so could become a "6 pointer" that we are more than capable of winning

I think we can get 6 points out of those last two for sure. We're better than both Chelsea and Spurs. Even the Tuchel hype is failing to mask how average Chelsea are in particular.

 

Yeah, I realise that's a hot take, but if we go into the final three still in the top four, we need not fear any of these three - we already beat two of them, and the other would be mid-table without their house-of-cards approach around the 18 yard box.

Edited by OntarioFox
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Deloitte have released their latest football money league and the Swiss Ramble has kindly done some analysis. He’s also noted the difference in revenue for Premier League clubs even though I don’t think we’ve released our accounts yet.

 

Interesting to see the effects of the pandemic and the gap in revenue of the Rich 6 to the rest. Just reinforces what a non-rich 6 team is up against!

AB78DA8C-4F82-4A2E-B9EB-117CF1126687.jpeg

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Ttt So, is it best to be playing one of our thirteen games left against a potential rival or against a team fighting for survival?  Or be playing a team with no ambition for the rest of the season (probably more relevant in a few weeks time)

 

I still believe we should keep thinking about winning the league but I would definitely accept that Man City will qualify for Europe.  I would contend that there are five other teams fighting for three spots in the Top Four.


Leicester

Man Utd

Chelsea

West Ham

Liverpool

Invariably there may be “one” that comes out of the “pack” but, for the purpose of this exercise, let’s narrow it down to the five above.  So, if it is three from five we should look at what is left for each team. 
 

It may well come down to each team’s games against their rivals (plus Man City) and/ or games against the four teams “struggling” to survive - and, probably more importantly, when these games are played.

 

Therefore the following may be of interest:

 

Leicester - 3 games v rivals and three v strugglers (Sheffield Utd/ WBA/ NU)

Man Utd - 5 games v rivals and only one v strugglers (Fulham)

Chelsea - 5 games v rivals and two v strugglers (WBA & Fulham)

West Ham - 4 games v rivals and two v strugglers (NU & WBA)

Liverpool - 2 games v rivals and four v strugglers 

 

Games against one another will be crucial and is it really good to be playing a team fighting for survival?  It all looks incredibly even but do not write off West Ham (only the PL to focus upon) and Liverpool (out of the FA Cup).

 

Quality and strength of the squads/ avoiding injuries/ avoiding suspensions could be key.  Interesting and entertaining for sure.
 

Edited by zorro en españa
Got games wrong - as spotted by HPF
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1 hour ago, zorro en españa said:

Ttt So, is it best to be playing one of our thirteen games left against a potential rival or against a team fighting for survival?  Or be playing a team with no ambition for the rest of the season (probably more relevant in a few weeks time)

 

I still believe we should keep thinking about winning the league but I would definitely accept that Man City will qualify for Europe.  I would contend that there are five other teams fighting for three spots in the Top Four.


Leicester

Man Utd

Chelsea

West Ham

Liverpool

Invariably there may be “one” that comes out of the “pack” but, for the purpose of this exercise, let’s narrow it down to the five above.  So, if it is three from five we should look at what is left for each team. 
 

It may well come down to each team’s games against their rivals (plus Man City) and/ or games against the four teams “struggling” to survive - and, probably more importantly, when these games are played.

 

Therefore the following may be of interest:

 

Leicester - 3 games v rivals and only one v strugglers (Sheffield Utd)

Man Utd - 5 games v rivals and only one v strugglers (Fulham)

Chelsea - 5 games v rivals and two v strugglers (WBA & Fulham)

West Ham - 2 games v rivals and four v strugglers

Liverpool - 4 games v rivals and two v strugglers (Sheffield Utd & Newcastle)

 

Games against one another will be crucial and is it really good to be playing a team fighting for survival?  It all looks incredibly even but do not write off West Ham (only the PL to focus upon) and Liverpool (out of the FA Cup).

 

Quality and strength of the squads/ avoiding injuries/ avoiding suspensions could be key.  Interesting and entertaining for sure.
 

We still have WBA to play, Newcastle too.

Edited by HighPeakFox
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Last season taught me not to make these kind of predictions.

 

I'd say Man City and Man Utd are more or less guaranteed a spot.

 

It's going to be tough. Possible, certainly, but with injuries, our fixture list, and how close we all are... it could easily change quickly.

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9 hours ago, STUHILL said:

Hate the look of our last 3 games though..

 

Man U (away)

Chelsea (away)

Spurs (Home) 

 

9 points there which could easily decide our top 4 fate

 

On a positive spin, we could be competing with any of those 3 for a top 4 spot, so could become a "6 pointer" that we are more than capable of winning

I genuinely don't fear those games like I normally do, think we could take 6 points from them, especially as two are away and Spurs should have nothing to play for.

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Next four league games before the international break:

 

Arsenal (h)

Burnley (a)

Brighton (a)

Sheff Utd (h)

 

Compare that to Chelsea:

 

Man Utd (h)

Liverpool (a)

Everton (h)

Leeds (a)

 

This might be an opportunity to put down a marker and get a double point lead over Chelsea with nine games to play. I was a bit miffed that we play Burnley midweek instead of having an off week but I'm glad now and if things went really well before the international break we could find ourselves in the Europa Cup QF, FA Cup SF and a 10+ point gap to 5th with nine to play.

 

I'll stop before I get too carried away but we'll probably have more players with two weeks off than most and gives us a chance to recharge for a final push to a memorable season. A good set of fixtures though to really hammer home our current advantage.

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1 hour ago, Gerard said:

Next four league games before the international break:

 

Arsenal (h)

Burnley (a)

Brighton (a)

Sheff Utd (h)

 

Compare that to Chelsea:

 

Man Utd (h)

Liverpool (a)

Everton (h)

Leeds (a)

 

This might be an opportunity to put down a marker and get a double point lead over Chelsea with nine games to play. I was a bit miffed that we play Burnley midweek instead of having an off week but I'm glad now and if things went really well before the international break we could find ourselves in the Europa Cup QF, FA Cup SF and a 10+ point gap to 5th with nine to play.

 

I'll stop before I get too carried away but we'll probably have more players with two weeks off than most and gives us a chance to recharge for a final push to a memorable season. A good set of fixtures though to really hammer home our current advantage.

Of those 4 games I can honestly see us dropping points to Arsenal, Burnley and Brighton, 

Arsenal (h) Draw Arteta will shut up shop

 

Burnley (a) Lose Dyche will do what Dyche does.

 

Brighton (a) Draw watched their game against palace not sure how they lost that.

 

Sheff Utd (h) Win if we don’t win this then we don’t deserve top 4.

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1 minute ago, zorro en españa said:

Yea - thanks.  Blind spot when fearing the worst I suppose.  I also transposed the Liverpool & WHU games so all now corrected and right I believe.

Que sera sera.... it's easy to spend energy on worrying when it's so outside one's own control. God grant me the serenity etc...

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15 hours ago, zorro en españa said:

Ttt So, is it best to be playing one of our thirteen games left against a potential rival or against a team fighting for survival?  Or be playing a team with no ambition for the rest of the season (probably more relevant in a few weeks time)

 

I still believe we should keep thinking about winning the league but I would definitely accept that Man City will qualify for Europe.  I would contend that there are five other teams fighting for three spots in the Top Four.


Leicester

Man Utd

Chelsea

West Ham

Liverpool

Invariably there may be “one” that comes out of the “pack” but, for the purpose of this exercise, let’s narrow it down to the five above.  So, if it is three from five we should look at what is left for each team. 
 

It may well come down to each team’s games against their rivals (plus Man City) and/ or games against the four teams “struggling” to survive - and, probably more importantly, when these games are played.

 

Therefore the following may be of interest:

 

Leicester - 3 games v rivals and three v strugglers (Sheffield Utd/ WBA/ NU)

Man Utd - 5 games v rivals and only one v strugglers (Fulham)

Chelsea - 5 games v rivals and two v strugglers (WBA & Fulham)

West Ham - 4 games v rivals and two v strugglers (NU & WBA)

Liverpool - 2 games v rivals and four v strugglers 

 

Games against one another will be crucial and is it really good to be playing a team fighting for survival?  It all looks incredibly even but do not write off West Ham (only the PL to focus upon) and Liverpool (out of the FA Cup).

 

Quality and strength of the squads/ avoiding injuries/ avoiding suspensions could be key.  Interesting and entertaining for sure.
 

Whilst I agree with a lot of what you say I think we have to look at the wider picture than top 4 as to how it will affect things. There is a fair chance both the League and FA Cups will be won by sides finishing top 4 thus extending European places down to 7th (hope this is correct). If so this changes the dynamic of the whole of the rest of the season as there are so many teams who could still finish top 7 and thus potentially qualify for Europe. Sides like Everton and Villa are much better than last season and could easily finish top 7 as could Spurs and Arsenal. Even Leeds and Wolves have an outside chance. These sides will take points off teams just as much as the top 4/5 or the bottom strugglers. Apart from the bottom two the whole league is pretty close right now. I'd say the next 5 games or when everyone has played 30 matches will be absolutely key. Just too early to call at all right now. Look what happened last season. We just fell apart. Nobody would have predicted Liverpool's current form. It is an unusual season where the normal progression of a league season doesn't appear to be happening.

Edited by reynard
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Yesterday the Athletic opened this question up to responses.  Out of dozens of top four predictions, we were absent in only three of them.  Perception of “Little Leicester” is fading fast in the wider world. (albeit still healthy among media dinosaurs and WUMs ... and our own fans)

 

I like to be the resident optimist, but that scares me.  We’re still in three competitions and at the same time, running out of squad depth.

 

I continue to feel, it's doable ... but a big ask.  We need our injury luck to flip from bad to good, and the schedule tells me that is not likely.

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56 minutes ago, KingsX said:

Yesterday the Athletic opened this question up to responses.  Out of dozens of top four predictions, we were absent in only three of them.  Perception of “Little Leicester” is fading fast in the wider world. (albeit still healthy among media dinosaurs and WUMs ... and our own fans)

 

I like to be the resident optimist, but that scares me.  We’re still in three competitions and at the same time, running out of squad depth.

 

I continue to feel, it's doable ... but a big ask.  We need our injury luck to flip from bad to good, and the schedule tells me that is not likely.

 I wonder if it's time to prioritise?  I hate to say it, but perhaps we should be resting players in the Europa League in the hope of securing Champion's League.  Normally I am in favour of playing our strongest side but with the injuries we have and our schedule, we run the risk of fighting on too many fronts and falling short in all of them.

 

We're into the last third of the season now.  Our players have performed miracles this year, particularly the virtually ever-present like Tielemans, Barnes and Evans, but can it continue or will we falter like last year?  If we do fail, I won't take it as badly as I did last year because the schedule is so brutal.  It seems a near impossible ask to me.

 

 

Edited by murphy
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My vote has now tipped voting in finishing top 4. We have strong enough team/squad to continue to pick up sufficient points compared to rivals who could overtake us. I think that BR will prioritise Champions League football next season, and possibly the FA Cup.compared to Europa League, which for me, does no have the same interest as it might usually do played in front a few officials and players.   I still think there is a possibility fans will be allowed at Wembley: it only need the government to shift the date for fans to return to stadia by moving the date by 2 days - which I hope they can do.

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16 minutes ago, murphy said:

 I wonder if it's time to prioritise?  I hate to say it, but perhaps we should be resting players in the Europa League in the hope of securing Champion's League.  Normally I am in favour of playing our strongest side but with the injuries we have and our schedule, we run the risk of fighting on too many fronts and falling short in all of them.

 

We're into the last third of the season now.  Our players have performed miracles this year, particularly the virtually ever-present like Tielemans, Barnes and Evans, but can it continue or will we falter like last year?  If we do fail, I won't take it as badly as I did last year because the schedule is so brutal.  It seems a near impossible ask to me.

 

 

I was discussing this with the mrs. Well not quite discussing but telling her haha. I agree that it’s time to start to really look at the competitions and prioritise. Thing is I just don’t know what ... I’d kill for us to lift a cup this season but then I know how important a top four finish could be I’m terms of revenue and keeping the lads together. It’s a real tough one and it’ll be interesting to see what Brodge does. At least we have had kids training with the first team for a while and with Campbell getting game time we may now see a little more rotation; the kids training with the first team should hopefully be able to play the way Brodge wants and slip in. But that has risk attached to it. All we can do is keep putting points on the table and grind out the games. I know people ain’t keen on shutting up shop when we take the lead but if it keeps players fit I’m all for it. Let’s just hope Perez, lil Wes and Dennis aren’t all too far away now. All three of them will have a role and inject some freshness. Keep the faith. 

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16 minutes ago, murphy said:

 I wonder if it's time to prioritise?  I hate to say it, but perhaps we should be resting players in the Europa League in the hope of securing Champion's League.  Normally I am in favour of playing our strongest side but with the injuries we have and our schedule, we run the risk of fighting on too many fronts and falling short in all of them.

 

We're into the last third of the season now.  Our players have performed miracles this year, particularly the virtually ever-present like Tielemans, Barnes and Evans, but can it continue or will we falter like last year?  If we do fail, I won't take it as badly as I did last year because the schedule is so brutal.  It seems a near impossible ask to me.

 

 

Assuming we make it through on Thursday we'll have another 7 games in 22 days before the international break. I just can't see the likes of Youri, Barnes, Vardy playing all of those games so its a challenge for Brendan of how he manages the rotation. Does he spread it out so only 1 key player is rested at a time or does he take a risk and choose 1 or 2 fixtures for larger scale rotation - whatever the approach there's going to have to be some prioritisation and I have the feeling the league fixtures will take priority.

In addition to that I'd hope there will be a general agreement between club and international teams for players to play no more than 2 of the 3 international fixtures crammed in at the end of March, or am I living on cloud coocoo land saying that!

 

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We won’t collapse like last season. Rogers won’t let that happen and the players want it too much to surrender. There will be games where we will really have to fight for the result and that carries risk.

still my prediction is we will just finish in the top 4 AND lift one of the cups :)

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