2020/21 - The Run In and Top 4 chances - an Ongoing Analysis

[lcfcfoz]

We could end up 3rd

[happy85]

No Kante on Sunday is a big loss for Chelsea 

[ozvaldo]

I’m pretty positive we won’t finish in the top 4. 
Injuries and poor performances against Newcastle/Fulham/Southampton/Leeds/etc have cost us. 
Really hope we can bring in some real quality in the summer and go again 3rd time lucky, after winning the Community Shield. 

[KrefelderFox666]

2 minutes ago, happy85 said:

No Kante on Sunday is a big loss for Chelsea 

He came off as a precaution, so not guaranteed to be out. Either way, Chelsea should have enough to beat Villa. It depends what Villa turn up. Having said that, defensively, Villa are capable of keeping a clean sheet and of course Chelsea have struggled to score in masses. Anything can happen.

[KrefelderFox666]

Just now, ozvaldo said:

I’m pretty positive we won’t finish in the top 4. 
Injuries and poor performances against Newcastle/Fulham/Southampton/Leeds/etc have cost us. 
Really hope we can bring in some real quality in the summer and go again 3rd time lucky, after winning the Community Shield. 

I don't think the other teams will be as average as this/last season. We have missed our chance. I think we will be able to compete for Top 7 for a while hopefully but cannot see us improve much more. At some point we will need to transition Vardy out and this summer will be important to get someone in and to keep Iheanacho's form.

[whoareyaaa]

we need a Chris Woods masterclass tonight

[KrefelderFox666]

7 hours ago, BenTheFox said:

A bit of perspective...If we finish fifth it just means that we have finished below both champions league finalists, the biggest club in the country and last season's champions. Certainly no shame. 

There is no doubt we can look at this season as a success. However, if we don't feel disappointed finishing 5th then we may as well not bother watching football. Surely we want to be as good as possible and knowing we have had two massive opportunities to achieve something great but fall short just at the end would be disappointing.

 

IF we are 5th at the conclusion of Sunday, then I will be massively disappointed. However, at some point (probably days/weeks after), I can reflect on the season's achievements and accept that it was a great season. I would love it to be an unbelievable season though.

 

Let's see if we really have stepped up from last season and get across the line. There is some hope for now...

 

If we do finish 5th then I hope it's on 69 points (i.e. beating Spurs). It would be even worse if failing to win last game costs us.

[when_you're_smiling]

7 minutes ago, KrefelderFox666 said:

He came off as a precaution, so not guaranteed to be out. Either way, Chelsea should have enough to beat Villa. It depends what Villa turn up. Having said that, defensively, Villa are capable of keeping a clean sheet and of course Chelsea have struggled to score in masses. Anything can happen.

Villa will get the same boost Chelsea did last night of playing in front of their fans too. As long as Grealish and Watkins are fully fit against a side who also might not fancy getting injured the week before a European Cup final, I still fancy them.

[Larry_LCFC]

You would have taken an Fa cup and 5th place finish at the start of the season without a moments thought.

 

The absolute frustration comes from the position we have again thrown away having sat there all season for a second time. That is a very hard pill to swallow.

[KrefelderFox666]

Just now, when_you're_smiling said:

Villa will get the same boost Chelsea did last night of playing in front of their fans too. As long as Grealish and Watkins are fully fit against a side who also might not fancy getting injured the week before a European Cup final, I still fancy them.

Depends how much difference the fans make, you would hope it boosts us to come out and actually play some positive football. However, it didn't help United or Southampton yesterday. I just want us to do the job on Saturday and win. That's all we can influence. We cannot influence Chelsea's or Liverpool's results as it is now out of our hands.

[KrefelderFox666]

Just now, Larry_LCFC said:

You would have taken an Fa cup and 5th place finish at the start of the season without a moments thought.

 

The absolute frustration comes from the position we have again thrown away having sat there all season for a second time. That is a very hard pill to swallow.

This is the disappointing part and really hard to accept. Knowing that out of 76 matchweeks you have sat in the Top 4 for about 70 of them but don't finish there at the end in both of the seasons is frustrating. You will constantly wonder what could have been.

 

European qualification is great for this club and watching Europa League games will be exciting but it's not quite those CL nights. It all depends what ambitions the club have but when given the chance to exceed them, you would love to take it.

[FoxOfMelton]

We shouldn't have to be relying on Burnley and Palace to do us a favour.

 

Not beating the likes of Southampton and Newcastle have put us into this position.

 

We won't get top 4, and frankly, don't deserve it.

 

Very frustrated.

[whoareyaaa]

Woys last game in football hopefully that gives them something to play for against Pool

[ClaphamFox]

Liverpool and Chelsea won’t win their collective last three games. Points will be dropped somewhere. It will come down to whether we can beat Spurs in front of a crowd in Harry Kane’s last game.

[chapero82]

Just now, ClaphamFox said:

Liverpool and Chelsea won’t win their collective last three games. Points will be dropped somewhere. It will come down to whether we can beat Spurs in front of a crowd in Harry Kane’s last game.

I hope you are right 

[Bert]

12 minutes ago, whoareyaaa said:

we need a Chris Woods masterclass tonight

He retired years ago sadly

[Number 6]

1 minute ago, FoxOfMelton said:

We shouldn't have to be relying on Burnley and Palace to do us a favour.

 

Not beating the likes of Southampton and Newcastle have put us into this position.

 

We won't get top 4, and frankly, don't deserve it.

 

Very frustrated.

Newcastle drew both games with Liverpool.

Southampton beat Liverpool at home.

Liverpool lost 6 games in a row at home, including losses to Brighton, Fulham and Burnley.

 

If games were always won by the better team on paper then we wouldn't even be in the top 4 race.

[Bert]

2 minutes ago, Number 6 said:

Newcastle drew both games with Liverpool.

Southampton beat Liverpool at home.

Liverpool lost 6 games in a row at home, including losses to Brighton, Fulham and Burnley.

 

If games were always won by the better team on paper then we wouldn't even be in the top 4 race.

But what defines the top teams from the nearly men is winning games when they have to. Whether it’s pretty or ugly. The best teams always find a way to win. 

[Duncan_K]

Absolutely gutted after last night,

it’s out of our hands and we are probably done for. 
 

If we beat Spurs and don’t qualify then I’m just not having the “bottling” / “thrown it away” narrative, we’d have been very consistent in the points we’d picked up all season and have had a superb record against the Greedy six. 
 

Liverpool and Chelsea have been on League winning form in the last quarter of the season and that looks like it will have just done for us. 

[Ricey]

Make peace with 5th everyone, it's by far the most likely outcome.

 

Anything else would be an incredible bonus.

[Number 6]

Just now, Bert said:

But what defines the top teams from the nearly men is winning games when they have to. Whether it’s pretty or ugly. The best teams always find a way to win. 

Sure. But talk of not deserving it when we might still finish top 4 is garbage. All 3 teams in the race have lost/drawn games they shouldn't have. 

[Ric Flair]

Still think Liverpool are toiling, last gasp winners are often a sign that you're bottoming out, not riding the crestwave. I could be massively optimistic but they will run in to trouble and Villa will give Chelsea a scare, its just whether we have enough to still get a win against a team that hate us and want to ensure they aren't in that heinous European Conference competition.

 

This possible sticky situation is exactly when we step up though this season or at least are massively helped out by others.

 

It's not over.

[UniFox21]

We should be disappointed, we've been in top 4 all season, minus at the end again. 

 

However, the cup win shows that we continue to develop and we continue to improve. We've managed to get European qualification whilst losing basically every starting player to injury this season. 

[FoxesWalk]

9 hours ago, Freeman's Wharfer said:

I’m usually a Leicester City pessimist but it’s far from over.

 

We can beat Spurs at home and there were real flashes of fight at the end there.

 

Villa away is not an easy fixture for Chelsea. If they draw that and we beat Spurs then we’re back in business.

 

That said, it would be great if Burnley can do us a favour and leave us in a position where a draw is enough.

[CloudFox]

I don't think it's missing out on the money or prestige of the CL this season that bothers me - it's that in this season, where the Big Six tried to break away to form a Super League, there has been no punishment. And now four of them are still going to get to play in a competition they clearly didn't value enough.

 

We need to make the top 4, not for us, but for all the Other 14. Those six deserve a comeuppance.