Clusters of 5.

Westham have City this weekend. We beat Hull and suddenly we are into 4th. Who knows, come the Newcastle game and we could be hoping for UTD to stuff City and see us get a step closer to them. Southampton have a pig of a December, so if they do keep up this form that far, they will fall off then.

We have 3 "top 4 potential teams" to play before xmas day, 2 of which are at home. Chelsea have 3, City have 2, Arsenal have 2, Utd have 4, Spurs have 2, and Everton have 2. Beat Chelsea and do the business in the others and who knows where we will sit come xmas.

Just get some bloody decent form together... Maybe Wednesday night will give the team the confidence they need.

Its a crazy league!

Westham have City this weekend. We beat Hull and suddenly we are into 4th. Who knows, come the Newcastle game and we could be hoping for UTD to stuff City and see us get a step closer to them. Southampton have a pig of a December, so if they do keep up this form that far, they will fall off then.

We have 3 "top 4 potential teams" to play before xmas day, 2 of which are at home. Chelsea have 3, City have 2, Arsenal have 2, Utd have 4, Spurs have 2, and Everton have 2. Beat Chelsea and do the business in the others and who knows where we will sit come xmas.

Just get some bloody decent form together... Maybe Wednesday night will give the team the confidence they need.

Its a crazy league!

United will be destroyed by City it won't even be a contest. But I do think we will be in the top four in the next couple weeks.

United will be destroyed by City it won't even be a contest. But I do think we will be in the top four in the next couple weeks.

Im not saying they wont be beaten by City and Chelsea, but UTD will come good and be in contention for 4th. Hopefully their defence will take too much time and they will be too far off the pace by then.

11 points from this lot is the most we can get now. Atleast thats more than the 2 points per game. Must win at Newcastle. Jesus please let Danny be back. This is desperate.

8 points from this lot. Shocking. Chelsea start the next one but after them its Palace, Stoke Leicester and Sunderland. 12-13 points should be achievable.... Should be!

If we want to get to 76 points min we need to now get 2.2points per game. Jesus we are making this difficult, but not impossible. 12 or 13 would get us back on track, lots to do but closer to back on track.

Remember when Chelsea didn't rest players before playing us and then came to Anfield and beat us 2-0.

I'm really starting to wonder about this resting players business.  Fair enough, if we were playing the kind of expansive aggresive football that we did last season then you could understand resting players but seeing as they are going through the motions maybe them all having as much time on the field together with each other is possibly more important.

I feel sorry for some players because they are asked to find top form like they have a switch to press.
Play your strongest team ALWAYS.

8 points from this lot. Shocking. Chelsea start the next one but after them its Palace, Stoke Leicester and Sunderland. 12-13 points should be achievable.... Should be!

If we want to get to 76 points min we need to now get 2.2points per game. Jesus we are making this difficult, but not impossible. 12 or 13 would get us back on track, lots to do but closer to back on track.

2.2 points per game over 28 games, not a chance I can see that happening mate. The only saving grace is this season a lot of teams don't seem to be maintaining a high ppg ratio so 4th may well be lower than average. 60 points is the lowest number I've seen make top 4 in a look back to around 2000 and for us to get there we well need another freak season like that. I just can't see us getting anywhere over 70 points, not a chance.

2.2 points per game over 28 games, not a chance I can see that happening mate. The only saving grace is this season a lot of teams don't seem to be maintaining a high ppg ratio so 4th may well be lower than average. 60 points is the lowest number I've seen make top 4 in a look back to around 2000 and for us to get there we well need another freak season like that. I just can't see us getting anywhere over 70 points, not a chance.

Well it's certainly on track for a low scoring top half of the league. Can't see 4th place going to lower than 72 which is still 2ppg. Unlikely at this stage. We have made a balls of it over the past few weeks alright. 

Whose on to get 4th now though? Can't see saints doing it. Spuds Everton and utd are all worse off than us as it stands. Hopefully we fluff a point or 3 next week

Whose on to get 4th now though? Can't see saints doing it. Spuds Everton and utd are all worse off than us as it stands. Hopefully we fluff a point or 3 next week

I think Arsenal/City/Chelsea are certainties.

The last spot is most likely to go to United if you believe the bookies and that's a depressing thought, if them in their state manage to beat us to it I'd be disgusted.

Southampton falling off wont happen for a long time, they might just bloody make it and that's going to be the biggest piss take at our expense considering who we bought this summer. They've got 2 relatively easy games coming up and there's nobody showing enough consistency to chip away at the lead they could have by game 13.

Everton, West Brom, Hull (H)
Newcastle, QPR (A)

8 points from that is grim in the context of where we finished last season.

6/15 in the first 5.
8/15 in the second 5.

There's a word for that form and it's called mid-table.

Only remote positive spin you can put on it is that we lost 3 times in the opening 5 and only once in the last 5.

Clutching at straws though.

Everton, West Brom, Hull (H)
Newcastle, QPR (A)

8 points from that is grim in the context of where we finished last season.

6/15 in the first 5.
8/15 in the second 5.

There's a word for that form and it's called mid-table.

Only remote positive spin you can put on it is that we lost 3 times in the opening 5 and only once in the last 5.

Clutching at straws though.

Well at least we're making progress. At that rate of gain we should win our first five games of next season

It sure is Grim. Cant even say we deserved better. With 7 losses the avg for 4th place, you have to think we will struggle to get there now. Especially if we lose to Chelsea the weekend, which I cant see past.

As grim as it is I also think UTD will get 4th if we dont. No other football to concentrate on and goals a plenty. Would much rather Southampton get it, as embarresing as that would be. The money from the CL next year is incredible, UTD will be set for years to come with it... Southampton wont.

Pressure is mounting.

NEXT 5 PREMIER LEAGUE GAMES

Chelsea (H)
Palace (A)
Stoke (H)
Leicester (A)
Sunderland (H)

Last seasons 5 game average points haul: 11pts/15
This season's so far: 7pts/15

Points after 15 games last season: 30pts
With only a possible 15pts available to win Liverpool can reach 29pts by game 15 in the unlikely event of winning all 5 games.

Last seasons corresponding results:

Chelsea (H) Lost 0pts
Palace (A) Drew 1pts
Stoke (H) Won 3pts
Leicester (A) (substituted by Norwich) Won 3pts
Sunderland (H) Won 3pts

10pts.

OK so any chance of getting 4th now lies in this Cluster of 5. 15 points, hmmmm, and we are at 29 which is right on the treshold of 2ppg.

Studge should be back.

Chelsea (H) - DWWWDW - 14 - 4 top 6 teams. Must win and would give us a great boost. Would take a draw based on current form.

Palace (A) - WWLLDL - 7 - 2 top 6 teams. Must win. Will be a horrible match.
Stoke (H) - DWLWLD - 8 - 0 top 6 team. Must Win. Glad this one is at home.
Leicester (A) - WLDLLL - 4 - 1 top 6 team. Must win. Should win.
Sunderland (H) - DDWLLW - 8 - 1 top 6 team. Must win. Could be a nightmare.

Liverpool - LDWWDL - 8 - 1 top 6 team.

OK so any chance of getting 4th now lies in this Cluster of 5. 15 points, hmmmm, and we are at 29 which is right on the treshold of 2ppg.

Studge should be back.

Chelsea (H) - DWWWDW - 14 - 4 top 6 teams. Must win and would give us a great boost. Would take a draw based on current form.

Palace (A) - WWLLDL - 7 - 2 top 6 teams. Must win. Will be a horrible match.
Stoke (H) - DWLWLD - 8 - 0 top 6 team. Must Win. Glad this one is at home.
Leicester (A) - WLDLLL - 4 - 1 top 6 team. Must win. Should win.
Sunderland (H) - DDWLLW - 8 - 1 top 6 team. Must win. Could be a nightmare.

Liverpool - LDWWDL - 8 - 1 top 6 team.

Sorry mate I'm probably being dumb and it's obvious but what's the 14-4 against Chelsea etc all about?

Sorry that's points and then number of games vs top 6 teams.  As in 14 points and played 4 of the top 6 teams.

Clear as mud

Sorry that's points and then number of games vs top 6 teams.  As in 14 points and played 4 of the top 6 teams.

Clear as mud

Then how did we take eight points off one top six team? 

Sorry that's points and then number of games vs top 6 teams.  As in 14 points and played 4 of the top 6 teams.

Clear as mud

Ah got ya.

Then how did we take eight points off one top six team? 

It's points in the last 5 games and number of top 6 teams played.

Ah got ya.

It's points in the last 5 games and number of top 6 teams played.

Exactly. From now on I will be clearer

OK so any chance of getting 4th now lies in this Cluster of 5. 15 points, hmmmm, and we are at 29 which is right on the treshold of 2ppg.

1st 5 games: 6/15 points
2nd 5 games: 8/15 points
3rd 5 games: 7/15 points

At least we're being fairly consistent.

Heading for 53 points this season.  Or compared to last season 10 wins turned to defeats.

Next five games could very well define our season.

Burnley (A)
Swansea (H)
Leicester (H)
Sunderland (A)
Villa (A)

Burnley and Leicester are in the bottom three and learning that life in the Premier League is not all it's cracked up to be for Championship promoteees. Swansea where doing well earlier in the season but have slipped down the table of late lying only two places and three points above us. Villa seem to have become something of a bogie team for us in the last couple of seasons but at least it'll provide Delph with a platform to shows FSG his silky skills before we sign him in January.

All sarcasm aside though, with Sturridge hopefully returning for the majority of them, FSG hopefully surprising everyone with a marquee striker in Jan (no, I won't be holding my breath), these are five very winnable fixtures and if we take maximum points from them, given the problems those we're competing against for a top four place are having, we should be in with a shout of defying history (no team that's taken 22 points from 17 games has ever finished higher than 6th) finishing fourth. It's all to play for. Game on. COYR!

Wasn't sure where to post this, so I decided to just stick it in here. We have won 2 in a row, 3 of our last 4, and we're unbeaten in 4. We have a very winnable stretch of games coming up: Leicester, Wimbledon, Sunderland, and Villa. Win all 4 of these games and we will be into the last 16 of the FA Cup, bearing down on 4th place in the league, into the knockout rounds of the Europa League, and preparing for a League Cup semifinal against Chelsea. Not all bad when you look at it like that

There is even an added bonus for us with the semifinal draw against Chelsea -- they play City in a top of the table clash 4 days after we meet them in the 2nd leg. They will prioritize the league title charge over the League Cup and will likely rest key players like Costa, Hazard, Oscar, Cesc, and Matic. If we can keep it at 0-0 in the first leg then we will have a great opportunity to beat a weakened side in the 2nd leg and book our place in the final!! Exciting times coming up in the next 4 weeks!!

Oh, and there is a little matter of Sturridge returning to fitness that could help us as well