VillaChris

It is genuinely amazing people posting all these doomsday predictions....and they don't even know how many points these teams have in the actual table! There was someone on this thread the other day being very negative about our prospects and they were actually unaware that Spurs can't catch us if they lose to Man. City, thought the six points from Sheffield United and Burnley would be enough to catch us if we lost our last two. With so few games left now it's not that hard to be on top of the brief for all the teams run ins and who needs what. In that scenario aswell, Man. City win at Arsenal don't then Man. City can win the title at Spurs. I can think of no reason why they wouldn't want to wrap it up there as then they can rest players on the final day to keep them fresh for the cup final.

In the previous four they also lost 3-0 to Fulham and drew 1-1 at West Ham so their middling form has been going on longer than just losing to top 6. Beating us at VP is actually their only away win in the league since mid December. In that time we've won five away games. They also only beat Luton 2-1 with 85th minute goal so I don't think it's a lock they just beat Burnley 3 or 4 nil tbh. Burnley need to make sure they don't go gung ho from first minute as if they sit in they will get chances on the counter against this Spurs.

Let's hope so! That's a far tougher proposition than it was two months ago. Our record at Selhurst is historically abysmal aswell. Think it's just two wins there since the mid 90s.

I think Man. City will win the cup final 5 or 6 nil if this is what Man. United will put out. Realistically it's only Rashford, Maguire and Fernandes who'll come back in if fit. The rest haven't played for months on end and there's only three more league games for them after this.

Ideally if it has to happen like that they only beat Burnley by a goal. Hopefully Burnley will attempt to keep things tight for an hour rather than gung ho from kick off otherwise Spurs will beat them 4 nil like Newcastle did as they are certainly not good enough to go toe to toe with Spurs. We'll see as Burnley have drawn away to Chelsea and Man. United in last month so not like they're complete no hopers and Spurs are actually in worse form than either. So in that scenario (and we lose to Liverpool by a single goal) then situation on final day is this: Us 67 points -19 Spurs 64 points -12 There then needs to be a 7 goal swing in Spurs favour on the final day e.g we lose to Palace 2-1 and they beat Sheffield United 7-1. Now I know Sheffield United are one of the worst teams we've seen in a long while at this level but it's not like they lose by six goal margins every week. In recent times they've lost 3-1 to Liverpool and 4-2 to Man. United. Also got a 2-2 v Chelsea. Can Spurs just turn it on and score 7 or even 8 in a blink of an eye. Again form isn't suggesting that at all, they only scored two v Luton when they won that game. This is all still very much in our favour as long as we don't attempt ridiculous high line tactics v Liverpool as they will expose us and beat us by a few goals. Spurs only beating Burnley by a single goal is far from a terrible result though.

Was mid Feb when he had the operation. I think he may get back involved in the squad right at the end of the year. Pretty much misses all our potential CL campaign so for that alone we can't be messing around trying to sign a DM all summer window.

What tactical tweaks do we need for the final two league games then? I really don't think it's a good idea at all to be just playing SJM and Luiz as a two v Palace as Eze and Olise will just pull them all over the pitch. Given we do have four CBs fit with two of them warming the bench surely one of them in emergency can slot into midfield? Play 4-2-3-1 and we lose the last two games I fear.

Needs to be a very low block but also some threat on the counter. Again just having Luiz and SJM to attempt to handle Olise and Eze is asking for trouble big time. Please think of something else Unai even if it's just playing one of the CBs in midfield as we can't just have two in there. Eriksen been excellent player in his time but he simply can't run anymore so they're just strolling past him. Mount's a bit like Diaby for us, glimpse of quality but generally jogging around the pitch in a confused state.

Maguire, Martinez, Varane, Lindelof and Shaw all "unavailable" tonight.

This will be 4 or 5 nil.

Great post and it's what people are missing on here. Three weeks ago everything was level and they had a chance to go three clear of us with a game in hand. Blew it at Newcastle and we were brilliant at Arsenal the next day. That was the weekend we secured 4th imo although still got to dig one more result out.

Think it will be similar to the Arsenal game. They'll just pick off Spurs on the counter and expose them at set pieces with their height (see how they won the FA cup game in Jan). If they're 3-0 up aswell they won't let Spurs back in like Arsenal did either. I'm very relaxed still even if we're making life a bit harder with the last two league games. Spurs chance to really put the pressure on us was Newcastle and Chelsea away and they failed miserably in both.

Estadio Bodymoor de Heath CF.

Looks like he's back on the training pitch today judging by his latest Insta post (weather is sunny and his son is off school today so don't think it's an old one).

They'll probably get into Europe now so that likely keeps Pochettino in a job. I read somewhere they've managed to fiddle it so the 55m for Mount goes in the books for this summer instead, didn't he join Man. United before 1st July last summer? Also got money coming in for Hall for Newcastle and will sell Maatsen to Dortmund for 35m so there's plenty there and probably just needs one more sale.

Newcastle will still be in europe at least so will have Thursday/Sunday to cope with for probably longer than they stayed in Europe this season. I think Europa league is same format as CL next season so will be 8 games before end of January. Man. United need huge restructuring in their squad so unless it's a Tuchel quality manager coming in I think they'll be relatively lower for most of next season aswell

Don't really listen to any of them. The ones I do are more interviews with old players/managers from the 90s/2000s e.g John Gregory and Dublin. More of a nostalgia guy so big fan of the Under the Cosh podcast for example. The Villa view one 5-6 years ago with Matt Lynch and Dan Bardell was great for that and obviously Dan has gone onto bigger and better things since with his media career so a nice stepping stone. Is there a Villa Podcast out there that interviews Carew, Angel, Mellberg, Laursen etc? Imagine asking Bosko Balaban for his thoughts on his Villa spell, that would be comedy gold. Ginola aswell.

I think we'll see him in Greece. Thursday night is exactly the type of occasion made for him and he won't want to miss out unless he can't actually walk. I guess we might need someone to take the goal kicks but that can be managed.

Paqueta would be at Man. City now if the betting thing hadn't broken, has that even been sorted out yet? Kudus looked good first half of the season but really hasn't done much lately. Alvarez would be great for us. JWP was on the bench yesterday so I think it's just been what you expected from his profile, decent pressing and set pieces but not much else.

I rate Lopetegui but he's a strange fit for West Ham. Basically be the same safety first style it was under Moyes. Odd these clubs spend endless money on players and yet seemingly baulk at paying a 10m buyout clause for Ruben Amorim who'd be a more exciting appointment.

Hopefully not. Very small time and I don't recall Newcastle doing that when they finished 4th last year. Would also delay the players getting a well deserved ovation on their lap of appreciation by about 20 minutes so you'd like to think the majority would factor that for an evening game.

I'm amazed someone is still asking that question. Seems people are using negative energy unnecessarily if they aren't actually on top of the permutations. Not like there's 10 games remaining.

Ruben Anorim would be a brilliant hire for them. Lopetegui o.k but feels like they'll just float around 9th-12th then playing similar football to what they're doing currently under Moyes. Very surprised Potter isn't being considered for this. Don't understand what job he's holding out for if he's rejected decent clubs from abroad.

Would take those results no problem. Would mean we'd have to lose our last two by five goals to finish below them on GD. I forget how tight their home game was v Sheffield United in September so don't think it's a given they just rock up to Bramall Lane and win by 5 or 6 personally.

Donk would still come in for games here and there. He was brilliant coming in for Newcastle at home and then had a run of starts after where he was less effective. This season I think he started Brentford, Sheffield United and then Man. United where he scored but was helpless to stop their second half comeback and that was it for his Villa career. He's still someone when we have injuries/suspensions that Unai was happy to play so again Tim is miles off having that confidence given he can't even get the bench when games are in the balance.