AvonVillain

Honestly mate, what on earth are you talking about? The same manager who took us out of the Championship at the first time of asking! Jesus.

+ John McGinn. Dreadful luck for a newly promoted team to lose 3 key players for a large part of the season. With these 3, I would argue we would be comfortably mid-table, and all this Dean Smith talk would be much more positive.

Even after last night, or probably because of it, think I'm a bit more resigned to us going down now. Can we really beat Arsenal? Even if we get a draw we're then looking at stopping West Ham scoring, whilst scoring at least 2 or more ourselves to take all the points. After all that improbability, we're now looking at Bournemouth who are in really good form not piling the pressure on and gaining more points than us from the final two. In retrospect, I'm not certain we as a club, and us as fans, really believed we would be this bad or the season this tortuous. It seemed to only click that we were in a perilous position and perhaps we should play as a team during the last 5 games. I think the mentality of us being a bigger club than some of our direct rivals has probably been our biggest problem over the last 10 years. The fact that we're still in with a chance of staying up after being as consistently poor as we've been casts doubt on the idea that the Premier League is a huge step up in quality from the Championship. Just look at how well Sheff. United have done simply by organising themselves properly over the course of a season. I can't remember a season where so many teams have looked so mediocre, and this perhaps points to the reason Liverpool walked the title, and another bitter pill to swallow. We couldn't stay up in perhaps the poorest Premier League since its inception. 18. Watford 19. Villa 20. Norwich

If we do somehow manage to take it to the final match on that fateful (hopefully) Sunday in 10 days time, imagine what it'll be like on these boards!?

Watford to lose next three. Bournemouth to draw next two. Villa to do what they've barely managed all season. There's still hope, just.

Season of what ifs, I think.

We are showing fight, we're just not very good. Watford to lose every game. Villa to pick up 4 more points. *runs*

Not sure I can listen to the rest of this game.

KONSA!!!

"You sense that Davis will cause more problems than Samatta did" says the commentator. So frustrating.

Impossible to understand. Genuinely... Davis offers SOMETHING. Samatta, nothing. We're throwing this opportunity away.

You have to question the wisdom of continuing with Samatta in such a vital game as this.

Amazed at sticking with Samatta. Astonished, even.

There's simply no way Samatta can reappear for the second half.

HAS to be subs at HT.

Heard that Mings was having a go at Samatta. Fair play.

For me, put El Ghazi up front. We're playing without a striker anyway...

Samatta off. El Ghazi on at HT please.

Exactly. Bournemouth to lose is all we can ask for.

I think if it does all boil down to that final game against West Ham, then we will at least finally have a definition of what constitutes: "Must Win".

It does look as though 7 points from the remaining fixtures is the minimum requirement to stand any chance now that Bournemouth have put the cat amongst the pigeons.

It's that Arsenal game I worry about... against Watford. They can be brilliant one game and horrific the next. You don't need me to explain which way around this pattern might fall. *edit* though at least Arsenal are at home, and will want to give the piped-in fans something to cheer.

Just to chuck something else in... Brighton have Southampton, Newcastle and Burnley to play, and they're on 36 points. Lose all 3, and we gain this 7 points we're all chucking around, then it could be Brighton that we catch and send down.

Everton seem to have given up. Arsenal's defence absolutely terrible. West Ham hopefully safe on final game. We've definitely got a chance. 7 points from these games? Would it be enough??

Benteke just been sent off after final whistle!