oishiiniku_uk

Exactly. Burnley could still stay up if they were able to get a win at Spurs and beat Forest at home on final day (assuming Forest lose to Chelsea). I'd back most teams against Spurs on current form. If you can put in a decent corner or have pace on the counter then you've a decent chance of beating them.

Yep, for whatever reason, Newcastle are seen as an easier sell to the wider football audience, I think. Also, when Newcastle got fourth it was probably assumed they'd be able to spend silly money year after year like Man City and Chelsea did and that we'd be looking at another super club in next to no time. As it's turned out, the loopholes that allowed previous regimes to jump the queue have been closed so Newcastle aren't going to be quite the draw (at least not in the short-medium term) that the media had hoped they'd be.

I mean, Pep had 69 points after 35 games so including that stat would lessen Ange's impact further (although it also makes Unai's achievements with us look even better!)

I fixed Sky's 'How Many Points They Had After 35 Games' graphic:

It seems a pretty big flaw in our squad that the likes of Palace, West Ham, Newcastle etc have much better backup keepers than we do. I'm not saying those keepers(Henderson, Fabianski, Dubravka) are great, but they are upgrades on Olsen. I really hope we address the issue in the summer.

Two of Spurs' remaining games are against Burnley and Sheff Utd so that's the two other wins (and maybe a goal difference swing). And neither one of Liverpool home or Palace away is an easy game. So I think a win today is essential, personally and we should play Emi even if it's a slight risk.

Yes! Come on Luton! I'd love to see Marinakis take his culture war back down to the championship.

Dyche's Everton in a grey kit - is there a less inspiring sight in the Premier League?

He's never managed at a level higher than the EFL Championship before, really (with the exception of Celtic's European games where they got thrashed for the most part). The quality of teams and managers that Ange is facing now is way above what he's encountered in Scotland, Japan etc. And it seems that many have worked out how to stifle the strengths of Angeball and exploit its weaknesses.

I think Spurs' next two games will be really open and feature a bunch of goals and it's hard to predict the results. Both Chelsea and Liverpool will likely give Spurs the space they want to create their signature move (get the ball to the wide attacker quickly who then crosses hard and low for a tap in) and I think a front three of Son left, Richarlison centre and Johnson right is a much better fit for Angeball (tm) than playing Werner left and crowbarring Son in at CF. At the same time, we've seen how vulnerable Spurs are both to counter attacks and set pieces lately. To be honest, I can see 5+ goals in both games and it's hard to say which way either will go (if Liverpool were still in the title race I'd make them heavier favourites). Fingers crossed that Chelsea play with the same intensity as they did vs us the other night and that Liverpool want to give a performance they can be proud of in Klopp's penultimate home game.

I'm not saying we're great (I know we're not) but since teams worked out how to unnerve Vicario at corners, Spurs have been conceding an alarming number of set piece goals.

Brighton still have a number of very sellable assets (Ferguson, Mitoma, Enciso, Estupinan etc.) and plenty in the bank. While I agree that it's unwise to spend frivolously, I don't think that Brighton will get a better opportunity to capitalize on their own success (and the under-performance of others) than they did last summer. If there was ambition to sustain their league position as well as challenge in Europe then a couple more signings could have made all the difference.

Is that the difference between them and us then? We're willing to gamble on more expensive players in an attempt to bridge the gap to the top teams whereas Brighton know their limits and are happy to be a stable, mid-table club that might push into the top half once in a while? Our revenues were pretty similar last year (albeit we have more room to grow given the larger supporter base, larger ground, greater potential for commercial partners etc.).

Yep. They really needed to sign both a Mac Allister replacement AND a more experienced/proven player than Baleba for DM also. Teams have just walked through their midfield for a lot of this season (Gilmour and Hinshelwood vs us was a particularly pathetic pair).

If you're posting £100 mil + profits year after year then maybe you can start shopping more regularly at a higher level for some of your signings (i.e. shop in the £15-40 million market as we did for Luiz, Watkins, Bailey, Pau, etc.)? And then it's quite possible that you could still sell them for significant profit if they perform well (with you probably higher up the table).

De Zerbi's clearly given up for the season (look at the amount of rotation he's been doing the past few games) and most likely is hoping that the big clubs he was linked to earlier in the season (I'm still not convinced there was more to it than the usual football media rumours) will come calling even though his team have gone into a complete slump. He may well still be carrying a grudge over the transfer strategy last summer/in January: Brighton should probably have been more ambitious in replacing Mac Allister and Caicedo (Gilmour is never going to reach the same levels and Baleba is not going to be ready to start regularly for a year or two). Potentially they could spend a fair amount this summer, but they will be a less enticing prospect if they finish 14th than if they'd splashed the cash when they'd secured Europa League football and everyone was celebrating them as 'the best run club in the world'. Also, it's kinda crazy that they finished a point above us last season and are likely to finish 25+ points below us this time around.

I see a lot of Spurs fans/pundits trying to convince themselves and others that they were 'unlucky' and that they 'won' on most stats(!) vs Arsenal but how long will the faith in Angeball last if they can't fix the obvious deficiencies? Namely: their weakness at defending set pieces and how vulnerable their high line makes them to counter attacks (asking Van de Ven to bail you out multiple times every game seems unsustainable). Also, claiming you won on possession/shots/open play xg etc. isn't that valid when the opponent is happy to play mostly on the counter or look for set piece opportunities (as Arsenal were yesterday).

I don't get all the Angeball hate - as long as Spurs never lose the ball or concede any corners they're guaranteed to succeed!

I didn't know that Weird Al was a Spurs fan!

Only Sheffield United are below them in the form table. Also, De Zerbi has made some strange selections for this game. Feels like he's given up for the season.

Son with the moonshot!

Not too keen on Leeds either, to be fair.

Don Goodman says this isn't the game he was expecting for about the ninth time...

I think we should start this game with a lot of confidence and be able to dictate the play. Yes, Chelsea won 3-1 at Villa Park earlier in the season but significantly neither Pau or Konsa played in that game and I'm not sure how seriously we've taken either domestic cup this season (see also the meek loss to Everton in the Carabao). Atmosphere should be raucous and I think that could make a collection of young Chelsea players, that was seemingly assembled mostly on 'underlying data and potential saleability', to shrink further into their shells. It's kind of amazing to see how the two clubs' fortunes have inverted since Gerrard's infamous 'Chelsea should be coming to Villa Park and wiping the floor with us' quote. They were at the start of a brave new era under 'the next elite manager' in Graham Potter and we were hoping that Stevie would get the chop ASAP. Who could have predicted that things would work out this way? I'm just so grateful that we got smart, savvy owners who are building things in a structured (but still ambitious) way rather than 'disruptors' who assumed they could breeze in to football and succeed despite going against most of the prevailing logic and evidence.

Finished sixth (although only because Brighton started that season so well under Potter). Brighton place second in the Possession League every year which is apparently great even if you're 11th in the actual table. They also qualify for the Champions League through their xg numbers regularly. Oh wait...