Villa’s Race for Europe 22/23

[villa4europe]

49 minutes ago, PaulC said:

Yes I mentioned that before but Arteta has made the mistake of burning out his better players like Saka 

Arteta doesn't have a fat lot of choice though, he hasn't got mahrez etc to rotate in and out

That's why Im not a fan of calling arsenal bottlers, doesn't really take in to appreciation how much of an advantage city have due to their spending on their squad

[Sulberto21]

52 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Yeah but it’s a false position because Man U have games in hand.  I think we have to take that into reality. We have to do as well as possible and see where that leaves us.  Our games in hand make us look higher and I’d prefer points in the bank but it does give us elevated position over reality if we had all played same amount of games.

Which season was it when we had the games in hand and we didn’t actually do anything. As you say realistically the chances of fourth are slim to none but we have the points. I can see man yoo panic a little.

We owe them for 92/93 in the league when we panicked during the run in.

[RichW]

1 hour ago, Kiwivillan said:

I will be very upset if we don't beat Manure with CB combo of 2 from Maguire Lindelof Shaw

It helps that they are out, I was hoping Fernandes and Rashford would be out but Rashford came back last week and Fernandes is meant to be fit for tonight's game so looks like they won't be missing for the weekend unless get injuries tonight. 

Regardless of their injuries, their home form has been very good this season, you can't ignore that. Away from home against decent opposition they've been found out but at Old Trafford teams have not been going away with many points this season. Villa can be 2-0 up on Sunday and I still wouldn't feel confident will get something from the game. Not sure why people are saying they'd be disappointed if don't pick up anything at Old Trafford especially if it looks like Villa haven't got any injured players coming back to make changes to what looked like a tired side against Fulham. 

[nick76]

8 minutes ago, Sulberto21 said:

Which season was it when we had the games in hand and we didn’t actually do anything. As you say realistically the chances of fourth are slim to none but we have the points. I can see man yoo panic a little.

We owe them for 92/93 in the league when we panicked during the run in.

We don’t have the points relating to Man U though, they have 5 points in hand.  They also have 3 games in hand, so a double whammy!  

So we have to win 2, they lose 5 games…then we can match the other 3 games each…I think that’s less than slim chance purely expecting them to lose at least five games in 8 matches.

[Sulberto21]

3 minutes ago, nick76 said:

We don’t have the points relating to Man U though, they have 5 points in hand.  They also have 3 games in hand, so a double whammy!  

So we have to win 2, they lose 5 games…then we can match the other 3 games each…I think that’s less than slim chance purely expecting them to lose at least five games in 8 matches.

Bah humbug! 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

1 hour ago, HKP90 said:

Weeeelllll. Whilst I'm loving the optimism, I think we need a bit of a reality check here. If the three teams below us win their games in hand they will be above us and we'll be 8th, 

[lexicon]

1 hour ago, HKP90 said:

Weeeelllll. Whilst I'm loving the optimism, I think we need a bit of a reality check here. If the three teams below us win their games in hand they will be above us and we'll be 8th, so while it is a good position to be in, we need to not go mental as a fan base if we drop a bit (not that i'm implying you would, I mean the wider 'we').  

So what you're saying is we can all celebrate if Man Utd beat Spurs today? 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, HKP90 said:

Weeeelllll. Whilst I'm loving the optimism, I think we need a bit of a reality check here. If the three teams below us win their games in hand they will be above us and we'll be 8th

Buuuutttt, all the teams are pretty much playing each other.  They can't all get all the points

[paul514]

1 hour ago, VillaChris said:

That would be Liverpool then....

I actually think looking at the run ins they can challenge Man. United for that last CL spot.

Watch the highlights from last nights game. You might change your mind then

[HKP90]

7 minutes ago, lexicon said:

So what you're saying is we can all celebrate if Man Utd beat Spurs today? 

I wouldn't go that far. 

[The_Rev]

1 hour ago, HKP90 said:

Weeeelllll. Whilst I'm loving the optimism, I think we need a bit of a reality check here. If the three teams below us win their games in hand they will be above us and we'll be 8th, so while it is a good position to be in, we need to not go mental as a fan base if we drop a bit (not that i'm implying you would, I mean the wider 'we').  

 

Liverpool's game in hand is against Fulham. 

Spurs' game in hand is against Manchester United. 

Brighton's games in hand are against Manchester United, Newcastle United and Manchester City.

Liverpool also play Spurs this weekend and they only way they can both go above us is if we lose and they draw, and them drawing is probably the result we want. 

 

The teams below us will drop points.  We probably will too, I'm still thinking 6th or 7th is a best case scenario but I'm hugely optimistic about qualifying for Europe and I do wonder how much Spurs (because they are Spurs) and Brighton (because they have 10 games in 35 days) have left in the tank.   I feel Liverpool will finish the season strongly. 

 

[HKP90]

9 minutes ago, Harkanon said:

Buuuutttt, all the teams are pretty much playing each other.  They can't all get all the points

Liverpool play Spurs next, so whatever the result, one of them go above us, even if just on GD. Brighton play Wolves, Man U and Everton, none of which are fighting for our position right now.  

So maybe not 8th, but 7th if Brighton win them all. 

Again, not saying it will happen, and I'm loving where we are right now, but the work is not over just yet.  

[HKP90]

2 minutes ago, The_Rev said:

 

Liverpool's game in hand is against Fulham. 

Spurs' game in hand is against Manchester United. 

Brighton's games in hand are against Manchester United, Newcastle United and Manchester City.

Liverpool also play Spurs this weekend and they only way they can both go above us is if we lose and they draw, and them drawing is probably the result we want. 

 

The teams below us will drop points.  We probably will too, I'm still thinking 6th or 7th is a best case scenario but I'm hugely optimistic about qualifying for Europe and I do wonder how much Spurs (because they are Spurs) and Brighton (because they have 10 games in 35 days) have left in the tank.   I feel Liverpool will finish the season strongly. 

 

I missed the spurs game against Man U actually, so fair enough, but I thought Liverpool were up against Spurs next?

[lexicon]

13 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

I missed the spurs game against Man U actually, so fair enough, but I thought Liverpool were up against Spurs next?

Liverpool's next game is that but Spurs have Man U tonight. 

[Kiwivillan]

46 minutes ago, RichW said:

Villa can be 2-0 up on Sunday and I still wouldn't feel confident will get something from the game. 

They should change club motto from "Prepared" to "Not Confident"

[The_Rev]

@HKP90 Spurs play Man Utd tonight and Liverpool on Sunday.  Their game in hand on us is tonight's fixture. 

The other clubs games in hand are, I think, due to fixtures being postponed when the Queen died and them being unable to be rearranged firstly due to the World Cup and then because one of the two teams who were supposed to be playing having European football instead.  That's why you tend to see games in hand being against teams who went deep in Europe. 

Edited April 27, 2023 by The_Rev

[lexicon]

22 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

I wouldn't go that far. 

I know, was just messing around.

I'm sure we'd all take 7th if offered now (if it guaranteed Europe).

I have us to finish 6th behind Liverpool and ahead of Spurs and Brighton but for Europe, we just need to finish above one of them.

In any case, and especially considering how this season started, it's been great and there is a massive amount of optimism we can take into the summer regardless. 

[duke313]

16 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

Liverpool play Spurs next, so whatever the result, one of them go above us, even if just on GD. Brighton play Wolves, Man U and Everton, none of which are fighting for our position right now.  

So maybe not 8th, but 7th if Brighton win them all. 

Again, not saying it will happen, and I'm loving where we are right now, but the work is not over just yet.  

They won't if we beat Man Utd.  If we win, we will have 57, If Liverpool beat Spurs they have 56.

[HeyAnty]

Man utd will get top 4 but I expect us to beat them on Sunday.  They played extra time n pens in a cup semi, playing tonight and then again on Sunday.  They also have injuries.  
 

Our extra rest with Emery’s tempo will hopefully be to much for them to handle. 
 

Liverpool are also not playing well, no matter what the last few results suggest.  They have been fortunate in a couple.  I think its 50/50 we beat them to.

[Lord Willard]

I'm praying we can finish in 6th. We just need some injuries back just to help with rotation. Taking players off at 60/70 mins helps massively with fatigue.