turvontour Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 On 17/01/2024 at 13:27, DJBOB said: I think while it will force some tricky fixtures - it's not nearly as bad as the group games. Exactly. Also if we are to go all the way and win the Conference league we will play fewer games than we have so far. We didn't seem to deal with the 8 european games in the first half of the season too badly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turvontour Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 On 17/01/2024 at 15:23, ender4 said: In some ways i agree, but the intensity of the games will go up and we won't be able to play second string players as we get to the later rounds. Possibly but if we win a first leg heavily then we can rest and rotate. We haven't had that luxury so far in the groups as you don't know your standing until after the last game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVTuco Posted January 20 VT Supporter Share Posted January 20 13 hours ago, DJBOB said: We would have to really collapse to go to 6th given that West Ham are the closest and they're already 9 points behind. I think the most likely scenario is that all 5 places go to UCL so all we can do is our part of it. Not to be overly negative, but WH has played one less game. If they beat SheffU they're only six points, two wins, behind us. And in pretty good form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwivillan Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 12 minutes ago, AVTuco said: Not to be overly negative, but WH has played one less game. If they beat SheffU they're only six points, two wins, behind us. And in pretty good form. They have David Moyes as manager and we have Unai Emery 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picicata Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 17 minutes ago, AVTuco said: Not to be overly negative, but WH has played one less game. If they beat SheffU they're only six points, two wins, behind us. And in pretty good form. Whilst that is true, they are currently playing as well as they have all season and we are playing as 'poorly' as we have all season, to catch us that will have to remain the case. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichW Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 52 minutes ago, ender4 said: Any chance that Crystal Palace can play well enough today to make Arsenal drop points? If Arsenal win they go ahead of us again. Wouldn’t be a surprise if Arsenal go ahead of us anyway. Always maintained that Man City/Liverpool/Arsenal would finish above us despite what the league table has said recently but I guess for those who are thinking about a title race will see it as disappointing which is fair enough. Think with all the talk about Arsenals attack recently wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a very convincing win for them against Palace today and Hodgson will be sacked no doubt. Only teams results I’m looking at at the moment is Spurs! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 4 minutes ago, RichW said: Wouldn’t be a surprise if Arsenal go ahead of us anyway. Always maintained that Man City/Liverpool/Arsenal would finish above us despite what the league table has said recently but I guess for those who are thinking about a title race will see it as disappointing which is fair enough. Think with all the talk about Arsenals attack recently wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a very convincing win for them against Palace today and Hodgson will be sacked no doubt. Only teams results I’m looking at at the moment is Spurs! I think City and Liverpool are the stand out with City being well ahead but I don’t think there is much between us, Arsenal and Spurs. Arsenal have scoring issues at the moment but I expect that to get better but their fullbacks and GK’s wouldn’t give me any confidence and I don’t think Arteta is good enough at the top end mental combats. Spurs and Ange ball is just one style, it will cause more injuries and they may run out of steam, I see no plan B when it doesn’t work. We have our issues of course but we have Emery. I think 3rd to 5th is a fairly even battle between us three. A bit of bad form of key injuries will make the difference. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvonVillain Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 Currently sat 4th in the league and feel a sense of disappointment! Astonishing how far we've come in such a short time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 (edited) 11 minutes ago, AvonVillain said: Currently sat 4th in the league and feel a sense of disappointment! Astonishing how far we've come in such a short time. We are still on the same points as second though. GD will fluctuate a lot over the coming 17 games and at least us and Arsenal have similar GD. “Joint second” for those that dislike that phrase I’ll wait for the “but we’re not”… Edited January 20 by nick76 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 2 hours ago, AVTuco said: Not to be overly negative, but WH has played one less game. If they beat SheffU they're only six points, two wins, behind us. And in pretty good form. I actually think Sheffield United will beat them. Missing all of Paqueta, Kudus, Antonio and Benrahma out for three matches. Not sure if Bowen is still out but there's basically all their good attackers unavailable given Ings is totally past it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 13 minutes ago, AvonVillain said: Currently sat 4th in the league and feel a sense of disappointment! Astonishing how far we've come in such a short time. Just one of those things. Arsenal aren't going to keep losing forever and Palace at home is ideal game for them to get back on track so was never expecting them to drop points. We just need to win our next two to get properly back on track. When we're hopefully beating Sheffield United, Arsenal-Liverpool is happening on that weekend so that's a chance to get ahead of one of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 I’ve had Palace marked down for a possible slump leading to a relegation struggle and everything in this match seems to confirm it. Big boost for Arsenal and we will want to get those points from Palace on the last day of the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWARLEY2 Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 Just now, briny_ear said: I’ve had Palace marked down for a possible slump leading to a relegation struggle and everything in this match seems to confirm it. Big boost for Arsenal and we will want to get those points from Palace on the last day of the season. They will have to fire Hodgson soon. He has the footballers for extremely exciting football but they are awful results wise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVTuco Posted January 20 VT Supporter Share Posted January 20 3 hours ago, picicata said: Whilst that is true, they are currently playing as well as they have all season and we are playing as 'poorly' as we have all season, to catch us that will have to remain the case. I was replying to "We would have to really collapse to go to 6th" which is not the case. They're not million miles behind us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 25 minutes ago, briny_ear said: I’ve had Palace marked down for a possible slump leading to a relegation struggle and everything in this match seems to confirm it. Big boost for Arsenal and we will want to get those points from Palace on the last day of the season. I couldn’t watch the second half, watching Palace not even try was embarrassing for them so I watched something else. I expected Arsenal to win but Palace gave up before the first whistle. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BleedClaretAndBlue Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Scorpio Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 I think we need to fend off Spurs for 4th place ultimately. Going to be hard. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvonVillain Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 4 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said: I think we need to fend off Spurs for 4th place ultimately. Going to be hard. I think it's supposed to be hard, that's why the league is so universally popular. Worry that the ultimate Villa gift© is for us to cede 4th to Spurs toward the very end of the season, meaning Spurs don't 'Spurs' it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 1 minute ago, AvonVillain said: 8 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said: I think we need to fend off Spurs for 4th place ultimately. Going to be hard. I think it's supposed to be hard, that's why the league is so universally popular. Worry that the ultimate Villa gift© is for us to cede 4th to Spurs toward the very end of the season, meaning Spurs don't 'Spurs' it up. Or Arsenal bottle it again, they bottled the title last season, they bottled fourth place the season before despite having control of both. Arteta doesn’t have the mental strength…I could still see us and Spurs finishing ahead of Arsenal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaJ100 Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 I know they all count but we need a big win now I feel like Arsenal have done today. Most of our recent wins since Arsenal have been really dug out and we've made heavy weather of some absolute complete no hoper teams. A nice 5-0 ourselves would be good 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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