Lots of talk about killing our chances of trophies and top 4 if we don't bring in players this January, so I decided to take a look at where things currently stand. I'm a wide-eyed optimist, but there is a very good chance the race for top 4 could be over by the time we play Porto at home on March 6, at least as far we are concerned. I could care less if we finish 2nd, 3rd or 4th. It makes little difference. They all are automatically qualified for the group stage. Current Table (Pre-Swansea) LFC Schedule (through match day 29) @ Swansea @ Huddersfield Spurs @ Southhampton West Ham Newcastle These should all be considered winnable games, but its likely we'll drop points somewhere. We pickup at least 15 points. Spurs Schedule (through match day 29) Utd @ Liverpool Arsenal @Palace Huddersfield I'd be shocked if they win all 5 of those games, I think at most they get 9 points, but there is every chance they end up with 6 or 7. I'll be generous and give them 9. So after this run of games the points total would be: Liverpool P29 62pts Spurs P29 54 pts. That's an 8 point gap with 9 games to play. I'd say that's almost best case for Spurs, there is every chance it could more. Even with Utd, Palace, the Ev, and Chelsea away to come for LFC, that is a huge gap to make up. Spurs would need to go the Chelsea, have City at home as well as Leicester. So basically, the boys need to do the business in the next 6 weeks in the league and then we can shift focus to the cups and Klopp will have more room to rotate in the league.
Yes, this is the first year 4th doesn't have a playoff. https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=2398899.html#/
I would call this the "Pre-Run In Thread"! I definitely see what you are looking at - and it would do wonders for us confidence wise, rotation wise, etc. to have a nice cushion going into the last 9 games - but as we saw last year those last nine will be as important as ever.
Since 2010 the only team in the top 4 after 29 games to fail to finish top 4 was Spurs in 2012/2013 when Arsenal beat them by a point. Spurs were on 54 after 29 and Arsenal were on 47, with a game in hand. To quote the Monster High show my daughter made me watch this weekend with her, an 8 point lead with 9 to go "isn't impossible, just challenging".
Liverpool after 25 games in the PL. Going well. pic.twitter.com/xvJcsol2Ey— Andrew Beasley (@BassTunedToRed) January 30, 2018
Race for the top four. Spurs' next three matches are against teams in the top six, so this table may change a lot in the next couple of weeks. pic.twitter.com/NZe8V4JCHt— Andrew Beasley (@BassTunedToRed) January 30, 2018
Yes, but Spurs, Arse and Utd all drop points in those games and they have more of them to play, (except Arse). Arse have City and Utd, plus Spurs and Leicester, all games they would be odds on to drop points in, so they have absolutely no margin for error. Only once has come from 6th with 25 games played to take 4th since 2010, Arse who was 4 points back. As we know from years past, trying to chase down a top 4 spot is this many games when you are 4 or 5 points behind to go is extremely difficult. A Utd win tonight and a win for us on Saturday will just about lock us in for at least 4th. Currently 538 is giving us am 87% probability, Spurs is at 41% and Arse are at 10%. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/soccer-predictions/premier-league/
Of course we do, its just good to have the proper big picture perspective in the event a single game doesn't go our way and heads are falling off.
The four teams log-jammed in 2-5 all have two games against other members of the Big Six in their next 5 matches. As a result of this, we could see some separation by the March 10/11 round of matches. Or everybody could continue their sclerotic seasons and we could see everybody within 1 point of one another. And Crystal Palace could have a big hand in the battle for 2nd as they play 3 of the 4 teams in the coming weeks. Liverpool's next 5 league games: spurs (h) soton (a) west ham (h) newcastle (h) united (a) united's next 5 league games: huddersfield (h) newcastle (a) chelsea (h) palace (a) Liverpool (h) chelsea's next 5 league games: watford (a) west brom (h) united (a) citeh (a) palace (h) spurs' next 5 league games: Liverpool (a) arsenal (h) palace (a) huddersfield (h) bournemouth (a)
Chelsea seems most likely to drop out at this point. Could be a difficult one at Watford tonight. Updated with cup/CL games: Liverpool's next 5 league games: soton (a) Porto (a) west ham (h) newcastle (h) Porto (h) united (a) united's next 5 league games: newcastle (a) FA Cup (a) Sevilla (a) chelsea (h) palace (a) Liverpool (h) Sevilla (h) chelsea's next 5 league games: watford (a) west brom (h) Hull (FA Cup) (h) Barca (h) united (a) citeh (a) palace (h) Barca (a) spurs' next 5 league games: Newport (h) arsenal (h) Juve (a) palace (a) or FA Cup huddersfield (h) Juve (h) bournemouth (a)
They've been hit with League Cup Semi Syndrome like we were last year. Going far in that tournament is a season killer.
Race for the top four. Terrible night for Chelsea. A third of their remaining matches are against teams in the top five. pic.twitter.com/YIcA5DSzOe— Andrew Beasley (@BassTunedToRed) February 5, 2018 960641175697928193 is not a valid tweet id
Does Hazard bugger off because he can’t face the shame of no CL for the second time in 3 seasons or are the chavs’ pay packets big enough to insulate them from the “I want to play in the CL” babble spouted by players?