Liverpool FC Forum

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

Could be Arsenal's first time out of the top 4 in a while.

Once you lose that top 4 spot its bloody hard to get back as we found out.

arsenal`s run in is even better than our`s, i think they`ll get 4th.
spurs are making really heavy weather of it lately, they are relying on moments of individual brilliance from gareth bale to scrape results but that well is bound to run dry soon, no player can do that week in week out.
infact when bale doesnt pull a rabbit out of the hat they have been struggling, even against average sides, as their recent draws against norwich and QPR show.
their next 3 games are arsenal, inter milan and then us at anfield, it will be interesting to see how they do in those 3 matches.

[SouthCoastShankly]

Could be Arsenal's first time out of the top 4 in a while.

Once you lose that top 4 spot its bloody hard to get back as we found out.

arsenal`s run in is even better than our`s, i think they`ll get 4th.
spurs are making really heavy weather of it lately, they are relying on moments of individual brilliance from gareth bale to scrape results but that well is bound to run dry soon, no player can do that week in week out.
infact when bale doesnt pull a rabbit out of the hat they have been struggling, even against average sides, as their recent draws against norwich and QPR show.
their next 3 games are arsenal, inter milan and then us at anfield, it will be interesting to see how they do in those 3 matches.

I don't agree that Arsenals run in is better than ours. My post from the other 'run in' thread shows this -

I have hopes of a top 4 finish but my expectations are more hazy. It's so hard to predict how we will fair over a long period of time, such is the unstable nature of our form this season. Historically we have finished strongly and our remaining tough fixtures on paper give hope of a strong finish. Out of the teams above us (excluding Man Utd and City) Arsenal have a great opportunity to finish strongly but are as volatile as us in terms of performances. Tottenham and Chelsea can only throw away a CL finish, assuming they can win their home games they would be certs to remain in the top 4. Everton would have to pull a rabbit out of the hat to mount a challenge, almost all their tough games are away.

The best we can hope for is consistent wins against teams below us and lots of draws between the teams above us.

Fingers crossed!

Chelsea(Currently 3rd - 49pts)
Man City (A)
Tottenham (H)
Liverpool (A)
Man Utd (A)
Everton (H)

Tottenham(Currently 4th - 48pts)
Arsenal (H)
Liverpool (A)
Everton (H)
Chelsea (A)
Man City (H)

Arsenal(Currently 5th - 44pts)
Tottenham (A)
Everton (H)
Man Utd (H)

Everton(Currently 6th - 42pts)
Arsenal (A)
Man City (H)
Tottenham (A)
Liverpool (A)
Chelsea (A)

Liverpool(Currently 7th - 39pts
Tottenham (H)
Chelsea (H)
Everton (H)

[killerp]

Could be Arsenal's first time out of the top 4 in a while.

Once you lose that top 4 spot its bloody hard to get back as we found out.

arsenal`s run in is even better than our`s, i think they`ll get 4th.
spurs are making really heavy weather of it lately, they are relying on moments of individual brilliance from gareth bale to scrape results but that well is bound to run dry soon, no player can do that week in week out.
infact when bale doesnt pull a rabbit out of the hat they have been struggling, even against average sides, as their recent draws against norwich and QPR show.
their next 3 games are arsenal, inter milan and then us at anfield, it will be interesting to see how they do in those 3 matches.

Spurs have had a history of faltering towards the end of the season but I just don't see it with their squad now, everyone's working hard, motivated, scoring important goals, manager has a point to prove, Bales on fire... shi.t I wish we could replicate some of that here.

[Thommo's perm]

Could be Arsenal's first time out of the top 4 in a while.

Once you lose that top 4 spot its bloody hard to get back as we found out.

arsenal`s run in is even better than our`s, i think they`ll get 4th.
spurs are making really heavy weather of it lately, they are relying on moments of individual brilliance from gareth bale to scrape results but that well is bound to run dry soon, no player can do that week in week out.
infact when bale doesnt pull a rabbit out of the hat they have been struggling, even against average sides, as their recent draws against norwich and QPR show.
their next 3 games are arsenal, inter milan and then us at anfield, it will be interesting to see how they do in those 3 matches.

Spurs have had a history of faltering towards the end of the season but I just don't see it with their squad now, everyone's working hard, motivated, scoring important goals, manager has a point to prove, Bales on fire... shi.t I wish we could replicate some of that here.

The main reason Bale is playing out of his skin is due to bad defending. Hes a good player but man u contained him by doubling up and not allowing him the freedom to run at them. When hes allowed that space he will punish you.
I hope this has been noted by our manager...

[Reg]

Real Madrid seem to think Bale as a replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo. Some leap in faith. 

[ethanr]

Real Madrid seem to think Bale as a replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo. Some leap in faith. 

If they mean replace like he's claimed as a winger even tho he plays striker, doesn't actually defend, dives a whole lot, and is extremely selfish, then yes, they are spot on.

[Doeboy]

The main reason Bale is playing out of his skin is due to bad defending. Hes a good player but man u contained him by doubling up and not allowing him the freedom to run at them. When hes allowed that space he will punish you.
I hope this has been noted by our manager...

I don't think his form is down to bad defending to be fair. His hard to pick up when he plays in that central position especially with his speed, strength and stamina. Yes, utd doubled up on him and kept him fairly subdued but that created space for others and spurs could have actually won that game in the end. Saying that, I fancy us to win quite comfortably next week, possibly 3-0 3-1. We are playing some good stuff and provided we cut out silly errors, we will have too much for them at Anfield. They also have a tie  in europe, so we will be fresher.

[LFC1990]

6th now above Everton and 2 points behind Arsenal although both have a game in hand.

9 behind Tottenham and 7 behind Chelsea for the race for fourth

After the Spurs game we only have Everton and Chelsea left in the top 7 and both at home

This is how the rest of the season pans out

Weekend of 16/17 march

Everton V Man City
Southampton V Liverpool
Swansea V Arsenal
Tottenham V Fulham
Chelsea V West Ham

Weekend of 30/31 March

Arsenal V Reading
Swansea V Tottenham
Everton V Stoke
Aston Villa V Liverpool
Southampton V Chelsea

Weekend of 6th/7th April

Chelsea V Sunderland
West Brom V Arsenal
Liverpool V West Ham
Tottenham V Everton

Weekend of 13/14th

Arsenal V Norwich
Everton V QPR
Reading V Liverpool
Chelsea V Tottenham

Tuesday 16th April
Arsenal V Everton

Weekend of 20/21 April

Fulham V Arsenal
Sunderland V Everton
Tottenham V Man City
Liverpool V Chelsea

Weekend of 27/28 April

Chelsea V Swansea
Everton V Fulham
Wigan V Tottenham
Newcastle V Liverpool
Arsenal V Man Utd

Saturday 4th May

Liverpool V Everton
Man Utd V Chelsea
QPR V Arsenal
Tottenham V Southampton

Sunday 12th May

Arsenal V Wigan
Aston Villa V Chelsea
Everton V West Ham
Fulham V Liverpool
Stoke V Tottenham

Sunday 19th May

Chelsea V Everton
Liverpool V QPR
Newcastle V Arsenal
Tottenham V Sunderland

[Benny The Noon]

6th is prob going to be our best hope unless Arsenal fall apart

[Reg]

You'll be surprised, 2 sides will crack just you watch. As long as we're not one of them 5th is possible.

[Boocity]

Spurs fell apart last year and Arsenal's defence is poor, I hope a couple of teams crack and we get 4th but 5th is more realistic

[jacdaniel]

If we can beat southampton and Villa things could get a bit interesting.  But you know us, we'll probably draw both 

[babu]

Time to post spam, go for 100 pages

[stmichael]

You'll be surprised, 2 sides will crack just you watch. As long as we're not one of them 5th is possible.

due to the fa cup draw we have to finish 5th now to get into the europa league next season.

i actually think we'll finish 6th at worst now. as others say anything higher depends on how arsenal do from here on in. everton have a nightmare run in. they still have spurs (a), arsenal (a), chelsea (a) liverpool (a) and man city (h).

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

6th is prob going to be our best hope unless Arsenal fall apart

i wouldnt rule out 4th just yet, chelsea are 7 points ahead of us but they do have to come to anfield, if we win that (admittedly a big if) the gap is down to 4 points which is nothing.
on paper we have 2 tough games left against everton and chelsea (both at home) where as chelsea still have to play spurs (H), liverpool (A), manchester united (A) and everton (H).
no one is saying 4th is in the bag or anything remotely like that but on the other hand i wouldnt throw the towel in just yet either.
our next 4 games are southampton (A), villa (A), west ham (H) and reading (A), tricky games but all winnable especially given our current form. if we pick up maximum points from those games we will definately be closer to at least one of the 2 favourites for 3/4 th place because chelsea and spurs play each other the weekend we play reading.