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I was surprised that Croatia didn't play Dejan more in their qualifying games. Now his prospects of playing in Brazil have improved: one of his rival defenders, Josip Simunic, will miss the 2014 World Cup after being given a 10-match ban by Fifa. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25408303

An excellent thing. Though it shows that the TV people don't expect us to be up near the top come February.

Though I suppose that if we have a juicy cup tie on the 15th/16th we might be televised...

Yes - and we're not on the list: West Ham v Swansea (Saturday, February 1, 12.45pm) Liverpool v Arsenal (Saturday, February 8, 12.45pm) Cardiff v Aston Villa (Tuesday, Februay 11, 7.45pm) Arsenal v Manchester United (Wednesday, February 12, 7.45pm) Chelsea v Everton (Saturday, February 22, 12.45pm)

Not so sure about the Tuesday night game away at Hull, though

Our games against Fulham, Stoke, Hull and West Ham spurned. No surprise there

Exactly. He seems to have done more OS interviews than anyone else this season, even Adam Lallana.

for a £10 bet? Wow, what a party!

May depend how much he plays in the internationals

But you can get odds of 150 to 1 for the Saints title bet - and I think the real chances of us winning the title are greater than that. Put down £10 and think of the celebration party...

Didn't his pass start off the move that led to Adam's goal?

Let's make this the first time ever that someone has won the MoTM with 100%. Adam already has 31 votes and no one else has any

Surely not as bad as the Norwich defeat

Actually the forecast is for a dry evening in Sunderland - without much wind

As I said on the other thread, our results will affect the outcome. We've already undermined Man U and Liverpool's top 4 credentials. So Chelsea Arsenal Man City Saints

It is because our results will affect who goes down. I predict that the point we gave Sunderland will be enough to keep them up and send Cardiff down with Palace and Hull.

Agree though I think 1-1 is more likely

Chris Foy will be the ref on Saturday. He gave us four yellows at Newcastle last seasons while the Mags got none. And he gave Arteta a red last Saturday - unreasonably I thought.

We have no known injuries or illness at the moment. I don't want to jinx us but it's amazing how well we'll done so far this season avoiding injuries - best record in the league. They have Briggs out and Ruiz and Hangeland doubtful.

If we were in the same league position with a goal difference of 5 - but with 10 more goals scored and conceded - then we'd be more likely to sell out. People want to see us score.

The last two winnable fixtures at home, Palace and Swansea, were duly won

Excellent. I think his playing is even more important than Lovren (though not as important as Boruc).

Hope there's also an error in Shaw being ill, which physio room is still saying. Where do they get their information?

Shaw and Boruc (no return date) and Osvaldo (19 Oct) are listed in physio room. Lovren isn't http://www.physioroom.com/news/english_premier_league/epl_injury_table.php

Tom Cleverley likely to be out for them - not a great loss, unfortunately https://twitter.com/DuckerTheTimes