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Saints / Reading / West Ham run in: Games to go . . .


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....................... PLYD.....GD.....PTS

1. Reading...........45.........30......89 (Champions)

2. Southampton ...45........35......85

3. West Ham U.....44........31......80

 

TO PLAY:

 

SOUTHAMPTON : Coventry (H)

WEST HAM UNITED : Leicester (A) ; Hull City (H).

Edited by St Chalet
Updated
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I just cant se why someone thinks we have the easiest run in...

 

Anyway West Ham certainly and Reading probably will think that Father Christmas has turned up early this year after today's result and us losing the one player that makes us tick and seeing the one who scores most of our goals about 30% fit.

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West Ham's next 2 games are both at home (Brum & Brighton) - and the Hammers have been utter garbage at home their past 6 games. Their fans don't help. The pressure

they're under to win is immense even before KO !!! Brum are a decent side - and Brighton too are decent on the road - especially with late goals. I know I'm looking for positives

amongst the remaining fixtures - but I really can't see West Ham winning BOTH of those games - not with their recent home form.

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Anyway West Ham certainly and Reading probably will think that Father Christmas has turned up early this year after today's result and us losing the one player that makes us tick and seeing the one who scores most of our goals about 30% fit.
Morgan makes us tick. Really? Not Lallana, or Lambert. I'm shocked!
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West Ham's next 2 games are both at home (Brum & Brighton) - and the Hammers have been utter garbage at home their past 6 games. Their fans don't help. The pressure

they're under to win is immense even before KO !!! Brum are a decent side - and Brighton too are decent on the road - especially with late goals. I know I'm looking for positives

amongst the remaining fixtures - but I really can't see West Ham winning BOTH of those games - not with their recent home form.

 

Spot on, although exactly how much pressure is on WH depends on our result against Palace. If we can win that they'll obviously be under more pressure. I think that no matter how good Reading's form, they will drop at least 2pts. Brighton need to bounce back next weekend to help their playoff hopes.

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I look and that and really do believe we could do it. Was not at the game today but it sounded like we wasted alot of opportunities, think we should have played Chaplow myself. I feel the next two games could... could decide it! Come on Brum and Brighton, we can do this so let's remember point gained from a tough derby and look on to Palace.

 

 

COYS

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Saints v Palace (doubtful they are seriously playing for anything play-offs/relagation - 3pts), Reading (6 pointer either way - 0, 1 or 3?), Peterborough (as per Palace probably - 3pts), 'Boro (Tricky as should still be in hunt for play-offs - 1 pt), Coventry (in all probability will already be down - 3 pts). Total 10, 11 or 13 pts.

 

Reading v Brighton (chasing play-off place - 1 pt), Saints (6 pointer either way - 0, 1 or 3?), Forest (in a bit of form and should be clear of relegation by then 3 pts), Palace (doubtful they are seriously playing for anything play-offs/relagation - 3pts), Brum (should be vying for decent positioning in play-offs 0 pts).. Total 7, 8 or 10 pts.

 

West Ham v Brum (should be vying for decent positioning in play-offs - 1 pt), Brighton (chasing play-off place - 3 pts), Bristol City (fighting for survival and tricky on their day - 1 or 3 pts), Leicester (good side that could well be in play-off contention by then - 0 or 1 pt), Hull (will probably be out of the play-off picture by then - 3 pts). Total 8, 9 or 12 pts.

 

Going off the maximum points given in each example, I think the we will finish on 92, Reading on 89 and West Ham on 87. Yes I know Saints and Reading cannot both get 3 points next Friday but you get my drift. We can all relax now.

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If you go for the NA approach and control the controllables - then we win our games and go up.

 

Problem is - I'm not so sure that we have enough of our mojo left to do that, or if we really believe that we can. Will it be tears of sorrow or tears of joy come Coventry 28 May?

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WEST HAM UNITED : Birmingham (H) home defeat; Brighton (H) draw; Bristol City (A) away win; Leicester (A) away defeat; Hull City (H) home win. 7 points from 15

 

If that's the case, we only need one more win to get promoted? I'd take that.

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WEST HAM UNITED : Birmingham (H) home defeat; Brighton (H) draw; Bristol City (A) away win; Leicester (A) away defeat; Hull City (H) home win. 7 points from 15

 

lol. Okay, I like it! I'm with you! Woohoooo!!!

 

 

 

* If only football was that... ... predictable.

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SOUTHAMPTON : Crystal Palace (A) ; Reading (H) ; Peterborough (A) ; Middlesboro (A) ; Coventry (H). - We'll get 4 points in the games at Palace and Posh, and a win at Coventry. So 7 points.

 

READING : Brighton (A) ; Southampton (A) ; Nottm Forest (H) ; Crystal Palace (H) ; Birmingham (A). - 10 points for Reading here, their loss coming on the last day, by which time they'll have the title sewn up.

 

WEST HAM UNITED : Birmingham (H) ; Brighton (H) ; Bristol City (A) ; Leicester (A) ; Hull City (H). - 10 points too for West Ham, their loss coming in their next match at Brum ( and thus a quick indicator as to whether I'm right or not.)

 

Ergo, we'll get promoted, but with the poorest run in form of all three teams, and by just 1 point. It's so close, predictions are very hard to do! It may, MAY, come down to goal difference, in which case we're currently better off. If we do get defeats, they'd better be little one goal ones, not 3-0 like against Blackpool last week.

 

all predictions above are IMO.

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What people forget is that on Monday we are playing at a team who are drained of confidence and have nothing to play for. We could also end up having more fans than they do. Wham are playing a team who are on good form.

 

Lets see but in only 45 hours time things could suddenly look a lot better.

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Add to that : Brighton slipped out of the play-off places today & will be looking to rectify that on Tuesday night at home to Reading. Anyone remember our result at Brighton? Not an easy place to go.

 

Reading have quite a week ahead of them. They play late tuesday night in that game - then 3 nights later on the friday - they visit SMS. At least we play monday afternoon with more time to recover.

 

Just a thought...

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WEST HAM UNITED : Birmingham (H) home defeat; Brighton (H) draw; Bristol City (A) away win; Leicester (A) away defeat; Hull City (H) home win. 7 points from 15

 

I think Wham will draw with Brum, draw with Brighton, beat Bristol City, draw with Leicester and beat Hull giving them 9 points. That means, taking GD into consideration, we need 5 or 6 points from our last 5 games.

 

I think we will draw with Palace, lose to Reading, draw with peterborough (probably 4-4!), beat Middlesborough, and beat Coventry giving us 8 points, thus promoting us!

 

But what do I know, as I am currently lying outside the top 100 in the Prediction League! :(

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I think there will still be twists and turns, but we have a chance to rectify mistakes very quickly. We now have 4 fixtures in 14 days.

 

This time in 2 weeks we'd have played our 45th game and we'll know a hell of a lot more.

 

I reckon if we pick up a couple of wins and a draw in the next 4 games then it will be going to the last game and that is in our favour.

 

Reading are away at Birmingham, WHU are at home to Hull and we play a (probably) relegated Coventry city at home.

 

As frustrating as todays result is, let's not take our eyes off the bigger picture. The next 2 weeks are huge and with 4 fixtures crammed into such a short space of time, alot can and will change. Nothing is decided yet.

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Win 3 and we're up. Don't think WH will win all their games.

 

Gus Poyet I genuinely wish you luck in your next two matches.....

 

And if you don't have any luck, can you still instruct your players to kick seven bales out of the oppo for those games. Many thanks.

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Our 4 points plus GD over WHU means they have to win x2 while we lose x2 to overtake us. 3 wins from 5 = +15 over WHU means they must win all 5 in reality.

Those are the hard facts. We must win 3 more games. We can do this. We have 5 Cup finals.

 

(It would be nice to get 2 out of the way this week by the way lads!!)

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SOUTHAMPTON : Crystal Palace (A) ; Reading (H) ; Peterborough (A) ; Middlesboro (A) ; Coventry (H). - We'll get 4 points in the games at Palace and Posh, and a win at Coventry. So 7 points.

 

READING : Brighton (A) ; Southampton (A) ; Nottm Forest (H) ; Crystal Palace (H) ; Birmingham (A). - 10 points for Reading here, their loss coming on the last day, by which time they'll have the title sewn up.

 

WEST HAM UNITED : Birmingham (H) ; Brighton (H) ; Bristol City (A) ; Leicester (A) ; Hull City (H). - 10 points too for West Ham, their loss coming in their next match at Brum ( and thus a quick indicator as to whether I'm right or not.)

 

Ergo, we'll get promoted, but with the poorest run in form of all three teams, and by just 1 point. It's so close, predictions are very hard to do! It may, MAY, come down to goal difference, in which case we're currently better off. If we do get defeats, they'd better be little one goal ones, not 3-0 like against Blackpool last week.

 

all predictions above are IMO.

 

I think this is about right, having looked a bit longer at the table and remaining fixtures. I can't see WHam not winning their last 3, so their next two are crucial - but I think Brum will beat them and maybe that will give Brighton the edge in a nervy game.

 

It's all about whether WHam can make up the gap for me, so I'll ignore Reading. I can see us getting 7 points minimum as you say above - wins at Palace and home to Cov (who have an equally good chance of being safe or relegated if you look at their fixtures by then) plus the odd draw, so anything more than a point in those middle three becomes a bonus.

 

Just get over the line, lads, get over that line!

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Is the Reading game on TV next Friday?

 

If it is, do you think it is worth us playing our 'Joker' on it, or shall we save it for 'boro. ?

 

(with apologies to younger readers of the forum who might not recall this).

 

Yes by the way - I think its on Sky.

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I have resigned myself to third place after today. Too many players seemed not up for the fight to give me confidence. Of course it could all change around on Monday/Tuesday, but I am not holding my breath.

 

Seriously? Can't say I agree with you...

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And if you don't have any luck, can you still instruct your players to kick seven bales out of the oppo for those games. Many thanks.

 

 

...somewhat unsporting, but I have to agree with the sentiment. Especially after losing Morgan 5 minutes into todays game.

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Chester Saint. You are deluded, sorry mate, it ain't going to happen, played poorly since Derby and West Ham have renewed confidence. If we loose to Reading next week then that's it, playoffs.

 

Typical.....its all doom and gloom. This time next week we could be 6 points better and on our way up. Be positive for once

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Our 4 points plus GD over WHU means they have to win x2 while we lose x2 to overtake us. 3 wins from 5 = +15 over WHU means they must win all 5 in reality.

Those are the hard facts. We must win 3 more games. We can do this. We have 5 Cup finals.

 

(It would be nice to get 2 out of the way this week by the way lads!!)

 

I agree with your sentiment, although your maths are a little wrong! If we win 3 of our last matches then that would leave West Ham needing to get at least 13 points (not 15 as you suggest!): 9 points gained from the 3 wins PLUS the 4 points difference that is currently between us and them. In other words they would have to win 4 of their remaining 5 games and get at least a draw in the other to equal our points tally. They would also need to improve their goal difference by 10 at least. So your suggestion that they must win all five is not far off... IF we can win three games (or win two and draw three others).

 

Another way of looking at it is to consider West Ham's results first and then see what we need to get to be promoted....

 

West Ham's home form has been atrocious. If they continue with this then let's assume they draw both their next two games. Let's also assume they win both of their away games. Finally, let's assume they pull out all the stops and finally get a home win against Hull in the last match.

 

In this scenario, West Hame would achieve 11 points. However, since we have a four point lead over them at present, this would leave us needing just 7 points from our remaining games to equal their points tally. Goal difference should be good enough to then see us past them! SO... wins against Palace and Coventry and a draw in of the other games could in fact be sufficient to get promoted.

 

In actual fact though, my predictions for the remaining games are a bit better than that. I posted a predictions table a couple of weeks ago, which has been reasonably accurate so far. Here is an update to that based on how I now think those matches will pan out. The table shows cumulative points after each match. At the top I have also indicated their current points score:

 

[table]

[tr]

[td]Saints[/td]

[td] [/td]

[td] [/td]

[td]79[/td]

[td] [/td]

[td]Reading[/td]

[td] [/td]

[td] [/td]

[td]79[/td]

[td] [/td]

[td]West Ham[/td]

[td] [/td]

[td] [/td]

[td]75[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]C.Palace[/td]

[td](A)[/td]

[td]Win[/td]

[td]82[/td]

[td] [/td]

[td]Brighton[/td]

[td](A)[/td]

[td]Draw[/td]

[td]80[/td]

[td] [/td]

[td]Birmingham[/td]

[td](H)[/td]

[td]Draw[/td]

[td]76[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Reading[/td]

[td](H)[/td]

[td]Draw[/td]

[td]83[/td]

[td] [/td]

[td]Saints[/td]

[td](A)[/td]

[td]Draw[/td]

[td]81[/td]

[td] [/td]

[td]Brighton[/td]

[td](H)[/td]

[td]Draw[/td]

[td]77[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Peterboro[/td]

[td](A)[/td]

[td]Draw[/td]

[td]84[/td]

[td] [/td]

[td]N.Forest[/td]

[td](H)[/td]

[td]Win[/td]

[td]84[/td]

[td] [/td]

[td]Bristol City[/td]

[td](A)[/td]

[td]Win[/td]

[td]80[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Middlesbro[/td]

[td](A)[/td]

[td]Draw[/td]

[td]85[/td]

[td] [/td]

[td]C.Palace[/td]

[td](H)[/td]

[td]Win[/td]

[td]87[/td]

[td] [/td]

[td]Leicester City[/td]

[td](A)[/td]

[td]Win[/td]

[td]83[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Coventry City[/td]

[td](H)[/td]

[td]Win[/td]

[td]88[/td]

[td] [/td]

[td]Birmingham[/td]

[td](A)[/td]

[td]Draw[/td]

[td]88[/td]

[td] [/td]

[td]Hull City[/td]

[td](H)[/td]

[td]Win[/td]

[td]86[/td]

[/tr]

[/table]

 

These results would place Saints top level with Reading on 88 points. West Ham would finish 3rd with 86 points. :)

 

If we lose to Reading then they would finish top on 90 points, we would be second on 87 and West Ham third on 86 points (but that is based on them doing pretty well in their last 5 games relative to their form so far this season).

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I know I made an error, waited to see who would spot it! But the result as you say is the same. all we have to do is win 3 games! Simple really. 3 goals and 3 clean sheets in 270 minutes.

 

Looking forward to a 3pm kick off tomorrow, shame the businessend of the season has been messed up by random fixture timetabling and TV schedules!

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....................... PLYD.....GD.....PTS

1. Southampton....41.......34......79

2. Reading...........41.......26......79

3. West Ham U.....41.......25......75

 

TO PLAY:

 

SOUTHAMPTON : Crystal Palace (A) ; Reading (H) ; Peterborough (A) ; Middlesboro (A) ; Coventry (H).

 

READING : Brighton (A) ; Southampton (A) ; Nottm Forest (H) ; Crystal Palace (H) ; Birmingham (A).

 

WEST HAM UNITED : Birmingham (H) ; Brighton (H) ; Bristol City (A) ; Leicester (A) ; Hull City (H).

 

Reading have by far and away the toughest run in. Brighton at their place is an extremely tough game as we found out. They have us away and Brum away. However, right now they look like they will beat anyone and everyone.

 

West Ham's game at Leicester looks tough and they've struggled to beat teams at their place. Brum are winning games and Brighton are hard to beat too. However I think the drubbing of Barnsley will fill them with new confidence so they could win almost all of them too. Could being the word though.

 

We'll stuff Boro and Cov. Just the kind of sides we can beat. Peterborough is always tough and I've been worried about this Palace game for a while, but they've gone off the boil so a couple of draws perhaps. So the Reading game could make or break us. Fascinating. We'll get promoted.

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At this point of the season NO games are easy for anyone. Teams who have 'nothing' to play for don't exist. There will always be players playing for contracts, managers managing for contracts and pressure on teams who need to win and worse on teams who are 'expected' to win...

 

I wouldn't fancy any of those run-ins personally!

 

This time of the season is all about patience and mental fortitude.

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