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Weekend 16/17 April - Other Games


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I thought Newcastle played pretty well compared to the showing they served up at St Mary's. Which was the point I originally made

 

Helps they had a much more balanced side, having an actual left back, no stephen taylor and playing 2 decent defensive midfielders rather than playing Shelvey out of position there.

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if Leicester win at home against swansea, it will be almost over IMO

 

they will have to win mind as cant see spurs dropping points next monday night

 

I think it all comes down to whether or not Spurs manage to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

 

Leicester need 8 points minus whatever points Spurs drop - i.e. they'll need 5 or 6 points provided Spurs don't beat Chelsea -> i,e they'll need 2 or 3 points from United (a), Everton (h) and Chelsea (a) assuming they beat Swansea.

 

I'm convinced that whether they need 2 or 3 points from those sets of fixtures or whether they end up needing 5 will be the decisive factor this season. The difference between having the flexibility to play to avoid defeat in all three fixtures, or go all-out on the basis that you'll get one win out of the three - versus the challenge of having to get 5 points - (which will almost certainly entail Leicester, with their counter-attacking style going into one or two of those matches knowing that they need to win), will be enormous and probably decisive.

 

Of course - anything can happen. Maybe Leicester will properly **** themselves and lose to Swansea or perhaps Spurs will somehow be held by Pulis' West Brom team etc. - but barring some very unusual results I'd say that it basically comes down to whether Spurs win all their remaining fixtures.

 

Put it this way; whatever happens, I'll be absolutely staggered if Spurs manage to win all their remaining fixtures but don't win the league.

 

Spurs games really depend on state of season . Chelsea will be tough as they wont want to lose a local derby . If we're still in with a shout of Europa , that'll be tough and I wouldn't want to go to Newcastle with them needing something to stay up .

 

It'll be an interesting last 10 minutes at St. James' if the scores are level and a draw is no good to either side in their efforts to survive/win the title - because that scenario isn't *that* unlikely!

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if Leicester win at home against swansea, it will be almost over IMO

 

they will have to win mind as cant see spurs dropping points next monday night

 

This week SHOULD be both the top two winning, it's the match after when things might happen - Leicester at Old Trafford, Spurs away to Chelsea. Then Leicester are home to Everton whilst Spurs are home to Saints, which should be two home wins - but Spurs' game is harder.

 

It'll be over by the final whistle at WHL of the Saints game if not the kick off as Leicester play on the Saturday night, but every chance we'll cost them the title. :)

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You don't fight for titles by luck or going on a good run. Anyone who is this close to winning the league is the real deal. Teams who have runs and drop off, such as Southampton last year, are not.

 

You're right that it's not Ranieri alone that's behind Leicester's success - you can tell from interviews that the entire club is well run, with a formidable team spirit nurtured alongside all the science, analysis and the rest. It started with Pearson and it's the same thing we're trying to do with lesser, but still impressive, success.

 

Spurs are a little bit different - for years they've been far less than the sum of their expensive parts. Pochettino shifted the dead wood, recruited brilliantly and has crafted a fantastic team very quickly indeed. It was his appointment that changed things, and Levy takes some credit for starting and stewarding that relationship.

 

Leicester have been remarkably spawny with injuries and suspensions. They have a very good first XI which is effective at what it does and they absolutely bust a gut every match - but their team with anything like the injuries most other teams have had loses a whole heap of the 1-0 wins and is nowhere near "the real deal".

 

If they win it, they're the best team, but there's no doubt that they've had heaps of vital factors to help them get to that point, and there's no way sports science alone is delivering their luck with injuries.

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