Starting to feel excited again.

[No Ney Never]

Can't wait for Saturday and the return of club football.
Whatever the results, we will still be top 7 going into next week.
A potential 3 points against the swans has me looking at the fixtures and trying to work out what other results would best suit us.

SATURDAY 18TH NOVEMBER
Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur (12.30) - spurs win.
AFC Bournemouth v Huddersfield Town - draw
Burnley v Swansea City - do I really need to?
Crystal Palace v Everton - draw
Leicester City v Manchester City - Man city
Liverpool v Southampton - Southampton
West Bromwich Albion v Chelsea - WBA
Manchester United v Newcastle United (17.30) - united

SUNDAY 19TH NOVEMBER
Watford v West Ham United (16.00) - draw

MONDAY 20TH NOVEMBER
Brighton & Hove Albion v Stoke City (20.00) - draw

Would keep us in the mix at the top and extend the gap from the bottom.

[BFCmaj]

Manchester United v Newcastle United (17.30) - united

Which one?

[No Ney Never]

Which one?

Yep, well spotted.
I don't see the Geordies getting anything at old trafford, think they'll drop a few more places this month.

[Jimmymaccer]

Aye, now that waste of time international break is over we can get back to proper football........and we owe the swans one for that opening game last season.......

[Quickenthetempo]

It's best for us if the top 6 all win every week and the rest draw.

[Claret-On-A-T-Rex]

It's best for us if we win every week and the rest draw.

[piston broke]

Liverpool win and Chelsea win would be better for us long term.

[Spijed]

Can't see Everton being relegated once they sort themselves out so would want them to beat Palace.

[houseboy]

Think I would just prefer a Palace win over Everton, because Palace won't catch anybody this season.

[Quickenthetempo]

It's still very early in the season and anyone can turn it round. Another 8 defeats on the bounce for Palace just to make sure they go down please.

[Firthy]

"Starting to feel excited again"

I read the title and my first thought was "have you told the wife" and then I opened the thread and was disappointed to find a thread on football

[Dazzler]

Think I would just prefer a Palace win over Everton, because Palace won't catch anybody this season.

If we had the run of the upcoming 8 games that Palace have I'm sure we would be thinking '8 winnable looking games'
.

[Lancasterclaret]

Get to forty points and then I'll start to look around to see how everybody is doing.

[houseboy]

If we had the run of the upcoming 8 games that Palace have I'm sure we would be thinking '8 winnable looking games'
.

Sorry mate, can't agree, if I were a Palace fan I'd be thinking 'oh no, we really need to be picking something up from that lot'. Some people on here (not necessarily you Dazzler) seem to have the idea that Palace are somehow a good side who are down on their luck, they are not, they are rubbish, they were fortunate not to go down last season and hopefully they will get their just desserts this time. I have nothing against them I just get a little tired of the 'Palace are a good side really' song. Good sides do not get cut adrift as badly as they have done. Personally I think Derby's record low points in the PL is in danger this season.
Actually reading your post again I agree; WE would be thinking 8 winnable games for sure, but not Palace.

[houseboy]

Get to forty points and then I'll start to look around to see how everybody is doing.

Hey mate, you still thinking in 'safety' terms? As I think Phil Neville said on MOTD a week or two ago, 'Burnley are NOT going to be relegated under Sean Dyche'. I'd go further than that and say I don't think that relegation is on even if he left tomorrow because what he has instilled in the players will continue long enough for us to ensure safety, even if we had a dip afterwards. Burnley are looking at a top half finish at least with Dyche in charge and safety even if he went.

[Lancasterclaret]

The inner me will always want us to get to 40 points first, however well we are doing!

[Dazzler]

Think I would just prefer a Palace win over Everton, because Palace won't catch anybody this season.

Yeah...false hope and all that..

[LeadBelly]

3 points for us is way more important than any of the other single results.
Agree with most of your "best outcomes" though, except :
Liverpool v Southampton - I'd prefer a home win as I think Liverpool will be uncatchable for us, especially when they get some of their currently injured players playing regularly and best to keep Southampton well behind us in case they regain form.

WBA v Chelsea - same logic, would prefer an away or draw maybe.

[NL Claret]

Missing my first home game since 5/3/16 29 games.

[houseboy]

The inner me will always want us to get to 40 points first, however well we are doing!

Comes from years of being down trodden mate, I know how you feel, I've married for years (twice). I think it might take a couple of more years of survival before most Clarets start to think 'should be top half this year with maybe a stab at Europe'.

[houseboy]

Now that we have got the 'break' over with I thought I'd have a look at the two reasons for the interruption. England have played pretty well against top opposition without looking inspiring. Didn't really watch the Germany game but gave the Brazil a go last night (because it was Brazil really). Watching last night it reminded me very much of watching Burnley. They had tons of possession (not sure of the exact stats and couldn't be bothered checking) but only really forced a couple of saves out of Hart because England (Southgate?) have obviously been watching how we do it. We sat back and just let them have the ball but they had little penetration to speak of. Nice to think we have influenced the way England play.
As far as Brazil are concerned we all love them but does anyone else think they tend to overplay and have done for years? They keep the ball on the ground, rarely if ever use the wings and put crosses into the box, play through the middle and try to walk the ball into the net. I saw numerous occasions last night when they kept playing little one two's when a cross would have been more effective. Don't get me wrong I love watching them but I think they get a little frustrating at times and, dare I say it, a little one-dimensional. One thing I do like though, they very often don't pass the ball to the player you expect them to, they have a player in space and pass it to someone heavily marked, it's fun to watch because the opposition don't expect it either.
I think we have just played two of the teams to watch in the finals (I'd love to see Brazil get a chance to revenge the hammering they got off Germany because it won't happen again) and we have done well, I don't however think we are one to watch, knock out stages at best (hope I'm wrong though).

[jurek]

Games after the international break can be 'hit or miss' for those teams
with players coming back feeling a little tired or jaded.

Think we might have one or two more than Swansea have but could be wrong.

We need a good performance and a win to restore belief and keep us up there
and over 20pts.

[superdimitri]

If anyone thinks that relegation isn't still a possibility then I would steady yourself for some disappointment. Talk about palace and Everton underachieving we are the opposite. We have been very lucky.

Feet still on the ground here hoping for all the teams expected to be up there at the end of the season to win on Saturday.

It's the fans that think we are going to be top six who are going to be moaning and groaning when we aren't beating opposition a lot better than us. Exactly the kind who will bring the team down.

The chants after the Everton game sum it up for me, do people honestly think we're going to be in Europe? Do you even realise if we do by chance it will likely spark the end of us in the premier league?

Let's get to the level of Stoke and Southampton first, settle in the league, get better players and then think about it still after we get 40 points each season first
.
@houseboy Brazil have always been that way it's how they are expected to play. Watch the Pele movie!

[JohnMac]

We don't have a very good record against Swansea so a result against these would be nice before getting any illusions of grandeur!

[Mondsley]

If anyone thinks that relegation isn't still a possibility then I would steady yourself for some disappointment. Talk about palace and Everton underachieving we are the opposite. We have been very lucky.

Feet still on the ground here hoping for all the teams expected to be up there at the end of the season to win on Saturday.

It's the fans that think we are going to be top six who are going to be moaning and groaning when we aren't beating opposition a lot better than us. Exactly the kind who will bring the team down.

The chants after the Everton game sum it up for me, do people honestly think we're going to be in Europe? Do you even realise if we do by chance it will likely spark the end of us in the premier league?

Let's get to the level of Stoke and Southampton first, settle in the league, get better players and then think about it still after we get 40 points each season first
.
@houseboy Brazil have always been that way it's how they are expected to play. Watch the Pele movie!

Agree with nearly all of that except for the view that we have been very lucky. Palace at home apart I don't think any of the points we have gained have been lucky at all. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

[superdimitri]

It depends what you call lucky really. Our defending has been top notch and I think we do deserve to be where we are but all it would have taken in a few of our games is one good long shot or a bit of luck the other way and it would be very different.

Southampton for example, we wouldn't have won that game if they had scored and they certainly made more than enough chances to score.

I would like to think that it is in entirely on merit, the team in defence has been incredible but also can't remember us getting too unlucky either..I think that is to come.

[Dazzler]

Think I would just prefer a Palace win over Everton, because Palace won't catch anybody this season.

If we had the run of the upcoming 8 games that Palace have I'm sure we would be thinking '8 winnable looking games

Sorry mate, can't agree, if I were a Palace fan I'd be thinking 'oh no, we really need to be picking something up from that lot'. Some people on here (not necessarily you Dazzler) seem to have the idea that Palace are somehow a good side who are down on their luck, they are not, they are rubbish,

[Spijed]

The problem for Palace is that they haven't got a very good defence. They are likely to concede most matches.

[houseboy]

Ok everyone - I WAS WRONG. Merry Christmas.