Arsenal, Watford, Hull, Swansea, Liverpool, Sunderland, Boro, Everton, Palace and Bournemouth. So nothing expected from Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton which leaves 7 games where we have strong possibilities of picking up good points. I look at those games left to play and really do see the opportunity to defy all odds and get the points needed for another year. Then that nagging thing inside my head says our wheels could come off, we may not sign any one, our away form will not improve and Bamford will score a hat trick against us at which point I am grateful for my medication to calm the situation and remind myself just to focus on Sundays game. UTC could we really get 9 points from those ten games?

The way i see it, any points we get away are a huge bonus.

I think it's unlikely we will go a full season without winning away and add a few draws in I think we can get around 6 points away.

I firmly believe we will get the point we need to survive at home.

UTC

For where we are now I'll be happy with another 3 points away from home.

We haven't played anyone who we should beat away yet. West Ham was about as bad as we have played with a good chance of winning but it wasn't a formality beforehand.
If we lose at Hull, Sunderland and Swansea then we will rightfully get a lot of stick.

Barton`s game management and `influence` will be a huge boost in away games. I noticed within minutes of coming on against Southampton, he had his arm around the ref and was in his ear regards a decision. None of our other players (NOT A CRITICISM) do this and each team needs `one`. We haven`t had ANY decisions go our way in away games...no pressure from our players possibly makes it easier for refs to say `no`.

I think you'd get pretty good odds on us going through the season without
winning away. For those who fancy a flutter it may worth a bet.
I think even if we win only one of those ten but pick up a few draws (say 3)
it won't be a diasaster. So 5/6 points from those.

From our remaining 7 at home we'd probably need to pick up 6/7 points.
Ideally one or two more from both home and away but 12/13 points in total
seems achievable and put us on 38/39 points which should be enough.

To overhaul us the likes of Palace, Hull, Sunderland and Swansea would all need to
get 22/23 or more points from their remaining games.
Not unachievable, but highly unlikely.

So barring a collapse where we only pick up say 10 points (or less)
from our remaining games then we're in, so to speak.
I suspect the bookies would give you pretty poor odds for us to be relegated.

AlwaysClaret wrote:The way i see it, any points we get away are a huge bonus.

I think it's unlikely we will go a full season without winning away and add a few draws in I think we can get around 6 points away.

I firmly believe we will get the point we need to survive at home.

UTC

34 will not be enough.

Look folks, lets not over complicate things. 14 points and we are safe (probably less in reality). A win and some draws away (at the same time taking points off some of the clubs currently below us), whilst continuing our home form. And we're home and dry.

UTC

gandhisflipflop wrote:34 will not be enough.

I didn't mention 34 points in my post so not sure why you are saying that won't be enough?

UTC

8 points away!

Wouldn't put it past us getting something at one of the away games
you've written off, actually.

Not beyond us at all.

I think we dare to dream that Arsenal, Liverpool or Everton away could reap a point or two. It is a bit like the home games against Chelsea, Spurs and Man Utd, any points gained in these 6 fixtures will be fantastic. In a strange way it is exciting to think we may not be relegated this season and I try not to get over excited!

6 or 7 of those we SHOULD be able to get something from.

Can we make Europe? All to play for!

9 points will do for me
UTC

Going to be a shock result for us this weekend just you watch.

Ive just underplayed it in my head what we would could or should get there and i got 11 points. Which sounds ludicrous given how we have done so far. But so far we have played at the ethihad, old trafford, stamford bridge, last years champions in leicester, a bogey team in west brom etc

Hull, swansea, sunderland, watford, bournemouth, boro, palace and even everton are winnable.

As pointed out above joey wont settle for second best. And he also helps us not be a walkover from refs as much as opponents.

Barton, Defour and co will be going to them places with nothing to fear. Swansea, Hull, Boro, Palace, Bournemouth and Watford in the history of the game are nothing clubs. Between them theyve probably won less than us. psychologically players like Barton will highlight that. Of them six half of our home wins have come against. A draw with hull which we should have won. Both them and Swansea are terrible now.

Anything less than two wins from that run in is poor.

HiroshimaClaret wrote:Barton`s game management and `influence` will be a huge boost in away games. I noticed within minutes of coming on against Southampton, he had his arm around the ref and was in his ear regards a decision. None of our other players (NOT A CRITICISM) do this and each team needs `one`. We haven`t had ANY decisions go our way in away games...no pressure from our players possibly makes it easier for refs to say `no`.

Absolutely spot on.

5 wins, 2 draws and 3 defeats, first win against Gooners Sunday.

The trend is still upwards. I expect us to do much better in the remaining games.

I reckon we're going to get a surprise draw on Sunday!

Based on previous seasons - the last ten at least,we certainly won't need anymore than 37 points to stop up unless the top half suddenly start dropping more points than they have done this season. In reality it's likely to be 35-36 pts required.

And we've got to play six of the seven bottom sides away from home.

Don't think that previous seasons apply anymore.

We're done with the bottom 5 at home, but still have them all away. That could be a bad thing.

Up to us to make sure it ISNT a bad thing.
And we will.

ontario claret wrote:Don't think that previous seasons apply anymore.

Why not as it's a fairly accurate way to predict the points total?

AlwaysClaret wrote:I didn't mention 34 points in my post so not sure why you are saying that won't be enough?

UTC

You said that we will get 6 points away and a point at home. Takes it to 34

You have to look at trends. A flat re-writing of history doesn't work.

The sooner we get another win or 2 the better. Whilst those points wouldn't make us safe, the pressure it would put on teams to catch us would see us in a position where it would have to be a complete implosion from us to be caught.

I'm really confident we'll be fine.

In the case of Hull that pressure my be self inflicted with games running out. Unless they get a few surprise results in their upcoming difficult games.

Relax. Sean's got it all sorted. Top half finish and at least one trip to Wembley are the targets now.

UTC!!!

Don't count your chickens and all that, but we are very, very likely to be safe. Partly because we are so good at home and partly because the bottom three are so poor and very likely to be the relegated 3. I also believe we will now improve away (Barton factor?)and pick up 5 or 6 points.

As # 22, 35/36 points will more than likely be enough, cannot see any of the bottom 3 picking up several more points in their remaining 17 games than they did in the previous 21.

I reckon we finish on a very respectable 42 points and nowhere near relegation.

Let`s not forget that Sunderland were equally awful last season and doomed to be relegated at the same stage. Were they?

The home form WILL inevitably let us down in at least 1 or 2 games so we do need, I`d say, 5 more points from away games. Get Barton in that anchor midfield role and Bob`ll be our uncle.

Don't forget Barton might not be available for a number of those games.

Nobody has mentioned the impact any new signings may have on the results of our games to play.
As we're all aware the higher our final position, the more money the club receive. So whatever we pay for players, might be part paid back in the unexpected points we could gain from improving the team.
2 good signings may take us away from the teams at the bottom and we may even finish around the position we currently hold, which could be worth around £7/12 million difference from the teams in the bottom 3.
Then there's the likelihood we may sell a player/s in the transfer window.

HiroshimaClaret wrote:Let`s not forget that Sunderland were equally awful last season and doomed to be relegated at the same stage. Were they?

Difference is, they had money to spend.

Spijed wrote:Difference is, they had money to spend.

A very fair point BUT let`s see how the window pans out.

Interestingly, Sunderland had more points than they have now. As did all the clubs apart from Aston Villa. That's why it's highly likely we'll need less this season to survive.

gandhisflipflop wrote:You said that we will get 6 points away and a point at home. Takes it to 34

See what you did there....missed the s off points...well spotted, if we only get 1 more point at home we are fooooked...

UTC

I posted on a thread several days ago I reckon we will take another 10 points. I hope it's more as I'm not sure 10 points will be enough

Erm. Swansea beat Liverpool today. That, at least, makes them equal with us.

Swansea are trending upwards. If they keep this manager.

Fancy us to collect a total of 8 pts from our remaing away fixtures. 8pts should see us over the line comfortably, along with our home form