alexf

Only silver lining is that one of these teams will lose and therefore have had a rotten season. I think Man U win. They have Amad back now who is always a threat, whereas Spurs have picked up a few more injuries. There is also the mental aspect, Man U just expect to win finals and will rise to the occasion, Spurs are like us pre-eddie and they are more likely to wilt under the light. Man U commercially are a monster as well so were less likely to be hurt financially by missing out on CL, their project with Amorim is going to take while and may still run into issues next year, even with a CL cash boost. Spurs on the other hand, with a boost of CL money and if they changed manager and had bit of luck with some better signings are not a million miles of being decent again, a lot of young potential in their squad. So I fear they would be a more likely contender to overtake us next season than Man U if they got CL.

if Joe was already managing this knee problem already and it hadn't been stopping him playing, then I can completely see him wanting to play through some discomfort again just to help see us over the line. If he got a serious injury because of it then obviously that would in hindsight be bad, but if he's been playing with this for awhile anyway then hopefully one more game wouldn't be the end of the world.

Think Arsenal win with no Dembele and Partey back for them.

I have read alot of strange things on here over the years, but this is right up there.

Win or bust for me regarding finishing top 5. Really hope we have a big performance left in us.

I think that's diminishing why these players are so good. They find the space. You don't think 100's of managers probably put someone on Messi and said man mark him, only for him to inevitably find space and score again and again?

This is going to be a much harder game than I think most anticipated awhile ago. Chelsea even when playing poorly kept getting results and they seem to be coming into some form at the perfect time. They also have fast athletic players that can cause us problems. We need one of those top Howe era games where everyone is firing to get over the line here. Unfortunately however we seems to be running out of steam slightly and Joelinton will be a big miss for this, not just his physicality but his mentality. Really hope the lads have one more huge performance in them. Wish it was a night game, could do with a hostile environment for Chelsea players.

It's being played like and end of season nothing to play for...except we have everything to play for. Very odd. Needs to be a massive change 2nd half to have any chance of turning this round. Gordon needs to come on, just not sure who for.

Literally every tackle on a villa player this ref is giving as a free kick. Ridiculous to watch.

Perfect example there. Tielemans just take out Bassey by placing his leg miles away from the ball and then goes down. Technically it was a foul on Bassey.

The amount of little dramatic dives Villa do is borderline ridiculous. Get given so many soft fouls around the box. Over the course of a season that is bound to pay dividends.

A new contract for Isak would eat into a chunk of our available spend you would have to think. Not saying it isn't worth it, it's essential we try and tie him down for longer and avoid needing to cash in next summer. But he will move on to more money then we have ever payed for a player if he extends. Edit* in terms of cash available but also the wages to revenue turnover thing you need to comply with for Europe. Which if we want to add more "purples" this summer, must be a tricky balancing act for our recruitment staff.

We did lose Joelinton. That no doubt plays on people's minds and adds into the calculation of how likely we are to win certain games etc. Also each game playing the same players adds to the chance of further injuries or suspension. So each round creates a new variable which makes the whole thing far from simple. A little while ago I was pretty confident we would smash Chelsea at home. But missing Big Joe, Isak looking slightly off it recently, Chelsea picking up a little bit of form, albeit against poorish sides, is starting to creep in a small bit of doubt. But hopefully the lads have one last final push in them and smash these last few games.

Because Arsenal seem to have a thing about us and if they have nothing else to play for, then they will put all their energy into "revenge" over us. Or not, I dunno.

The winner should get qualification to the Europa league to "defend their title" but they shouldn't get upgraded to Champions league. Belittles the whole thing I feel.