Ketsbaia

Remember going to that game as a 21st birthday present. Butt's gift has never been beaten.

Got the sticker album over the weekend and only just discovered that Kaliningrad is separate from the rest of Russia, lying between Poland and Lithuania.

Might go for Abraham and Kenedy from Chelsea, plus another striker. Gayle and Mitrovic out.

Interesting that they all use "in peace". Huge coincidence.

Those first 4 are winnable to some degree - can maybe see 7 points from that, taking into account the Mackem Flukiness Variable. But it's not enough.

At least we'll get a fuck-tonne for him after this and a few World Cup goals.

YESSSS!!!!! 8 points adrift, with Birmingham at home to Burton at the weekend. :thup:

Brighton & Huddersfield are more likely to struggle next year than a Southampton or Stoke imo, so hopefully the established sides go down this time.

Exactly. 35 could be enough, but we'll get another 3 or 4 points just to make sure.

As soon as Birmingham beat Bolton or Burton, think they're done. Those Norwich, Reading and Burton games are very winnable though, considering the rabbits they occasionally pull out hats (see Derby, Fulham etc). Probably straight back up next season but that's ok, just being down there is hilarious.

Gutted but I think everyone gets the point now. The damage has been done to this charlatan.

The fact that Huddersfield are in the Premier League at all is incredible. No way can they be complaining.

We're doing well but I don't suddenly think we'll be getting points at Leicester and Everton, like. Maybe one of them, with 4 or 5 more this season.

Frustrating. Phil Jones didnt play - missed a clean sheet. Cech inexplicably out - missed a clean sheet. Captained Lukaku over Aubameyang. Hazard did fuck all, as always.

Hudd Palace Spurs Burnley Man Utd Liverpool Man city (TBD) I said this the other week, but if they had 3 less points they'd be right in the mix with that run in. Brighton really need to beat Huddersfield, which in turn would fuck Huddersfield. Decent chance that 18th won't even finish on 35pts, so we're good.

Right, let's get this takeover done well before the World Cup

Birmingham needs the wins now because their final games are tough. But up next it's Bolton then Burton.

Zero :aww: Now, give Rafa a contract and get Staveley on the line....

How are you worried about us then? They have the much better run-in

Don't think Palace will be anywhere near relegation, but good to see this

Shame to see Mooy back but they've benched Ince and Mounie. 1-1, Slimani equaliser.

Every week since September I've wanted Milivojevic but thought that they can't keep getting penalties every week. Looks like I was wrong

Hatem was unbelievable. You never forget such talents.

They're actually gonna do it, aren't they? I never truly felt they'd go, knowing their history of freakish results.

According to the Times, the FA are looking at leaving the decision to the VAR official, rather than the official alerting the referee to have another look. I can see the wisdom of that. Once the referee was shown Tarkowski's challenge, he really had no choice but to give a pen. It would have been very difficult, under public scrutiny, to use the sort of informal discretion that people are talking about here (ie had the attacker lost control of the ball, was the contact accidental) Similarly, the VAR official may have simply thought, in practice, that looks dodgy, the ref ought to have another look, rather than deciding that the mistake is 'clear and obvious', which is of course a subjective judgement anyway. If you want decisions to be tempered by what you might call common sense, taking into account the 'grey areas', then I think it helps if the judgement rests with one person. All of which, for me, makes it annoying that they've decided to use VAR at the World Cup before it's been properly tested out and refined by experience. That's what I originally thought it was - ref in another room watches the video, tells the ref his decision. And only for certain situations such as penalties, crossing the line etc. There's a way that VAR can work but it needs a lot of adjustments.