The Prophet

Brighton's form since going out of the cup is encouraging too...

You don't need to worry about permutations. If we win three of our last five (including Chelsea), there's a very good chance we finish top five. Anything in addition to that pretty much guarantees it.

Brighton have absolutely fallen to bits since they got knocked out the cup. Long may it continue.

One of the worst in the league.

Don't think the lack of new sponsors is on PIF like.

We usually play them really early on mind. This is the first time we've played them late on with a few injuries, suspensions and nothing to play for.

Given one is against Chelsea, winning our home games should still be enough. Hopefully we make things more comfortable with a win at Brighton too.

Still not sure why the bookies still have Villa as such big outsiders...

I'm the opposite. Villa are very unconvincing away from home. Their underlying numbers are terrible, granted they've improved in recent weeks.

This is the way If anything costs us, it's going to be our squad depth.

It's not nailed on Chelsea beat Everton either. They drew at home to Ipswich last week.

Not every result is going to go our way like. We've been pretty fortunate in that regard in recent weeks. We knew we still have a job to do in terms of getting 68+ points on the board. It's best just to enjoy it, it was the constant fretting that made the 22/23 season finish unbearable.

Must be nice to empty your bench to force a change. Ah well, it's still in our hands.

Villa paid around that for Diaby and West Ham bid only slightly less for Duran.

I'm just pointing out the idea that Saudi "bailed Villa out" is nonsense. They bought two good, young players for around market value. They're attempting to enhance the quality of their domestic league.

I'd also argue, they're both young, quality players who'll improve the quality of their league.

Villa got almost exactly what they paid for Diaby twelve months earlier. He just about did enough to retain his value. Duran went to Saudi for circa £64 million, just after West Ham had bid £57 million for him. You could argue they were a little inflated, but they weren't miles off par.

I thought they paid pretty much bang on market value for both. Its however you want to frame it I guess.

I thought it was a combination of Villa's quality, our fatigue and our tactical approach that did for us in the second half. One to take on the chin and move on from. Wednesday meant that this was a bit of a free hit. We need to do the business v Ipswich and I'm sure we will.

Not a transfer rumour, but this is bang on.

As someone above said, everyone will drop points between now and the end of the season. We just need to take care of results at our end and we'll be fine.

Though both Bruno and Big Joe were pretty poor.

It didn't affect the outcome, but he was absolutely honking.

Yep, I prefer our starting eleven to Villa's, but no doubt they've got the better squad.

I actually think we'll need another midfielder in the summer. The drop off from the three first choices is enormous at the moment.