Geordie Ahmed

Looked like a pen on Vinicius to me

Hasn't helped that Barca have only started looking competent under Xavi, since Xavi came in it's been a lot closer

Good play from Dembele and a good header from Aubameyang

Plus Lingard on a few will be after big wages and you can bet it will be at least a 4 year deal, zero value in doing that We could easily get better, younger and on lower wages

Yeah, in January Lingard would have been a good signing but I'd be disappointed if we went for him in the summer He's 30 this year and for the wages he'd be looking for on a free I think we can easily get better

Shame Sheff Wed couldn't win, would have put the Mackems 7th but they do have a game in hand

I wonder if it was another dodgy penalty decision

January was about making us solid, be hard to beat and that has proven to be the case. Assuming we stay up then the summer has to be about sorting that front three out. Both against Chelsea and Everton we played well in parts but were let down by a lack of cutting edge. Get a top striker and winger in and that suddenly changes. Just imagine Nunez and Diaby in our side, would be quite transformative.

In 2 weeks on the Saturday we have these fixtures Liverpool v Watford Burnley v Man City Then before our game we have West Ham v Everton Hopefully all those go our way and it means the Spurs game is a bit of a free hit with less pressure Then on Wednesday you have Burnley v Everton, someone will drop points and then we have Wolves at home on Friday night, if we don't get anything at Spurs then it would be nice to beat Wolves to all but seal safety.

Leeds have won it

Thought was gonna be in, great block by Saiss

Solid challenge that like

That defending was horrific

2-2

Leeds pull one back, a bit of pinball there

I mean, tbf they've had 3 injuries in the first half, a bit of a stretch to call them jammy

I remember Arter doing a not too dissimilar challenge on Joselu I think, a few years back and I felt that should have been a red

It's a red for me, not even contentious imo I've never been a fan of the tactical/cynical foul anyway but usually when it's done it's a lot of subtle and certainly not as dangerous as Allan He goes in with such pace, ball long gone and at one stage he does have both feet off the ground and he also catches him on the ankle

I get that but I'm just referring to them even getting past us and that is on the worst case scenario of us just losing our next set of games Get a win from Spurs and the 3 home games that follow then those clubs need to do even more, a couple of wins and that's us safe

That's my point the chances of 3 sides getting back to wins is low I'm not factoring Brentford as they are only a point behind us but Leeds would need back to back wins to go ahead, Everton would need back to back wins just to draw level (ahead on GD) and Burnley back to back wins still has them 4 behind us, so they need 4 wins. The odd team doing that is possible but it would need 3 teams to do it and I'm not sure that's ever happened before. A glance at the form table shows from 14 downwards only 2 teams have done that (Us and Brentford) We aren't safe yet but I see us similar to Brentford when people were saying they'll be dragged into it, just a win buys us so much breathing space, after Spurs we have 3 home games on the bounce, that's where we will hopefully be safe.

I'm not at 100% either but that's normal I try to look at it as objectively as I can and from this situation it would take something ridiculous for us to get relegated. Not only would we have to keep losing (possible) but at least 3 clubs would need to really string a number of wins on the bounce (unlikely)

Hopefully results go our way so by the time we play Spurs it's basically a free hit with no pressure And on paper the results should go our way (although there is bound to be the odd surprise result)

The objective for Howe was to keep us up, which when he was appointed we know going to take some effort and even after the Watford game most of us thought we were done for. The run we went on was amazing but I don't think the objective changes, yes the higher the finish the better but staying in the league was the priority and if we do that then it's a bloody job well done. He was mostly backed in January and he has so far done his part. If he keeps us up then it's back to the owners to do their part and back him. If the plan is to really kick on then Wood can't be starting for us next season and our options on the wing need to be improved.

Even better Plus I guess the other teams will play each other too and take points off one another

After back to back defeats, especially late on I get why emotions would be running high but bigger picture we are sitting pretty (Assuming you see the objective as simply stay up, I've never bought in or cared too much for finishing top 10, that's for next season) After Watford we were in a dire situation, 4 points from safety having played 2 games more and in terms of Everton we were 11 points behind them having played 2 games more Fast forward to now and we are 9 points away from 18th, if we assume the worst and Everton/Burnley win both games in hand we are still 5 points from 18th position. So that is 2 wins that would be needed assuming we keep losing. But if we look at it logically you might get 1 team showing top 4 form but 3? It's extremely likely to the point it's almost impossible. Every single team below us would swap positions with us in a heartbeat so bigger picture is we are doing more than fine.