Stottie

I thought our defence was more solid that season. However, we conceded 35 goals in 46 games. At that rate, we'd concede 26 in 34 games, versus the 28 we've conceded this time. So no big difference when you actually crunch the numbers.

Those three are bottom of the form table from Christmas Day, which covers nine games, about a quarter of the season. None of them have a new manager either, so there is no reason to expect a change that could bring improvement. I had a look at points per game for opponents in remaining games to see if any team has harder games left than the others (its on soccerstats.com), but Burnley playing away have 0.17 points per game, so anyone who has them at home has their average massively distorted by it. Hoping for Palace myself though.

Of those three defeats, we were clearly robbed against Forest and should have had a pen, possibly two, against Fulham.

Whoscored reckon they attack down the right even more than we do (46% vs. 45%). It also says they're not very good in the air, which suggests Murphy might be worth a start.

If they have been and are still getting results, I don't suppose it matters that much, but Brighton aren't very good, are they? They had conceded the fewest in the division, but their goalie gave it straight to Gouff, he challenged for the same ball with their center forward leading to a goal, and about three of them left Ayoze in acres for an easy pass for our winner. And that was the best defensive team in the league.

Did really well and really changed things up. Our first goal came from their goalie and defender challenging for the same ball from a corner, which is the kind of thing that happens when you've got a genuine aerial threat out there. I don't think it would have happened otherwise.

I heard a stat a couple of week ago that said we were second in the league for goals conceded from individual errors. All that dominance second half and only five shots on target is also very poor.

Kind of fluking 5th with fundamental weaknesses in the team is not the same as winning the league by 10 points. In classic Pardew fashion, we still managed six defeats in which we conceded three or more goals that season. Nearly one game in six! I bet no other fifth place team has ever managed that.

I think its bad to sack him while they're still in the Champions League. He deserves a crack at that even if they are struggling in the league. Avram Grant got to the final and di Matteo won it, so you never know.

Not connected to Carver, but I hope the fans of this team sing that song by Wings off Band on the Run. Every time I see the club name, it reminds me of it.

It sounds like the infamous banners were the work of one bloke who is a bit of a "I'm all about the humour" David Brent type. So it might be best just to move on and not give him the attention. Good to see Rafa get a win against them at the third attempt. Who knows how things might have worked out if we'd got three points in that second game last season. It would have put the mackems under more pressure, if nothing else.

Suarez and Bale became the finished article in the PL, that's two of the top 10 players in the world. Loads of other players have improved in the PL, de Gea, Kante, Lukaku, etc. PL teams have not done well in the CL for few seasons, but part of the reason is that the strongest since 2010, Man City see table below, have struggled with expectations vs. a lack of experience and hard draws into groups of death (compare with Leicester's group). City's failings in the CL then destabilized the club and made them trigger happy with managers and players. PSG are full of new money too, but have been much more stable. http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/premier-league/all-time-table/2010-2011/2016-2017 After Barca and Arsenal, I think Leicester would have to lose about 15-0 to be the embarrassment of the round. I hope it emboldens them and they can give it a good go next week.

Forest finished that season on 79 points, though you wouldn't have expected it based on the record in Dave's table. 79 was still enough for third. Reading won 3-2 having scored three times from three shots on target yesterday. Huddersfield also notched up yet another single goal victory. They both seem to have an unusual talent for getting three points without dominating their games.

If he's committed and sticks to instructions, the manager will like any player for that. Mistakes may be easier to forgive. Looking ahead to next season and at the "project" in general, it's a real shame that this second half of the season is not going to used to assimilate the two PL-quality players Rafa wanted into the side. It means that we are less likely to start strongly next season. Even one of the two would have made a difference. Apologies for probable Giggs/stating the obvious.

Probably best to get the Huddersfield and Brighton games out of the way I think. Once Gayle is back we'll also be at full strength.

Well depressing, all this. If there are guarantees in the contract, you would think he'd have a case for constructive dismissal like Keegan.

Here are the final goal differences of the teams promoted in the last ten seasons or so. All positive, of course. Top 37, 53, 40, 27, 28, 39, 55, 28, 33, 29, 67 Second 32, 41, 35, 9 (79), 39, 25, 41, 17(83), 14 (79), 25, 30 The numbers in brackets are the points totals of teams with under +20 goal differences. The 55 is us last time and the 67 is Reading in the record breaking season. The numbers show that the only teams to be promoted with low goal differences did so with low points totals, i.e., in weak years. Given the teams chasing us, Huddersfield etc. have poor GDs, history does not point to them ending up with high points totals. It means the line for for automatic promotion is probably going to be lower than the normal 90 points. If its 87, that's only 25 points to go from 17 games.

Wow, what a howler from Ince.

Fan was a freak for bringing a time to go banner to the game in the Arsenal end, then said basically they should be happy with 4th. I live overseas and get the international feed, not the UK coverage. The analyst was Jim Beglin who, before they showed that fan, said you'd have to question how long Wenger would have lasted at Chelsea and what the point of Arsenal was if they weren't competitive. He asked whether they were simply in it for the "profit".

Flags look great!

Still-popular ex-Chelsea man hands it to hated ex-Arsenal man. If he'd only celebrated it. Oh 3-1

That's an impressive run of form from Leeds but the last eight games have only given them one more point than us, 19 vs. 18. Our goal difference over than span has also been league leading at +12. Leeds have +11. Shelvey was missing for a good chunk of those games too. I don't think the chasing pack can improve further, so an automatic places is ours to lose. League leading GD in recent form suggests that is unlikely.

We've scored first in 20 of 26 games, which limits the opportunities we'd had to make comebacks. Brighton have scored first 14 times.

I'd definitely take him back. He came across very well while here, certainly well enough to think he'd know the potential consequences of him liking that tweet, so it could be a good sign. Fathead likes his own players, look how many he signed in his short stint here, and Palace spent 50M in the summer so there mightn't be much cash for him to get them. That could be a factor too.

Since Palace paid us to take Pardew away, have just demonstrated how hopeless he is even with a 30M striker, and thankfully failed to hang on in a final and win him a trophy, after probably the greatest of all Pards' many moments that he will never live down, I don't see how anyone can hate them. They have done us a good service! Man U under LVG played some of the most dire football I've ever seen from a top side, but many thanks to them for winning that game. Shame on Mourinho too for spoiling the celebration with his own attention seeking. The FA Cup is a proper trophy and should be respected. If Palace stumble on under Fatso, and he's no recipe for success, then such service will merely continue. It would have been nice to have him out the way in China, but I think he likes attention more than coin, tbh. The sting reeled him in by suggesting lots of businessmen wanted to pay to listen to him, not to pay him for favours.