Stottie

Staying with goalkeeping, their game turned on Courtois going for the Boroni shot with his wrong hand. Credit to them for a fantastic first goal and very good third, and scrapping all game. Chelsea had the better openings but couldn't stick them away.

This, basically. Defoe was the key ingredient that made the difference between the two teams. They identified someone who can score in this league for fun. While we bought and stuck with a kid and two grandfathers. The other factor I've not seen anyone mention is that compared to Villa, Norwich, and us (blob), the mackems' keepers are much better. It should be obvious by watching them, but its also reflected in their save percentage which was way higher. The other notably low save percentage teams were Liverpool (Mignolet) and Bournemouth. Darlow has actually done okay, but blob was poor and the only reason people haven't been more critical of him is that expectations were rock bottom. Louise Taylor said he was our player of the season, but she also blamed us for not marking someone stood a yard offside. Compared to blob, I think Krul would have got us four or five more points. He was injured on international duty remember.

Nine shots, only two in the first half. That's all we managed. Just not good enough against a team that's lost that many games in a row.

Mackems losing again. Matic 2-1

Fantastic finish!

COSTA!

Aye, a gimme game for them with Man U's recent away form, no Martial and Rashford, and Norwich weren't especially up for it and gave it away with a defensive error. Take away our game, which had two goals from defenders (one after a handball), and they have now scored one in their last five games. There is no fight or application in there.

Herrera looks like he's been Pardewed. FT. Get in!

Ruddy is crap so just get this on target.

Dunno where five minutes come from. Anyway, c'mon Man U!

Schneidlin man!

Nice one Rooney, no need to panic against this lot. Ruddy beaten easily at near post.

YESS

C'mon Man U!

Yeah, and they stick him out wide. De Gea is quality for certain, and Mata might still be in the right system.

There's been a serious lack of quality so far.

Chelsea's last eight away were W6 D1 L1. I guess our fans will want to stay away because the risk of cursing it, but the odds for anyone betting on a Chelsea win will be relatively tasty.

I dunno why, but that banner bloke reminds me of Fistpumps pretending to be hurt whenever he'd handled the ball. Aye, that hilarious. From the outside, my own impression of Villa is that O'Neill wasted a f*ckton of Lerner's money and then Lerner got disillusioned and decided to run them on a shoestring. There's probably more to it than that though. There must be some clowns in the boardroom, because the McLeish appointment rivals us getting JFK.

Their form against the lower clubs suggests they've not given up yet. Last six games vs. bottom half. Everton W3 D2 L1 (W7 D7 L2 for the season) Watford W4 D2 L0 (W9 D5 L2 for the season) Both teams are mid table due to an inability to beat anyone good. Everton's record vs. top half is the same as ours, and Watford's is worse.

fwiw, and sorry if Giggs, but Chelsea's away form, last eight played. W6 D1 L1 F16 A4 19 points That's best in the league. Everton's is W2 D4 L2 F10 A10 The losses were the Merseyside Derby (0-4) and at Old Trafford (0-1). Which means they've only conceded five in the other six games, in three of which they got clean sheets. If Sunderland win both of those games, they deserve to stay up. Regarding Norwich's fixtures, Man U have been a surprising soft touch away from home. They lost recently to both the mackems and WBA. Last eight away. P8 W2 D2 L4 F7 A12 The hope is that with Man City also sleepwalking, Man U won't have given up on CL and can give it a go. I can't see it myself, but Norwich winning that early game would change the relegation picture again. Both Norwich and Sunderland play Watford. Watford's away record vs. the bottom six is P6 W5 L1 D0. Watford's season form is CL or title winning against bottom half teams, and next to nothing against the top. Their record vs. the top five is P10 L10. Anyway, just some numbers to contemplate when you look at our rivals' fixtures. The clearest trend of all is us getting nothing from away games, and that's the one that has to change.

In terms of typical form, most teams finishing bottom six don't get that many points in their final fixtures. That's true and is reassuring. If there is a difference this year, it is that us under Rafa and Sunderland under post-transfer window Fathead are very different teams to those fielded earlier in the season, resulting in a mismatch between where the teams are in the table and the present way they are playing. fwiw, I think Norwich are gone because there are no goals in their team. I'd be more confident about our chances if the mackems hadn't grabbed that point at Stoke, but if we go out and beat Villa, it will pile the pressure on them. That alone could be enough.

Of course! (fwiw any stats person actually analyzing games and looking at more than ten games gets us with McClaren. More than four games and its us with Steven Taylor. We are a different team now). Norwich aren't going to get any points if they can't score goals. They are not scoring goals at the moment and Cameron Jerome has a career full of not scoring goals. They're up next against the best defence in the league at stopping goals. I reckon they are all but down. They won't finish above both us and Sunderland. That leaves one place between two teams who are both scraping results. They have a game in hand and the GD but we have one more point. It's basically 50-50. It could come down to one touch of class, one error, or one refereeing gaffe.

Sunderland in the last six are W1 D4 L1 scoring just 5 and conceding just 4. Three of those goals came against Norwich, so the other five games would be W0 D4 L1 off two goals scored, four conceded. Four results off two goals (!) That's tightrope stuff, really squeezing it out. Norwich have scored four goals in their last six games, three of which were against us. Take away Steven Taylor, Janmaat and a handball and that's one goal in five games. They've now lost three in a row. We're riding our luck and squeezing out results like Sunderland. We're still not creating that much but have been playing Liverpool and Man City in fairness. Since ditching the berks mentioned above, we're not handing anything like as many presents any more. With both us and the mackems getting results without convincing, it looks like it'll go to the wire. With the points on the board, I think its Us 51% mackems 52% Norwich 97%

Quality! Keep them coming!

The Yo Cabs pen is up there with the Andy Carroll dive in front of the open goal and the Chopra miss. The Bramble sending off was pretty funny too. Enrique going in goal is still the winner for me.