Stottie

Good result for us, I would have thought. Spurs doing it in normal time, so no Man U hangover next week or massive draining game. No Man U CL, so longer for them to get back to being anything like they were under OGS, never mind long before. Spurs didn't get CL for fifth last year due to Man U and us finishing bottom of our CL groups and wrecking the England coefficient (which is top 2 8 seasons out of 10), so them getting it a season late is not completely unfair. Spurs have had a massive dropoff this year, so nothing to fear there. They already had massive PSR headroom, their matchday is huge, so more money won't matter that much.

Trophy and third or fourth with one to play, which is Everton home. I would have snapped your hand off for this at Christmas, never mind when the season started. Just to remind everyone, but we've not bought a first teamer for three transfer windows. PSR meant the wild crazy dribbling kid we had who scored in the CL had to be sold.

Competed fairly well and lost to a worldie and their keeper as MoM. Tino clean through and stopping kind of summed it up for me. Bruno had a good game but missed an easier chance than Rice took. We're a good team, much better than the past, but the too dependent on Isak for the killer instinct. Win next week, which we should do, and it won't matter.

Challenging for the ball has to be "involved". I don't mind the goal being given, but real time with no VAR delay would be vastly preferable. Taking so long to come up with a decision with arguable logic is bad for the game.

Congrats to Palace! I would have vastly preferred to see them hang on 10v11 but it's not their fault they didn't have to. They did defend well, the keeper played a blinder, and yeah, there's no "magic of the cup" if only one of six teams ever wins. Chelsea vs. Liverpool was like 120 minutes of watching paint dry twice last season. If VAR can make that level of clanger, there is a strong case for scrapping it, celebrating goals as they go in, and going back to claiming every bad decision "evens itself out over the season" (which they don't).

New low for VAR

CL for fifth now, and CL for winning the Europa which for the first time has no CL teams dropping into it has shaken things up. It all feels weird. fwiw, if we hadn't been dumped in a group of death and denied in Paris by that handball call, and Man U hadn't been hopeless in an easy group, the England coefficient would have been better and Spurs would have had a much better chance of getting CL last season for finishing fifth. It looks like 19/20 and 23/24 were the only recent seasons where English clubs weren't in the top two countries. https://www.uefa.com/nationalassociations/uefarankings/country/?year=2025

Breaking the trophy drought, by beating all of the top four, and Europa League is a brilliant season. CL is likely, will add more joy, and propel us further as a club, but that does not mean the lads don't deserve some "we're in Europa or better" appreciation if/when then gets confirmed first.

Since Chelsea didn't win with a lot of goals, and they need to lose to Forest for Forest to leapfrog us on points, I take it that we are now assured of Europa League (by finishing in sixth) so long as we do not lose to Arsenal and Everton with a bigger hit to our goal difference than the hit to Chelsea's goal difference from them losing to Forest. We are +3GD ahead of Chelsea, and they need to lose too to help Forest, so provided with do not lose our next two by a combined -4GD, we're in the Europa regardless of Forest-Chelsea. So us missing out on Europa is even more "miniscule" than it was before. Forest not winning tomorrow, or a point for us against Arsenal will confirm it. This is a maths exercise only because I fully expect us to get results in both games and qualify for CL.

Fofana (seen as key man), Colwill, Chalobah.... They bought Tosin and he's still on the bench with Fofana injured. This is a warning for anyone like Guehi wanting to play for England, given that Hall and Tino (and now Burn) are in the England squad from getting on the pitch and impressing. Fair dos if Guehi wants to stay in London, but not the safest of career moves.

I don't expect Man U and Spurs to "throw" the games on Friday. If anything, both are desperate for some momentum going into the final, which with CL on the line is far more monumental for them than anything they have played in for quite some time. My guess is that they will both go for it first half and look to bring off vital players in the second to rest them. I don't think it would make sense for them to just play peripheral players from the start. Were there no final, both teams would be in "beach" mode, assuming such thing exists. Just us and finals, but we went into the Carabao final against Man U after two draws and a defeat in the league. Before Liverpool, we won two and lost one (at Liverpool), and also lost the FA cup game against Brighton. Our approach and energy on the field were vastly superior in the second final despite us facing better opposition.

Huge point for them at Liverpool. Without it, defeat to us and a draw (matching the Man CIty result) at Southampton would leave them on 68. The point yesterday means they can lose to us and a draw at Southampton will get them to 69, which will be enough with their GD. Not that I foresee two wins for both of Chelsea and Villa. Our 3-4-3/5-4-1 looked very good first half yesterday and if chosen, I would expect it frustrate to Arsenal again like the last time in the Carabao semi second leg. Isak not firing as he was earlier in the season is my main concern. Overall, our form is way better than theirs.

SJP factor gets us over the line here, I reckon. Make some noise, lads and lasses! If it helps calm the nerves, Chelsea's away form has improved recently, but only to P4 W1 D2 L1, with them scoring a total of three goals. In the four away games before that, they lost all four, scoring only twice. We've scored 33 in our last 11 home games. 14 in the last four which were all wins. Howay the Lads!

We'd have been in Europe this season but for the cup final result. It probably would have been Europa had we not lost at Old Trafford last May, a very frustrating match we should have got something from.

Villa gifted.a high turnover with no pressing. Urgh.

Since winning Europa gets CL qualification, how "successful" will Spurs or Man U 's season become if they win it? Would a Spurs win make them more successful in 16th than Arsenal? It would be CL qualification plus major trophy vs. CL qualification. It ultimately doesn't matter that Spurs have lost 19 or however many matches in the 24/25 Premier League.

Along with his shot creating actions and unsuccessful tackle percentage, I trust Fbref is telling everyone about how to say Igor's name.

Chelsea are an extreme possession team, the type we do well against by winning high turnovers and hitting them on the counter. They are also playing Thurs-Sun, usually a recipe for teams struggling. Nico Jackson can do the turn and run in behind thing Watkins does, so we'll have to watch for that vulnerability, not just pace on the wings. Our team as a whole shouldn't be as knackered as we looked at Villa, our latest big test. Our second latest big test was the Carabao final where we beat easily the best team in the country. Isak has four in five vs. Chelsea, including two this season.

Did kind of okay, but needed to at least work the keeper when clean through first half and leave an outstretched trailing leg or get there a bit faster for the incident in the second. The one where he beat the defender for pace second half and then just kicked it out with his wrong foot might have been overlookable for a player up to speed and contributing, but felt incriminating for him as a player who is struggling. As a midfield, I thought we did okay today and the main issue was our final ball being very poor. Getting in behind but then hitting a cut backs straight to a defender etc. Our key pass man is usually Bruno, and he wasn't on it today either.

Decent point, which we fought back well to get and deserved. Possibly a little unlucky at the margins, deflected goal for them, Wieffer v. close to second yellow, six inches off Gordon penalty etc. On the other hand, 50p heed for them missed the best chance of the game. Bogey ground and the curse in the league remains.

Just for context, but fans of the most successful club of recent times, the only one to win four in a row, yes, Man City, still refer to poor results or unexpected events as "typical City". Their nonstop success has not stopped some fans looking on the negative side and half-expecting things to go wrong. For some football fans of some clubs, this condition seems incurable. For contrast, other fans of other clubs and pundits pandering to them have no problem in assuming they have already signed other clubs' prime assets, such as Alexander Isak.

Two things here. First is if Man City win the Cup, they are favourites, seventh gets Europa League. This means there's very little chance, my guess would be less than one in one hundred, we don't get at least Europa League. Which as Man U and Spurs are suggesting, is probably easier than to progress in than used to be and offers a way into the CL for the winner. Note that I want and expect CL, us collapsing under Eddie Howe would be very uncharacteristic. I am only bringing this up to soothe any last minute nerves from the players and fanbase. We won't be in the Conference League next season. We'll be in one of the two better competitions. Secondly, us being basically nailed on for top 7 means eighth will get Europe. Man City and Villa both have to play both Bournemouth and Fulham who are in contention for eighth. We have to play Brighton, who are the same. Anyone saying VIlla have easy fixtures is saying teams in genuine European contention are easy opposition.

Vardy and Jota were good finishers, but it doesn't look like it anymore. DCL is way below the line, which raises all kinds of alarms. Its easier to forgive Nico Jackson, because his pace/power will be creating some of the many opportunities he's had. Above the line, Wood and Welbeck are having great seasons in spite of their historic finishing abilities. Is the circle size minutes played?

I reckon we'll do it barring a collapse. A collapse is possible, but would be very uncharacteristic for us under Eddie Howe. This collapse would also have to come following a run where we've scored 18 goals in six games, four more than anyone else, 9 more than Forest, and 12 more than Chelsea. The no. 1 form team in the league is Wolves, who play Man City at home next. City also play Fulham away. I don't quite get the idea of them being a shoo-in based on who they play.

Missed most the first half, but witnessed the whole of the second. They killed us down the right again and again, and we should probably have reorganized to counter it. The Maatsen goal that opened the floodgates happened with Trippier suckered into midfield and AWOL from RB. We looked leggy and didn't get into it. We're still third though and have it all in our own hands. Time to regroup, hopefully with Eddie fit and well.