Paullow

Newcastle 10th as it stands, but a Burnley equaliser would see us drop to 14th.

This thread may be busier than the Newcastle thread . Wow, didn't see that coming.

Me too, obviously some things are close than others, but 8 of the 10 matches have either the title, Europe, or relegation on the line, only Chelsea vs Watford, and Leicester vs Southampton are proper dead rubbers - Leicester can at least secure top 10, and will likely finish 8th above Wolves if they win, but nothing much riding on those in the grand scheme of things. It'll be nice just watching with no pressure. I'd like to see Leeds stay up, but not massively fussed, and in some ways, us finishing 12th or 13th may actually be better than finishing 10th, as strange as that sounds, so it really is just a stress free afternoon for us, while enormous things on the line for others.

What stick is that - you can almost hear him now, 'ah finished 12th too, ya kna'. Last year we could have realistically finished anywhere from 12th to 17th, fixture order was in our favour, and we finished as high as we could, which was probably the opposite of a blessing in disguise, aka papering over the cracks.

It's mad how, mathematically at least, every club can either gain or drop a place today. Chelsea will finish 3rd (or there will be investigations) but every other club could move (up or down) in the table. For us, Leicester are obviously out of the question, so it's realistically 10th at best, and we also can't finish above Brentford without Leeds staying up, if you are of that persuasion. Hopefully we'll just win the match and if we finish 12th as we currently are, then that's still amazing. We probably shouldn't finish any lower than 13th given Villa have to go to City. An exciting afternoon ahead.

Yeah, I think that was pretty much the only time on here where a fair few were questioning Howe and if we had made the correct appointment, especially as it was only one week and the following match after the Cambridge disaster. Safe to say we've not looked back at since the Leeds match which followed.

Looks at the state of that table only 4 months ago: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59918928 I still can't believe it's only a really meaningful match for Burnley, it always felt like a massive fixture, and unlikely that we would be more than 2 or 3 points clear of them at this stage, but instead, we actually have an outside chance of 10th. Madness.

I guess, and there'll obviously be people making decisions that know their audience far more than me, but Leeds are expected to go down, there's no real novelty factor considering they've had 17 of the last 19 years outside the top flight, they are 1/3 to go down at most places, it won't be a shock - they could even win 8-0 today and it won't mean anything if we're 2-0 down early on and down to 10 men, it'll just be a pointless exercise. I'd always put the team with it in their hands on, even if it was Burnley vs Watford / Norwich (without the additional Newcastle viewers). A team fighting to secure their survival, at home, with it in their own hands, is surely enough to grab ratings.

@Yorkie joining Gateshead in the 5th tier after a 2-0 home play off final win over Boston in front of almost 7,500 fans.

Not much riding on the Serie A matches tonight. Fiorentina will secure their Europa Conference place if they at least match Atalanta's result (Fiorentina vs Juventus). 3 matches on BT Sport starting now. Ligue 1 looks more interesting - Monaco vs Lens, and Marseille vs Strasbourg. The M's will secure their Champions League places with a point, although their opponents have Europa Conference and Europe League respectively on their own minds. Both matches on BT Sport at 8pm. Rennes can clinch a CL spot if there is a slip up from the home sides and they beat Lille.

I'll probably watch that to be honest. Would have been better if they could have just shown the Sky games as well, or better still, Sky picked the logical relegation match in the first place.

4th. Unless you were specifically meaning the League One playoffs, not just League One itself.

https://m.skybet.com/football/competitions They're obviously just numbers, and much will depend on what happens over the next 2 months, but it's glorious looking at some of the odds. Along with the 'big 6' not included in the relegation odds, 1/4 to finish in the top half - we've not seen stuff like this for around 20 years, but so much better than being the 5th or 6th favourite for relegation like we have for the past 10 years or so.

Well, we're very much the B Side in the fixture, but it would have been nice if our last game was on TV. An average Leeds match would of course usually get more viewers than an average Burnley match, if that's what they're worried about, but our involvement should negate that somewhat, so it's baffling. I was convinced we would have been on when Burnley hung on.

Wow, that's absolutely ridiculous. Crazy decision. I'd almost laugh that 5-0 1-0 scenario did happen.

This surely has to be the TBC TV match. Leeds could beat Brentford 5-0, but if Burnley scored a 93rd minute winner Leeds would go down anyway, so surely you have to have the team who's hand it is in, plus it's at home for them, so that should add to the spectacle.

Should be you'd think with Burnley at home, and in their hands.

We should finish above Villa now, even if we lose to Burnley. All to play for between Burnley and Leeds - hopefully we are the final Sky match now.

If it stays like this, Burnley vs Newcastle will likely be the final Sky match with it being in Burnley's hands and a home fixture, if Villa win it, then it'll probably be Brentford vs Leeds. City and Liverpool matches already confirmed.

Think you're looking at the live table, because if Burnley won tonight but lost to us, and Leeds beat Brentford, Leeds would finish above them.

Oh, I'd love Everton to go down the most, but that means Leeds have to beat Brentford, and I'm not sure I see that, and I would far rather Leeds stayed up ahead of Burnley personally - love the city, they've been out of the league so long, only just returning, so no real novelty factor either if they dropped, plus Newcastle shouldn't need concern themselves with 'the likes of' Burnley staying up anymore (so that they are likely to be down there again the following season). So with that in mind, that's how I'd like to see it go - still an outside chance for Everton to drop, but Leeds still with a decent enough chance of staying up if they better Burnley's result vs us, and if Everton are losing to Arsenal, then a draw for Burnley. and a Leeds win would see them down, which would be ideal.

Obviously a hell of a long way to go, but I think I'd like Burnley to draw and Everton to lose. Everton would still be sweating heading into the final match, Villa would almost certainly finish behind us (with them having City away to play), and then it will be so tight between Leeds and Burnley on the final day, with Everton also looking over their shoulders. You'd have to fear for Leeds if Burnley won, and I'd rather Leeds stayed up out of the 3 of them.

Fair to say there's a mixed reaction on here with that outcome

But the first sign of competition / losing his place at Villa he wanted to be away to play regular football, hence the loan. If he comes here permanently, it'll be to play first team football, and Lodi isn't going to switch from At Madrid to play second fiddle to Matt Targett. At this stage of our revival, especially with no European football, it'll be the likes of Dummett, Kraft, Manq, Lewis (minus one if we sell one) providing cover for either Targett or another first choice LB we bring in. We have to ask ourselves if Targett is still the answer in 2 years, if yes, sign him up, if not, possibly look for an upgrade, i.e. Lodi. He would at least be a familiar face should he sign permanently.