Erikse

Has his ups and downs, but he's really good player when he's in form.

Was everywhere. Absolute beast.

Think he's just exhausted. You saw how he didn't stand a chance vs Robertson in chasing the ball some minutes ago.

Isak is completely gassed out..

Dan Burn on the overlap

All our short corners have been a disaster lately.. Why do we keep trying it?

I'm not saying that they will win every game, but they don't need to. Not at all. They can afford to drop some points vs teams like Villa and Man Utd. It's not like the won't win some of those tricky games either, and they have 3 games (out of 9) left that are pretty much a walkover for them. That means they'll need around 8 points vs Villa, Palace, Everton, Bournemouth, Fulham and Man Utd. They can probably afford a 2-2-2 outcome from those, and they'll be at 65 points. I think that will be enough for 5th. Might even be less.

Here's the table since 29th of dec: During those 11 games City has faced Chelsea, Arsenal, us, Liverpool and Forest away. Lets include Brighton in that aswell (which they don't have left btw, as they played today), as they are third in this timeframe. These are 6 out of the 11 games, and they came out of it with 20 points. If you look at their final 9 games, they are without a doubt easier fixtures than the 11 that they have just acquired 20 points from.

17 points between 16th and 18th with 29 games played.

They don't look great, but they have no current top 7 side left to play. They're still beating most of the mid to low table sides

But hey, we could only expect a beating away against City, right? Anything else was clearly unrealistic! Especially with their flashy new players from january, who are world beaters.

Yeah, he was literally trying to avoid getting hurt. Refs are supposed to protect players, not punish them for protecting themselves.

When they finally give yellow for diving, it's a disaster of a decision.

I didn't know that being injured right now (or for a while) is a factor, though. In that case Botman could be a C. Krafth was out with the same injury, and he's 30 aswell. He came back and did well. I just think that E is pretty harsh, like he's not that bad, and he probably still has 2-3 more years in him.

I missed it, but why is Lascelles an E+ if Targett is a D? I recall Lascelles being rock solid for a good while pre injury, and he's a leader aswell.

C, basically a case of "what could have been". I agree that he's currently closer to a D.

We are a Champions League club?

You have the perfect profile picture for your forum personality. Well done.

Also, I wish we didn't use him as left back for so long.. Rock solid as a centre back, just like he was for us right after he signed. Maybe he would have gotten the callup earlier, but probably not during Southgates time anyways.

Amazing! If it wasn't for Southgate, it would have happened sooner.

Lets say Villa somehow win the CL aswell. Is it possible to have 7 english teams in next years CL?

We did win a lot towards the end of last season. 67 points will be difficult, so I expect that +7 difference to drop a bit. We also had CL games and an injury crisis for about half the season or more, with Tonali suspended through most of the season aswell. It's going to take some work to get this season to be as (or more) impressive than the last one, considering the circumstances. We can't expect every season to be better than the last one though, it rarely ever works like that.

I thought Carabao was exclusively about the single Conference League spot. If someone who qualifies for Europa League or CL wins the Carabao, then the highest placed team outside of european qualification gets the Conference League spot. Not getting top 7 if it ends up warranting a Europa League spot would be a massive disappointment considering no europe this season. Atleast if we also don't win on sunday.

Probably been asked many times already, but is it possible for 7th to be given Europa League if a top 6 team wins the FA Cup, and top 5 get CL?

I was watching those games, and to be honest I think that PSG team would have smashed us on our current form. I don't think Liverpool are the best in the world or anything. I just think that the fact that they don't have any important games left should be motivational enough, and another way to look at it is that they would want to avenge themselves after the defeat. So the mental consequence of that defeat could go both ways imo. I suppose if it actually can go both ways, that is atleast a reason for some hope.