Elma Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Sunderland failing to win against Stoke, coupled with a win for use against Palace, would set things up nicely. Firstly, it would take us out of the bottom three for a few hours, and possibly longer with Norwich away at Arsenal. Secondly, I really do think Sunderland will struggle to beat Chelsea the week after, and another win for us at Villa (easier said than done I know) would then heap pressure on them going into the final week. For all Sunderland's devensive organisation and rigidity, they have actually failed to score in their last three home games. Although two of them were against Leicester and Arsenal, they couldn't breakdown West Brom either. Defoe is their main source of goals, and of his 13 in the league this season only 3 have come at home - 2 against Villa and 1 against Swansea. He is far better when they play on the break and he can run in behind. In short, they have a problem with balance. All ifs and buts, but I would be surprised if Sunderland were to win both home games - Chelsea have picked up a bit and even Everton isn't easy - they typicaly find that one a difficult fixture for some reason. As I say, fail to beat Stoke and we can push the momentum towards us with a win against Palace. All results (except Sunderland's point) went for us at the weekend. Leicester maintained their gap, and both Norwich and Sunderland's last two opponents are now out of the cup. Although they've nothing to play for, it would have been worse had they also been resting players ahead of a cup final, whilst those chosen may not have been throwing themselves into tackles. Instead, it's Palace in that position ahead of our game on Saturday. If we win all three, I would be stunned if we dropped. If we win the next two, it will come down to how motivated Spurs are in game 38. If we don't win the next two to take it to the last game, frankly we don't deserve to stay up. And I'm a pessimist.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
timeEd32 Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Good post. Defoe's extremely isolated and never a lone striker anyway. Good chance they struggle for goals but they won't need many imo. Stoke's a massive game. Win and they stay up imo. Draw and it begins to feel like relegation for them if we can win. They've got so many good opportunities to get points fthat I have them as heavy faves. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
last_monetarist Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Fear it's nailed on now. Sunderland's point against Arsenal and their remaining fixtures put them firmly in the box seat. Newcastle would have to win 3 on the trot to actually have a reasonable chance of staying up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyt Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Fear it's nailed on now. Sunderland's point against Arsenal and their remaining fixtures put them firmly in the box seat. Newcastle would have to win 3 on the trot to actually have a reasonable chance of staying up. If we win 3 on the trot we're staying up like, no doubt about it to me. Certainly more than 'reasonable chance' Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elma Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Good post. Defoe's extremely isolated and never a lone striker anyway. Good chance they struggle for goals but they won't need many imo. Stoke's a massive game. Win and they stay up imo. Draw and it begins to feel like relegation for them if we can win. They've got so many good opportunities to get points fthat I have them as heavy faves. Completely agree. This is the big one this weekend. This is where the tide has to turn if we're going to do it. We either fail to win, or they do win, and it will look very bleak. A point for them this week is fine. Coupled with a defeat for Norwich and a win for us against Palace, it would lift us out of the bottom three and give us a huge boost going into the final two games, especially as I think Sunderland will struggle to take more than a point against Chelsea. I'm most worried about our goal difference to be honest. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 I'm counting that as a point for Sunderland. That won't change. If we had Sunderlandd fixtures I would be disappointed with 7 points given the opposition. That's realistic. Anything less and they deserve to go down. That means we'll need to win our last 3 games. Don't think 36 will be good enough this year. I hope it is as that's our most realistic total. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 We've just got to win our two games and not even worry about those two anymore. We could win those two and still be down by the Spurs game if one/both of these win there next 3, or we could go into it already safe. Not got a clue how their 3 games will go I'm just stopping thinking about it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattoon Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Aye it's not worth agonising over, it's clearly out of our hands, we just need to go out and get the three points we should against Palace and Villa and see how it pans out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 If we win both though and they only get a point for example in the next two, it'll be interesting how they handle the pressure on that night we're not playing knowing they'd have to avoid defeat to take it to the last day. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanj Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Done the predictor a ton of times, and as been said before - 2 Wins and 1 Draw or 3 Wins and we're safe provided Sunderland Win 1x, Draw 2x, and Lose 1x (5 Points) and Norwich Win 1x, Lose 3x (3 Points). Again, its out of our hands but pick up 7-9 points and I think we nick it. Need Everton and Stoke to do their business. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
r0cafella Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Spurs dropping points here could do us a massive favour come the last day of the season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Has to be a small bonus, three-game ban for Alli and Dier injury please. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ketsbaia Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Could be big. Could be meaningless after we lose at Villa. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMc Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Nobody can deny this is entertaining. In a sick, twisted and disturbing way. F'ing purgatory!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flip Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Nobody can deny this is entertaining. In a sick, twisted and disturbing way. It's really not tbh. It's only entertaining if we succeed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbnufc Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 People reading way too much into Spurs having "nothing to play for" man. They're still miles better than us and should beat us, especially if we have to win and therefore attack them. I mean sure it makes it a tiny bit easier because they won't have to win, but it's not as big a thing as people are saying imo. Not like they'll just turn up and not bother. They're the 2nd best team in the league Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dokko Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 People reading way too much into Spurs having "nothing to play for" man. They're still miles better than us and should beat us, especially if we have to win and therefore attack them. I mean sure it makes it a tiny bit easier but it's not as big a thing as people are saying imo Makes it massively easier. Most of the gain and loss these days is played out in players minds. We get our tails up and Spurs have nothing to play for then we've a good chance. We're down and out and Spurs are fighting for a title then we've already lost. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karjala Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Of course, but last day of the season with several of their players off to the Euros, its a better scenario than them all desperately fighting for 3pts to win the title, IMO. Interesting to see if the FA have any bottle to do anything to Alli. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Obviously they'll still likely beat us, but they're not desperate for a win anymore. Alli ban could be at least as helpful TBH. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeordieT Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Spurs looked absolutely dejected at the end there. Still a very good side, will be tough to beat - but it's infintely easier than a Spurs side still in with a sniff of the title. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikon Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 For some reason i'm mostly worried about Villa away. They're shit but it would be so typical for us to fail against them away. Players thinking it will be very easy... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superior Acuña Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Whether we stay up or not, reckon there's a high chance we'll be out of the relegation zone next saturday night - we're the most likely to win of the three on that day. Nobody can say it's done. Spurs's fuck up definitely helps. They'll be hard either way, but a dejected team with nothing to play for v title chasers? Aye. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karjala Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Yep, praying for a mackem defeat and toon victory on Sat... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heron Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 The twists and turns will test each of the teams psychologically now. I think Norwich have had their turn as favourites, now Sunderland will, ours will come when the time is right, after this weekend. Except we have a confidence team, more so than their organised units. We'll grow from strength to strength whereas they're very much the standard that they're at. The problem is it might be too little too late. Villa away is probably our most difficult game to be honest. Without the 12th man and the comforts of home. We've already beat Spurs this season, they're fucking wank. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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