The Europeometer™ (2023/24) - permutations in O.P.

[Paullow]

The only bookies, as most have us 5/4 or 6/5, but PPs have us odds on to finish top four at 10/11. Close between a few others, and you have to factor in margins, but looks far too small to me.

 

https://www.paddypower.com/english-premier-league?tab=outrights

[Paullow]

Not a bad weekend overall. If we're in a mini league with Villa, Spurs, Brighton, Man U and Chelsea for 4th or 5th then 4 of those dropped points (although one obviously got an excellent / unexpected point).

[Abacus]

12 minutes ago, Matt1892 said:

Am I the only one that still thinks we have an outside shot at winning the league??

 

 

 

7 points off Arsenal, and could have been 4 if it hadn't been for that damn Liverpool game. Not this season, but wouldn't be surprised if we caused a real scare next time.

[Optimistic Nut]

7 minutes ago, RodneyCisse said:

We’d not be far off with a fit squad, could have mixed it up against Bournemouth and maybe come away with something.

 

With the injury crisis: 

 

If we've got Bruno and either Isak or Wilson, we'll beat most teams. 

 

If we've got Bruno and Isak, we'll beat some of the elite teams.

 

If we've got neither Bruno or Isak/Wilson, we'll struggle against any Premier League team.

 

If we get a couple of midfielders back and Isak or even Wilson, stays fit we should be able to find a way against those teams.

[alexf]

All these points add up. I know it's early but could really do with the likes of Spurs and Villa not picking up late draws etc.

 

Beat Everton and it's not too bad, but it's always going to feel like we can't afford to drop points all season because we're in a 7/8 team race for that 4th/5th.

 

Which leads to things like that idiot having a go at Trippier at Bournemouth  when we inevitably lose the odd game. 

[Kid Icarus]

All about staying in contention with the pack until we get players back imo, don't mind too much what other teams are doing right now.

[The College Dropout]

We need to go on a run of wins if we are to make CL. Winning 8 out of 10 at some point or 6 wins in a row type stuff 

[alexf]

1 minute ago, The College Dropout said:

We need to go on a run of wins if we are to make CL. Winning 8 out of 10 at some point or 6 wins in a row type stuff 

Have no doubt we could do that back end of the season if our squad is healthy and if our schedule has eased slightly. 

 

Just hope it's not too little too late. Abit like when Liverpool did it last season chasing us down but we built up too much of a head start earlier in the season. 

[janpawel]

As good as Villa have been and I think they've been great, have they beaten a good team? I can only think of Chelsea and Brighton, whereas we've beaten Man City, Arsenal, PSG etc

 

Not that it matters in a way, points on the board are more important of which they have a few more than us

 

Be interesting how they do against City and Arsenal, should be fun games 

[mikejaxer]

2 minutes ago, janpawel said:

As good as Villa have been and I think they've been great, have they beaten a good team? I can only think of Chelsea and Brighton, whereas we've beaten Man City, Arsenal, PSG etc

 

Not that it matters in a way, points on the board are more important of which they have a few more than us

 

Be interesting how they do against City and Arsenal, should be fun games 

They're 3rd for the 2023 calendar year with 36 games played. There's no doubt about their quality like

[Checko]

Yeah Villa have been going at Champions leagues pace for over a year now.

[The Prophet]

As we discovered. The challenge is when teams start to sus you. In past gigs, Emery has been pretty rigid.

[STM]

I have it fairly clear from here on out....

 

1st, 2nd and 3rd City, Liverpool and Arsenal in any order.

 

4th 5th and 6th Us, Villa and Spurs in any order.

[jackyboy]

Everton won't be easy 

[Froggy]

16 minutes ago, mikejaxer said:

They're 3rd for the 2023 calendar year with 36 games played. There's no doubt about their quality like

 

We finished third and won a cup in 2023 and it feels like someone is spitting in my face every time I have to watch us.

[Matt1892]

47 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said:

 

If we had even just 3 of the missing list available so we could rotate a small amount, or at least make meaningful substitutions, I would do. 

I’ve looked quickly so this could be wrong but City are 5 points down on the same games last season, whereas we are 5 points up on the same games.

 

I said a few weeks back in this thread that I thought the league would be won on less points than last season, so if we can improve on last seasons points tally then we won’t be far off.

 

If we can get through December and get some players back then there is no reason why we can’t join the likes of Liverpool in chasing Man City and Arsenal.

[Stottie]

Just on Nut's point, but Bruno's missed one game this season, Bournemouth away. It was our worst performance of the season.

 

Some late goals on Sunday meant this wasn't quite as good a weekend as it could have been, but it's still a step forward for us.

We're now P8 W7 D0 L1 at SJP with five clean sheets, no problems there, but have only played six away games, against a generally hard set of opponents.

P6 W1 D2 L3 so far, so plenty of room for improvement in the remaining 13 games. Everton have lost five out of seven at home, so a fine opportunity for us to get a second away win.

 

[Kid Icarus]

Just been looking at our fixtures there and so hard have our matches been that of the remaining 24 matches only 11 of them are against top half teams, only 4 of those are at home, and we only have 6 more matches against Champions League level/challenging opposition.

 

We're 7 points up on our home form last season with 8 points still to potentially improve upon. If our away form stays a bit shakey (we're -2 on last season) that might come in very useful.

[janpawel]

13 hours ago, mikejaxer said:

They're 3rd for the 2023 calendar year with 36 games played. There's no doubt about their quality like

Very true, also forgot they beat Tottenham just over a week ago 😂

[54]

42 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

Just been looking at our fixtures there and so hard have our matches been that of the remaining 24 matches only 11 of them are against top half teams, only 4 of those are at home, and we only have 6 more matches against Champions League level/challenging opposition.

 

We're 7 points up on our home form last season with 8 points still to potentially improve upon. If our away form stays a bit shakey (we're -2 on last season) that might come in very useful.

We also play the reverse Man City and Liverpool games at the start on January, and play Arsenal in February, so we'll have played all of this years big hitters with over a third of games still to go.

[Elma]

January worries me. Have a good January and we'll be in a decent position. Only three league games but it's Liverpool (a), Man City (h), Villa (a). 

[black_n_white]

5 minutes ago, Elma said:

January worries me. Have a good January and we'll be in a decent position. Only three league games but it's Liverpool (a), Man City (h), Villa (a). 

Do the fixtures ever get easier for us? Feels like we are playing strong teams every week!

[kingxlnc]

We could do a Man City and win 16 games in a row or something, if the run-in really is as simple compared to the tough games we've already played, especially if it coincides with all the players coming back. 

Sneaky title challenge? 

[The Prophet]

1 hour ago, black_n_white said:

Do the fixtures ever get easier for us? Feels like we are playing strong teams every week!

 

We recently had a pretty cushy run of fixtures in the league, the cups have been brutal though.

[ponsaelius]

The fixtures have seemed particularly brutal just because of how hard our cup draws have been.

 

The next five league games aren't too bad as a group, tbf.