Topic: Premier League Fixtures 11th - 15th May

[TSC]

Assuming city win the fa cup and with us winning the league cup, does that mean an extra 2 Europa places go to teams based on finishing high enough up the league?  If so, that means 8th place finish goes into that conference tourno.  I think.  Watch Utd spawn a Europa spot on Sunday.

[Andar]

Chelsea have really turned things out.

If they can potentially pick up 63 points out of this mess of a season then they have the potential to hit 70-75 points next season. It takes time for Pochettino to get his methods across. Spurs started looking like a serious team under him after his first season which was also sketchy.

They should get top 4 next season and start becoming a threat further on. Especially in a world without Guardiola.

Palmer is something else too.

[cdav]

Chelsea have really turned things out.

If they can potentially pick up 63 points out of this mess of a season then they have the potential to hit 70-75 points next season. It takes time for Pochettino to get his methods across. Spurs started looking like a serious team under him after his first season which was also sketchy.

They should get top 4 next season and start becoming a threat further on. Especially in a world without Guardiola.

Palmer is something else too.

Playing decently when the pressure is off, they are still a mess of a squad and not really sure what they can do to quickly turn it round with FFP?

[mikey_LFC]

Playing decently when the pressure is off, they are still a mess of a squad and not really sure what they can do to quickly turn it round with FFP?

There squad is young enough not to have to do anything drastic. Comfortably the youngest out of the top lot. They’ve been patient when they previously might not have been and I can see it paying off. Their metrics suggest they’ve been unlucky too. Definitely will be a top 4 contender next year, especially as it’s easy to predict a Villa and Spurs drop off with additional/more high profile mid week games with their European campaigns next season.

[Fromola]

There's plenty of quality players there (impossible not to be with what they've spent) but it was only the other week Arsenal ripped them apart.

Be funny if they finished above Spurs though on top of the two cup runs, given the start they made.

[Robinred]

I despised Anthony Gordon when he threw himself to the ground game after game for Everton - particularly in the local Derbys.

But he seems to have grown up, and he spoke really well about the game as a whole, but specifically about VAR’s inexplicable decision not to intervene on one of the clearest and most blatant pens of this or any other season.

[Andar]

Playing decently when the pressure is off, they are still a mess of a squad and not really sure what they can do to quickly turn it round with FFP?

Not sure that makes sense. They haven't been under pressure since November when they knew a CL place wasn't possible.

A few positions do need improving, but it certainly looks like a side good enough to get top 4 and hit 70 points next season.  FFP is an issue but I guess they will get the Saudis to help them out with a few sales.

[smutchin]

There squad is young enough not to have to do anything drastic. Comfortably the youngest out of the top lot. They’ve been patient when they previously might not have been and I can see it paying off. Their metrics suggest they’ve been unlucky too. Definitely will be a top 4 contender next year, especially as it’s easy to predict a Villa and Spurs drop off with additional/more high profile mid week games with their European campaigns next season.

They’re in serious danger of a points deduction for FFP breaches next season though, aren’t they? Can’t see them making any big purchases this summer and they may have to sell some of their star players.

And unless they can magic up a few more hotels to “sell” to their owner, chances are they won’t be allowed to play in Europe either. (In which case, could their place go to United?)

[DarkOfTheManatee]

Not sure that makes sense. They haven't been under pressure since November when they knew a CL place wasn't possible.

A few positions do need improving, but it certainly looks like a side good enough to get top 4 and hit 70 points next season.  FFP is an issue but I guess they will get the Saudis to help them out with a few sales.

You would hope that after spending about £1bn on players they would be challenging for top 4! Think their colossal underachievement at the start of the season has made their recent form look impressive by comparison, when they've really just been winning games you'd generally expect them to win any season.

Agree that their squad is actually decent, though, and to be fair it seems like Boehly has at least had the wherewithal to understand that after his mad trolley dash the players and manager needed time to gel, and he didn't panic and fire Pochettino in November. So would expect them to improve now that they're less unsettled by manic turnover of personnel.

[coolbyrne]

Chelsea have somehow guaranteed United won't be in Europe in any capacity next season. Considering how shit Chelsea have been, it's extra hilarious.

[Andar]

There's plenty of quality players there (impossible not to be with what they've spent) but it was only the other week Arsenal ripped them apart.

Be funny if they finished above Spurs though on top of the two cup runs, given the start they made.

They do seem to take a bad beating. Like Pochettino said himself.... when they are bad, they are really bad. I think as time goes on, results of that nature will become less and less. Besides it was against Arsenal who have beaten 5 other sides by 5 goals or more.

[TheShanklyGates]

Assuming city win the fa cup and with us winning the league cup, does that mean an extra 2 Europa places go to teams based on finishing high enough up the league?  If so, that means 8th place finish goes into that conference tourno.  I think.  Watch Utd spawn a Europa spot on Sunday.

England gets 7 places, not 8. Additional places can be earned in some instances through winning European competitions but no English team has done that this season. At the start of the season, these places are distributed as follows:

1st-4th = CL
5th = EL
FA Cup winners = EL
League Cup winners = ECL

If the cups are won by teams who have qualified for Europe through their league position then those places get handed down to the league. Since we have qualified for the CL, the ECL place we earned by winning the League Cup currently goes to the 6th place team in the league.

Should Man City win the FA Cup, the EL place they earn by winning it will pass to the league, meaning the 6th place team now qualifies for the EL and the 7th place team now qualifies for the ECL. Should United win it they will qualify for the EL and, since they won't qualify for Europe by league position barring a highly unlikely set of results on the last day, the place will not pass on to the league.

So the possible scenarios are:

City win the FA Cup:

6th place = EL
7th place = ECL

United win the FA Cup:

6th place = ECL
7th place = Not in Europe

[rushyman]

Chelsea have somehow guaranteed United won't be in Europe in any capacity next season. Considering how shit Chelsea have been, it's extra hilarious.

If United do better than Newcastle on Sunday they're 7th

They are then in ECL no?

Newcastle away to Brentford, United away to Brighton

[coolbyrne]

If United do better than Newcastle on Sunday they're 7th

They are then in ECL no?

Newcastle away to Brentford, United away to Brighton

I forget about the ECL. You're correct.

[rushyman]

I forget about the ECL. You're correct.

I'd rather they were in that than not in Europe at all and get a week off all the time

[Stockholm Syndrome]

You would hope that after spending about £1bn on players they would be challenging for top 4! Think their colossal underachievement at the start of the season has made their recent form look impressive by comparison, when they've really just been winning games you'd generally expect them to win any season.

Agree that their squad is actually decent, though, and to be fair it seems like Boehly has at least had the wherewithal to understand that after his mad trolley dash the players and manager needed time to gel, and he didn't panic and fire Pochettino in November. So would expect them to improve now that they're less unsettled by manic turnover of personnel.

For as impressive their performance appears to be....they are beating teams that are bottom half or on the beach.

In the recent games that actually had someone tangibly caring about the result and were not vastly worse than them, they lost 1-0 to us, 1-0 to City, and 5-0 to Arsenal.

I think it is something of an illusion mixed with United and Newcastle being poor.

They've had 3 and a half weeks of a good run from 2-2 against Villa to now.  Looking at April even they had the 5-0 loss to Arsenal and a 2-2 draw to Sheffield United.

Chelsea do this, have a run which people say "Oh it is working now" they did that before the final against us. When you peel back the layers just a little bit you see that in fact no it's not actually that impressive