Last season's thread was a great place for all of us go through the highs and lows of the title charge, and here we are again!
Set ourselves up perfectly with our fast start and City's wobble. 8 point lead with an home game against City in a month's time. The general opinion would be to be happy with this lead and look to maintain this gap as the season goes on, but the truth is we can really put our step on the gas over the next 2 to 3 months.
Last few weeks, i've been telling myself how if we went into the City game, 3 points ahead of them, i would take that. We had the harder set of fixtures and their set of fixtures before our meeting didn't look too daunting. They have gone and lost to Wolves and now i'm thinking a 6 point lead would do! But there is all the chance it can be an 8 point lead or larger before we meet. They have a tricky game against Palace coming up. The speed of Saha, Townsend and Ayew on the counter against that back-line of theirs could be a fun watch
We have a tough three fixtures coming up ourselves. We can talk about form and how bad Utd and Spurs are, but there is no denying that they will be tough fixtures. Then a trip to Villa which has the potential to be a banana skin with how hot the atmosphere might be. We tried to sign Barry once and it was a sideways move apparently, and their fans have built up some irrational hatred for us since.
Really do think the game against City is where we will put a massive marker down. Any gap larger than 6 before that game, and all the pressure will be on them for that game. Their back-line against our attack. Anfield under the lights. It's got the makings of a special night. Dream scenario would be to go in with an 8 point lead with a chance to make it 11.
December is also an interesting month. A lot being said about how the trip to Qatar will work against us, but it could be said that it works in our favor. In a space of 4 days, we would have had to face a tricky back to back against both Leicester and West Ham away from home. Instead the game against West Ham has been suspended and we can look to face that battle come February or March. Much more preferable and with that game put back, our schedule doesn't look too bad at all. Our December schedule looks like this: Brighton (H), Everton (H), Bournemouth (A), Watford (H), Leicester (A), Wolves (H), Sheff Utd (H). City's December: Newcastle (A), Burnley (A), Utd (H), Arsenal (A), Leicester (H), Wolves (A), Sheff Utd (H), Everton (H).
That looks like a serious slog for City.
If we were to hold a 7-11 point lead before the start of that fixture run, we have the chance of making it a seriously large gap.
I'm getting excited