Topic: Predictions: Top 4

[The North Bank]

Arsenal
City
United
Liverpool
Spurs
Newcastle





Chelsea

[buttersstotch]

There's still ages to go. Our one saving Grace is I think we've hit our lowest ebb. I suspect we'll still drop silly points at times, especially away from home, but we have a chance now, whereas after the Woles game you'd have been a fool to even think we could sneak it. The form of Newcastle and Spurs opens the door, but we've still a lot of work to do.

[jackh]

There's still ages to go. Our one saving Grace is I think we've hit our lowest ebb. I suspect we'll still drop silly points at times, especially away from home, but we have a chance now, whereas after the Woles game you'd have been a fool to even think we could sneak it. The form of Newcastle and Spurs opens the door, but we've still a lot of work to do.

Yep, agree with pretty much all of this.

Yesterday didn't go our way at all, and United's advantage probably means that - at this stage - we're only looking at one position being up for grabs.

With Newcastle playing in the League Cup final this weekend, we'll be on the same amount of games as them after our match against Palace on Saturday night. We'll then have two games in hand over Spurs again, following their game at home to Chelsea on Sunday. Would be a great time for Chelsea to dig out a win. We then have our catch-up match against Wolves next midweek.

The weekend after is a big one - Spurs play Wolves, whilst Newcastle visit City and we host United.

[Gerard00]

Big ask and beating Utd would be the icing on the cake.

[tubby]

What do you think more likely, we win the CL or we finish top 4?

[redk84]

What do you think more likely, we win the CL or we finish top 4?

Us finishing top 4, because of the level of competition for that spot...

Spurs, Newcastle, Chelsea maybe? That's who I think are our competitors with 15 odd games to go - a fair amount

I think Spurs pose the biggest threat out of those teams, they have some sort of muscle memory when it comes to getting a top 4 place and have won 3 out of the last 4 games too so seem to be in a bit of form.
Chelsea if they click, not sure what that would look like but right now out of those three are the least of our worries
Newcastle have no experience in these kind of run-ins and the cup final could send their mentality one way or another.

I don't see us getting worse or having as many blips as we have had upto this point in the season and we tend to end seasons well especially under Klopp.
Win our games in hand and we are 1 point off 4th.

Then it becomes a matter of getting more points than the others in the remaining games, haven't done a comparison of our remaining fixtures but only City away is a difficult one for us? Every other big team comes to Anfield...

The away form of ours is a worry and CL can be a brilliant distraction but I think we have a better chance than most do

[killer-heels]

What do you think more likely, we win the CL or we finish top 4?

Thought about this a lot today and Im going to say top 4.

[Max_powers]

What do you think more likely, we win the CL or we finish top 4?

Even before the Madrid game, I would have said top 4. We are 7 points back with 2 games in hand. We can do it easily if we put together a decent run of 10 games. Spurs are not the most consistent team and Newcastle seems to be stumbling. Its all up the us though. There are some signs that a few things are clicking.

We really need to build on our last two league wins though. In general, we finish the season strong under Klopp, so I hope we can do that again this year.

[Scottymuser]

Even before the Madrid game, I would have said top 4. We are 7 points back with 2 games in hand. We can do it easily if we put together a decent run of 10 games. Spurs are not the most consistent team and Newcastle seems to be stumbling. Its all up the us though. There are some signs that a few things are clicking.

We really need to build on our last two league wins though. In general, we finish the season strong under Klopp, so I hope we can do that again this year.

Spurs are playing significantly worse football then us, and have their key midfielder out for the season - they keep fluking wins, but they can't keep doing that. We are also only 7 points behind them with 2 games in hand - if we win both Palace and wolves (should do) - then any result other than a Spurs win vs Chelsea at the weekend leaves us a game in hand, and less than 3 points back.

Newcastle have *drawn* more games than they have won, have been much better at home than away, as they have not had to play any big sides there (other than us) so would expect that to change, have a smaller squad meaning over reliance on a small number of players.  Not to mention the League Cup final could damage them mentally - and if we win our two (should be easy) games vs Wolves and Palace, by the time they play City next Saturday, we will be level on points with them.  City win that match, and we are suddenly level on points and on games played.

Chelsea are playing awful football and can't score for love nor money.  We've also got a game in hand against them AND are 4 points better off (with a much better GD). 

In an ideal world - we win both games, Chelsea beat with Spurs, and then City beat Newcastle.  Even if Spurs beat Wolves then as well - we go into the United game 4 points behind Spurs (with 2 games in hand, one of them United) and level on points with Newcastle and a game in hand.  Chelsea then have Leeds - who will by that time have a new manager - but even a win for them puts them 4 points back AND we would have that game in hand (United).  If we are more worried about Chelsea, then change the Spurs Chelse game to a draw - would put us 6 points ahead of Chelsea with a game in hand, and 5 behind Spurs with 2 games in hand. 

After the United game, which I think we win as it's at Anfield and they are much better at OT, we've got Bournmouth and Fulham in March.  Win both of those and we are very much in the mix.  And Diaz then hopefully will be back for April.

[Stockholm Syndrome]

Also we have Spurs at home, and on paper a very nice run in to the end of the season.

If we win the games we should win (and I am not even counting United, not that I don't think we can win just not factoring it in for my view), but if we win the ones we should be winning, I can see us being at least very close to top 4

[El Lobo]

Yesterday was grim....but that was against top, top players. If we attack with that sort of quality even for twenty minutes at the start of games we should win most games even if we do then drop off. Hopefully Diogo and Bobby keep working towards sharpness. Even with the midfield issues, being out of all other comps (I know, miracles do happen but I'm not quite sure ones this big do) most weeks we'll only have one game or at least a longer rest so should be pretty well rested and hopefully able to get on a good run

[DelTrotter]

Gotta be continuing the decent league form now and get at least 13 points from our next 5. It's a very kind fixture list, need them points on the board as the week of City away, Chelsea away and Arsenal home after is obviously not gonna yield maximum points. More confident than I was but still not completely convinced, we don't look like we'll be able to defend whatever happens so hopefully Darwin, Mo etc keep performing.

[MonsLibpool]

Our attack is good enough for a top 4 finish.

[Stockholm Syndrome]

Gotta be continuing the decent league form now and get at least 13 points from our next 5. It's a very kind fixture list, need them points on the board as the week of City away, Chelsea away and Arsenal home after is obviously not gonna yield maximum points. More confident than I was but still not completely convinced, we don't look like we'll be able to defend whatever happens so hopefully Darwin, Mo etc keep performing.

The next 4 out of 5 games and the last 8 games are the ones we should be looking to get the bulk of points, and in the United, Arsenal, City, and Chelsea getting some points where we can. That could put us around 70-ish points which would put us there or there abouts.

We still have the capability, just not sure if we have the confidence at the moment

[MD1990]

I feel Konate will be crucial.
We need fit & to stay fit asap

We will score goals

[TankEngine10]

Gotta be continuing the decent league form now and get at least 13 points from our next 5. It's a very kind fixture list, need them points on the board as the week of City away, Chelsea away and Arsenal home after is obviously not gonna yield maximum points. More confident than I was but still not completely convinced, we don't look like we'll be able to defend whatever happens so hopefully Darwin, Mo etc keep performing.

That's title winning form you're expecting. I'd be more convinced before last night

[Crosby Nick]

I feel Konate will be crucial.
We need fit & to stay fit asap

We will score goals

When do we think he’ll be back? Feels like we haven’t had a consistent CB pairing all season.

[DelTrotter]

That's title winning form you're expecting. I'd be more convinced before last night

I'm not expecting anything as we've been shit all season but if we want top 4 we'll have to put together a good run over a 5-7 game period at some point, these fixtures on the back of two wins are a good time to do it, whether we can is another matter entirely.

[disgraced cake]

The wins against Everton and Newcastle have gave us a bit of hope as far as the league goes. Last night was bad but we were playing against some of the absolute best players around.

Some big ones coming up. If we can take 6 points from Palace and Wolves we won't be in a terrible position looking at 4th going to March, where I'd expect a drop off from Newcastle, the likes of Brighton/Fulham obviously aren't making 4th, Chelsea too shit/far away, Spurs also turds. We need to put a proper run together now because if we do our bit we won't be outgunned by Spurs/Newcastle for that last spot I feel.

[tubby]

I think what people keep forgetting is that the top 4 race is often a shit show.  Nothing at all like fighting City at the top of the league.  The teams around 4th all drop points in ridiculous places, there's a long way to go yet.

[deano2727]

If we can get to after that Arsenal game within a few points of 4th, we could well do it. I have my doubts though. Important to not finish in the Conference League spot. That would just add to the misery of this season.

[Saus76]

Saturday is vital now - not just for points but for squad moral. The loss last night took the stuffing out of me as a fan - god knows what effect it could have on the players. Klopp has a job to get the lads focused mentally now before Saturday.

[The North Bank]

Spurs are getting 4th again aren’t they. They’ve become like  late wenger years Arsenal  (minus the fa cups). No matter how shit they are they always somehow end up back in CL.
Hope Chelsea stuff them .

[killer-heels]

We are not in a bad position actually, 6 behind Spurs with a game in hand. If we can just keep going at a decent, if not spectacular rate then we may actually pull this off.

[didi shamone]

We are not in a bad position actually, 6 behind Spurs with a game in hand. If we can just keep going at a decent, if not spectacular rate then we may actually pull this off.

Heavily dependent on our few performing players to be fit and firing. Konate, Thiago, Nunez  fit and we beat Palace. A fit Jota and Diaz and we pick up a decent tally. Everyone else will drop points too.

That said we're capable of screwing it up against Wolves and Man U.

[killer-heels]

Heavily dependent on our few performing players to be fit and firing. Konate, Thiago, Nunez  fit and we beat Palace. A fit Jota and Diaz and we pick up a decent tally. Everyone else will drop points too.

That said we're capable of screwing it up against Wolves and Man U.

I am pretty much writing Diaz off. By the time he is back he will have been out for five months. Dont think there is enough time for him to make an impact.

[didi shamone]

I am pretty much writing Diaz off. By the time he is back he will have been out for five months. Dont think there is enough time for him to make an impact.

Yea probably not but I'll cling to anything. We probably have about 6 players playing to their level or near enough and we need pretty much all of them playing regularly achieve top 4 I reckon.

[redk84]

Top 4 won't be as intense as our recent title runs...spurs can string together results but will also drop stupid points like we did against palace last night.

Think the reaction to our game last night is bigger than what it needs to be....however if we do not beat wolves midweek then it will mean we are relying more heavily on poor form of others.

Which isn't a good place to be - and we'll need to be pulling off results against harder opponents which we haven't looked likely to do recently.

Spurs have a really similar run in to ours - that match between us will be massive in context of this season

[nayia2002]

Need to win next 2 games whatever it takes to have a chance of top 4!

[Lycan]

We basically can't afford many more slip-ups. Problem is, we haven't won more than 3 games in a row this season. So I'd be surprised to see us going on a run of 8-10 games in a row.

[didi shamone]

We basically can't afford many more slip-ups. Problem is, we haven't won more than 3 games in a row this season. So I'd be surprised to see us going on a run of 8-10 games in a row.

We won 4 league games in a row in Nov/Dec. Not that we were playing well though and then we went on a horror run.

[killer-heels]

We basically can't afford many more slip-ups. Problem is, we haven't won more than 3 games in a row this season. So I'd be surprised to see us going on a run of 8-10 games in a row.

We are never putting 8 wins in a row up this season, you can forget that. At the moment if we can run at 3 wins and a draw every 5 or so games then Id take that. Would put us on 66 points which isnt great but would show steady progress from where we were.

[I've been a good boy]

April is a disgusting month, could make or break our season

[Fromola]

Frustratingly Spurs having the equivalent of a new manager bounce without Conte.

Newcastle should fall away

[MonsLibpool]

We just have to take it one game at a time starting with Wolves which is a must-win game.

[Jookie]

Spurs have 45 points from 25 games. Their 13 games include a lot of games with teams near the bottom of the league. Only really 3 'big' games left (Newcastle, United and us).

Even if Spurs carry on with their current ppg average they'll end up on 68 points.

We've got 36 points from 23. To get to 68 points we'd need 32 from last 15 games. In that regard we can drop 13 points from last 15 games that include City away, United home, Arsenal home, Spurs home and Chelsea away.

Our away form is the issue. Only got 12 points from 12 away games with a -6 GD. We really need to win some of those remaining away games if we are to get close to upper 60's/70 points. Ideally we'll win a minimum 6 of our home games and draw 2. That would mean we'd need about 12 points from the last 7 away games. That would be equalling the current away points total in 5 less games.

I wouldn't rule us out of getting 4th but think the hurdle is potentially bigger than some think. Namely getting significantly better at collecting points away from home whilst being near perfect at home.

[killer-heels]

Spurs have 45 points from 25 games. Their 13 games include a lot of games with teams near the bottom of the league. Only really 3 'big' games left (Newcastle, United and us).

Even if Spurs carry on with their current ppg average they'll end up on 68 points.

We've got 36 points from 23. To get to 68 points we'd need 32 from last 15 games. In that regard we can drop 13 points from last 15 games that include City away, United home, Arsenal home, Spurs home and Chelsea away.

Our away form is the issue. Only got 12 points from 12 away games with a -6 GD. We really need to win some of those remaining away games if we are to get close to upper 60's/70 points. Ideally we'll win a minimum 6 of our home games and draw 2. That would mean we'd need about 12 points from the last 7 away games. That would be equalling the current away points total in 5 less games.

I wouldn't rule us out of getting 4th but think the hurdle is potentially bigger than some think. Namely getting significantly better at collecting points away from home whilst being near perfect at home.

Yep I agree. I think a lot of people are rightly saying how scruffy top four are but are forgetting our end of the bargain, which is that we have to see a significant up turn in form. Maybe we can show that this week if we can pick up a minimum of four points but I dont know.

[classycarra]

I wouldn't rule us out of getting 4th but think the hurdle is potentially bigger than some think. Namely getting significantly better at collecting points away from home whilst being near perfect at home.

Yep I agree. I think a lot of people are rightly saying how scruffy top four are but are forgetting our end of the bargain, which is that we have to see a significant up turn in form. Maybe we can show that this week if we can pick up a minimum of four points but I dont know

Agree with you both. I think on status quo at the moment, we aren't going to be running too close to getting 4th - something really jarringly good would have to happen to change our fortunes dramatically enough to overcome the gap. If we had a fully fit squad (Ibou and Thiago in particular are needed currently) and only one game a week, and combined that with playing our tougher fixtures at times when the opposition are playing twice a week, I'd say there was a chance. But those circumstances aren't too likely. And I think with cancelled games we'll even have fixture congestion without CL games.

[Crosby Nick]

Agree with you both. I think on status quo at the moment, we aren't going to be running too close to getting 4th - something really jarringly good would have to happen to change our fortunes dramatically enough to overcome the gap. If we had a fully fit squad (Ibou and Thiago in particular are needed currently) and only one game a week, and combined that with playing our tougher fixtures at times when the opposition are playing twice a week, I'd say there was a chance. But those circumstances aren't too likely. And I think with cancelled games we'll even have fixture congestion without CL games.

Before Palace I felt quite confident we could get 4th. Us drawing and Spurs winning is a bit of a blow as didn’t think we’d lose ground to them this weekend.

Maybe them getting past Milan and getting a big CL QF to distract them would help us.

[Sudden Death Draft Loser]

April is a disgusting month, could make or break our season

It's beyond broken already