Everyone keeps saying the season is in our hands, but in truth it's also in Arsenal's hands.

If they win EVERY game left, then they would take the title, as they have to play us.

If we win EVERY game we take the title.

Either way, it makes the Arsenal game the biggest of the season for us without a shadow of a doubt. The official site says the Arsenal league game is fully sold out, not just a near sell out. Luckily, Jenas has got his debut out of the way and from that performance Bobby should be confident of playing him against Arsenal.

-- Anonymous, February 24, 2002

Answers

Forgot to add I would probably take winning the league match over the cup game (for Arsenal)

-- Anonymous, February 24, 2002

Yes, I agree. A win in the league would be best if there has to be a choice.

-- Anonymous, February 24, 2002

I put together a points target of 75 for season end and with today's win we've gone 2 points ahead of that so the aim now is 77. That is going to be very close to the title if we achieve it. (Lawrenson forecasts 81 points for Manu and I think he was being very generous.) My target for the next two games is just 1 point so we've got a chance to gain on that target against Arse and Pool. IF we were to win those 2 (and that's a big IF) we would be either favourites or 2nd favourites for the title. Let's keep the dream alive until it all blows up shall we? :-)

For the record, the target was as follows - the variance to target is shown in () :-

points to date 49, Southampton H 3(0) Sunderland A 1(+2) Arsenal H 1 Liverpool A 0 Ipswich H 3 Blackburn A 1 Everton H 3 Villa A 1 Fulham H 3 Derby A 3 Charlton H 3 West Ham H 3 Southampton A 1, total 75 (+2)

Just look at those games after Liverpool. Every one of them winnable. Of course, they still have to be won and whether we could sustain the consistency needed is anyone's guess. Still, IF we do well over the next 2 matches, the door will be practically wide open. :-)

A tantalising thought...

-- Anonymous, February 24, 2002

The best thing is there is absolutely no pressure on us.

If we fail to win the league, we are excempt from major criticism as we weren't expected to win it.

One game at a time for me at the moment though, I can't really predict the outcome of a game in 7 weeks time with any real confidence.

-- Anonymous, February 24, 2002

What we need is for Fulham (9), Derby (19), Charlton (10), West Ham (11) and Southampton (13) to be safe(ish) from relegation before we play them. Their current positions are shown in brackets. Apart from Derby, it's looking good. Leicester, Bolton, Borough, Sunderland, and Ipswich and Blackburn (after we play them) can all contest the relegation places to their hearts content whilst we play mid table teams with no hope of Europe - UEFA can be fought out between Chelsea, Spurs and Villa.

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2002

It's already been pointed out how few normal saturday games we have. On paper they seem to give us longer recovery periods. For instance we play Everton on Friday 29th MArch, and Villa on the following Tuesday. Most other teams are playing Sat and Monday. The next game after the Villa game is another Monday game, giving us a decent recovery time again.

Looking at our game in hand, it comes into effect against ManU with our Villa game, but against Arsenal it's not until Southampton - ie Arsenal don't appear to be playing on the final saturday. Is it better to play first and try and put the points on the board, or play last with the knowledge of what needs to be done? All in all, it'll be more nerve wracking the way our games are out of kilter, if things stay tight. We could be jumping from 1st to 4th and back again.

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2002

Arsenal do play on the final Saturday. Surely every team has to complete their program at the same time? They play Everton on 11 May.

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2002

Dodgy fixture list on bbc.co.uk then. But it makes sense. It's 'Pool we have a game in hand over anyway, which works out as the Villa game as well.

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2002

The other thing that really pleased me about yesterday, apart from the blinkin obvious, was that leeds dropped two points

Not wanted to count my chickens before they lay (to paraphrase SBR) but that makes a top four finish and champs league next year as near a certainty as it can be

gerrin

Jonboy

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2002

Got chatting to one of the local constabulary after the game yesterday - during our enforced confinement in La Stade de Merde until every SAFC fan was safely home and had closed their front doors!

He said he'd been on duty at six games this season at the SoL, and that they'd drawn 2 and lost 4. The good news was that he was down for duty at another 4 games this season!

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2002

The fact that the top four teams are now starting to open a gap of 10 points on the rest of the league is one of the important events of the weekend. That means that we are now 3 wins and a draw better than Chelsea and Leeds. As Jonboy points out this sh9ould almost ensure us a Champs league place next season at least.

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2002

Liverpool scored 3 at home to Man U, two against West Ham and Boro, otherwise they have not scored more than 1 per game at home. If we manage to score we should manage a point, at least, if we get 3 or 4 then we should win :0)

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2002

I'd rather get 4 than 3 Mac....you know what happens when we score 3 at Anfield :((

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2002