[Football] A straightforward poll. Who in your opinion is in the worst position to avoid relegation.

[Uh_huh_him]

Every season there is the belief that our run in is worse than the other relegation threatened teams.
In fact they are pretty similar.

Fulham: City\United\Chelsea\Arsenal\Villa\Wolves\Leeds\Southampton\Burnley\Newcastle
Brighton: City\United\Chelsea\Arsenal\Everton\West Ham\Wolves\Leeds\Southampton\Newcastle\Sheff Utd

Everton is(in effect) our extra game. otherwise they are playing Villa to our West ham and we are playing Sheff Utd to their Burnley.
Pretty identical run ins IMO.

Doesn't mean we will stay up of course, but the idea that they have the easier run in is bollocks.

 

[The_Viper]

Wow. Astonishing faith in Newcastle. Where on earth do you get that from?

Two words. Callum Wilson.

He's back after the international break. He's been pretty much solely responsible for the entire points tally they currently have, he'll scumbag enough before the end of May to get them over the line, he's been class this year. If he was out for the season my opinion would be different.

 

[Weststander]

Fulham are a mirror of us in a lot of ways. They play pretty well but struggle to score. We've both scored 5 goals in our last 8 games. We have 8 pts from those, they have 12, so there is the catch up. I think we know that particularly Palace and West Brom, we should have at least equaled that 12 from 8.

Newcastle have actually scored 7 in 8 games, but only picked up 5 points.

Listening to Fulham's commentary on R5 yesterday, over and over it was mentioned that they play well, but rarely score. They could've been talking about us.

They did however praise their defence, since they brought in all the new signings. Andersen they felt was CL standard, both on the ball and as a brilliant stopper.

I've a feeling that the difference between Fulham and the Albion is that post Webster limping off, that they have a better defence and that could be key.

Albion - 1 point from 12, 5 goals conceded.
Fulham - 7 points from 12, 1 goal conceded.

Typing this has made realise that Fulham have worked out at just the right time, a path to winning and surviving.

Luck with injuries is playing a big part this season for certain clubs. We really miss Webster and March imo. I don't include Lamptey because he's so often been injured.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

Harry.

 

[Badger Boy]

Fulham are looking very strong at the moment and I would feel confident if I were them. We can shoot a dozen times without forcing a good save from a goalkeeper. They've got a very settled defence and a top goalkeeper who was at Real Madrid last season. They recruited very well, have a very clearly defined means of playing that is working for them. They're getting results and rarely losing games, I would argue we have better players than them in certain positions but their manager is getting more out of the group he has. Even if he would prefer to have different players, he has what he has and he's getting them to produce results which have closed the gap on the teams above them. They're not trying to catch one or two teams now, they've got 3 they're only a game or two behind.

Newcastle look hopeless and aimless, if we are to be saved I think it will be because of them. If we finish 17th this season we'll have to really take that as a lucky escape.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Luck with injuries is playing a big part this season for certain clubs. We really miss Webster and March imo. I don't include Lamptey because he's so often been injured.

Yeah this we were flying.
Then Solly goes off against Liverpool, followed by Webster in the next match. Followed by the 4 match bad run we are currently on.
It's no coincidence.

The balance of the defence has gone and we've conceded 5 in 4 games and picked up 1 point.
We'd conceded 0 in the previous 4 for 10 pts.

 

[Hugo Rune]

Two words. Callum Wilson.

He's back after the international break. He's been pretty much solely responsible for the entire points tally they currently have, he'll scumbag enough before the end of May to get them over the line, he's been class this year. If he was out for the season my opinion would be different.

Good answer but they still have some very challenging fixtures:

Spurs
Burnley
West Ham
Liverpool
Arsenal
Leicester
Man City

I can't see them getting more than 4 points here, even with Wilson.

But then, 6 points in the next two is more than possible:

Sheff Utd (relegated)
Fulham (safe?)

It could be close if Wilson doesn't do a 'Lamptey' and returns on time.

 

[brighton_tom]

4 or 6 points from our next 2 and the players will have their confidence back, and then picking up something like 8+ points from the remaining 9 games will seem doable. But 0, 1 or 2 points from Southampton & Newcastle & we'll be done.

 

[Weststander]

Yeah this we were flying.
Then Solly goes off against Liverpool, followed by Webster in the next match. Followed by the 4 match bad run we are currently on.
It's no coincidence.

The balance of the defence has gone and we've conceded 5 in 4 games and picked up 1 point.
We'd conceded 0 in the previous 4 for 10 pts.

As a long time admirer of Solly, I knew at the time it was significant. I don't think many posters realised, as finally we appeared to be a winning machine.

An unsung hero such as Fernandinho or Jordan Henderson, he offers so much in tenacity, driving us forward and we're not exactly spoilt with LW/LWB/LB's.

With Bissouma, he was vying to be POTS.

 

[banjo]

A point a game will normally keep you up. Only one off that atm. Oh and stop Lawro predicting wins for us too.

 

[The Fits]

It's all about the next two games, isn't it?
Bloody 'el.

 

[Poojah]

Non-Brighton fan here, so hopefully I can offer a reasonably objective view. With roughly three quarters of the season down, I find that goal difference is usually a pretty good predictor of how the table will finish up looking. Whilst Albion and Fulham's respective GDs are roughly lower-mid-table-ish, Newcastle have the third worst record in the division - only the doomed Sheffield United and West Brom have worse.

I would add to that, that the broader mood surrounding Newcastle is much worse than their two rivals. It probably matters less with no crowds in the stadium, but the fans up there remain unhappy with both owner and manager whilst I imagine the likes of Potter and Parker still have the support of the bulk of their fanbase in spite of a perilous league position.

Fulham's form ever since the first few weeks of the season should be enough to keep them up, whilst I'm still adamant that you lot are due a glut of gut luck at some point in the very near future - the performances I've seen from you in recent weeks have borne absolutely no resemblance to the paltry points total they have yielded. I don't like the saying "these things even themselves out over a season" because it overlooks the magnitude of some instances of good / bad look versus other, but numerically speaking it's broadly true. The wind will change.

I think you'll be fine. The Geordies will go.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

whilst I'm still adamant that you lot are due a glut of gut luck at some point in the very near future - the performances I've seen from you in recent weeks have borne absolutely no resemblance to the paltry points total they have yielded. The wind will change.

I think you'll be fine. The Geordies will go.

The problem is that many of us have been saying that since Burnley stole a point at the Amex in November.
Our luck has worsened since then. We are owed some ridiculous results.

 

[super-seagulls]

Good answer but they still have some very challenging fixtures:

Spurs
Burnley
West Ham
Liverpool
Arsenal
Leicester
Man City

I can't see them getting more than 4 points here, even with Wilson.

But then, 6 points in the next two is more than possible:

Sheff Utd (relegated)
Fulham (safe?)

It could be close if Wilson doesn't do a 'Lamptey' and returns on time.

Easy 3 points from Liverpool, everyone beats them!
In fact if they weren’t already on 42 points they could be in contention.

 

[Machiavelli]

As a long time admirer of Solly, I knew at the time it was significant. I don't think many posters realised, as finally we appeared to be a winning machine.

An unsung hero such as Fernandinho or Jordan Henderson, he offers so much in tenacity, driving us forward and we're not exactly spoilt with LW/LWB/LB's.

With Bissouma, he was vying to be POTS.

Agreed but, for me, he was vying for PotS with Bissouma and Webster.

 

[Weststander]

Agreed but, for me, he was vying for PotS with Bissouma and Webster.

Agreed.

It’s funny how things turn around quickly.

I’m pretty certain that right up to the New Year, a very long list of NSC’ers were portraying Webster as an EFL level buffoon. His errors costing us games.

 

[Goberpiles]

Bottom 3 is getting tasty, past 5 games those teams around us have all picked up more points then us:

13th Palace 5
14th Southampton 4
15th Burnley 4
16th Newcastle 5
17th Brighton 2
18th Fulham 8
19th West Brom 6
20th Sheff Utd 3

 

[Greavsey]

I have a feeling it's still going to be Fulham. Yes they look solid, but they're not really scoring goals or look like they have the future ability to score more. I think ourselves and Newcastle will sneak a few wins here and there. Just enough to stay a couple of points ahead of Fulham the whole time. Ourselves based on the fact that we are owed a shed load of luck/better finishing at some point, and Newcastle just because they do pick up wins when least expected and have experience of being in this situation before.

None of this is based on science - pure intuition/hope!

 

[Hugo Rune]

Easy 3 points from Liverpool, everyone beats them!
In fact if they weren’t already on 42 points they could be in contention.

Indeed, I've given them another point with a draw against Burnley.

 

[Blue3]

I think Fulham now look like they stay up So the third place spot is likley to be between us and Newcastle