[Albion] A three division Division?

[Wozza]

This is just a snapshot, 16 games into the season

Nearly half-way...

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

This is already being displayed by all those pointing to Ryan being absent in January, who are conveniently forgetting that he's likely only to miss three games (Liverpool, United, Fulham), and it's only really the last of those that we'd be expecting to pick up points.

They aren't conveniently forgetting anything. He could potentially miss up to 5 league games, 3 of which are against teams we could pick up points against.

Depending on when Australia expect their players to be released for the Asian Cup (their first game is 6th Jan) he could potentially miss the away game at West Ham on January 2nd. Australia are likely to be one of the favourites (and are defending champions) if they make the final then I very much doubt Ryan will be back for the game at home to Watford on Feb 2nd either as the final takes place in the UAE approx 24 hours earlier.

Those games against West Ham, Fulham and Watford could be worth 4 or 5 points.(win at home, 2 away draws)

 

[Pavilionaire]

Division 1 = Top 6
Division 2 = Everton
Division 3 = The rest.

 

[dazzer6666]

Possable that 35 points will be enough but I will only relax once we get 40

I'm a bit more optimistic - If you look back at, say, the last 15 years, the third from bottom team hardly ever gets near 40. It's been 39 once, 38 once and 37 once and when it was 39, the gap to the league winners was 47 points (top 3 had 222 points) - last season it was a 69 point gap and the top three had 258 points. The stretching away of the top teams is limiting the points the teams below are getting as we're more or less restricted to scrapping with each other. I also think the traditional '40 point mark' stems from when the division was a bit bigger. Newcastle, Palace, Burnley, Hudds, Southampton and Fulham all need to average at least a point per game from now on in just to get 35 - can't see that happening for more than 1 or 2 of them (and that's without Cardiff sliding back)

 

[Surf's Up]

The Premier League seems to have sorted itself out into three broad divisions now.

1-6: The Big 6 (I'm ignoring Manchester United's current distance from the other 5) battling to avoid the Europa League
7-13: Midtable Mediocrity - 7 clubs separated by three points.
14-20: Relegation Threatened.

Remarkably we're not in the third group at the moment. Can you see anyone outside of the current bottom seven getting relegated?

View attachment 102839

Amended for you.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

Division 1 = Top 6
Division 2 = Everton
Division 3 = The rest.

Division 1 = Big 6 + Everton
( Biggest payers..... all spend over £30m on players regularly....none will be relegated in forseeable future )
Division 2 = The rest.
( All here for the short or medium term. All will be relegated at some point in the near future. Clubs who stabilise in the PL for`8-10 years eventually go down. Charlton, Blackburn, Bolton etc )
Watford and Bournemouth got off to fliers but are now dropping a lot of points. Leicester look most likely to be comfortable. West Ham have some flair and creativity. Wolves seem to have their mojo back and Brighton rely on home points and have a decent run-in. Of these, I see us and Watford as most likely to sucked in, followed by Bmuff.
The bottom three have to win a minimum of 3- 4 games more than teams like Watford, B/muff and BHA over the next 22 games. Even doing poorly, I can see us ( and the other two ) winning 5-6 more games. That would leave the current bottom 3 needing at least another 8 wins each to have the remotest chance of survival. Between them, thus far, they have won a combined total of 5 games out of 48.
Some slumps and some revivals are to be expected but a catch-up of this nature is extremely unlikely.

 

[warmleyseagull]

Some slumps and some revivals are to be expected but a catch-up of this nature is extremely unlikely.

Exactly - no team has been relegated in last 5 seasons with 20+ points at this stage. One or two teams might make a dart for safety (personally think Fulham might) but will be replaced by another currently in bottom 7. Never say never, but Albion look safe already

 

[blue-shifted]

With Ryan absent for January, I'm far from relaxed about our current points tally.

I just hope our league position hasn't sustained too much damage by the time he get's back from playing in International football's equivilant of a Sunday pub league. Gutted that one of our most important players and probably the first name on the team sheet every week is going to be missing for a month in the middle of the season so he can play in some noddy competition featuring UAE, Thailand, Syria, India, Palestine, Bahrain, Jordan, South Korea, Iran, China, Iraq, Philippines, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Qatar, Uzbekistan, Lebanon, Oman, North Korea, Turkmenistan.

Hey ... the lad's representing his country. He might help them lift a trophy. Let's be happy for him and proud he's ours. England play rubbish teams as well

 

[Dave the OAP]

Looks like a 3 way division!

 

[OzMike]

If Watford get anything from tonight's game then we would have gone from 10th to 13th in over 3 days.
Can't see us getting many points over the Christmas period, so will see where we are then.

See, far from safe yet.

 

[dazzer6666]

See, far from safe yet.

We’re still the same no. of points off 18th as we were before last night’s game [emoji106]

 

[sully]

Possable that 35 points will be enough but I will only relax once we get 40

Your previous post said you wouldn’t relax when we get to 40. Was that a typo, then?

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

4 more wins and we are safe.

Looking forward to celebratory beers after the Everton game

 

[Blue3]

Your previous post said you wouldn’t relax when we get to 40. Was that a typo, then?

I have contradicted myself here to clarify I think we need to aim to get a minimum 40 points

 

[Nottseagull]

Hey ... the lad's representing his country. He might help them lift a trophy. Let's be happy for him and proud he's ours. England play rubbish teams as well

Like the USA when Dunkey debuted... difference being Premier League was suspended. I have every confidence that Matty will forgo any celebratory events that might prevent him from being on a London bound flight the following morning, probably going to Stratford straight from the airport although I believe there is a 4 hour time difference in his favour%.

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