[Albion] who is going down?

[Springal]

I can't see B/muff & Villa each picking up more than 7 points.

Innit. I am definitely not getting carried around - but there is no way we need '2 wins and a draw' - assuming we don't get hammered by Liverpool, Man City & Man Utd - we are essentially 7 points clear. I can't see 2 of the teams below us overturning that & us without a point.

If we can't do enough out of our games with Norwich, Burnley & Newcastle then we deserve to go down

 

[Acker79]

Who is most likely to struggle next season if they stay up this one? Looking to next season, surely we'd want as many weaker teams as possible, so if they would be likely to push on next year if they survive, we should want them to go down this season, leaving weaker teams to fill the bottom next season.

I could see villa splashing the cash, bringing in a more experienced manager. Bournemouth have had trouble with injuries, but they're also losing some players so it's hard to predict. West Ham could go either way with their fans expectations vs how much and how wisely the owners spend. Watford are likely to get better and push on next year, I think. I mean, a miracle escape for Norwich might be good...

 

[amexer]

I am sure West Ham and Bournmouth are due a good performance. Fear for Villa is theirs was last night. Played so well without winning. Last game of season West Ham v Villa

 

[Guinness Boy]

I can't see B/muff & Villa each picking up more than 7 points.

They'd need a point per game which they haven't managed so far.

I honestly think just one more win or even a couple of draws will see us safe and I think those two and Norwich are the likely ones to drop.

 

[nickjhs]

Got to laugh at some of the replies taking shots about arrogance of the Villa and WHU fans. Newsflash guys, we are nowhere near safe yet.

 

[Waynflete]

Like to see
West Ham
Villa
Bournemouth

In reality
Norwich
Bournemouth
Villa

My thoughts precisely


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lever]

Got to laugh at some of the replies taking shots about arrogance of the Villa and WHU fans. Newsflash guys, we are nowhere near safe yet.

Yes. I think we should "mind our own business" to stay in the Premier League and not 'relegate' any other team just now....

 

[amexer]

Time to discuss this is when we have another 4/5 points. In the meantime I will put a wager on at 22/1

 

[Shins]

I think 1 more point will do it. It would then require 2 of the 3 teams on 27 points to pick up 3 wins from their last 7 games, or 2 wins and 2 draws, given our goal difference. That's not even considering Watford would also need to pick up 7 points to go past us as well.

One more win and I'd bet my house, if I owned one.

 

[Hugo Rune]

Sheffield Utd will be a one season wonder, will be in the relegation battle next season.

This season Norwich are gone, I think Bournemouth are in deep shit and might drop, then it’s Villa or Watford, I think West Ham will just get out, we need 4 points IMO which is not guaranteed by any stretch but I’m far more confident than this time last week.

I agree with this.

The lockdown gave the players, staff and club as a whole, an opportunity to ‘look down’. Like icarus, they’ve flown higher than they mortally should. A few injuries and suspensions tells you all you need to know about the strength of their squad. It’s free fall now into mid-table obscurity. A great time to play them.

 

[papajaff]

No way are we out of it yet. Villa and West Ham are very capable of some wins.

 

[Super Steve Earle]

I just can't feel comfortable with a thread like this, even though the title is perfectly innocuous. In relation to Albion, Norwich have too much to do to catch us. They won't win four from the final seven and turn around a GD turn of 24 in our favour, let alone exceed our current haul of 33 pts. However, win one game for encouragement and they could still capitalise on the torrid form of Villa, Bournemouth and West Ham to wriggle free. Villa are a two man team. Grealish can't do it on his own but, with McGinn back, they can mask their shortcomings. However the rate of games will stretch their thin squad and from a personal view, I would gloat, like a Grealish stopping Albion winning the Championship, if they went down. He obviously loves his club and whilst he would go on to a bigger club for fame and fortune, it would hurt him to see them go down. Bournemouth? Likely to struggle now with a thin squad, player contract issues, injuries and not enough quality in depth. Hard to see how they can turn their form around but Eddie will stick to his principles. Actually, I just don't like him and a couple of times the mask has slipped to reveal a nasty piece of work, so would be happy to see him and his beloved club go down. Watford I feel will find a way, but their squad also looks like it could struggle with the heavy schedule. West Ham struggle with where they play and who they are. They just can't get it right and in Moyes they have a manager who comes across in interviews as deluded. He sees good in their every bad, hence they don't improve. I don't think we are out of the water yet, but we aren't far off. I just don't want us to need to win our last match because we know West Ham or Villa will get something on the final day. I think we will win against Burnley if we need to, because they are already turning off the lights and not renewing contracts to save cash.

 

[Sheebo]

Purely because of the arrogance of some of their fans: Villa.

They were giving it pretty large in the summer, and as Maupay would say they lacked humility.

Ditto West Ham to an extent, but I have sympathy for their fans and what they’ve gone through (can you imagine if your manager is Moyes?)

One thing is for sure.. it’ll be lovely to put our feet up and watch the relegation battle as a neutral for a change.

I’ll always remember when Calderwood went to Villa (I believe purely for family reasons), a villa fan giving it the big ten like it was a real coup - he said: ‘When the Villa come calling they come’ or something hilarious like that - like they were a Barcelona or the world famous ‘the Villa’. I have seen many arrogant bits from their fans, especially after we got Maupay -
‘We clearly didn’t want him etc. Therefore I hope they go. League 1 club Bournemouth and their 10 fans can go, as can Norwich purely because of Jake Humphrey’s tweet and the deluded replies (while grounded Albion fans tried to tell them they won’t be able to play the same in the Prem etc).

I think it may be those 3 too... Just got to make sure we’re safe ASAP.

 

[jimhigham]

I think 1 more point will do it. It would then require 2 of the 3 teams on 27 points to pick up 3 wins from their last 7 games, or 2 wins and 2 draws, given our goal difference. That's not even considering Watford would also need to pick up 7 points to go past us as well.

One more win and I'd bet my house, if I owned one.

The problem with this is that if we only secure one more point in seven matches, that means we would have lost the remaining six. Were that to happen, then our much vaunted goal difference could take a battering.

While one point could do it, I’d certainly want a few more to be comfortable. The thing is we have a real opportunity to put this to bed before we meet Liverpool and City. United are purring along but we tend to perform well against them, especially at home, and then there is Norwich.

Of course, we’ll probably end up doing it the hard way. For now, I just keep reminding myself that if the bookies are so confident of our staying up then I should relax a little.

 

[Madafwo]

My only concern, well, it's not a concern but a general thought is that if I were a PLB fan I'd be very worried about relegation. Some of their fans may joke about us being "Infrastructure FC" but if we go down we'll survive, I'm not so sure PLB could, especially if they can't bounce back up before the parachute payments run out.

Unless they get creative to get round FFP or whatever its called now.

 

[Hugo Rune]

The problem with this is that if we only secure one more point in seven matches, that means we would have lost the remaining six. Were that to happen, then our much vaunted goal difference could take a battering.

It’s not going to happen.

We are one of the form teams since Lockdown.

Arguably a missed penalty away from 6 points.

We have the same amount of points as Liverpool in this period but have played better opposition.

If we recreate the Leicester 1st half against the likes of Norwich, Newcastle, Burnley or Southampton, we’ll be fine. Essentially, four good chances for a win and that is assuming we get nothing from ‘on the beach’ Liverpool, Man Utd or Man City! [emoji106]

 

[dazzer6666]

It's the natural pessimism and nervousness of the BHA fan...........and the expectation of us somehow contriving to louse things up........

Most objective/balanced observers (and I've heard a lot on the radio over the last couple of days) aren't even mentioning us in the mix now, let alone predicting we'll go down. This is a complete about-turn from before the games restarted when we seemed to be in everyone's bottom 3 predictions. We essentially (barring some hammerings) have a 7 point cushion over the bottom 4 (with our much better GD) - even if we get NONE in the remaining games there is a reasonable chance we'll still be OK - none of those below us have managed 1 PPG average this season so far, which they need to do to catch us. I don't think it's arrogant to suggest we SHOULD be OK - we should be. Another 3-4 more points and we'll be pretty much out of reach barring miracles - it would mean 2-3 teams going on runs they have shown absolutely no sign of going on all season, especially including since restart.

It'll be as nervous as hell if we get hammered by Man U, City and Liverpool and fail to beat Norwich though..................

 

[Madafwo]

It’s not going to happen.

We are one of the form teams since Lockdown.

Arguably a missed penalty away from 6 points.

We have the same amount of points as Liverpool in this period but have played better opposition.

If we recreate the Leicester 1st half against the likes of Norwich, Newcastle, Burnley or Southampton, we’ll be fine. Essentially, four good chances for a win and that is assuming we get nothing from ‘on the beach’ Liverpool, Man Utd or Man City! [emoji106]

I agree withe everything except United being on the beach, they're very much pushing for as many points as possible to ensure they've got Champion's League football next season and we're their next league match.