Title Race

[RichC]

4th I'd be over the moon with but in our position I guess we should be aiming as high as possible.

I'm still shocked in all honesty that come mid Feb we're still in with a good shout for a run at the title this year; hats off to the players and management team for having such a good season so far.

[Exiled_red]

We need third either way, 4th could throw up and tough team in the qualifying round. Players may still be hesitant to join if we aren't guaranteed to be in the group stages.

With our low European co-efficient we will likely get a difficult draw.

[tufty]

could you imagine anfield last game of the season and 3 points gives us the league it would make that chelsea semi seem a quiet affair

it will happen one day

and what a day that will be

[Liverpel]

4th Means nothing.

ManUre have nothing left this season other that the Champions League, and if they should win it, they would take the 4th place spot, possibly at our expense.

That's why we really need to look to third place in order to be secure in qualification .

This may not be as far fetched, as the Mancs would love to screw us over, I can imagine the extra incentive could fire the players and crowd further. Who have the Mances got... Olympiakos? Tough draw there.

Or Arsenal could slip down to 5th but win the CL.

[Fosterbloke]

Do we pre-qualify for the CL if we get 3rd or above?

[JohnDoe]

Do we pre-qualify for the CL if we get 3rd or above?

Yes.

[RichC]

Yes. 4th is the playoffs for it 3rd would get us straight into it.

[Leyton388]

Arsenal or spurs will be fighting it out for 4th. We'll be 3rd at least IMO.

[Norbs]

Fully focussed now

[BigChief]

The next two league games for Arsenal are Sunderland home (straight after Bayern), then Stoke away. Was going to be Swansea home after that but that's now been moved to another congestion laden date.

I had them down for 7 points in those three league games but now they could conceivably have 4 in 6 or maybe even 2 in 6 if Sunderland carry on their surprising football against confidence shorn teams.

We need to take a 4+ point lead on Arsenal by the start of April to give us a chance of finishing above them.

[Fredo]

I'm a bit worried that we'll lose a bit of momentum us being out of the FA cup. I mean, a good cup run does bring up confidence and hungry players want to play in the big games. We'll have less matches and will be fully focussed on the league, but something in the back of my mind tells me that this could be our downfall as well.

I'm probably worrying a bit too much.

[Phoenix07]

I think you're worrying too much Nigey, and you're usually one of the positive ones!

I think Brendan will focus the team on how good we were in the second half in terms of creating things at the Emirates, and ensure it is that confidence which drives us through until the end.

I wish we were more aggressive when defending though. That will be our downfall. Out of 16 away games in all competitions, we conceded two or more goals in 10 of them. At times, we seem to be dominant in the air, and then suddenly, we're losing first and second balls.

[Fredo]

I loved our focus after Stevie's penalty. No one celebrated, only thinking of getting back to level terms. I hope we apply a similar attitude to try and win the league.

[Leyton388]

We've lost no momentum Imo. We hammered Arsenal today but were unlucky. Roll on Swansea and another 3 points.

[ChesterDave]

The reality is we can't properly judge if it has lost us momentum until we play another league game.

Thankfully it is a home tie and it could me much much harder so we have a good chance of getting back into the swing of things with minimal fuss. If Everton can hold Chelsea next week then we could go into March 3 points from the top