I am getting old.
It is now Monday and I am still exhausted from Saturday. Even with the train problems (which lead me needing 5 trains and a replacement bus to get home), it was a cracking day.
What an important win that was against Brighton. And I know that will be said for every game we win between now and the end of the season, but for me the trip to Brighton and Wolves are huge.
Mikel Arteta’s 90 points is looking spot on. Liverpool will not get 15 from 15 from away trips to Fulham, Everton, West Ham Aston Villa, with a home game against Tottenham the single slice of home meat in the sandwich. I would also expect Manchester City to drop points in at least one game of the remaining 7.
That leaves us being “allowed” to lose one game. And what we need to do is make sure that defeat does not come in one of our “easier” games.
Those games I would consider easier are all the home games, and the away trips to Brighton and Wolves. We need to win every single one which would allow us to then have the defeat away to Manchester United or Tottenham.
If we dropped points against Brighton or Wolves, we would then need to go to both Manchester and Middlesex needing a win.
This season we have dropped some silly points – Fulham at home and away, West Ham at home. We can not afford to repeat any of these results.
6 wins from the last 7 games will leave us with 89 points, one short of Arteta’s magic 90. That will rely on others around us dropping points, but I just can not see either Man City or Liverpool winning 7 from 7. And fi they do, fair play. They will be worth champions.
As for the Brighton victory, I do not think we played particularly well. We were solid in defence and clinical in attack, winning 3-0 without really getting out of 2nd gear. And I guess that is the sign of a top team? Comfortably beating a decent team away without really trying. Let’s not forget Brighton had not lost at home since August!
We were also the net winners of the weekend when it came to goal difference. Another 3 in the bag extends our lead on Manchester City by one, leaving us with 11 better.
That goal difference means that we only need Manchester City to draw one of the last 7 games, and not lose one, for us to win the league (if we lose once). Now whilst an 11 difference can be quickly closed down (3 big wins), it is still a sizeable gap. Likewise the 9 on Liverpool means that if we both lose once, we will finish above them.
Tomorrow it is Munich. They have been poor in the Bundesliga but I feel that will only focus them more on the Champions League.
We just need to keep going, keep winning, and see where we end up at the end of the season.
UTA.
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 