Running the Gauntlet
Thankfully the matches this festive period are all within a day of each other, as it may quell the potential agony. Look at this run:
| H | Manchester United | Wed 21 |
| A | Chelsea | Mon 26 |
| A | Norwich City | Sat 31 |
| H | Arsenal | Mon 02 |
Yikes. Yet the only solace I can find is that at least the fixtures aren’t reversed. Just imagine…
| A | Manchester United | Wed 21 |
| H | Chelsea | Mon 26 |
| H | Norwich City | Sat 31 |
| A | Arsenal | Mon 02 |
Having Manchester United home is obviously more beneficial than having them away. As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter if we play Chelsea home or away; we seem to lose no matter what. Like with United, having Norwich at home is better than away, but at least with the current schedule we have the possibility of attaining a point at Carrow Road (not the same for Old Trafford I’m afraid).
And Arsenal? Sheesh, we could win, lose, or draw to them home or away and none would surprise me. But, at least at home we’ve been making good accords of ourselves in recent years. Last season we really should have won had Briggs been subbed and Gera not been shown a straight red. Two seasons ago we played them off the park but were thwarted by a unknown goalkeeper named Vito Mannone (yes, that same Vito Mannone). Three seasons ago, we actually did beat them.
So, how many points will you be happy with this Christmas period? I’m thinking 3.
I may need an extra helping of Christmas spirits this holiday…
11 Comments on “Running the Gauntlet”
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I’ll be happy with 4, but I’m expecting 2 (a draw at Norwich and in one of the other three).
As per Josh really. You never know though…
I’m looking at 4: a win on Wed., a draw on Sat. ( or this could be the greatest holiday period in recent FFC history: “Whites take 12!”). Then again, maybe not.
a win and a tie would make my christmas as well. arsenal and liverpool anyone?
in a nervous way, i’m excited
It’s 5 for me. A win away at Norwich and then two more points from the other 3 games :) It has to happen, otherwise what is Christmas good for?
In terms of survival losing all 4 wouldn’t be a disaster but it would feel like a bad run and lead to a serious loss of confidence.
I’d be happy with 4 points and reckon we need at least 2 draws.
I think in fact we’ll do better than that. I’d bet we’ll lose no more than one game. Put me down for 7 points.
I think we’ll win one of the big ones – tomorrow I suspect. And then another 2 or 3 points. So I’m optimistic. 5 or 6 points and comfortably in the top 10.
We only managed one point from the corresponding fixtures last season (against Man Utd). We didn’t play Norwich, of course, but we did average 1.5 points per game against the three sides that went down. So, three points from these four games would represent a year-on-year improvement.
Incidentally, I reckon that so far this season, we’ve amassed two points fewer than we did from the corresponding fixtures last season. In our two fixtures against promoted sides, we’ve taken three points – in line with the average per game against the relegated sides last season.
Finishing with two points fewer than last season would give us 47 points, which would probably put us towards the top end of the bottom half of the table.
After drawing with Arsenal and beating liverpool, we’re already playing with house money in December. I think there’s four points out there for us in the four games you’ve highlighted, but even if there’s only 1 or 2, we’ve still banked a couple of wins this month.
Feeling a bit optimistic here. I suspect they’ll take 7, like Tony mentioned previously.
Hope for 4 points, pray for 6 points, expect 1 or 2.