Bottom 5 fixtures

[Bruno3]

OK here goes. If you take the current league positions of each team's opponents and add them together, the higher the total the easier the fixtures.
If the villa game is excluded, the totals are
Bolton 87
Blackburn 71
QPR 51
Wigan 61
Wolves 80

On this basis we're looking good. Allright I know that this proves nothing as the scousers will no doubt continue to defy the laws of nature but it gives me a warm(ish) feeling inside

Interesting but

During April the league table is no longer an accurate order of the difficulty of opposition.

OK then, on that basis I predict we will not win all our games, neither will we lose all our games. Neither will the others. I predict that my prediction will come true. confident of this predictio

[Worthy4England]

OK here goes. If you take the current league positions of each team's opponents and add them together, the higher the total the easier the fixtures.
If the villa game is excluded, the totals are
Bolton 87
Blackburn 71
QPR 51
Wigan 61
Wolves 80

On this basis we're looking good. Allright I know that this proves nothing as the scousers will no doubt continue to defy the laws of nature but it gives me a warm(ish) feeling inside

Interesting but

During April the league table is no longer an accurate order of the difficulty of opposition.

Think you can extend that to the end of March DSB...

You probably wouldn't have put much on Wigan beating Liverpool and Stoke or QPR beating Liverpool and Arsenal - mind you three weeks ago, I wouldn't have put much on us beating QPR, Blackburn or Wolves...

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Aye - as I said in the match thread, you start getting paper 'upsets' which are based on inferior teams simply wanting it more. Hope it works in our favour starting next week...

[the-Bowtun-Warrior]

Next week COULD be a big week if other teams start to do their jobs and beat the poorer teams;


Wigan away @ Chelsea
Blackburn @ West Brom
Wolves @ Stoke
QPR @ United

Could all change on Easter Monday with 2 fixtures so close together.
Roll on Sat, though

[officer_dibble]

Arsenal eh...what a shower of c#nts

[Turkish Trotter]

Next week COULD be a big week if other teams start to do their jobs and beat the poorer teams;


Wigan away @ Chelsea
Blackburn @ West Brom
Wolves @ Stoke
QPR @ United

Could all change on Easter Monday with 2 fixtures so close together.
Roll on Sat, though

Bolton H to Fulham !!!! We NEVER beat Fulham!!!!!

[William the White]

Next week COULD be a big week if other teams start to do their jobs and beat the poorer teams;


Wigan away @ Chelsea
Blackburn @ West Brom
Wolves @ Stoke
QPR @ United

Could all change on Easter Monday with 2 fixtures so close together.
Roll on Sat, though

Bolton H to Fulham !!!! We NEVER beat Fulham!!!!!

P 75 W 27 D 21 L 27

Sorry - sudden disabling attack of pedantry...

[Worthy4England]

Next week COULD be a big week if other teams start to do their jobs and beat the poorer teams;


Wigan away @ Chelsea
Blackburn @ West Brom
Wolves @ Stoke
QPR @ United

Could all change on Easter Monday with 2 fixtures so close together.
Roll on Sat, though

Bolton H to Fulham !!!! We NEVER beat Fulham!!!!!

P 75 W 27 D 21 L 27

Sorry - sudden disabling attack of pedantry...

I can only assume that this sudden onset of stattoitis, means the shelf of shame has finally been cleared.

[William the White]

I can only assume that this sudden onset of stattoitis, means the shelf of shame has finally been cleared.

I can only assume that you as statto in chief feel under serious threat from a totally unexpected direction...

It isn't, i hasten to add...

It's just the shelf of shame is now bending and creaking under the weight of the great unread and i can hardly bear to look at it...

I have, though, taken down my book for April...

Snowdrops by A D Miller was on the Booker shortlist last year and will be my first novel of the year...

[ohjimmyjimmy]

Last 3 games, played 3 won 3 against 3 of the other 4 teams involved with us in the relegation battle. If nothing else we can be proud of that so far. Just infuriating we havent been able to turn defeats into at least draws on a few occasions against these middle teams.

We've given Blackbrun nil pwa
QPR nil pwa
Wolves un pwa
Wigan twa pwa

Cant seem to shake Wigan & QPR off though, which one would assume we might have done with a run of 3 wins out of 3 grrrr....

[Bruno3]

Just for the hell of it I've now done the same exercise as before (that's mental not physical) and worked out whose got the most difficult run in based on league position. I've divided the sum of opponents current league position by the number of games left to take account of teams like us with a game in hand. Jusy for fun I've added Villa to the list as they are getting very close to joining the gang of five.
Bolton 10.25
Villa 9.625
Blackburn 9.25
Wolves 9.14
Wigan 8.85
QPR 7.14

So, on paper, we still have the easiest run in. Wigan's next three matches have an average of 2 so you would hope that would do their confidence no good at all (but with recent results probably not).

[irie Cee Bee]

At this stage of the season, the relegation threatened teams are the hardest to play against as the top sides are finding out. THe easiest teams to play are those who have nothing to play for. Hopefully Fulham will be one such team.

I however take little comfort from the fixture list. Every match is a cup final for all the teams involved in the relegation battle so expect more surprizes against the so called big teams. We must keep it in our hands and not depend on results elsewhere as the teams behind us are not slipping an inch.

Its going to go down to the wire.

[The Axman]

I'm quite pleased to see Aston Villa back in the mix. Bottom six now.

[Bruno3]

At this stage of the season, the relegation threatened teams are the hardest to play against as the top sides are finding out. THe easiest teams to play are those who have nothing to play for. Hopefully Fulham will be one such team.

I however take little comfort from the fixture list. Every match is a cup final for all the teams involved in the relegation battle so expect more surprizes against the so called big teams. We must keep it in our hands and not depend on results elsewhere as the teams behind us are not slipping an inch.

Its going to go down to the wire.

Nice to be able to say this - not long ago we were looking up at the other four

[wanderers_on_tour]

Having looked at the table Saturday evening I couldn't believe we were only 1 point from 19th...


Has taken me this long to notice the game in hand

[Montreal Wanderer]

Having looked at the table Saturday evening I couldn't believe we were only 1 point from 19th...


Has taken me this long to notice the game in hand

Yes, but it is away to Villa so no ironclad points there.

[DJBlu]

Having looked at the table Saturday evening I couldn't believe we were only 1 point from 19th...


Has taken me this long to notice the game in hand

Yes, but it is away to Villa so no ironclad points there.

Massive weekend coming up.

A Villa loss at Anfield(Yes I know) could drag them into the dog fight with the bottom 5. Which like you say will make the game a lot harder as they'll realise they need to start playing.

Bolton V Fulham
Chelsea V Wigan
Liverpool V Aston Villa
West Brom V BlackburnStoke V Wolves
Man Utd V QPR

A couple of coupon spoilers there?

Highlighted this fixture also cause if Blackburn win then the pressure is on WBA who have 4 games against those below them.

West Brom
West Brom V Blackburn
Man City V West Brom
West Brom V QPR
Liverpool V West Brom
West Brom V Aston Villa
Bolton V West Brom
West Brom V Arsenal

Bottom 7 = 4 teams

Aston Villa
Liverpool V Aston Villa
Aston Villa V Stoke
Man Utd V Aston Villa
Aston Villa V Sunderland
Aston Villa V Bolton
West Brom V Aston Villa
Aston Villa V Tottenham
Norwich V Aston Villa

Bottom 7 = 2 teams

Bolton
Bolton V Fulham
Newcastle V Bolton
Bolton V Swansea
Aston Villa V Bolton
Sunderland V Bolton
Bolton V Tottenham
Bolton V West Brom
Stoke V Bolton

Bottom 7 = 2 teams

Blackburn
Blackburn V Man Utd
West Brom V Blackburn
Blackburn V Liverpool
Swansea V Blackburn
Blackburn V Norwich
Tottenham V Blackburn
Blackburn V Wigan
Chelsea V Blackburn

Bottom 7 = 2 teams

QPR
Man Utd V QPR
QPR V Swansea
West Brom V QPR
QPR V Tottenham
Chelsea V QPR
QPR V Stoke
Man City V QPR

Bottom 7 = 1 team

Wigan

Chelsea V Wigan
Wigan V Man Utd
Arsenal V Wigan
Fulham V Wigan
Wigan V Newcastle
Blackburn V Wigan
Wigan V Wolves

Bottom 7 = 2 teams

Wolves

Stoke V Wolves
Wolves V Arsenal
Sunderland V Wolves
Wolves v Man City
Swansea V Wolves
Wolves V Everton
Wigan V Wolves

Bottom 7 = 1 team

[lovethesmellofnapalm]

takes a massive leap of imagination to imagine WBA will be dragged in to it.

(or a quality bit of jinxing )

[ohjimmyjimmy]

Actually Wigan's looks a nightmare, especially over the next 3 weeks.

[Worthy4England]

takes a massive leap of imagination to imagine WBA will be dragged in to it.

(or a quality bit of jinxing )

I think there's no chance of West Brom or Villa getting dragged into it.

Try anything once...