rubberman

Nothing to fear on that list. Suppose we might have an off day and draw one of them, so 16 points.

Would be OK with a point, but we really should be able to take all 3. Leeds home form is pretty shabby and our away form pretty good. Hitting third and putting pressure on Sheffield before their visit to Millwall would be great.

...but so do all the other teams. We have 2 games against Sheffield - a win and a draw takes us above them (all other results being equal). Cardiff have to come to VP. Win that and we only need one other win more than them. That happens and 2nd is totally in our control. All ifs and buts, but yeah - anyone who wants automatic promotion will have to be very consistent from here on in, not just us. And given our current form over the last 10-12 games, we are.

Name Home Team Away Team Guess - - - - - Brighton 2 0 Palace Brighton Leicester 1 2 Spurs Spurs Watford 0 2 Man Utd Man Utd West Brom 0 0 Newcastle Draw Arsenal 2 0 Huddersfield Arsenal Bournemouth 1 1 Burnley Draw Chelsea 3 0 Swansea Chelsea Everton 1 1 West Ham Draw Man City 3 1 Southampton Man City Stoke 1 2 Liverpool Liverpool rubberman

Nervous about this one. Worried we'll see an unchanged side and fatigue / injuries as per Sheff Weds. That said Ipswich aren't great, but I don't want them to mug us off like last season. #csb....Last year I came up to the game from down south and had planned to meet an old school friend from Ipswich. We hadn't seen each other for over 30 years, but had been in touch via facebook. We were meeting in the pub early to have a catch up before the game. I arrived and checked in with him - apparently stuck in traffic on the M6. Waited a bit longer. And longer. Then radio silence. Game time arrived so I watched the (shit) game, a bit pissed from having been in the pub on my own all afternoon. Hung around for a bit after - more texts etc - but nothing, so ended up going home. So not great memories from that game. Let's smash them.

Name Home Team Away Team Guess Villa 2 1 Ipswich Villa West Ham 0 1 Leicester Leicester Palace 1 1 Stoke Draw Man Utd 2 0 Brighton Man Utd Newcastle 1 1 Watford Draw Spurs 3 0 West Brom Spurs Swansea 0 1 Bournemouth Bournemouth Liverpool 2 2 Chelsea Draw Southampton 1 1 Everton Draw Burnley 1 2 Arsenal Arsenal Huddersfield 0 3 Man City Man City rubberman

I'd really like to see another forward on the bench, even if we're down to the kids. An early knock to Davis and no recognised striker will see us sitting back too deep and looking at a repeat of last season.

2 good results, 2 completely different performances. Need it freshening against Ipswich and need to make up for the shocker last season.

Now that's over and 3 in the bag, I do feel sorry for Sunderland fans. It could so easily have been us pre-Tony. 1 win all season...that's dire.

Another 3 points. Need to freshen things up on Saturday, but up to fourth by capitalising on other poor results is what we need to keep doing.

Don't worry TRO, we seem to be getting a bit better!

My baggie mate said exactly this.

Although so have Sheffield and Wolves. If we all continue at the same rate as for the last 10 home / away, we would overhaul Bristol and Cardiff, but still be 4/5 points off automatic. We either need to improve again, or need others to stumble. Continuing forward at the rate of the last 6 games h/a sees us drop to 7th. It's not going to be easy...

Jedi acquitted himself well there last season. I'd have him ahead of Samba / Elphick. We have plenty of midfield options so he isn't absolutely needed there.

I hope they poach Chris Wilder and screw up Sheff Utd.

Sheffield have already lost 5, but have managed not to have a draw yet. Sure, they are doing brilliantly to have won 12 but it shows they are less secure in that position that Wolves and Cardiff. I'm sure they will drop away. Bristol are in our sights already. A long way to go as long as we keep the form of the last 10 games. Getting hard to see us catching Wolves, but I reckon 2nd is still possible.

My only fear is that as a new manager he will be desparate not to lose so will set up to park the bus. We need to show the same attacking intent and pepper the goal. We really should be winning this one by a couple.

Chance for a couple more of the kids to step up? (Clutching at straws).

I do hope Bruce can come up with something other than Samba up front as a plan B / if Kienan gets a knock. Is there anyone left? (apart from Gabby, obv.)

Sounds like no Kodjia, no Hogan (not sure that makes much difference) and presumably Jedi will be too knackered from his trip. Doesn't make me massively optimistic, but who knows which side will turn up. We seem to have bottled it when I'm most positive but performed when seemingly in a bit of a crisis. Let's hope for the latter.

Thank goodness it's back to football and having an actual result and performance to discuss. International breaks really are tedious.

Name Home Team Away Team Guess QPR 1 1 Villa Draw Arsenal 1 2 Spurs Spurs Bournemouth 1 1 Huddersfield Draw Burnley 2 0 Swansea Burnley Palace 1 2 Everton Everton Leicester 1 3 Man City Man City Liverpool 0 1 Southampton Southampton West Brom 0 2 Chelsea Chelsea Man Utd 2 0 Newcastle Man Utd Watford 1 0 West Ham Watford Brighton 1 0 Stoke Brighton rubberman

Blimey.

Palace, West Ham with a Moyes double and Swansea - as it is now. Boggies to just scrape out of it on the final day. There will be another 4-5 sides flirting with the drop, but should have just enough to keep clear. It's such a low standard outside the top 6 - real shame we dropped out. Then again, we need to improve a fair bit to even be at the shit PL level.