Baggio

Tottenham still favoured in top-four fight as Newcastle climb clear Newcastle boast three-point lead but daunting run-in promises twists The four-team scrap over the Premier League’s final two Champions League places promises to go the distance despite Saturday’s results seeing Arsenal and Newcastle earn breathing space over chasing Tottenham and Chelsea. There was no winner or goals in the lunchtime clash between Arsenal and Chelsea, an outcome widely viewed as better for the visitors, though it leaves the Gunners seven points clear of their capital rivals, who have only 12 left to play for. Consequently, those dropped points at home to Wigan and Chelsea haven’t altered their billing as top-four near certainties at 1/20. The Blues by contrast are 2/1, yet Champions League glory (13/2) would guarantee them a spot. Newcastle pounced on that draw however, cruising to a 3-0 victory over a Stoke side with far less at stake, a Yohan Cabaye double and the standard Papiss Demba Cisse goal helping them claim a sixth successive triumph. That lifted them to fourth, piling the pressure on Spurs prior to their short trip to QPR. They failed to handle it, former employee Adel Taarabt inflicting a 1-0 defeat that makes it one win in nine for the one-time title challengers. But even though Newcastle are now three points above Harry Redknapp’s men with four games remaining, they are 6/4 to secure a Champions League slot to the north Londoners’ 5/4. The doubt is provided by a rather intimidating closing sequence which forces the Magpies to travel to Wigan, Chelsea and Everton and host Manchester City, four clubs likely to have a lot riding on those fixtures. Tottenham’s schedule is slightly less scary, taking them to Bolton and Aston Villa and sending Blackburn and Fulham to White Hart Lane, but they require an immediate change of fortunes. Alan Pardew’s Premier League success at Redknapp’s expense isn’t expected to help him pip the Spurs boss to the England job however. Redknapp is still a dominant 4/11 favourite, with Pardew a 20/1 outsider. http://news.ladbroke...ear_103115.html So... Arsenal 1/20 Spurs 5/4 Newcastle 6/4 Chelsea 2/1

The positive thing is I don't think we've had many fluke results, we've only got one win against the other teams in the top 6 so far but what we have done is beat the teams we should be beating anyway, which is where other clubs (like Liverpool) have slipped up.

This all the way, the points and positions are not much different from any other year.

I think we will finish 5th but it makes it more interesting now Arsenal have dropped 5 points in the last 2 games, feels like another position has opened up. Hopefully Man Utd can win the league before we play City which will hopefully see a disinterested City team turn up, also Chelsea might put out a weakened team against us like they did against Arsenal today with it being a few days before the cup final. As every game goes by you can't help but get more excited.

I've just read on another forum that Stoke have only attempted to play 7 through balls all season

Arsenal Pts 65 G+24 Wigan (h) Chelsea (h) Stoke (a) Norwich (h) West Brom (a) Spurs Pts 59 G+18 QPR (a) Blackburn (h) Bolton (a) Villa (a) Fulham (h) Newcastle Pts 62 G+11 Stoke (h) Wigan (a) Chelsea (a) Man City (h) Everton (a) Chelsea Pts 58 G+18 Arsenal (a) QPR (h) Newcastle (h) Liverpool (a) Blackburn (h) We've just got to keep doing what we've been doing because we play like we're under no pressure at all, Spurs look shot and have only managed 11 points in their last 15 league games where as I can see Chelsea dropping points at Anfield.

I take it being happy to flap your gums to the press at every opportunity and having your boy as a pundit on sky sports has bought Redknapp plenty of time with journos, there's hardly been anything made in the press about Spurs collapse in the second half of the season at all.

Credit to Pardew for not letting the pressure get to the players so far...

I agree. He said he doesn't want it and I believe him.

Krul was excellent down there, him coming out to collect everything in the air is what made their long balls into the box toothless. Not seen anything of Elliot to judge.

There's a thread on it in general chat, it was Gemmill who sent them over to N-O yesterday.

Says Debuchy is still a target for us and Valencia. http://www.le10sport.com/football/france/ligue1/newcastle-supervise-debuchy61463

Barnsley boss Keith Hill says Newcastle United should contact Oakwell about Jacob Butterfield and has said that top clubs in the Championship are also interested in the player. The north east club are thought to be interested in the 21-year-old who is out of contract at the end of the season but has not played in 2012 due to a knee injury. Due to his age, any deal would be settled by a tribunal but Hill says Newcastle should make their interest known. “If Newcastle want Jacob they should ring us or someone might get there first,” he said. “I am 100 per cent sure that all the teams in the top four of the Championship want him.“If you make a career of waiting you might as well work in a restaurant.” http://www.barnsley-...ield-move-soon?

I thought the bump was about season 3

It's looking like Drogba could be off, called off contract talks until the end of the season when his current deal runs out. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/chelsea-left-hanging-by-indemand-and-outofcontract-didier-drogba-7661639.html

Voted.

If it's like most home shirts people will moan how shit it is when it comes out and then say how it's grown on them by September time.

I'm off to my first gay wedding next year, a school friend of the missus and her other half are getting hitched.

That's pretty much my opinion too, however what I want Pardew to do and what I think he will do don't match up. If we sign Pieters but not a right back then Simpson will be his first choice going into the season and it will take an injury for Santon to get a chance.

I just don't think Pardew has that much faith in him and with the rumours about us still chasing that lad from PSV I can see Santon struggling to fit in, reading the forums people seem to think he will move to right back if Pieters comes in but I haven't seen anything to think Simpson isn't his preferred option there despite his patchy form. I can see 2 fullbacks and a centre back coming in.

I wouldn't be surprised if Pardew let Santon go if he got a chance to get his money back.

The express think Forster is going to turn Celtic down for a Premiership club.

As for the game, hopefully it shifts their thoughts to the second leg and switch off against Arsenal. If we beat Stoke we could be 5 points above them with 4 games to go

The thing is when you get to the size Chelsea are now even without Roman they'd be difficult to compete with. They're almost self sufficient now. Their annual income is £225m more than any Italian team, almost £100m more than Liverpool and Tottenham, that's nothing to do with Abramovic, that is their income end of story. When you build a club and put corporate structures in place like they have, they're there to stay, hopefully we can compete one day. They've managed to get the wage bill down to 75% too, from a high of 82%. Still think it'll need to come down further...but a champions league win would do that by increasing turnover even further rather than by getting rid of players. The thing is though that while they are close to break even, they've got an aging squad that needs freshening up and are relying heavily on qualifying for the CL every year to get to break even. I read an article the other week with an interview with someone at Chelsea (board member) and he said qualifying for it next year is more important than beating Barcelona to get to the final this year, it really hit home how much they depend on the money from it.

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