The gap and the benefit of a perfect start

An 11 point gap with say 10 games left is pretty significant. With 33 games left, it means very little.
 
vmsuhail said:
The biggest advantage of a gap is that it does not allow Chelsea to park the bus in the big games. At the same time, it allows us to play for a point at tough away grounds without losing much ground against the rivals. Chelsea defended their way to the title despite having a very tough run-in. Now they have to come out and win against the likes of Arsenal and Everton, sacrificing their bus.
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very very good point. it would mean the pressure on chelsea to go out and win every game would force their coward of a manager to do something alien....and /or force the owner to have him shot and a new super dooper boss pick up the realms and galvanize the team....i dont like the sound of all this and feel nervous again.
 
Yep vmsuhail makes a very good point... because of how badly Chelsea have started means they now have to come to places and try and get the win rather than park the bus.

I think our main threat this year will be Arsenal and Utd but I think we are a lot better than these 2. If I remember correctly, I'm sure Utd play Arsenal and then Palace (away). Then they are away in Moscow the week of the Derby. So I think that could be a big few weeks.













We will have won the league by bonfire night.
 
The blue phantom said:
I wouldnt say it means very little tbh.
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We can argue over the precise words, but what I mean is, it's not by any means a gap that cannot be closed. Yes of course we have a big advantage, but Chelsea have only lost 3 games. We lost 6 in our last winning season.
 
Chippy_boy said:
An 11 point gap with say 10 games left is pretty significant. With 33 games left, it means very little.
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Exactly, don't get ahead of ourselves, seen some daft threads on here asking the question if we will go unbeaten then we go lose to Juventus. I will feel confident about us winning the league when we go beat Chelsea, Arsenal and the rags away.

We all should know when we've won the league in the past a team has had a huge advantage and collapsed when put under pressure. We should lock this thread and reopen it in April maybe.
 
The problem is here after reading these replies,is that a lot of Blues are trying not to get too cocky or arrogant (like the rags used to be all the time),because that's not in our make up,and I totally agree to a degree,however it is about time we stood up to the fact that maybe this season we have a lot of people/pundits to prove wrong.

The team has started off like an house on fire,they look hungry,up for it,call it whatever you will,not conceded a goal in the league,and have a few interesting run of fixtures that can extend our already big gap on our rivals in the next few games,that's the point of this thread

We all know (well those who have supported City a long time) that once we have tried to get carried away they bloody let us down,has happened far too often in the past,but this season in particular I see a different squad that is going to try and dominate this league right from the start,take the Chelsea match for an example,OK many of us would have thought we could beat them,but to smash em 3-0 and could have been a lot more was a proper marker of how this season is going to be,and the point the OP is making is that Chelsea for example have fallen further since their defeat to us,meaning again that one of our RIVALS are slipping away,so the importance and significance of our next 3 or 4 games is huge,and the gap could and probably will be even bigger.

So come on Blues lets stick together on this one,we have had a fantastic start to this new campaign,and lets keep it going for as long as possible
 
Only 28 more points & we're safe!

It's an interesting debate & I agree with the poster who said most blues including myself are trying not to sound cocky like Rags, however this team has begun to get an aura about it. Some tricky games & injuries may play their part, if and its a big if the squad can be rotated to accommodate knocks & remain as impressive then we could blow this league away.

Looking at the supposed challengers & ourselves next 4 matches prior to our trip to the swamp

City v West Ham
Soton v Rags
Chelsea v Arse

Spuds v City
Leicester v Arse
Rags v Sunderelgation
Newcastle v Chelsea

City v Newcastle
Chelsea v Soton
Arse v Rags

Chelsea v Villa
Everton v Rags
City v Bournemouth
Watford v Arse

I genuinely think we can get 10 points from these, a draw somewhere in here, most likely this Saturday or Spuds.
Rags at best I see getting 7 points, easy 3 v the mackems & a batch of draws or another win in there somewhere
Chelsea I can see getting 10 points, maximum if they beat the Arse, though err on a draw here
Arse maybe 8 points

So we will go into the Derby unbeaten on 25 points, Rags and Arse will be chasing on 18/17 pts, Chelsea still playing catch up on 14-16

The pressure of that weekends results could be pivotal, I remember Arse going to the swamp on that long unbeaten run and robbed by dodgy officials as the Rags beat them 1-0 - fail to lose the Derby and we could run away with it, lose it and then it's going be a dogfight all the way maybe

Derby weekend also sees Arse at home to Everton, whilst Chelsea away at West Ham
 
Just looking again at the upcoming fixtures and I think here's what we should be hoping for.

Chelsea to beat Arse.
Arse to beat rags and either Leicester or Watford to nick a draw vs them.

Everton will be tough for the rags, but if the above results went our way, it would leave us going into derby weekend with only the rags even near us.
 
Obviously the most important thing is to keep some perspective, even baring in mind our fine start to the league campaign. However Chelsea are teetering on the edge and if they were to lose to Arsenal, and we were to beat West Ham, I would think that they would have little chance of turning that gap around even with the number of games left. Not necessarily because I don't think they can go in a serious winning streak, but because it would be ridiculous to expect them to go Sept - May after the Arsenal game undefeated. It's just too much ground for them to make up without us seriously collapsing, which I don't see happening this season.

Be interesting to see how Chelsea perform this weekend against Arsenal. They need the win but i don't see them getting it.
 
Thaksinssoldier said:
Okay, I know I'm getting waaay ahead of myself, but have a look at the upcoming fixtures for us and our competition.

Assume we can beat West Ham & Spurs next week, followed by Newcastle at home the following week.

A Chelsea win this week paired with a win for us versus West Ham would see us 8 points ahead of Arsenal and 11 ahead of Chelsea. An Arsenal win would see us 5 ahead of them, and 14 ahead of Chelsea, effectively killing Chelsea's hopes of retaining their title.

The following week we start the weekends games with the early game against Spurs. We've had great success in the recent past over them at White Hart Lane but I think even moreso this time we are a perfect mismatch for where they are at. So lets say we beat Spurs that week. Arsenal have an extremely tricky visit to Leicester and Chelsea are away to Newcastle in the late kickoff. Anything can happen this weekend, but it would be no surprise to see someone drop at least two points. As long as it isn't us, we could see ourselves with our lead increasing on one if not both teams.

Which brings us to the week of October 4th. We've a 3pm kickoff against Newcastle at home. That should be a winnable game at home if we perform to our levels.Chelsea have a late kickoff vs Southampton, and Arsenal play the rags. So Arsenal have another tricky tie.

So looking forward at those batch of fixtures and if we can win through it's very feasible to see us pull way ahead of Chelsea, possibly 10-12 points ahead of Arsenal or even have an 8 point lead over Arsenal & United.

The next 3 fixtures for us could be season defining with this in mind. I could possibly see us coming out of them with just the rags within 5 points of us, or possibly worse.

So blues, what do you think? How do we come out of it come October 5th?
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One game at a time and all that but...

This sort of speculation is a helluva lot more fun than those April days when we were longing for a turn around in City's form and praying that six or seven other results might click, so that maybe, just maybe, with the help of God, two policemen and a fair wind, we might just avoid the drop.

So, of you wanna do it, have at it. You've no doubt earned the right too, Blue.
Me? I've been too well schooled in disappointment to play along.
 
Thaksinssoldier said:
Okay, I know I'm getting waaay ahead of myself, but have a look at the upcoming fixtures for us and our competition.

Assume we can beat West Ham & Spurs next week, followed by Newcastle at home the following week.

A Chelsea win this week paired with a win for us versus West Ham would see us 8 points ahead of Arsenal and 11 ahead of Chelsea. An Arsenal win would see us 5 ahead of them, and 14 ahead of Chelsea, effectively killing Chelsea's hopes of retaining their title.

The following week we start the weekends games with the early game against Spurs. We've had great success in the recent past over them at White Hart Lane but I think even moreso this time we are a perfect mismatch for where they are at. So lets say we beat Spurs that week. Arsenal have an extremely tricky visit to Leicester and Chelsea are away to Newcastle in the late kickoff. Anything can happen this weekend, but it would be no surprise to see someone drop at least two points. As long as it isn't us, we could see ourselves with our lead increasing on one if not both teams.

Which brings us to the week of October 4th. We've a 3pm kickoff against Newcastle at home. That should be a winnable game at home if we perform to our levels.Chelsea have a late kickoff vs Southampton, and Arsenal play the rags. So Arsenal have another tricky tie.

So looking forward at those batch of fixtures and if we can win through it's very feasible to see us pull way ahead of Chelsea, possibly 10-12 points ahead of Arsenal or even have an 8 point lead over Arsenal & United.

The next 3 fixtures for us could be season defining with this in mind. I could possibly see us coming out of them with just the rags within 5 points of us, or possibly worse.

So blues, what do you think? How do we come out of it come October 5th?
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i think that tray of eggs that you were counting on as hatching, has just been trodden on!
 
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