The Title Race 2022/23

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MCFC1993 said:
League fixtures coming up before the World Cup:

City
2nd, 26 points​
Arsenal
1st, 28 points​
Spurs
3rd, 23 points​
Chelsea
5th, 21 points​
Newcastle
4th, 21 points​
United
6th, 20 points​
Liverpool
8th, 16 points​
Leicester (A)
29th Oct, 12:30​
Forest (H)
30th Oct, 14:00​
Bournemouth (A)
29th Oct, 15:00​
Brighton (A)
29th Oct, 15:00​
Aston Villa (H)
29th Oct, 15:00​
West Ham (H)
30th Oct, 16:15​
Leeds (H)
29th Oct, 19:45​
Fulham (H)
5th Nov, 15:00​
Chelsea (A)
6th Nov, 12:00​
Liverpool (H)
6th Nov, 16:30​
Arsenal (H)
6th Nov, 12:00​
Southampton (A)
6th Nov, 14:00​
Aston Villa (A)
6th Nov, 16:15​
Spurs (A)
6th Nov, 16:30​
Brentford (H)
12th Nov, 12:30​
Wolves (A)
12th Nov, 19:45​
Leeds (H)
12th Nov, 15:00​
Newcastle (A)
12th Nov, 17:30​
Chelsea (H)
12th Nov, 17:30​

Fulham
13th Nov, 16:30​

Southampton (H)
12th Nov, 15:00​

The good news is we remain above Liverpool going into the World Cup no matter what happens before then.

You'd have to fancy us to be top going into the World Cup.

Leicester looks to be more of a tricky game given their form but Arsenal having to go to Chelsea, you'd fancy them to drop points there.
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Fuck must take Tielemans out of my fantasy football team.
 
We've got a 5pt gap to Chelsea and a 10pt gap to Liverpool after 11 games. They're the two in the best position to challenge us. Chelsea have a good squad but are developing under a new manager and Liverpool have a squad who has been there and done it (once) but can put a run together. They closed the gap quickly last season when we had a poor spell and could do the same, but ultimately it wasn't enough for them and to have to chase down 10pts having already played us once...it's a big ask even at this stage.

You couldn't ask for a better opportunity to win three in a row. There isn't a team out there that doesn't have question marks. Spurs are in the top 4 but really inconsistent. Arsenal are showing that the squad isn't strong enough and that they will struggle in games where everyone isn't on it. They could still challenge but I doubt it.

We're not playing well at all. We're trying to adapt from playing with a false 9 to having someone who scores at will and need to find that balance where Haaland is utilised but we also control the tempo and pace of games. The fact we're still up there despite performances so far shows we are the ones to beat still and should win the league.

Newcastle away we were poor. Villa away we were poor. Wolves away against ten men we weren't great second half but the job was done. Palace at home we were awful first half. Brighton we were poor. Liverpool away was the usual. Dortmund at home and away we weren't great and Copenhagen away was a poor showing but largely due to the red card. That's a lot of games already where we've not quite been at it. We even conceded 3 against united despite playing them off the park!

Once we turn it up a notch, we can easily put together a big run and pull away.
 
supercity88 said:
We've got a 5pt gap to Chelsea and a 10pt gap to Liverpool after 11 games. They're the two in the best position to challenge us. Chelsea have a good squad but are developing under a new manager and Liverpool have a squad who has been there and done it (once) but can put a run together. They closed the gap quickly last season when we had a poor spell and could do the same, but ultimately it wasn't enough for them and to have to chase down 10pts having already played us once...it's a big ask even at this stage.

You couldn't ask for a better opportunity to win three in a row. There isn't a team out there that doesn't have question marks. Spurs are in the top 4 but really inconsistent. Arsenal are showing that the squad isn't strong enough and that they will struggle in games where everyone isn't on it. They could still challenge but I doubt it.

We're not playing well at all. We're trying to adapt from playing with a false 9 to having someone who scores at will and need to find that balance where Haaland is utilised but we also control the tempo and pace of games. The fact we're still up there despite performances so far shows we are the ones to beat still and should win the league.

Newcastle away we were poor. Villa away we were poor. Wolves away against ten men we weren't great second half but the job was done. Palace at home we were awful first half. Brighton we were poor. Liverpool away was the usual. Dortmund at home and away we weren't great and Copenhagen away was a poor showing but largely due to the red card. That's a lot of games already where we've not quite been at it. We even conceded 3 against united despite playing them off the park!

Once we turn it up a notch, we can easily put together a big run and pull away.
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A good synopsis of the current state of play. A win against the scouse vermin would have, in all probability, seen them off but never mind. I think we have been ruthless throughout the winter months in some of our title winning seasons iirc, but the World Cup alters that to some degree for this campaign. The main thing is that it is all about us. We turn it on and away we go.
 
supercity88 said:
We've got a 5pt gap to Chelsea and a 10pt gap to Liverpool after 11 games. They're the two in the best position to challenge us. Chelsea have a good squad but are developing under a new manager and Liverpool have a squad who has been there and done it (once) but can put a run together. They closed the gap quickly last season when we had a poor spell and could do the same, but ultimately it wasn't enough for them and to have to chase down 10pts having already played us once...it's a big ask even at this stage.

You couldn't ask for a better opportunity to win three in a row. There isn't a team out there that doesn't have question marks. Spurs are in the top 4 but really inconsistent. Arsenal are showing that the squad isn't strong enough and that they will struggle in games where everyone isn't on it. They could still challenge but I doubt it.

We're not playing well at all. We're trying to adapt from playing with a false 9 to having someone who scores at will and need to find that balance where Haaland is utilised but we also control the tempo and pace of games. The fact we're still up there despite performances so far shows we are the ones to beat still and should win the league.

Newcastle away we were poor. Villa away we were poor. Wolves away against ten men we weren't great second half but the job was done. Palace at home we were awful first half. Brighton we were poor. Liverpool away was the usual. Dortmund at home and away we weren't great and Copenhagen away was a poor showing but largely due to the red card. That's a lot of games already where we've not quite been at it. We even conceded 3 against united despite playing them off the park!

Once we turn it up a notch, we can easily put together a big run and pull away.
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Good post.

I'll be surprised if Chelsea aren't a lot closer to Liverpool by the time the World Cup comes around. They've Brighton (A), Arsenal (H), Newcastle (A) in their next 3. Spurs play Liverpool as well.

I imagine only Arsenal will be near us come the World Cup due to their good start.

I agree about the way we're playing too, not been convincing at all but I still feel like we've barely put out our best XI in any game so far and I think that hasn't helped.
 
Roachy said:
A good synopsis of the current state of play. A win against the scouse vermin would have, in all probability, seen them off but never mind. I think we have been ruthless throughout the winter months in some of our title winning seasons iirc, but the World Cup alters that to some degree for this campaign. The main thing is that it is all about us. We turn it on and away we go.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Pep said recently about the split in the season. Our expectation will have been CL qualification topping the group and to be close to, if not top of the table. We've done the former and hopefully we can be top of the league going into the break. We then kick on with a difficult December/January period but with many of our top players potentially having gone to the WC but not played a huge amount.

Mahrez, Haaland, Gomez and Palmer wont be going. Ederson is on the bench. Grealish and Foden are rotation options. Walker and Stones may or not play every game. Alvarez will probably be on the bench. Ake seems to be a starter now but could be a rotation option. Rodri still seems to be second to Busquets for Spain. The ones likely to play the majority of every game are Akanji, Dias, Laporte, Bernardo, Cancelo, De Bruyne, Gundogan. Phillips...we will see.

It's defensively where our players will likely have played a significant amount over the World Cup. But we have the ability to put out Walker, Dias, Laporte, Cancelo one game and Akanji, Stones, Ake, Gomez the next if we really needed to. In midfield, Bernardo, Gundogan and De Bruyne will play a lot but again we can hopefully rotate still.
 
domalino said:
Just watched Arsenal get absolutely pumped by PSV after making 4 or 5 changes to their best XI.

They simply don’t have the depth to go on a title run this year, it’s not happening.
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Is the league all over even earlier than last season?
 
Weird that we still have to play Arsenal, Spurs, and Chelsea twice after the world cup, but even still today's result puts Chelsea out of the running in my opinion.
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
If we don't win it from here, with no credible challenger, we might as well call it a day.

It's all there for us and no excuses.
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They were there for the taking when we played them, tonight’s result has pissed me off a bit but we know it’s their cup final, although Carragher nearly in tears makes up
 
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