Just had a look back over the season and we are definitely in a much better place than we were over Christmas. If you look at this season in blocks of 13 (or 14 games), the picture right now is prettier than it was. We've played 40 games in all competitions, so have split them into three groups.
(Including the Community Shield).
First 13: P13 W9 D4 L0
Next 13: P13 W3 D2 L8
Next 14: P13 W8 D2 L4
We have 13 games left in the league. If we go the rest of the PL season with a record of 8 wins, 2 draws, and 3 defeats, that's 70 points and definitely enough for at least 5th, and probably 4th. Teams who've finished 4th in the last 20 years have achieved (going backwards):
68 pts (Villa), 71 pts (Newcastle), 71 pts (Spurs), 67 pts (Chelsea), 66 pts (Chelsea), 71 pts (Spurs), 75 pts (Liverpool), 76 pts (Liverpool), 66 pts (Man City), 70 pts (Man United), 79 pts (Arsenal), 73 pts (Arsenal), 68 pts (Arsenal), 70 pts (Spurs), 72 pts (Arsenal), 76 pts (Liverpool), 68 pts (Arsenal), 67 pts (Arsenal), 61 pts (Everton), 60 pts (Liverpool).
Since 2004, 70 points has been enough for 4th place on 11 out of 20 occasions. It's been enough for 5th place on 17 out of 20 occasions. Given that Atalanta and Juventus both crashed out of Europe with us this week, it's looking very likely that 5th place will be enough for us to secure Champions League football again next season.
We have 13 league games left. Let's see where those eight wins could come from. I've bolded the games we should expect to win and the games in italics are the ones in which a win isn't beyond us if we play well. Only five games bolded, but seven games are in italics. Forest away is the only one I've got absolutely nailed on for a defeat.
Liverpool (H), Spurs (A), Forest (A), Brighton (H), Leicester (H), United (A), Palace (H), Everton (A), Villa (H), Wolves (H), Southampton (A), Bournemouth (H), Fulham (A).
D, D, L, W, W, D, W, D, W, W, W, D, D. That's P13 W6 D4 L3. That would leave us on 68 points. Probably enough for 5th at least, and hopefully enough for 4th. If we can just improve performances a little bit some of those D games could become a couple of Ws and nudge us up to 70 points or thereabouts.