Would love the OP to be right but the writing was on the wall from Spurs away and certainly from Leicester away coupled with the run of draws at home.
That's not even mentioning officials....
Fantastic performance against Spurs showed what we are really capable of. If we can repeat this type of performances over and over again we can still snatch the title. Kompany is back, Dinho will be back against WHU. Chelsea's upcoming three games are Liverpool away, Arsenal at home and Burnley away. They can easily loose to both Liverpool and Arsenal and away at Burnley it is always tough. I can see them getting only 1 point out of 9 possible. Our next 3 games are WHU away, Swansea at home and Bournemouth away. All these games are winnable. If everything works out as planned, we will be on 52 points and Chelsea on 56 points and we will still have to play them. We all know Arsenal and Spurs will bottle it. Never mind Liverpool.
22/1 at the bookies if you fancy it!
It's not impossible, it's just very, very unlikely. If they get less than 7 points from those 3 games it wold be a surprise, less than 6 would be a genuine shock.
I'd be a bit surprised if they get less than 9.
For us to win the league we would need to win the next 16 games straight.
On top of that, Chelsea would have to drop an extra 9 points (already taking into account the 3 they would drop against us in the Stamford Bridge fixture).
To put this in perspective, they have dropped 3 points since September (16 games).
And this would be in an environment where we are trying to compete in the FA Cup and Champions League simultaneously.
Having said that, never say never, we can go on streaks and theoretically they could only be 6 points ahead of us in 10 days time.
There next games will be key. They're not playing particularly well but winning, and most of the sides outside the top 6 seem to roll over and have no answer for them. With no European games I can't see them dropping many points from games against those sides. The Arsenal and Liverpool games will be key. As you say, should we get within 6 points of them suddenly it's up for grabs for any side in the top 6.
I've seen lots of positives in recent games, and it's fine lines, we're not far from being a very very good side that teams will get destroyed by. Having said that, realistically we're unlikely to go on the run required to have a chance of winning the league. Particularly when you've only looked at Chelsea. You've still got Spuds, rags, Liverpool, Arsenal in there as well!
Otamendi stepped forward, won the ball and De Bruyne springs a pass over the top for Sane to score.
At 2-0, Otamendi steps forward to challenge Alli who spreads the ball wide then runs into the box to score with Otamendi nowhere to be seen.
Fine lines, Pep’s style is very much like that. We need to all be on the front foot hunting for the ball back, as we were against Arsenal who just couldn’t keep hold of it and were battered by us in the second half. If a team like Arsenal can’t cope, there’s not a lot of hope for other sides.
Anyway, getting too deep into tactics here. Never say never, and I don’t write off winning anything until it’s mathematically impossible or the final whistle has been blown!