Lovebitesandeveryfing
Well-Known Member
This isn't complacency, but I choose to put a slightly more positive spin on our record against the top. We got draws away at Leicester and United. They will have to look at that as two points dropped (as we have to look at the Everton result as two points dropped). We weren't great in either game, but we never looked threatened. Tottenham was diabolical, with two clear offside goals that threw the game completely. I genuinely believe that should and would have been an entirely different result. I think they were so astonished by those decisions that the team never got back onto an even keel The only game of the four where we clearly came up short — and not by a disgraceful margin, far from it — was against Arsenal. I have them well worth their victory on the night. They were just better than us.
For my money a really bad result, which we may live to regret, is Villa away. Not to have taken the three points there does not look at all like title contending form. It hasn't been a great season, and is in no comparable to that astonishing run of good football in 2013-14, but we're still very much in it, with virtually everyone at the top to come to us. This match is major: win it, and it's a clear statement of intent. We must be aiming to take the three points. It won't be easy, but that's what champions do. They start to win the key away games in the second half of the season. Even a draw's not enough at this point.
Edit: the word "clear" comes up too often in this post. Note to myself: extend vocabulary.
