We’re all still a little down after the Arsenal defeat, but there’s reason to be cheerful. In fact, there’s five of them.
5. It’s Been A Decent Start
19 points after 11 games is still our best start to the season since 2005/06, when we’d amassed 20 points at the same stage. As we all remember, we came within a dodgy lasagne of qualifying for the Champions League.
4. We’ve Played The Top Four
We’ve already played the top four and although we still have to play the best of the rest (City, Villa and Everton), our rivals still have the following fixtures to come before the new year.
Chelsea – Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City, Everton
Manchester United – Chelsea, Everton, Aston Villa
Arsenal – Chelsea, Liverpool, Aston Villa
Manchester City – Liverpool, Chelsea, The Mighty Spurs,
Liverpool – Manchester City, Everton, Arsenal, Aston Villa
Aston Villa – The Mighty Spurs, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool
So everyone is likely to be dropping points aplenty, with Liverpool and Villa having particularly tricky looking fixtures.
3. Our League Cup Draw Isn’t Actually As Tough As It First Seemed
Manchester United away is not what you want from a cup draw, but considering the quality of the teams left in the competition, only Blackburn or Portsmouth at home could be really considered as a good draw.
United will be tough, but it’s unlikely that they will field a full strength side at this stage of the competition, as the game is sandwiched between their away trips to Portsmouth and West Ham. When we played them in the final last season, they bought out all the big guns. This game is more winnable.
2. We’ve Achieved What Have Done With Half A Squad
We’ve yet to put out our first choice eleven this season, but there’s signs that we’re not too far away from being able to do that. Modric is back in training, Defoe is back from suspension and Lennon should be back after the international break.
At the back we look set to see King line up alongside Woodgate on Saturday for the first time this season.
1. Out With The Old…
Time flies by at this time of the year. Before we know it Christmas will be upon us and then far more importantly, the January transfer window. Harry knows that the squad isn’t as strong as it could be, so expect a few faces to be shipped out and some new players to come in.
We spent heavily last January to get us out of relegation trouble, but if we’re in reach of the top four at this stage in the new year, expect us to spend big to get the targets that we want.
