[Football] Have we had a fairly easy run of matches so far?

[Beach Hut]

There is no easy run as any team can be spectacular on the day, the important part is just accumulating points for when you play games you are unlikely to win, top 6 clubs.

 

[Bozza]

Just checked on Southampton’s fixtures to date, only played Man U, so they’re had an easier start than us.

As well as 6 home games and only 3 away.

 

[Da Man Clay]

When we play Man U, we have a run of 8 games, 4 of which are top 6. Be interesting where we are placed after that lot.

Another thing to notice (based on that table) is Everton, Leicester, West Ham, Bournemouth and Palace. Apart from the usual top 6, calling the rest appears to be a lot tougher than the ‘experts’ make it out to be. Look at the bottom 3 of us, Huddersfield and Burnley - all clear and safe (at the moment).

True but that 8 game stretch also has some winnable games in there as well. We don’t really have a run of games like Palace just did.

That is spot on. It seems this year that outside of the usual suspects the league is wide open. I’m not sure 40 points is enough this year.

 

[Justice]

Is it not better to get used to PL football before the tougher games?

 

[Govinda Tim]

Our GD could well be vital come the end of the season. At the moment its -1, a good win today could well see us into positive numbers.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

Our last 10 fixtures are going to be really tough, if I remember rightly, we'll play the top 8 teams plus Palace away and another relatively winnable game but we need to be Charlton - race to 40 points and then not worry about the run in!

 

[mickhowarth]

Whilst we have amassed more points than I expected and although being mightily impressed by our form, I can't help thinking that Man City and Arsenal apart that we have been dealt a kind fixture list so far.

Points today would give us a bit of a cushion given that we still have to play United, Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool.

Palace, especially, and Bournemouth seem to have had a much tougher run than us, luckily we do have a bit of a points gap over both of them.

It's going to get a lot tougher...but I am loving it so far, four or five defeats on the bounce may change that though.

Thoughts?

Well Southampton, have had an even easier run of fixtures than us, although its never easy in this league. The Saints have played 6 home matches and out of the big 6 teams they have only played 1 at home. They have played none of those 6 sides away yet. We have only had 4 home games and am very happy the way we have played so far.

 

[FatSuperman]

Just checked on Southampton’s fixtures to date, only played Man U, so they’re had an easier start than us.

Yeah - they look like they've had the easiest start on paper.

 

[Mr Putdown]

We’ve played 5 teams in the bottom half and 4 in the top so far. Southampton are 10th.
If we beat Southampton,.then it will be 6/4 split. If we lose it will be a 5/5 split.

This changes of course, as until recently, WBA were in the top 1/2.

I guess the real test is what percentage of our games have been against the big 6? We’ve played 2/9 to date - 2/10 after today. For the whole season it will be 12/38, so about a 1 in 3 ratio.

On that stat, we are having easier fixtures.

Other teams:
Palace have played 3.
Bournemouth 4.
Everton 5.
Swansea 3.
West Ham 2.
Leicester 4.

Palace have played four of the top 6, not three; Liverpool, Man City, Man United and Chelsea.

 

[larus]

Palace have played four of the top 6, not three; Liverpool, Man City, Man United and Chelsea.

OK, I was quickly going through team by team on the BBC.

 

[dwayne]

There's 2 leagues top 5 maybe 6. And the rest. We've only had 2 of the top 6. And we are about a quarter way through.

So slightly easier than average

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[HalfaSeatOn]

Huddersfield found Man Utd on a bad day. We might find some points from the top 6 who have 'a bad day at the office'. January window will be important for end of season run in.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Late November and the month of December will be a big test Spurs/Man Utd/Chelsea away and Liverpool at home ...picking the points up before then will be key imho

 

[Megazone]

It's our last 10 fixtures where we'll struggle. Let's hope we're in a safe position by that time.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

Our last 10 fixtures are going to be really tough, if I remember rightly, we'll play the top 8 teams plus Palace away and another relatively winnable game but we need to be Charlton - race to 40 points and then not worry about the run in!

Exactly this, shame we missed out on a couple of points today.

 

[OzMike]

Our last 10 fixtures are going to be really tough, if I remember rightly, we'll play the top 8 teams plus Palace away and another relatively winnable game but we need to be Charlton - race to 40 points and then not worry about the run in!

This, but we have to get out of the starting blocks quicker.
We waste and awful lot of first halves.

 

[Triggaaar]

I'm sure there was a recent list of 'fixture difficulty' and we have had one of the more difficult set of fixtures ?

Maybe I misread it, or perhaps the analysis I saw is now out of date ?

Was it after one game played?

Every third game on average is against a top 6 side, so we'd need our next 2 games to both be against top 6 for that to even out. Apart from that, a fair mix.

 

[HastingsSeagull]

Fairly average I'd have thought so easy to find a couple teams with much harder and a couple with easier......... it's the nature of the beast

 

[hitony]

We still have to play Spurs, Man U, Chelsea and Liverpool twice so that is 8 games where we will be massive outsiders for the win. It does put more pressure on games like today - although I was interested to see Southampton are still favourites to win the game at the bookies

I completely agree with your sentiment that we will be massive outsiders, but I also feel that when we play the top 6 we tend to have more passion and fight etc etc, The Amex is proving not an easy place to come to, I'm more than hopeful we can get a few surprise results out of those games, how many times do you see these sides go into a game against the lower in the league sides and get turned over as they think its a walk in the park! I have faith......

 

[Stat Brother]

I completely agree with your sentiment that we will be massive outsiders, but I also feel that when we play the top 6 we tend to have more passion and fight etc etc, The Amex is proving not an easy place to come to, I'm more than hopeful we can get a few surprise results out of those games, how many times do you see these sides go into a game against the lower in the league sides and get turned over as they think its a walk in the park! I have faith......

You see those results at the start of the season, and when teams are juggling early stages of Europe and League.
I think we tend not to see them at the pointy end of the season, or during a block of games, like Christmas, when all the big boys know it not a time to be playing catch up with their rivals.