Our record against the promotion challengers

[Eric the Half a Bee]

1. Wolves - W2-1 (away)
3. Aston Villa - W3-0 (home)
4. Fulham - D1-1 (away) L2-4 (home)
5. Derby Co - D0-0 (home)
6. Bristol City - L1-2 (away) W1-0 (home)
7. Middlesbrough - W1-0 (away) W1-0 (home)
8. Sheff Utd - W2-0 (home)
9. Preston - L0-3 (away), L0-1 (home)

At the moment, the likely top 6 is going to come from the teams in the top 9. That's 20 points from 12 games against them, winning 6, losing 4. Fulham and Preston are the obvious spoilers. This list suggests we're likely to get something from some of the big games coming up against Derby, Wolves, Villa and Sheff Utd, even if 3 of them are away. I'd be amazed if we lost them all and I reckon we'll win at least one of them.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Using the same logic, where do you think we'll finish ?

I havent looked at the run ins for the current top 6. A playoff against Villa,Fulham or Derby is going to be tough but it's going to be a hell of a lot of fun and maybe via brute force alone we will eek out some results.

All the stats suggest we'll finish second, barring a collapse or an extraordinary run from Villa or Fulham. To use a cliche, it's in our own hands. Avoiding defeat at Villa is potentially going to be key, though much could change I think. We've got a manager that has oodles of promotion experience to draw on, mind you so do Villa.

Opinion on our chances boils down to how confident you feel or how much you think we'll throw it away. I think we'll finish second. If we can win our next two home games, Villa and Fulham will be under even more pressure. If we can extend our gap to 7 points, I think that'll finish the rest off. Chasing teams when there's a considerable points cap is tough, regardless of how good a team is. We'll see that from Villa and Fulham. I remember how some thought Spurs could catch Leicester a few seasons ago in the Premier League - regardless of how good Spurs were, they eventually crumbled under the pressure of chasing down a team that kept getting results. That's all we need to do.

[Pedro de la Rosa]

All the stats suggest we'll finish second, barring a collapse or an extraordinary run from Villa or Fulham. To use a cliche, it's in our own hands. Avoiding defeat at Villa is potentially going to be key, though much could change I think. We've got a manager that has oodles of promotion experience to draw on, mind you so do Villa.

Opinion on our chances boils down to how confident you feel or how much you think we'll throw it away. I think we'll finish second. If we can win our next two home games, Villa and Fulham will be under even more pressure. If we can extend our gap to 7 points, I think that'll finish the rest off. Chasing teams when there's a considerable points cap is tough, regardless of how good a team is. We'll see that from Villa and Fulham. I remember how some thought Spurs could catch Leicester a few seasons ago in the Premier League - regardless of how good Spurs were, they eventually crumbled under the pressure of chasing down a team that kept getting results. That's all we need to do.

We just need to focus on us and win our league games. We've got a fairly pleasant run with Barnsley, Birmingham and Burton at home in the next 5 games. We absolutely have to make them count. It then gets a bit dicey with Sheffield United, Wolves and that game against Villa but we've hopefully got an easier end to the season. If we are still on an unbeaten run (or have won 4 out of 5) post Burton, we'll do it. That'll really knock the stuffing out of Fulham and Villa.