If we maintained the results from the first 10 (or heaven forbid, got better) then yeah. But we haven't. We've been getting steadily worse. Even after all the players came back.
Never heard of new manager bounce? Like I've said many times, our system and its problems seem to have been figured out. Whether the opposition team is good enough to execute the plan is the only question really. Expect a lot of balls over the top thanks to Newcastle now. On top of the corners. And the packing of the box.
Thing is, they have got better in the last couple of months. In a mirror version of us, they're down there because they were awful at the start. We did well to put some air between us and the middle of the table then. But since then, a lot of those teams have been taking roughly the same amount of points as us.
It works in both directions. Leicester, who were bottom of the league with 7 games to play in 2015 went on a run of 5 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. I said there and then that they suddenly looked like title winners, not relegation fodder. Shame I'm not a gambling man.
We on the other hand had 10 decent results at the start of the season taking an average of 2.6 points per game. In the next 10 games we took 1.3 points per game. In the next 10 games 1.7 ppg. Over the last 3 so far 1.3 ppg
Very average points per game returns after the mythical 10.
Apply the same to Chelsea and their ppg is increasing.