I think the 12 game sequence is impossible to make an accurate forecast, who would have thought have thought..
Man U would be so poor, drawing with Fulham, losing at Stoke?
Chelsea would have drawn at West Brom?
Woolwich would pick 1 point out of a potential 6?
I think to add to that we are completely unpredictable, I really did not see us beating Everton and if I'm being painfully honest I wouldn't have complained if we'd drawn that. I think we have a number of issues that could really affect our next run:
Adebayor - has been a beast up front and useful at the back on set pieces, if we lost his services Soldado might be able to do something but he's a very different player.
Defensive Stability - I think we look a lot better with Vertonghen & Kaboul at the back, if we can keep them fit, we will be able to extend the last couple of clean sheets.
Midfield Balance - Dembele can be class, Paulinho can be too but I still don't think we've seen the best of him and I'm convinced given a bit of time and improvement in fitness Capoue could do the lion's share of the defensive work. We still haven't quite gelled and there is still the question of harnessing the potential or Eriksen, Townsend and getting a bit more consistency out of Lennon.
I know it's tempting to see what you can expect but this is a bit of a 'Usual Suspects' (as in the film who you never know who's done it till the end!) kind of season and I think we have to look at our competitors too and see who's going to drop points.
Woolwich - Maybe it's wishful thinking but they have not really hit a proper bad patch, they had a stinker at Liverpool and they'd probably be disappointed at only drawing with Man U. I think they will suffer without Walcott's pace and Giroud can look 1 dimensional at time, I can't help but think their decision not to buy a striker and Ozil seemingly losing form could combine, with a bit of luck they could drop some serious points.
Liverpool - They have to lose sooner or later, we can hope Suarez does something stupid but last night it was horrible to see them snatching a win from a probable draw, that will give them a serious boost, that and no European games to distract them has got to give them a real chance of finishing high. Their only weakness is letting in stupid goals and they don't seem to suffer too horribly from that.
Everton - I think there's no doubt they're still in the race but they are over reliant on Lukaku for their goals, they are a very organised unit and they will be in the mix but I honestly think we can out pace them, I think with their depth they are going to run out of steam.
Chelsea & Man City - I'm grouping these together as the Billionaire's toys who will be top 2, both have stupid quantities of depth and quality, both notably in the midfield, they have dropped the occassional point but I really can't see beyond them at the moment, Mourinho is a despicable human being but a brilliant manager, I still think they might nick it this season.
If things are to go our way we must win the next 2 league games and hope in that time the other squads have some key injuries, 4th is possible but unlikely, I think our only realistic hope is a finish 4th behind Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool, because their form just seems a bit too good right now. We need to make up 5 points on Woolwich, beat them at the Lane and we're looking at 2 points plus goal difference. It is possible but we need fortune on our side.
