ToffeeWeb - Season 2008-09

The Mail Bag

Villa or Wigan today?

I switched on the telly this morning to FreeSat Channel 83 to the red, white and blue that my wife hates. The League table is looking a bit worrying to me for a place in Europe nect season and much depends on today's events. We play ManU at 5.30pm, so before we kick off, Villa could be on 50 points (13 ahead), joint top of the table barr goal difference. Arsenal could be on 45 with an ominous gap developed there and we still have to go and get a result. I would say a draw away at ManU is decent progress, but we really do need a win. However, a Villa win today would keep the gap between us and Wigan to an invaluable 5 points that we are going to need.

So the point of my posting is should we be shouting for Villa this afternoon to keep Wigan off our tails. Lets assume we get a draw and Wigan win, that would put us 9 points behind Villa and only 3 points ahead of Wigan (2 if we lose). And let's assume ManU win the Carling Cup, then 6th Spot would at least get us into Europe. With this in mind I will be putting on a strong Brummy accent and talking through my nose this afternoon. I think I am kind of being resigned to scraping into Europe at best.

I don't want to be a pessimist, and I will take every positive result as they come, but I'm sure Moyes will be thinking the same as our squad depletes and the competition is strengthing for a frantic run in to the end of the season. A place and a good run in Europe is imperative not only for the needed financial gains, but to give us any hope of retaining all of our loyal star players who could be lured away more easily next season with the excuse of European football being the reason.

So on that note I look forward to Marin O'Neills silly jump and air punch on more than one occasion this afternoon.
Tony I'Anson, Stirling, Scotland Posted 31/01/2009 at 06:13:00

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Michael Kenrick

Sorry we're a bit late getting that up already, Tony... so what were the scores?

Øystein Lemvik
1 Posted 31/01/2009 at 16:54:18

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Both Arsenal, Villa and Wigan draw (logically, the last two...).

So we’ll not lose more than one point today on our competitors, but we may (perhaps a bit unrealistic) gain two points on both Villa and Arsenal

Tony IAnson
2 Posted 31/01/2009 at 20:06:48

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My worst fears came off (defeat at ManU) but at least we were spared Wigan closing in with a win. I just hope we still get a place in Europe or I fear the "for sale" window that Cahill and Arteta have managed to put themselves in will be too much to resist come next season if all they can hope for is 5th/6th ??.

Jimmy Crack
3 Posted 31/01/2009 at 20:16:53

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I don?t think we need to worry about Wigan. They?ve sold their best players during the window and haven?t brought in anyone spectacular.