Nigel de Jong thinks so:
"(We have a) good chance, I mean Liverpool lost yesterday so it's going to be a tight race at the end.
"Everybody goes for fourth place of course but I think we can do it.
"We've got one game in hand (over Spurs), we've got a couple of good games against our opponents as well at home so you've just got to try to keep going and focusing, try to get those three points in every game and we'll see where we end (up)."
While Gareth Barry pointed out that ruthlesness against the lesser teams is going to be as important as those definitive home ties with Spurs and Villa left to come:
"Three points are massive in the Premier League and we need to keep collecting them," said Barry. "I'm not sure why we haven't done it against lesser teams. "Earlier in the season, we had a slump where we failed to win four or five games in a row which we should have won. "Hopefully, we can put that right before the end of the season, which is the vital part."
This is absolutely right. Looking through our remaining fixtures, it's very clear that Spurs and Villa at home are the biggest games. But given that this is a four-horse race, and that only the narrowest of margins separate the contenders at this point, every match and every point is crucial. Sunderland away, Fulham away, Burnley away, and West Ham away are just as winnable, and just as valuable as our big name home ties.
And are we going to do it? I honestly don't know. It's unlikely - even if we're favourites we've still probably got at best a 35% chance of doing so, as the odds will show. To be very frank, I find it hard to form rational opinions on this sort of thing. Years of supporting City have conditioned me against it. There are lots of attractive elements to the DNA of Manchester City but triumphs and ruthlesness aren't exactly in the mix - if you want dramatic victories from the jaws of defeat on a regular basis there's another Manchester club who will regularly provide it for you. My prediction? We'll go 2-0 down at on the final day, but pull it back to 2-2. We'll think 2-2 is enough for success, based on results elsewhere, and take the ball into the corner flag. Everyone in the ground will know it's not. But word won't get onto the pitch in time, and we won't get that winning goal.
If you don't want neurotic and fatalistic predictions check out Norfstander's vox pops on this issue.
4 comments:
i like neurotic and fatalistic predictions...any way, i think this will go down to the wire. I have no faith at all in city producing the goods when we really need it. Too many have not produced the goods this season, the next couple of games could be key to manner in which we finish the season.
I reckon it might be last game of the season job! Robbie fowler missing a penalty type!
We have only one top world class player rest is a 6/7th place team, Maybe Garry " big mouth " Cook can sell all of you the idea that we are the best team in the world not me. too much waste money in mercenaries like Robinho or Abdebayor,( they only came here because of money ) injury players as Lescoot or Santa Cruz. Our ownwer have no football idea and our Chief executive is rubbish any gestion from him is nothing ( Kaka, David Villa, Etoo, Gago, etccWe only can get 4th place if Liverpool/Spurs fail other thing is to sell smoke. Sorry
Made me laugh ... "its not the disappointment its the hope that kills you" ... definitely a phrase coined for MCFC supporters.
I'm taking one game at a time ... only way to keep sane.
The average points haul for fourth over the last 10 seasons is 68, the highest 76, the lowest 60.
We're on 49, and 70 should do it this season.
The next six games are:
A Sunderland
A Fulham
H Everton
H Wigan
A Burnley
A Birmingham
Four wins and a draw would be 13 points. That would leave us needing 8 points from:
H United
A Arsenal
H Villa
A West Ham
No chance. We therefore need five wins from the next six to leave us needing 6 points from those four games.
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