Time to play a game of ‘what if we lose this evening against Watford?’ It would be a blow for sure but not the end of the world and we would still certainly be bang in the middle of a top-four position and in my opinion, still favourites to finish in a Champions League spot.
Let’s look at the scenario that would be in front of us. I will go with a loss of one goal so that would leave the table like this…
Tottenham played 33 – 67 points
Chelsea played 34 – 66 points
Man Utd played 33 – 64 points
Arsenal – played 33 – 63 points
Now, we would be three points behind Chelsea in fourth but will still have a game in hand and a better goal difference of three, our next opponents would be Crystal Palace and we would be at home.
Man Utd’s next three games in the league are away at Everton, home to Man City and home to Chelsea, I just cannot see them getting nine points from those games, can you?
Tottenham clearly has the advantage now and even a loss to Man City would not do significant damage when you consider they would have three of their final four games at home.
The point I am trying to make is that we would still have it in our hands over Chelsea even if we lose against Watford, we would have a game in hand and better goal difference and the fixtures that Man Utd have to navigate surely gives us the advantage over them even if we would have three tricky away games to play.
A loss would not be good in any manner but it would not be disastrous and we would still be in a good position to claim a top-four spot over at least two of our rivals.