So looking @ the table this morning after 2 points dropped & Blackburn getting points against Bolton, we have something like this:
15 Blackburn 35 -14 38
16 Birmingham 34 -17 38
17 Blackpool 35 -22 35
18 Wigan 35 -23 35
19 Wolves 34 -23 33
20 West Ham 34 -22 32
Not the best of reading with 3 games to go for Wigan Athletic, but it is what it is.
So to the remaining games, yes you’ll have been using the BBC’s fine ‘Predictor‘ to see how confident we are of a 7th season in the Premier League. So to today’s games, we have:
Birmingham vs Wolves
Man City vs West Ham
Just looking at the fixtures in self preservation mode the later of the 2 is easy! We’ll want a Man City win, it would keep West Ham on 32 points with a similar goal difference to Wigan if not worse. A draw and West Ham will move to 33 points and a goal difference just less than ours. A West Ham win, mean West Ham go above Wigan on goal difference and the pending 15th May clash is looking massive.
The former of the 2 fixtures is the early 12 o’clock kick off, the West Midlands derby! This one is harder to call & that’s based on confidence on Wigan getting a few more points on the board by the end of the season? If they can do this, we’d want a draw today as it would bring Birmingham in to the relegation fight and more options for Wigan. The key though is points for Wigan, so using my head instead of my heart, the best result today would be a Home win. Yes this would move Birmingham to 41 points & out of the battle, but it would keep Wolves below us on 33 points & a worse goal difference.
I keep mentioning goal difference, but I can see by 6pm on the 22nd May that this may be the fine line between Premier League or Championship football. It’s again why it would be best for a Birmingham win, Wigan’s goal difference has been poor all season, -10 after 2 games, so we are now finally seeing other teams with similar if not worse goal difference than Wigan’s, but watch this space.
So by ten past six today, we could see the following league tables:
Good – Birmigham & Man City Win (1-0 each in this example)
15 Birmingham 35 -16 41
16 Blackburn 35 -14 38
17 Blackpool 35 -22 35
—————————
18 Wigan 35 -23 35
19 Wolves 35 -24 33
20 West Ham 35 -23 32
Bad – West Ham & Wolves both get points today (again 0-1 examples):
15 Blackburn 35 -14 38
16 Birmingham 35 -18 38
17 Wolves 35 -22 36
—————————
18 West Ham 35 -21 35
19 Blackpool 35 -22 35
20 Wigan 35 -23 35
Again this is all just sheer speculation, but just with destiny now in everyone’s hands we need to be following other results as keen as our own.
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