There you go

Damn you VAR! You ruin everything!

Entertaining games. There should be more coronations across the pond!

21 goals in 3 games. Not a bad Monday at work

34blast said:

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Not relegation, but relegation fodder for next year. The Championship table promotion came down to the last day today. Sunderland slides into 6th place (last playoff spot), with 3-0 win over Preston and Millwall lost to Blackburn. Sunderland has the same points as Blackburn but makes the last playoff spot by goal differential.

Promoted
1). Burnley
2). Sheffield United

3 - 6 via for last promotion in playoff
3). Luton Town
4). Middlesbrough
5). Coventry
6). Sunderland

Sunderland till I die!

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As a Magpie I'm bound to dislike the Mackems. But it sure would be fun to have a North East derby in the Premier League next season.

34blast said:

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Not relegation, but relegation fodder for next year. The Championship table promotion came down to the last day today. Sunderland slides into 6th place (last playoff spot), with 3-0 win over Preston and Millwall lost to Blackburn. Sunderland has the same points as Blackburn but makes the last playoff spot by goal differential.

Promoted
1). Burnley
2). Sheffield United

3 - 6 via for last promotion in playoff
3). Luton Town
4). Middlesbrough
5). Coventry
6). Sunderland

Sunderland till I die!

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I could get behind any of those clubs making the EPL via the playoffs.

Luton Town were playing non-league football 10 years ago and nearly lost their football club altogether. What they've down is remarkable.

Middlesbrough currently employ former United player/coach Michael Carrick as their manager. Happy to see him succeed away from the nonsense that is OT and the Glazers.

Coventry were also nearly liquidated not too long ago. To comeback from that in 5 years time is impressive and the town hasn't experienced PL football in 20 years.

Sunderland (and Middlesbrough) would bring back a great rivalry and they too were in the lower reaches of the pyramid for a while. This would be their 2nd successive promotion...immensely difficult to do and they've done predominantly with young players.

Give me Coventry or Luton Town for the last spot.

I used to live just outside Coventry so I am partial to them. And I just like the Luton Town story and their stadium is very unique (which I hear they may need to change or upgrade to meet PL standards?).

I agree. I hope Sargent continues to get playing time, improve, and GTFO.

Playoffs footie is best footie

Shame to see Forest Green go down but not unexpected. Their first time to play league football was just 6 years ago. They remind me a bit of Yeovil Town in that there were a club that made it far beyond what you would ever expect a club of their size to achieve. I hope they don't fall back into non-league like Yeovil did.

Is anyone else pulling for Sunderland?

I know the previous owner and his wife. Wouldn't mind having Sunderland back up for the derby against Newcastle.

Would like to see Luton or Coventry make it up though

Ghost of Andrew Eaton said:

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Is anyone else pulling for Sunderland?

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Yes

Mathguy64 said:

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I would be ok with a local rule that says that every team playing Everton gets to punch Jordan Pickford in the face once a match. You get to pick the when. Just tell the ref "now" and at the next dead ball one player gets to throw one haymaker.

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As an Everton supporter...I can't argue much with this one.

Relevant matches this weekend:

Nottingham Forest v Chelsea
Everton v City
Leicester v Liverpool
Leeds v Newcastle
Southampton v Fullham

A lot of tough matchups, going to be tough to pull points. Southampton is academic at this point, but any points this weekend are huge.

We are drawing to a close on the season, just three more weekends of EPL Football. So things are coming down to the wire for our relegation battlers. I am removing West Ham from the battle. Technically they still could be relegated, but I don't see Leicester or Leeds winning all three of their remaining matches, which is what it would take to pass West Ham. If one of them wins their next two maybe we will bring West Ham back in, but not likely at this point. Time is running out on Leeds and Leicester, they need points badly, and Southampton could be our first team officially relegated this weekend.:

Updated Standings
Place Club Games Played Points
16. Nottingham Forest 35 33
17. Everton 35 32
18. Leicester City 35 30
19. Leeds United 35 30
20. Southampton 35 24

Key Weekend Matches

Saturday:
Leeds v. Newcastle (6:30am, Elland Road, USA Network). Leeds will look to improve on their first performance under Sam Allardyce when they welcome Newcastle to Elland Road. Newcastle are trying to assure their spot in Champions League for next season, and will see struggling Leeds as a chance for three points. Leeds have only claimed one point in their last five matches, going 0-4-1 over that span, but a narrow 2-1 defeat at Man City had to raise their hopes a bit, as the defense had been awful under Gracia. The Toons will look to bounce back following a 2-0 loss at home to Arsenal. The clubs drew 0-0 at St. James Park on New Year's Eve, and I think Leeds would be happy to claim a point this time as well.

Chelsea v. Nottingham Forest (9am, Stamford Bridge, USA Network). Forest will look to continue their recent run of better form when they travel to the Capital City to face an erratic Chelsea squad. The Blues did finally get a win under Frank Lampard last weekend, a 3-1 win over Bournemouth, but before that they had lost 4 in a row. Forest have to see this as an opportunity to get out of the relegation battle for good as a win would all but assure their safety. If they don't win this one the rest of the season could be very nervy for Forest fans, as they finish with Arsenal at home and then a trip back to London to face Crystal Palace. The clubs drew 1-1 at the City Ground on New Year's Day, which is a result I believe Forest would be happy to take again.

Southampton v. Fulham (9am, Craven Cottage, Peacock). The Saints are done, and with a loss it could be official on Saturday. The Forest loss last week sealed the fate of the Saints.

Sunday

Everton v. Manchester City (8am, Goodison Park, USA Network). Not the best time for the Toffees to welcome Man City to Goodison, when Everton are desperate for points and City come in on a great run of form, but needing to continue their run to win the title. Everton have claimed points in their last two matches, with a draw against Leicester and a shock 5-1 win at Brighton. The four points has gotten the Toffees out of the bottom three, but claiming points will be difficult on Sunday. The Toffees did draw 1-1 with City on New Year's Eve at the Etihad, a result they would gladly repeat Sunday.

Monday

Leicester v. Liverpool (2pm, King Power Stadium, USA Network). Like Everton, Leicester is bringing in a squad that they need to find a away to get points against, but the club (Liverpool) is in desperate need of points and is playing their best soccer of the season. The Foxes looked awful last weekend at Fulham in a 5-3 defeat, but had gone three in a row without a loss before that, claiming 5 points from the three matches. Leicester need to find 4-5 points from their last 3 matches to have a chance at safety, and after Liverpool they travel to Newcastle, before hosting West Ham in the final, so getting a point from the Red would be vital to their chances.

Enjoy the weekend.

And Leeds get Bamfored again, missing a pk that would have put Leeds up 2-0, instead Newcastle makes a pk of their own and we are tied at half 1-1.

Second half of this game is insane. Quality of play isn't great but both teams and going balls to the wall.

Leeds fans

Leeds!

Bamford has had 2 really good chances

Wow.

Second yellow

This Junior guy is having one today.

What a tackle!

Leeds needs three whistles in a bad bad way

Big Sam injecting signs of life for Leeds

That was a crazy, crazy relegation battle type of match. Good point for Leeds.

That type of match is why we love the relegation battle.

Aston94 said:

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jeffk said:

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Second half of this game is insane. Quality of play isn't great but both teams and going balls to the wall.

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Quality has gone out the window for Leeds, it is all about the points under Big Sam. It should have been the mindset after they canned Marsch, the Gracia era was idiotic.

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The Gracia era was fine until Adams got hurt.