DeangeloVickers said:

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Aston94 said:

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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.

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American sports...Leeds would've started whomever...tried to lose on purpose to get better lotto status or draft pick.

Not even debate what is better....MLS would be dumb to stay away from it

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Check the valuations of football clubs around the world. MLS ain't going to pro/rel.

Pro/rel is a non-starter here. It's fun and makes for a lot of good drama, but from an ownership perspective and really from a growing the game perspective, it'd be disastrous here in the States.

Right, it's not even worth a talk here. Just enjoy the fact it exists somewhere.

deadbq03 said:

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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.

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I don't think the point tally supports that contention, and if your era relies on one player it probably wasn't fine in the first place

Forest with an early goal at Chelsea. Would be a massive 3 points for them.

Actually the timing of Adams injury doesn't support my claim. Didn't realize how early it was in Gracia's tenure.

But I do think the performances show a clear shift. Gracia got 10 pts from his first 6 games - winning every game against fellow relegation rivals and drawing Brighton - but then just 1 pt from his next 5, going 0-1-1 against relegation rivals. That Palace game broke them.

Forest-Chelsea game is as wild as Leeds-Newcastle. Tied 2-2 in the 81st.

Forest get a point at Chelsea 2-2

Southampton officially relegated, losing to Fulham 2-0

Big point for Forrest.

I don't think Leicester has the fight to stay up.

Going to come down to Forrest and Leeds.

Forrest have been excellent at home and trash on the road. Unfortunately their last home game is next against Arsenal. They finish at CP who won't be playing for anything. So that's a plus.

Leeds go to West Ham who is safe at this point. And home to Spurs who will be fighting until the last match for Europa league.

Don't sleep on Everton and their ability to squander points.

They seem to be Houdini when it comes to relegation. I've lost my faith we will see them go down.

Surprised to see both relegation battle teams pull points today, Leeds seemed a bit unlucky not to get the win. I only saw it once in the highlights but was that first pen for Newcastle a little soft?

fig96 said:

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Surprised to see both relegation battle teams pull points today, Leeds seemed a bit unlucky not to get the win. I only saw it once in the highlights but was that first pen for Newcastle a little soft?

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They shouldn't have let a struggling Bamford take the penalties. I know some Leeds fans were pissed that Rodrigo didn't take it. They had a good chance to grab 3 points if they got that early 2-0 lead.

Welp. Everton played pretty well for 35 minutes (only 1 City shot and it wasn't on goal). Then City decided to play football for a few minutes and absolutely killed the game.

Yeah, was just a matter of time. Could see this going to 5 or 6 to 0 now that Everton will have to come out and chase the game.

Can't do much on finishes like that from Gundogan

Very likely that the final game of the season will determine which of the two muck ball specialists still can muck their way to a 17th place finish...Allardyce, the old veteran who has been mucking it up since the turn of the century, or the (relatively) young upstart Dyche.

Two will enter. Only one will survive.

In what world is that not a foul by Pickford?

Dre_00 said:

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Welp. Everton played pretty well for 35 minutes (only 1 City shot and it wasn't on goal). Then City decided to play football for a few minutes and absolutely killed the game.

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Yup, started promising then ended like we all expected.

Everton do have the better draw of the relegation battle's remaining matches (Wolves away and Bournemouth at home), fingers crossed.

Leicester welcome Liverpool today in what is a must get points game for the Foxes. It is looking like 35 points is the magic number to assure safety. At least if I were one of these managers I would be trying to figure out how to get to 35 points. For the Foxes, that means they need 5 points from their last 3 matches, so a win and two draws or 2 wins. After hosting Liverpool they travel to Newcastle before finishing the season with West Ham at home. So they just want to be at a point where that last game matters, and that means claiming a win (or 2 draws) from the next two matches.

One of the reasons I called Leicester to go under. Lack of fight. But the other reason is the Liverpool-Newcastle schedule. Two very good teams that are highly motivated to not just get a point but to get all 3.

Leicester are definitely the favorite of the remaining 4 teams to go down. Playing two teams right now that are fighting for Champions League spots right now is really bad scheduling luck.

I think the other spot goes to Leeds, but we will see if they have much of a chance after their game at West Ham this weekend.

Leeds or Nottingham Forrest. Everton have the most favorable last 2 matches against teams that have nothing to play for.

Question for Forrest is how much fight arsenal shows NF have been good at home.

When there isn't pressure on Arsenal at the end of the season is usually when they score 4-5 goals per game

Yep. NF could easily not get another point.

I'll predict Leeds survive on GD after a win over West Ham. Forest and Leicester go down.

Leicester down 2-0 right before half. Not looking good for the Foxes.

Results from Weekend

Leeds 2-2 Newcastle. Leeds really could have, maybe should have, claimed all three points against Newcastle, but they conceded two pks that were both converted by Callum Wilson and Patrick Bamford missed a pk for Leeds (why he is taking pks is a discussion for another day). Fortunately for Leeds they did get a deflected goal from Rasmus Kristensson in the 79th minute to claim a point and keep alive their hopes of avoiding relegation.

Chelsea 2-2. Nottingham Forest. Forest likewise claimed a point and are inching their way towards safety. Taiwo Awoniyi was the hero of the day for Forest as he scored in the 13th minute to give Nottingham the lead and then in the 62nd minute to level the score following 2 goals from Raheem Sterling for Chelsea. A point on the road for Forest is a good result, and if they continue to pick up 1 per game they should be safe.

Southampton 0-2 Fulham. Southampton become our first team to be officially relegated as the Saints had little fight left to give, losing 2-0 at Craven Cottage in a match that was very one-sided.

Everton 0-3 Manchester City. Everton offered little of a fight against the City machine, conceding 2 goals in a 2 minute span in the first half to put the Toffees in a hole they had no way to climb out of. Everton are now just one point above Leeds and it looks like we are going to come down to those two teams battling to avoid the final relegation spot.

Leicester 0-3 Liverpool. Leicester offered little resistance against a Liverpool club that is still hoping to claim a Champions League spot. Leicester sit in 19th and need to pass 2 clubs in order to avoid relegation. They don't appear to have the stomach for the fight, as they have only won one of their last 14 matches. To get out of the bottom three they will likely need 2 wins, maybe a win and a draw..maybe.


Updated Standings
Place Club Games Played Points
16. Nottingham Forest 36 34
17. Everton 36 32
18. Leeds United 36 31
19. Leicester City 36 30
20. Southampton 36 24

Playoff Update:

Championship
Sunderland 2-1 Luton Town
Coventry City 0-0 Middlesbrough

Luton Town v. Sunderland (Tue, May 16)
Middlesbrough v. Coventry City (Wed., May 17)

Final (Sat, May 27) at Wembley


League One
Peterborough United 4-0 Sheffield Wednesday
Bolton Wanderers 1-1 Barnsley

Sheffield Wednesday v. Peterborough United (Thur, May 18)
Barnsley v. Bolton Wanderers (Fri, May 19)

Final (Monday, May 29) at Wembley

League Two
Salford City 1-0 Stockport County
Bradford City 1-0 Carlisle United

4. Stockport County v. 7.Salford City (Sat., May 20)
5. Carlisle United v. 6. Bradford City (Sat., May 20)

Final--Sunday, May 28 at Wembley

Aston94 said:

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Luton Town v. Sunderland today at 2pm on ESPN+. Sunderland comes in with a 2-1 lead.

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Away goals?