How far from safety?

The MEN ran a piece recently entitled 'Things are looking up for City', in which it very much put a positive spin on the final third of the season and how we can look to crack the top ten and move on from there.

Perhaps it is us being inactive this weekend, but with the results Wigan and Charlton have got this past week it does drag us back into the mire a little bit - or certainly casting a nervous glance over our shoulders at the drop zone.

A couple of weeks ago I thought that potentially even thirty-five points may be good enough to ensure safety as neither of the bottom sides looked capable of putting a significant enough run together to really put us in trouble.

For me, Watford and West Ham are doomed already. Simply Watford are not good enough whilst West Ham just appear a club in absolute turmoil and Alan Curbishley came across as a condemned man in the post match interviews following the 4-0 defeat at The Valley yesterday.

Wigan have been just above the drop zone for the most part of the season, and have yet to have a real consistent run and will have one eye on forthcoming fixtures against ourselves and Charlton to ease themselves out of trouble after pulling off an important victory over Newcastle yesterday.

Charlton are the key side in all of this for me and have ten games remaining - having none of the top five to play (unlike West Ham and Watord), have key players coming back and appear to be rallying around Alan Pardew, and will be looking to hit the thirty-eight point mark, which they may consider enough to keep them up.

I don't think ultimately we will be in any grave danger of the drop (as I have maintained throughout the season), but from a couple of weeks ago it may now seem we need to hit the forty point mark (or at least three wins) to at least guarantee safety.

Three points at home to Wigan next would be a welcome step to achieving that mark though.