The race for seventh

A win today was vital in our bid to finish the season in seventh position and guarantee European football for next season.

In my original post on this, I calculated that 53 points should be enough to ensure a seventh place finish. The table (including todays games) is as follows with all sides having eight games remaining:

• Wigan 41 points
• West Ham 41 points
• Fulham 40 points
• City 38 points
• Tottenham 38 points

The 53 point threshold means that we still need to gain 15 points from our remaining fixtures - and with 4 winnable home games this is possible, but we are looking at the necessity of wining one of our difficult away games.

It is getting bunched with five teams realistically playing for that final European place and there all sides are showing form in recent weeks. What effect continued involvement in the UEFA Cup may have (particularly if we get to the semi-finals and have a real shot at winning it) is unknown but could feasibly hurt our chances.

Something definitely worth watching though.