Cracking the top 4

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Starting XI - Horn, Whiteman, Tah, Van Dijk, Chambers, Samper, Slattery, Lallana, Hesketh, Lucas, Martial.

That was a much more satisfying performance and a great win away from home against a good Norwich side. Kieran Trippier was forced into putting the ball into his own net early on by great Lallana pressure and then Lucas Moura made it secure right on the brink of half time. With a two goal lead we shut up shop and saw the game out.
 
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March Review
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Another undefeated month but too many draws for my liking especially against teams like West Ham and Brighton. Advancing in the Europa League is positive as are the wins over Newcastle and Norwich.
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Its Liverpool who have bolted for home first and have a four point lead at the top of the table, but have they gone too soon? United have suffered a serious blip in form and could be heading out of the title race depending on what Ourselves and City do with our games in hand. Still 11 points clear of 5th place which is now occupied by Tottenham which means that 6 more wins from our remaining 9 games will see us qualify for the Champions League.

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Galatasaray are the challenge that awaits us in the quarter finals of the Europa League. Very happy to be playing away first and we go into this quietly confident.
Player of the Month​

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This month has been a real defensive effort and one man has stood tall and done superbly. That man is Jonathan Tah who takes our player of the month award. Well deserved and good to see a defender lifting the award.
April Preview​
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What a massive month. Games against City and Liverpool could decide our place in the title fight/champions league race and we have to manage our Europa League quarter final around that. First things first we have to make sure there are no banana skins among the smaller sides like Palace and West Brom.
 
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Starting XI - Horn, Whiteman, Tah, Van Dijk, Chambers, Samper, Slattery, Insigne, Hesketh, Grealish, Martial.

Callum Slattery scored the only goal of the game as we brushed Crystal Palace aside at St Marys to continue our chase after Liverpool. It was actually a very close game and Palace put up a real fight but it was just that one moment of quality that separated the sides. Seeing as the run in is getting so close I will include a League table now with Premiership match reports.

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Starting XI - Horn, Whiteman, Tah, Bartra, Chambers, Maia, Slattery, Insigne, Hesketh, Lucas, Martial.

A hugely mixed day for the club. A fantastic result and performance as we blew West Brom away but there was huge concern when Anthony Martial was forced off injured after scoring our 2nd goal. Mike Williamson is the only other recognised striker in the first team so he came on and did superbly, scoring our third goal, but how could this effect us moving forwards?

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5 weeks!?!? this is a disaster and could effect our entire challenge on both fronts.. This is actually the worst thing that could have happened.

The positive news of the day is that Man City and Chelsea drew and Spurs and Liverpool both lost! Which means our win puts us back at the top of the table, leaving the title in our own hands. 14 points clear of 5th place with 7 games to go, surely we have Champions League qualification in the bag?

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Starting XI - Horn, Whiteman, Tah, Bartra, Chambers, Maia, Slattery, Insigne, Hesketh, Lucas, Lucas, Williamson.

Disaster! we completely capitulated in a very winnable game against Swansea and were let down by red cards for Thiago Maia and Jonathan Tah. Both will now have to serve suspensions which will further hamper our chances. This could not have gone any worse.

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YOu Can do IT

Great story man.

On the edge of my seat during this season.

Can't wait to see how it plays out
 
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Starting XI - Horn, Whiteman, Tah, Chambers, Tete, Maia, Slattery, Lallana, Hesketh, Lucas, Williamson.

This time it was the turn of the defence to fall apart, albeit against a stunning Galatasaray attack led by Burak Yilmaz. Mike Williamson scored from the spot to perhaps give us just a chance with an away goal. The bright side? Kevin Strootman returning off the bench for the final half an hour. He has been sorely missed.
 
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Starting XI - Horn, Whiteman, Bartra, Chambers, Tete, Strootman, Slattery, Lallana, Barry, Lucas, Williamson.

We are slipping. A first half hatrick from the unstoppable Sergio Aguero condemned us to our 3rd straight defeat. Even a valiant second half comeback led by Lucas and Grealish wasnt enough to earn us anything from the match at Alvaro Morata denied us a point and put a massive dent in our title hopes. Even worse is an injury to Slattery, and knowing that our next match is against League leaders Liverpool.

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Some tough results there, seems like with losing Martial you've lost some momentum aswell. Hopefully you'll manage to get something out of the Liverpool game to keep the title dream alive :)
 
TheOtherSpecialOne said:
Some tough results there, seems like with losing Martial you've lost some momentum aswell. Hopefully you'll manage to get something out of the Liverpool game to keep the title dream alive :)
Click to expand...

Thanks man! got Arsenal and Spurs in the run in as well =/
 
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Starting XI - Horn, Whiteman, Tah, Chambers, Tete, Maia, Hesketh, Grealish, Lallana, Lucas, Insigne.

I told the lads to go out there, play without fear and show everybody what they had. I certainly wasn't expecting that! Lorenzo Insigne played up top and got himself 5 goals and a perfect 10.0 rating as we absolutely destroyed Galatasaray to make it to the Europa League semi-finals.
 
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Starting XI - Horn, Whiteman, Tah, Chambers, Tete, Maia, Hesketh, Grealish, Lallana, Lucas, Insigne.

WHAT A RESULT! An amazing performance see's up walk out of the Anfield with all three points against the league leaders! Lucas Moura grabbed the only goal of the game early on and we defended like absolute heroes to see this out. The result takes us back above Liverpool in the table!

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April Review​

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The blip in the middle of the month seems to matter less now we beat Galatasaray in the return leg and won at Anfield. The loss against Swansea was appalling and could cost us by the end of the season.
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This is getting so tense now! City lead by just a single point with ourselves and Liverpool hot on their tail. It would appear that the top 5 has pretty much been decided, but in what order? Brighton seem to be as good as gone but everybody else is still in with a shot at survival.

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The Europa League has typically drawn us against Arsenal in the Semi Final meaning we will have to play Arsenal three times in a row.
Player of the Month​

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Lorenzo Insigne has been superb this month and has well and truly stepped up while other important players have been missing. He has almost single handedly kept us alive in both the Premiership and Europa League race.
May Preview​
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Starting XI - Horn, Whiteman, Tah, Chambers, Tete, Maia, Strootman, Grealish, Hesketh, Lucas, Insigne.

A huge, massive win at St Marys as we edge past a Wolves side that are fighting for their lives in the bottom half of the table. Lorenzo Insigne smashed in the only goal of the game just after half time to give us three more massive points. Even better news is that Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham all drew their games and City lost to Norwich. This means that we go back to the top of the Premier League with just three games to play! It also means!

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Starting XI - Horn, Whiteman, Tah, Chambers, Tete, Maia, Slattery, Grealish, Hesketh, Lucas, Insigne.

A massive result in the first leg of the Europa League semi final as we come from 3-1 down to draw away from home and score 3 away goals! Calum Chambers, Lucas Moura and late substitute Mike Williamson got the goals for us as a vastly improved 2nd half performance kept us firmly in the tie.
 
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Starting XI - Horn, Whiteman, Tah, Van Dijk, Tete, Maia, Slattery, Insigne, Hesketh, Lucas, Martial.

That was embarrassing. We stayed up in London ready for the Premiership version of the clash, fairly confident after our Europa League comeback. Unfortunately we get picked to pieces. Even the return of Anthony Martial couldnt get us anywhere near being competitive. A massive blow to our title ambitions.

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Starting XI - Horn, Whiteman, Tah, Chambers, Tete, Maia, Strootman, Insigne, Hesketh, Lucas, Martial.

Oh revenge is sweet! A wonderful performance ends Arsenals chances of playing in the Champions League next season and puts us into the final of the Europa League!! Even after going behind very early on we kept our composure and stuck to what we knew and it paid off! First Lorenzo Insigne, then the ever promising Mike Williamson and then Lucas Moura netted goals to give us a fantastic aggregate win! Unfortunately, Anthony Martial sprained his ankle during the match and will miss the rest of the season, but the whole team has worked so hard to get us here. Amazing! More good news is the return of Mario Gotze who played the final half an hour!

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Starting XI - Horn, Whiteman, Tah, Chambers, Tete, Maia, Strootman, Insigne, Hesketh, Lucas, Williamson.

Gutted. We are now mathematically out of the Premier League title race as a determined Blackburn came to St Marys and beat us in our own back yard. Of course I could blame the Europa League hangover, but I wont. I will blame Kenny Tete who stupidly got himself sent off for a second yellow card, just 5 minutes after the first one, within the first half an hour of the game, right under the refs nose! he has cost us today and as a result has been fined two weeks wages and has put himself under a huge amount of pressure to keep his place in the squad.

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Where we have been right at the top of the table for the whole season, it feels like a crushing disappointment to be out of the title race. Looking at it logically we were never likely to win it, and taking the fight to the big teams for as long as we did is something to be hugely proud of. After all, we got what we set out for, Champions League football. We are guaranteed at least a 3rd place finish, and we take on Tottenham next week for a chance of pipping Liverpool for 2nd!
 
Great job on beating Arsenal so convincingly in the Europa League, hopefully you can defeat Stuttgart and claim your first trophy as you definately deserve it after such an impressive season. Too bad that you are out of the title race but like you said it was always going to be a tough ask and finishing in the top 3 is still a massive achievement. Here's hoping you can get a good result against Tottenham to end your Premier League campaign in style.
 
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Starting XI - Horn, Whiteman, Tah, Bartra, Chambers, Maia, Strootman, Insigne, Gotze, Lucas, Williamson.

It was very clear from the first whistle that the lads minds were on the Europa League final, and I kind of understand that, so I wont be too harsh with them after this humbling result. Tottenham were just fantastic, offensively and defensively. If they can play like this I have no idea why they are not in the top 4.

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A massive congratulations to City who deserve their crown as we come home in 3rd, 7 points short of that elusive title.

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