The Swans Fly High Part II

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I was expecting a difficult match, Newcastle are a tough opponent but I certainly didn't expect to lose. The lads we were really poor in the first half, I let them know it and we came out firing in the second, dominating Newcastle but it was just a case of not taking our chances, unfortunately they took theirs.

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It's all to play for in the last game of our Champions League group, we have to win, anything but a win and it's Europa League football and we're out of the Champions League. Meanwhile Benfica host Shakhtar in Portugal and they also have to win to stay stake their claim to a last 16 place. If they fail to do so and we capitalise with a win in Wales, we'll take their spot and secure that place.

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Coquelin picked up an injury against Newcastle, he'll miss this one but he'll be back for the match against Hull. It took us a little while to get going but things we found our stride and went in 3-0 up at the break, meanwhile Benfica came from behind to lead Shakhtar 2-1 at half time, we have to hope Shakhtar come back.

We completed a quite astounding victory in the second half, running out 6-1 winners in the end, in Portugal I was praying for Shakhtar to come back and when they did I couldn't believe my luck. There was some nervous moments as Benfica pulled one back near the end but they couldn't grab they win and it's Swansea who progress to the last 16 of the Champions League! Just a quick note on our performance, we were brilliant, SIgurosson and Routledge were quality.

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Since Rangel announced he'll leave next summer, I've not been convinced by his performances but Peruzzi needed a rest so I had to play Rangel. Great display here, it was all about Bafetimbi Gomis, he ran the show with two goals and a hand in the third as well, he's really stepping up in the absence of Bony and it's a good job as well, I need him to.

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I was expecting a really tough game here, even though we've got a massive derby game against Cardiff coming up I put my best team out here. To my surprise United put out a very youthful starting 11 and I was looking to take advantage. Gomis was doing his thing yet again, with one goal and one assist. After taking that two goal early lead, United came back to score in the second half and put a lot of pressure on us but we held on, it was just a case of better finishing from us. Frustratingly Williams got himself sent off and Routledge picked up an injury keeping him out for 3-4 weeks.

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Apart from that really annoying lose to Newcastle it's been a fantastic run of games, a good solid win against Hull at home, a surprising victory over United in the Quarter Finals of the COC and of course the huge win against Celtic, that puts us in to the last 16 of the Champions League. Next time, we open with a first taste of the South Wales Derby, facing off against Cardiff City and then there's some tricky fixtures over the festive period, including another game against United.

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After beating United, I forgot to post the Draw for the Capital One Cup in the last update so here it is, unfortunately we got a bad draw again, It'll be hard to be City over two legs but hopefully like United, they'll play a weakened team. Enough about that though, the draw we all want to here about is for the Champions League last 16, we were second seeds so we'd likely have a really tough opponent. I don't think we could of got a tougher opponent, if we get past Real Madrid it will be a miracle.

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The first derby of the story, I couldn't wait for it! We've been right up there at the top of the table this season and Cardiff sit in 16th place so even though we're playing away we really should be winning. We showed them who the best side in Wales are, they got completely battered and it could quite easily have been more than two.

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I had to rotate the side here, this will be our second of three games in six days, with United the third game, we'll need the fresh legs for that one. West Ham made it really difficult for us and we couldn't take the three points, we have to be disappointed that we didn't grab the win but you're going to have an off day occasionally.

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I was really feeling the congested fixture list but I was close to a full strength team. Playing at home we really should be looking to take the initiative but United made it really difficult for us and if anyone deserved to win it was them. It's not a bad point but we should be doing better.

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We had a couple of days to prepare for this one, which was nice, given how busy our players have been recently. Spurs were favourites for this one so I told the boys that there's no pressure on them and it must of worked because our performance was excellent. Unfortunately we just couldn't find the breakthrough though and we deserved to win given how many chances we created but it wasn't to be.

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Despite dropping six points in our last three games, we head in to the new year top of the table and much to my surprise. I can't imagine winning the league in just my second season with Swansea but it's looking increasingly likely that'll we'll be there or thereabouts, then again, there is just four points separating the top five. If we don't get our form back on track we could quite easily start slipping down the table.

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This has got to be one of the most frustrating sessions I've had in a while, we started off with a great win against our derby rivals, Cardiff but from there we could only manage to draw games. We didn't perform against West Ham and United but the match against Spurs, i was really disappointed not to win that. Next time we'll hopefully get back to winning ways in the league, we kick off our FA Cup campaign and as we start the new year, there's big news in the transfer window, one in and possibly one out.

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Ronaldo won the Ballon d'Or for the third year on a run, while Kovacic won European Golden Boy and Wilfried Bony won CAF Footballer of the Year. Meanwhile Liverpool sacked their manager AVB, after a dreadful year at Anfield, they replaced him with Michel.

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With Rangel leaving in the summer and not performing this year, I was heavily reliant on Peruzzi, only Shelvey and Cilleseen have played more games than him this season. So in comes Jon Flanagan, he looks top class defensively and his mentals are great as well, he maybe just needs a bit of work on his physical attributes, to play effectively as a wing back. I paid quite a lot of money for him, breaking our transfer record but I think he'll be worth it.

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Colchester are a League one side so we should be smashing them, Copp gets his first start for the club and Flanagan makes his debut. We dominated them but we just couldn't find the breakthrough, we have to be beating teams like this and that wasn't good enough, unfortunately we'll have to play a replay now.

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With four draws in our last four games, something has to give, we need to start picking up some wins. Fulham have surprised the league this season, sitting in eighth place, so it won't be easy. Against the run of play we incredibly went in 2-0 up at half time, we made big improvements in the second half, despite Fulham pulling a goal back. I can't believe I'm complaining about a 4-1 victory but honestly we could of lost that game but luckily we were more clinical in front of goal.

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We've put a much stronger side out this time, hopefully they'll do the job. It looked like we couldn't breakdown a stubborn defence again here but we manage to make the breakthrough just before the break. The lads went on to score a second in a game that were we could of scored more but a win's a win and we'll face championship side MK Dons in the next round and a return to his former club for Dele Alli.

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Plenty of squad rotation again for this one, a match we should be winning. We dominated the game but for long periods the lads just couldn't put it to bed, it took us late in to the game to finally build a two goal cushion. Shelvey scored a screamer from 30 yards and Ajer came on to score a sweetly struct volley late on, both goals are worth another look.

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[video=youtube;CkHiMXqxHcs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkHiMXqxHcs[/video]

We didn't have the best of starts, with a disappointing draw against Colchester but we pushed on to pick up three victories at the end of this update. Our form took a bit of blip but it looks like were back heading in the right direction. Next time, we've got two huge games against Man City coming up, there's a place at Wembley up for grabs, we'll also continue our FA Cup campaign, against MK Dons.

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disappointing first game against Colchester but the rest was solid, good luck for the rest of January and nice signing in Flanagan!
 
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I was looking to keep the score down here and hopefully nick an away goal to take home with us. Great performance from the team, not for the first time we used our underdog tag to our advantage. We had the better of the play and it looked like we might take a lead back to the Liberty, when Taylor crossed to setup Gomis but City pulled a goal back towards the end.

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I had the opportunity to confirm the transfer of Neil Taylor to Man City just a few days before that game against City but why would I sell one of my best players to the team I'm about to play? I delayed the transfer for a week and I'm so glad i did because Taylor set-up a very important away goal.

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So far in the FA Cup, we've had a favourable draw but I didn't want to get complacent again so there wasn't much rotation for this one. What a game! Our defending was shocking, Fernandez gave them the lead from a short back pass and we went on to concede four goals from set pieces. On the plus side our attacking was top quality, Shelvey and Routledge were excellent and Kyle Copp announced himself to the Swansea fans by coming on and scoring the winner.

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I guess I've got some explaining to do, selling one of my best players for almost half his transfer value. Taylor only had 6 months left on his contract, so I thought it was better to cash in on him now, rather than lose him on a free. I've been offering him a new contract all season but he wanted a massive 60k per week, almost four times his previous wage, 17k per week. Would of loved to of kept hold of him but City came knocking and he wanted to move to a "bigger" club, well I hope he likes the Europa League. More news to come on his replacement.

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Taylor is cup tied for City, as is Flanagan for us. It was an incredibly close game at the Liberty, we probably just about edged the game and we deserved the win, although the 2-0 scoreline probably flatters us a little bit. City caused us some problems and again despite keeping a clean sheet our defence didn't look entirely convincing. West Ham await in the final at Wembley.

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I looked at lots of players to replace Taylor, some were to expensive with our limited funds and others were more of a stop gap, until we'd have the money to find a proper replacement. I went for one of my favourite FM players, Davide Santon, I've been using this guy for years and he never lets me down. Unfortunately he's injured for the next three weeks but I'm sure he'll be worth the wait.

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There's more bad news as well, we had to pay £8.5M over two and a half years which is something I don't like doing because effectively your doubling your current transfer budget by offering small amounts up front for players and of course it affects your finances, giving you smaller transfer budgets in the future. In this case though, I felt it was necessary to bring in a capable replacement, halfway through what's looking like a brilliant season.

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Got to be winning these games but unfortunately we couldn't do it, our defense again was suspect and our attacking play wasn't great either. If any game shows just how tough the Premeir League is, it's this one, we got complacent and QPR punished us.

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Despite that frustrating defeat to QPR, we're still going strong in the league. Of course it's still extremely close though, those two games in hands mean we go top of the table if we win both of them, the title is there for the taking.

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Fantastic performances against a very good Man City team, meant we progressed to the Capital One Cup Final, unfortunately the other two games were disappointing though, we were terrible against QPR and despite scoring five our defence against MK Dons was horrific. Next time we've got another tough match in the league, against City, then we continue our FA Cup run against Burnley and we will also round up the transfer activity from around the league in January.

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Swansea were really busy in the January transfer window, spending just under £25M. Elsehwere there wasn't to much going on but Nkoulou, made his move from Marsielle to Man United and Chiriches went the other way, swapping Spurs for PSG.

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Unfortunately Swansea don't have any home-grown players trained at the club, your suppose to register at least four in the Champions League so that means we can only register 21 players instead of 25. Flanagan and Amat will miss out, I've got home-grown kids, Kyle Copp and Lewis Thomas coming through who hopefully make the first team grade. I tried to sign Ben Davies to replace Taylor but Spurs wanted £20M. I may take another look at him and even Joe Allen in the summer, we need to sort this problem out.

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I was a little surprised to see that Southampton were favourites here, they sit in mid table and our league position is a lot higher. It was a really tough game though and it could of gone either way, there was late drama after ninety minutes, Fernandez scored in added time and Dyer wrapped up the game. We're not making it easy for ourselves but it's a victory none the less.

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Bony isn't far off full fitness so I've bought him in for this one, with a big game against City in just three days time, I had to rest a few as well. We dominated Forest and really made it hard for ourselves but we got the win in the end, that's what matters, who else but Bafetimbi Gomis coming off the bench to score the winner. Britton will miss the next 5-6 weeks with a sprained ankle.

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Neil Taylor starts against his own club, I want to show him want a bed decision he made. It was really really close in Wales and the two sides couldn't be separated, we'll have to settle for a point but I have to say, playing at home I was expecting to take all three.

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Our good fortunate in the cup draw continues with another game we should be winning easily, against Burnley. Fantastic performance from the team, I was really impressed to see us score five and it was great to see Dyer and Bony getting back to form again, with two goals each. Another lucky draw for us as we face Brentford in the Quarter Finals.

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Good showing from the lads there, three wins from four and it could have easily been four but we can't be to disappointed with a draw against City. Next time there's a huge game in the Champions League when we face giants Real and there's a chance to win our first trophy at Swansea, when we play West Ham in the Capital One Cup final, at Wembley.

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Loving this story mate, having a brilliant season, I'm just starting a save with Everton and going to be taking inspiration from you here. Keep it up!
 
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We really were fighting against the odds here, still anything can happen in football, if we've any chance of progressing I feel we need to take a lead back to Spain. It was close and we managed to take the lead but unfortunately we couldn't hold on. It would be absolutely incredible if we go on to beat Real but it'll take something really special to progress to the next round.

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McAleny will miss the next 4-5 weeks but I'm not to concerned, he's not been in great form recently. It's still really tight at the top of the table, a win against one of our rivals would be fantastic. It was a another really close game here, I feared the worst when they went two up but we did well to fight back and take a point from the game, we deserved that.

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I was expecting a tough test against Stoke, who sat in a very respectable 7th in the table but it wasn't like that. They didn't put up any sort of a fight and we smashed them, it could've been more than two but that's a good solid win.

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A great opportunity for us to win our first silverware of the story now, it's not the biggest of trophies but for a club like Swansea it's a big deal. We managed to take the lead after just thirty seconds, Jefferson Montero scoring a brilliant goal from 25 yards! Shelvey made it two just after half time and we held out for the win. Really proud of the players, holding their nerve in such a big game and I'm chuffed to win our first trophy.

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It's still extremely close at the top of the table, I've got no idea who's going to win the title, if we can win our games in hand we'll have a chance but our remaining fixtures are very tough, it's going to be really hard.

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Great session there, I can't fault any of those performances, we've been brilliant and it was summed up when we lifted our first trophy with the Swans, beating West Ham. Next time we should book our place in the Semi Finals of the FA Cup, when we face Brentford and there's also the Champions League to look forward to, although it's going to be really difficult to progress.

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Great season pal,
Maybe a domestic treble is a possibility? ;-)
Good luck for the run in
 
Congrats on the Cup win! and unlucky there against Real Madrid!
 
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Alli will miss this one with International duty. Villa are bottom of the table so we should win easily here but teams down there always fight for their lives. They caused us some problems in the first half but we controlled the game in the second and scored that all important second goal, then we cruised past the finish line with a convincing 3-0 win. Haughton came on for the last half hour to make his debut.

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Santon has been back playing in the reserves, he makes his debut today. Good solid display from the lads there, we put ourselves two goals up early on, we had a little scare when Brentford pulled one back from some sloppy defending but Alli came on to restore our two goal lead. That win puts us in to the Semi Finals to face either Nottingham Forest or Man United.

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Another year has gone by and there's another intake of youth, Unfortunately again we didn't find many talented players but this lad Jake Cooper looks like he could be someone. Not the tallest for a centre back but he's still young and has some very good starting attributes, 14 tackling, 15 marking and 15 leadership.

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Coquelin could really do with a rest but with Britton still out and Ajer feeling the fatigue after the last game, I had to keep him in. We'll have to be on top of our game defensively to progress, unfortunately our defence just wasn't up to it, our attacking players weren't up to much either. I'm not to disheartened, we did incredibly well to reach the last 16 and it was always going to be difficult against Real.

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Hopefully we'll get back to winning ways here, we've got to be winning these games if we're going to win the title. We limited their chances and created plenty for ourselves but we just couldn't put them away, really disappointed by that. More bad news as well, after recovering from injury Santon will miss the next 6-7 weeks, I think that'll be the last we see of him this season.

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We started off with two solid wins against Aston Villa and Brentford, ok so we lost to Real, nothing to be ashamed of there but we really should of converted our chances and picked up three points against Everton. Next time there's a top of the table clash when we face Chelsea and some difficult games against Newcastle and Liverpool as well.

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We've got a game in hand on Chelsea but they're five points ahead at the top of the table, if we're going to lift the title we need to win this, we certainly can't lose it. Shocking performance from the team, the difference of quality shown in this game and Chelsea made us look bad, having said that our big performers didn't turn up for this game. For me that's the title race finished but we need to keep fighting for a top four place.

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We need to get back to form, I held a team meeting the day before this game, the lads agreed we need to do better, hopefully they show that in their performances. Unfortunately it didn't seem to have much of an impact though, we're just not doing it at the moment, I'm not sure where this bad run is coming from but we need to sort it out. We played well in the second half and created the chances but the lads just didn't finish them off.

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I had a few chats with the players this time, to try and get some better performances out of them. Really close game here but we managed to nick a goal and grab a really important win, hopefully that win will lift our spirits and get us back on track. Peruzzi needlessly got himself sent off in the last minute of the game, it's very unlike him and he also received a further two match ban.

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With Santon injured and Peruzzi and Flanagan serving suspensions, we had some problems at full back, Bartley will fill in at right back. They had some chances but we were very good in front of goal, dispatching our chances and running out clear winners in the end, Sigurosson, McAleny and Gomis were the star performers. 4-0 up we even gave a debut to young Lewis Thomas at centre back.

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With just fifteen points left to play for in the season and Chelsea out in front by five points, it's unlikely that we'll win the league this season. However we're nine points clear of fifth place Spurs, a couple more wins and we'll qualify for the Champions League next season!

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If we managed to pick up wins in frustrating games against Chelsea and Newcastle we could be above them in the table now but it wasn't to be, we look to have got through our sticky run of form, with excellent wins over Liverpool and Palace. Next time, the end of season is coming, we've got a massive game against United in the Semi Finals of the FA Cup and we could confirm our Champions League status with a win over derby rivals Cardiff.

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Not to bad a month mate, still in with a chance of winning the league. Just gotta keep fighting.
 
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I cannot believe my luck at the moment, Bertrand will miss the next 3-4 weeks with injury, with Santon out and Flanagan and Peruzzi still serving suspensions, we don't have any natural full backs in the squad. Coquelin will have to fill in at left back, while Bartley continues at right back. We were really bad in the first half, I got a reaction from the lads in the second, we made some changes and managed to turn the game around, completing a fantastic comeback. It was Bony scoring the winner with the last kick of the game, we left it late and need to do better. Shelveys goal deserves to be shown off, top class volley!

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[video=youtube;GG2eCZk2Vt4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG2eCZk2Vt4[/video]

Flanagan is back and Bony is rewarded with a start after scoring the winner in the last game. We dominated the Hammers but we just couldn't find the breakthrough, luckily Dyer broke the deadlock with just ten minutes to go and Gomis wrapped up the match. Again we didn't make it easy for ourselves but we got over the line in the end, that's the important thing. Chelsea dropped two points away to Liverpool, they're now only three points ahead with three games to go, they're still competing on three fronts so there's still a glimmer of hope for the title.

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Peruzzi is back and I knew it'd be difficult to progress to the Final against United but when I saw their starting line up, I was surprised, they played a few youngsters, hopefully we can capitalise on that. We started the game really well but seemed to lose our way as the game went on, I was disappointed not to win given how United played some youth but it was always going to be tough. It won't cheer me up after a defeat like that but Peruzzi marked his return with a fantastic volley from 25 yards.

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[video=youtube;yf0PYBHwU_A]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf0PYBHwU_A[/video]

Unfortunately Peruzzi will miss the remaining games of the season through injury. I couldn't believe it when I saw the Chelsea result, they lost at home to Stoke! If we beat Cardiff we go level on points but it won't be easy because they're fighting relegation. We had the chances to win it, the tension was unbearable, Montero came on to score a dramatic winner and I've never celebrated a goal on FM like that one, I literally jumped off the chair, the title race is well and truely back on!!

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Chelsea have the superior goal difference which could prove crucial with both teams level on points. The bad news is we've got some really difficult fixtures remaining, We can beat Spurs at home but beating United at Old Trafford is going to be incredibly difficult. Chelsea play Southampton away and then finish at home to QPR.

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Of course it was really disappointing to lose out to United in the FA Cup Semi Final but our league form has been good, we make it hard for ourselves with lots of late goals but we've got the victories none the less. Next time the season comes to a climax, we've got some really tough fixtures but can we incredibly end the season with the Premier League title or will we fall short at the last hurdle?

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