This is one of those games that looks a bit of a non event on paper, coming sandwiched between Chelsea and Spurs but is actually fairly significant in the context of our season.
The top 4 dog fight has tightened up over the last month and we have lost a lot of momentum with 5 teams competing for 3 places. We have been telling ourselves that once we got Matip Coutinho and Mane back we would slip into the pre Christmas groove again.
If we win today we will leapfrog Arsenal and we can reassure ourselves the slump is over it was based on a tough fixture schedule and missing key players. If we don't win then we will be well and truly out of plausible excuses. Our key players are back, we had an extra 24 hours rest than Hull and we have no games for another week. A defeat and we risk slipping out of the top 4 going into a tough run of critical games low on confidence.
So while it doesn't feel like a big game I think it's essential we stop the rot now. I'm going 2- 1 to us.
The top 4 dog fight has tightened up over the last month and we have lost a lot of momentum with 5 teams competing for 3 places. We have been telling ourselves that once we got Matip Coutinho and Mane back we would slip into the pre Christmas groove again.
If we win today we will leapfrog Arsenal and we can reassure ourselves the slump is over it was based on a tough fixture schedule and missing key players. If we don't win then we will be well and truly out of plausible excuses. Our key players are back, we had an extra 24 hours rest than Hull and we have no games for another week. A defeat and we risk slipping out of the top 4 going into a tough run of critical games low on confidence.
So while it doesn't feel like a big game I think it's essential we stop the rot now. I'm going 2- 1 to us.