Battle Of 4th, 5th, 6th Position

[philipl]

Completely agree Ricky. Anywhere between 4th and 16th is a possible finish for Rovers this season (3rd if one of the Mancs and Liverpool have a bad end of season).

I think it will be very tight 4th to 11th - perhaps as little as 10 points covering those places. From what I have seen, West Ham are dangerous, Everton and Bolton effective, Arsenal still have flair but half the Prem knows how to handle them now and Rovers, Spurs, City and Charlton are in the mix whilst Wigan might continue to surprise and Roeder might prove to be the new Geordie Keegan. On current form, Wigan are losing it but there is very little to chose between the rest.

I cannot enter these into dillo's spread sheet but here are the Bolton fixtures courtesy of the BBC (I think Wednesday 15 March is the 6th round date rather than West Ham in the FA Cup again):

Saturday, 04 March 2006

Barclays Premiership

Newcastle v Bolton, 15:00

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Tuesday, 07 March 2006

FA Cup

West Ham v Bolton, 19:45

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Saturday, 11 March 2006

Barclays Premiership

Bolton v West Ham, 15:00

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Wednesday, 15 March 2006

FA Cup

West Ham v Bolton, 20:05

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Saturday, 18 March 2006

Barclays Premiership

Bolton v Sunderland, 15:00

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Sunday, 26 March 2006

Barclays Premiership

Middlesbrough v Bolton, 13:30

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Saturday, 01 April 2006

Barclays Premiership

Bolton v Man Utd, 15:00

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Sunday, 09 April 2006

Barclays Premiership

Liverpool v Bolton, 14:00

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Saturday, 15 April 2006

Barclays Premiership

Bolton v Chelsea, 12:45

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Monday, 17 April 2006

Barclays Premiership

West Brom v Bolton, 20:00

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Saturday, 22 April 2006

Barclays Premiership

Bolton v Charlton, 15:00

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Saturday, 29 April 2006

Barclays Premiership

Tottenham v Bolton, 15:00

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Sunday, 07 May 2006

Barclays Premiership

Bolton v Birmingham, 15:00

Edited February 27, 2006 by philipl

[tcj_jones]

I did the BBC Premiership Predictor myself and came up with this possibility:

4th - Arsenal - 64

5th - Tottenham - 62

6th - Blackburn - 61

7th - Bolton - 56

8th - West Ham - 56

9th - Wigan - 48

That's 18 points from 11 remaining matches for us.

I would definitely take that.

387038[/snapback]

How did you manage to predict the whole league? I only seem to be able to predict the next round of fixtures...

[Hughesy]

Yids Away – 1 point

Villa @ home – 3 pts

Boro @ home – 3 pts

Sunderland Away – 3 pts

Wigan @ Home – 3 pts

Pompey Away – 3pts (Possible slip up here)

Liverpool @ Home – 1pt

Brum Away – 1pt

Chelsea @ home – 1 pt

Charlton Away – 0 pts

Man City @ Home – 1pt

Total - 20 extra pts = 63pts

Now looking at what I predicted I think it’s a fair prediction. Pompey away we may struggle as theyw ill be fighting for the win, but iv also said 0 pts at Charlton, which we are capable of winning (like the league cup game)

Edited February 27, 2006 by Hughesy

[bellamy11]

Our away record is very similar to Arsenal's, Hughesy. Only one more defeat in the entire season?

[Shevchenko]

I can see us losing at Sunderland AND Pompey. As long as we keep winning at home and just take anything we get away, I'm not to worried about where we'll finish yet, top 10 would be very nice even if it'll be disappointing to miss out on Europe.

[Hughesy]

From the way our season has gone, we must be looking for the last Uefa Place at the least.

Im dreaming of that final Champs league place and a nice extra £15million that it would bring into the club to boost our team.

Edited February 27, 2006 by Hughesy

[frosty]

How did you manage to predict the whole league?  I only seem to be able to predict the next round of fixtures...

387046[/snapback]

Yeah same here

[yawnsie]

Scroll down and fill in all the results before you press the calculate button. They haven't got all the remaining fixtures in that yet though - if you complete the whole thing the likes of Bolton and Boro still have games left to play.

[Macky]

Total - 20 extra pts = 63pts

Now looking at what I predicted I think it’s a fair prediction. Pompey away we may struggle as theyw ill be fighting for the win, but iv also said 0 pts at Charlton, which we are capable of winning (like the league cup game)

387047[/snapback]

Spurs Away – 1 point

Villa home – 1 points

Boro home – 3 points

Sunderland Away – 3 points

Wigan Home – 3 points

Pompey Away – 0 Points

Liverpool Home – 0 points

Birmingham Away – 1point

Chelski home – 0 points

Charlton Away – 1 point

City Home – 3 points

16 extra points!

Hope Im wrong, but knowing Rovers, they've never done things plain sailing.

We've only got ourselves to blame if we throw it away, but some of the teams we play are fightnig to stay in the league (pompey, brum, s'land) and some (city, wigan, spurs and possibley charlton) are fighting for the european places.

[Philly Rover ®]

Yes, I'm also stubbornly refusing to get carried away (miserable sod that I am). We're in the middle of a hot patch just now, but the wheels could just as easily come off with a few injuries.

8th would be a remarkable finish for us given the (understandable) negativity that was largely prevailent before the season kicked off - I for one would have been very happy with a 12th place finish, yet now that would represent a massive disappointment. Happy days.

387005[/snapback]

Couldn't have said it better myself.

I really and truly believe, and have said since the beginning of the season, that Rovers would be better next year than this... so for a place in Europe looking like a very real possibility so soon, I can only say that there are very good days ahead for the club.

[Eddie]

Just filled out my results, being generous to all and of course had my blue and white tinted glasses on though tried to be as unbiased as I could.

1. Chelsea 100

2. Man U 88

3. Liverpool 87

4. Blackburn 65

5. Arsenal 64

6. Spurs 57

7. Newcastle 55

8. Man City 54

9. Bolton 54

10. Everton 53

Seems a bit messed up to me so I subtracted 5 points from Blackburn and gave every other team 2 points to try and counter my biased predictions which sees us finishing in 5th though I'm not sure how Spurs and Bolton finished with as few points as they did, especially as I even predicted Spur s to beat us. Oh well, won't complain if that is how the table finishes up.

[Rovers Air Force]

My reconing...

Spurs WLWWDWLDDW + 18

BRFC LWDWWDLDLLD + 13

Notlob DWWDLLLWWDW + 18

Arse LDWWWLWLDWW +20

WH DLWDLWLWDLWL + 15

Wig LWLDLWLDLWL + 11

Final Table

4 Spurs 61

5 Arse 61

6 Notlob 60

7 WH 56

8 BRFC 56

9 Wig 51

[G Somerset Rover]

May've been posted, but teamtalk now confirming that Hughes has said that gamst will be out for a minimum of two weeks.

[greggyk]

Well, recently he's been playing crap away from Ewood so it's not such a huge loss, but certainly a blow.

Anyway, i would still be happy with a top 10 place as at the start of the season i was not so confident we would get anywhere near that.

BUT. I can see the likes of City and Wigan fading away and when i see West Ham play, i always ask myself why the hell are they anywhere near Europe?!(probably struggle next season IMO).

If we lose to Spurs on Sunday that will probably end our chances of top 4 but i would take 6th place now if it was offered to us.

[philipl]

This chap reckons we are goiing to finish 4th. Since when did the Welsh know anything about football?

[all you need is duff]

Many seem to be predicting a relatively low final position and points total for Bolton. They are having a very good season, especially at home (was it eight home games in a row they won without conceding?). They also don't give any teams an easy game away from home. They got through the run of games they had when half their squad was away in Africa and they have two games in hand on most of the league (including us).

Although I hate to say it, they are my tip for 4th. I know when we couldn't break down their weakened side when they had ten men for an hour that it would prove costly.

[joey_big_nose]

Spurs Away – 1 point

Villa home – 1 points

Boro  home – 3 points

Sunderland Away – 3 points

Wigan  Home – 3 points

Pompey Away – 0 Points

Liverpool  Home – 0 points

Birmingham  Away – 1point

Chelski  home – 0 points

Charlton Away – 1 point

City  Home – 3 points

16 extra points!

Hope Im wrong, but knowing Rovers, they've never done things plain sailing. 

We've only got ourselves to blame if we throw it away, but some of the teams we play are fightnig to stay in the league (pompey, brum, s'land) and some (city, wigan, spurs and possibley charlton) are fighting for the european places.

387062[/snapback]

This strikes me as being realistic. 59 points would put us around sixth and would represent a steller achievement by Hughes and the team. All the away games are going to be difficult and I don't like the look of Liverpool or Chelsea at home (both those sides are solid unlike Arsenal and United).

65 points is extremely unlikely, lets not get carried away.

[Jordan]

one match at a time for me. Nobody knows what will happen next week and i think most are predicting these results if Bellamy is fit.

The only team which i can see denting our european dream is Bolton.

[philipl]

Now Bolton are out of the UEFA and about to exit the FA Cup as well, I can see a titanic struggle developing between ourselves, Bolton, Arsenal and Spurs for the European places.

My hunch is Bolton will come 4th and boy will that be as welcome as a wet fart to Sky, BBC, UEFA, FA,,,,etc. It would probably even be more unwelcome than us coming 4th. It would be sure to get Sam the England job of course.

[tcj_jones]

I just don't share peoples enthusiasm and I disagreee with those that say Wigan adn Man City will fade away. We will finish somewhere between 4th and 10th but I think it'll be closer to 10th.

[cn_barlow]

Well if my BBC predictor is anything to go by rovers are gonna walk it....my final table had rovers in 4th with 72points, a whopping 12 points ahead of Arsenal in 5th!!! The most surprising bit is that everton are 6th while bolton are 11th and west ham 13th!!!

I think something is not quite right here!

The big club still finish in the bottom three though!!

[Seggie]

I used to be the most optimistic of Rovers fans, but over time Ive learnt that we do things the Hard way. I wouldn't bet against us beating both Chelsea and Liverpool and losing to Birmingham, Sunderland and Portsmouth. If we are to Make Champions League we need 24 points to be certain, This allows us to slip up against Liverpool and Chelsea and one other game. On Paper the other games we should win but we won't because football aint played on paper.

As a Rovers fan I believe we can do it but as a Rovers fan I also believe we can ###### it away like cheap cider, my advice to the optimists is enjoy it(Champions League talk) whilst it lasts and accept at the end of the year a UEFA spot is a achievement.

[tchocky]

15 points is what we will get. Finish 7th or 8th.

[dillo_dillo]

fixed rivals fixture

and, this season's data

http://itv.stats.football365.com/dom/ENG/t...ackburnRov.html

Edited March 19, 2006 by dillo_dillo

[dillo_dillo]

last season

Official