This crazy league

[gtclaret]

We are top, Rotherham are 13th with a game in hand, if we were to lose on Wednesday and they win and they win their game in hand, they will be 1 point behind us. I also noticed that Arsenal the Premier league leader have 2 points more than us and have played 4 games less. The Championship is going to be interesting, with the fixture pile up due to the World Cup, it will test the squads, the fatigue and injuries with level out teams producing a lot of unexpected results. We have good depth, it may work to our advantage and pull away at the top whilst the others beat each other, I hope so anyway

[jedi_master]

It's crazy how close it is, which is why, if we're being realistic, 'being top' at this stage means even less than usual.

I think a fair reflection of how it's going to shake up will hopefully come to light as we reach the World Cup break - surely it won't stay quite as tight after the next seven games, especially with us having Norwich, Sheff Utd and Blackburn in that run. If we managed to beat the other four teams we play and even only draw those three, I think you will start to see a bit of a gap emerge between Burnley and third.

[RVclaret]

Other teams at the top also have a more ‘difficult’ run of fixtures ahead too.

Norwich are finally playing some better teams and have come unstuck. They face Luton, Sheffield United, us and QPR in their next 5.

Sheffield have the Norwich game and West Brom away.

It will be very interesting to see how things are when we go to Sheffield, my guess (and hope) is there will be just a few points in it either way.

[Goddy]

I was just thinking that usually the teams at the top of the table are easily going at 2 ponts per game.....not this season, though in the Championship.

Maybe a record low number of points for promotion (in the top 2) this season? 82-84 points enough?

Interesting season ahead, though......

[daveisaclaret]

We've had a slow start results wise and on performances we should be comfortably clear at the top. In the last two matches we've done the two things we needed to do to prove that imo, holding on to a 1-0 and then thrashing a team just behind us in the league.

Opinions will vary but if we play like this all season the conversation will be how close everyone in this league is other than Burnley.

[CrosspoolClarets]

It's crazy how close it is, which is why, if we're being realistic, 'being top' at this stage means even less than usual.

I think a fair reflection of how it's going to shake up will hopefully come to light as we reach the World Cup break - surely it won't stay quite as tight after the next seven games, especially with us having Norwich, Sheff Utd and Blackburn in that run. If we managed to beat the other four teams we play and even only draw those three, I think you will start to see a bit of a gap emerge between Burnley and third.

Agree with the 2nd paragraph but on the 1st one I don’t think it means less than usual. We have to ignore Premier League title races and compare to Premier League relegation battles - at this stage they are tightly bunched, as we are now. It is normal.

Where we don’t want to be is obviously WBA or Boro, but also Watford. They are 5 points behind us having played us at home already. If they slip another 5 points that may be insurmountable. So I’m actually pleasantly surprised we have a big gap already against these fellow favourites. I don’t see QPR, Reading, that other lot, Luton and Swansea lasting the pace. Blades and Norwich I’m also doubtful about. I see WBA, Watford and us as the best sides over a season.

[FeedTheArf]

I'm not putting too much weight behind the fact we're currently top, but it is encouraging to see especially given how many points we've thrown away. If we'd have held on to a couple of those leads we'd already have a gap emerging and this team is only going to get better the longer they play together.

If you'd have told me after the Newcastle game that we'd be top at this stage there's no way I'd have believed you.

So much credit has to go to Kompany and his team for getting these players in and moulding them into a cohesive unit. Things to work on of course, but he's done an outstanding job so far!

[TheFamilyCat]

We've had a slow start results wise and on performances we should be comfortably clear at the top. In the last two matches we've done the two things we needed to do to prove that imo, holding on to a 1-0 and then thrashing a team just behind us in the league.

Opinions will vary but if we play like this all season the conversation will be how close everyone in this league is other than Burnley.

I'm inclined to agree. Of course we've had some frustrating draws but we've only just now found out best XI (IMO) and we've only lost once.

I think we'll remain difficult to beat and will starting winning more than we draw. I know this is dangerous talk and smacks of "gobshite football fan" but I really think we'll be hard to stop.