Ten to go...... where will these last games take us?

It's in our hands, but difficult fixtures are upon us.

Good Morning Ladies and Gents,

We are in to the business end of the season and these next months are pivotal for the next few years as a Chelsea fan, in my opinion.

The return of the 2 players above to complete this trio could be the difference. These 2 make Palmer better, even if I don’t rate Madueke that highly.

We have to do all we can to finish in the Champions League places (Top 5). I’m going to take you through fixture by fixture and see where I think we end up.

This weekend we take on Arsenal in the league, they come off the back of a 3 game winless run in the league and there is probably no better time to face Arsenal than now. Yet I still struggle to see us get a result. We may nick a draw but I can’t see anything other than a 1-0 Arsenal to be honest. Loss = 0 points.

After the International break we face Spurs at home, this is a game I always look for at the start of a season, this is a very average Spurs team and a game we have to win! I think we will do that, Stamford Bridge under the lights, midweek fixture, I can’t see anything other than a Chelsea win. Win = 3 points.

We then travel to Brentford in a fixture we notoriously struggle in, they are the sort of team that we have actually played well against for the most part this season, but, they are very good at home. I expect us to not lose this game, not sure at this moment if we will win it, but theres a chance if our momentum is still flowing. I’m going to sit on the fence with a draw in this game. Draw = 4 points.

Ipswich at Home up next, Jai would call this the Luke Derby, but all jokes aside, we win this game comfortably. I don’t see anything other than a resounding win against an Ipswich side whos fate is already decided. Comfortable 3-0 win. Win = 7 points.

Everton at home to follow and a team and a game I hate to play against! I feel like Everton are a bogey side for us and that puts me on edge. My optimistic side tells me we win this game narrowly, but the realistic side sees us dropping yet more points against Everton. Let’s be positive and say we nick this 2-1 as we have racked up some momentum. Win = 10 points.

Fulham away next, a game we are used to winning having won 5 of our previous 6 at Fulham and only lost once there since 2006. but they are a very good side that could cause us some serious problems. They do have a habit of being inconsistent but performing against the so called big 6. I think this is a stalemate. Draw = 11 points.

Liverpool at Home next, my only hope is they have the league wrapped up by then, but I see nothing other than a comfortable defeat here. Loss = 11 points.

Newcastle Away next and same as above I see absolutely nothing other than a loss here. Unless Newcastle have dropped off and are out of European (at least Champions League) contention. It is a horrible place to go at that time of a season with end results on the line. Loss = 11 points.

Man United at Home has to be 3 points we have no excuse, an awful side and a great chance to improve our dreadful record against them. Similar to the Everton game, my optimistic side tells me we win comfortably, my realistic side tells me we either nick a win in a tense game or we draw. I cannot see us losing this game. Win = 14 points.

Nottingham Forest Away, last game of the season in what could be a Champions League decider. I have predicted Forest’s points between now and this game and if I am roughly correct between them and us we would be roughly on the same points in the last game of the season!! This game could go any which way and be treated like a final, the key word being COULD! I am going to predict a draw here with Forest being nervous on the day. Draw = 15 points.

Pretty much any of these games could go any way. I could see us ending up with like 7/8 points but also 18-20 points if we find form, I really cannot predict us. Overall, I think we will finish 5th and scrape UCL football, but I could be being a little bit optimistic.

Top 5 contenders predicted points, last 10 games or so;

Forest = 14 points (64 total)

Chelsea = 15 points (64 total)

City = 18 points (65 total)

Newcastle = 16 points (63 total)

Brighton = 13 points (60 total)

Villa = 15 points (60 total) - Villa only have 9 games left.

Bournemouth = 14 points (58 total)

This would put us 4th (goal difference dependent), I see it more likely we finish 5th, but lets see how we go. One thing that is for sure is everybody has difficult run ins, there are no easy games in the Prem (apart from Southampton and Leicester).

Interested to see what you all think of our end to the season and how everybody will finish the season!

Thanks for reading.

Luke Rushbrook