8 Point Gap - No Chance Of Relegation

After watching Fulham's 5-0 drubbing of Wolves I thought to myself that with not long to go in the season, 8 points is surely a big enough gap to keep us from the relegation dogfight.

Wolves look so so poor with a manager still learning the ropes, surely they are doomed.  Wigan looked dreadful at home to Swansea and surely they have used up their 9 lives by now.  Blackburn can't even keep a clean sheet at home to Villa which tells it's own story!  QPR still haven't found their feet under Mark Hughes which I must say has surprised me.  Then there is Bolton who have been poor all season and have never really looked like going on a winning run.

So with just 11 games to go can you really see at least 3 of the teams below us overhauling an effective 9 point gap if you look at goal difference?  I certainly can't!  I would be surprised if we needed anything more than just 2 or 3 more points if that due to the garbage that is sitting below us.  I know we have a tough run to the end of the season but even we're not that bad that we will not be able to pick up 3 points in 11 games are we?  I bloody well hope not!

One thing is for sure though, if Mcleish is still here next season then I really don't fancy our chances of survival.  But for now, I'm pretty confident of securing Premier League status next year.  We certainly can't afford to relax, but if we can just scrape a few more points we have absolutely nothing to worry about this season.

Weimann Preferred To Delfouneso

Assistant Manager Peter Grant has come out today and praised Andreas Weimann for his performances on the training field and stated that he believes that he has earnt his place in the squad ahead of Delfouneso. Grant has reassured Delfouneso that he will get his chance by giving him some words of encouragement, but for the meantime, Weimann is going to be getting the majority of the game time out of the two. This pleases me because Nathan has had many chances already and, while I think he has shown promise, I think it's time for Weimann to get his chance.

This is what Grant said:

“Andreas Weimann came on against Wigan because he deserved to,”

“One of the reasons we put him out on loan for a month was because in pre-season training we thought he was excellent.

“We brought him back with the proviso that he would be involved with us and he’s thoroughly deserved that.

“What we tell the players is every day they have to produce the goods and not just on a Saturday to get that bit extra out of them.

“They need to show it in training and train exceptionally well because that is what we are watching all of the time.

“You don’t switch the light on a Saturday and only become a professional on the Friday night before; you have to do it all the time and train well.

“That’s what we have tried to get into the players mind and they are buying into that. It is a great thing for the youngsters to show there is an opportunity for them.

“Nathan has been fantastic,” added Grant. “He finds it tough being out the team.

“In the game against Bolton the team didn’t play well which wasn’t down to Nathan.

“He has just found himself a bit unfortunate really that Andreas came on against QPR and did well so he deserved to retain his place.”