Dan

Been thinking a bit about this Southampton game and have come to the conclusion that we should absolutely go for the win - and I don't mean in that you wouldn't want to do that every game anyway, but to me the drawback of losing rather than drawing isn't actually all that great. We need 6 points from 3 games to guarantee promotion. A draw would mean we could still need to beat Preston and Blackburn to get promoted, so there is potentially nothing in a draw for us. Given a draw kills Southampton's admittedly tiny automatic chances too I'd say late goals are likely. I think we will get promoted but I am totally braced for a scenario where we go to Preston in 3rd place and freeze in the face of another limited, savvy team - a draw against Southampton does not prevent this situation either. If we beat Southampton we are up barring an absolute catastrophe I think. We really are due to turn up on one of these pressure nights. I'm fed up of us floundering under every one of them. It's been years. The good thing is that Martin's style isn't really about frustrating. I expect a pretty entertaining game, could be pretty chaotic in all honesty if the first meeting is anything to go by. I think that will probably suit our crowd, who've proven this season they really don't react whatsoever to patient football but absolutely will if there's a bit of chaos.

Luton fan I work with has said to me for years if they ever made it to the Premier League they would treat it as a cash cow to get themselves in order, to sort out a new stadium etc... and that they would not make any serious fist of survival. To have that go up alongside a calamity Sheffield United and a Burnley side who've badly underperformed. Forest and Everton are lucky their deductions have come this season. I expect us to hit one next year and we're not getting this sort of luxury. I do think Luton will be back and they've been good value for the league, they're a genuinely fun team. Probably the nearest thing to Holloway's Blackpool. I just hope they have a slightly better legacy - I think they will though. They haven't been promoted four times in ten years by being daft. Got a lot of time for Luton.

I'm probably far more resigned to Forest's survival than I should be given the points difference. Luton's games really aren't that bad. But I just have no faith in them to deliver and Forest have already developed the Everton syndrome of always getting the result when they need it most. I bet Forest fudge both of those away games then go and beat Chelsea or some other bullshit.

Don't like the fact Leeds are back in the goals. That's the real confidence booster after a few games of bluntness in front of goal. Middlesbrough absolutely woeful defensively. A bad result for us but will at least feel a bit more rewarding to do it now. Enormous game tomorrow night.

I did think by now there would be more. Using the kids shirts again I'm surprised how few I see. I've no idea how PSG shirts got so popular amongst kids. This has been going on pre Messi as well.

Even despite this I just come across nowhere near as many casual Man City fans as I do other clubs and I think if I did there'd be more animosity in general. But it just isn't there. Maybe it's an online or overseas thing but it's certainly not in person. I play football on Thursdays and you have kids playing on there before we do so you see a lot of the shirts they're wearing. I honestly think I see more Barcelona or PSG than Man City. It's quite peculiar really - I thought more would've latched onto it given you've been relatively dominant now throughout the last decade. Don't see as many Chelsea as I once did.

Honestly the Man City hate is a very online thing I find too. They don't really provoke a great deal in me personally. Maybe they should. But I think things like rumoured charges just simply isn't going to supersede the annoying Man United / Liverpool / Arsenal fans at work no matter how much people morally think it should. Maybe if they're proven guilty and are genuinely stripped of titles etc.. it changes things. They've just not got the size of fanbase for it and nor did I grow up around any of them. Needless to say why I wanted the Man United win yesterday though. I get basically any fans except probably ours and maybe a couple of Birmingham based wanting a Coventry win. The way they've gone on about us all season. Never seen anything like it. It would be even funnier if they were to hold Ipswich to a result that promoted us. They'd never get over it.

They don't get enough shit for three away wins in nearly two years. Absolutely awful. How are they going to survive again?

Forest's chip on shoulder is on its own level. Never forget the play-off final that got them into this league. Huddersfield should be able to claim tens of millions off them for match fixing.

Correct. Will always be a significant fixture to me even if I will give it barrels about how much they've fallen off. Not a rivalry per se it's just everyone knows a Man United fan in the way they don't know a Man City fan. Liverpool is similar.

Thank fuck for that. Could not bare the thought of them potentially being a game from a trophy. United absolutely woeful again. If there was ever a game where a win deserved a sacking it was that. I can't believe they're going to persist with Ten Hag. Absolutely rank football and pure individual quality has saved them all season. But thanks for saving humanity. The icing on an already great weekend.

I think the losses have finally broken me. I'll get some done after this week has passed, so probably midnightish tomorrow.

We were bad, again, but I think we're pretty much there now.

I put two bets on the other week as insurance against us collapsing which were Leeds 1st Ipswich 2nd, and Ipswich 1st Leeds 2nd. So naturally, obviously, Southampton are going to do it.

I still eat pizza here. Well aware it isn't the same as having it in Italy but it isn't like you can't have what's generally a nice dish that's quite hard to get completely wrong. I'll always unfortunately be a sucker for that greasy meat feast pizza. Probably explains quite a lot. Very much on the anti pineapple bandwagon though. Just thoroughly unpleasant.

A wise man told me similar before your game with Ipswich. I'm beyond wanting favours. We've had more than we could've bargained for lately and not taken advantage. It's almost shameful that we still have the ability to lose a game and have the title in our hands.

Fantastic achievement. Cannot be understated. This isn't a great Bayern side but I think even great Bayern sides would've struggled against these this season.

If we go up it'll be about as joyless a promotion as you can get. A shame almost being wasted on us.

Two of the worst back to back displays ive witnessed from us have somehow seen us get closer to promotion. It's astounding.

How low can we actually sink?

Playing a bit risky again here. Reading have been decent on the whole and Barnsley getting a whiff of negativity about them. Preston's price is really quite generous here for me. They've picked up 37 points at home to Norwich's 21 away and I was listening to this thing about "away fatigue" earlier, teams who play away after a midweek game have been struggling and Norwich are one of the worst offenders - apparently only picked up 3 points from 12 away games afterwards. I just think there are quite a few things going in Preston's favour here, 3.25 is very kind.

Incredible nature of this league in that you can lose to a dire Millwall and it actually be a net positive week for you. We went into it with 6 games left knowing we could lose one of them, and we've come out of it with 5 games left knowing we can still lose one, despite losing the game. I think a lot hinges on this game. Win this and I think we'll get over the line. Fail to and we're putting the pressure back on ourselves with trickier fixtures. We're much better than Plymouth but this lot have continuously let us down in big games.