The more I think about this the more I'm convinced that there's absolutely no way this can carry on and we'll be back on track sooner rather than later.   Statistically, what has happened in the last five games was almost impossible and it's not sustainable. The goals will come again as long as we keep doing what we're doing, and when they do we'll start to do what we're doing much better because confidence will return.   It's probably going to be too late in terms of retaining the title but there's no way we aren't getting top four unless we get more injuries to key players.    The only thing I do worry about is the officiating because that's not something we can control. It almost feels as though we go into every game a goal down because we are playing with an unofficial handicap this season, I don't care what anyone says. I'm not imagining it, there's just too much evidence to back it up now.        

Too late to vote now but its the 77 cup final for me. It still jars me whenever it gets brought up, that shite deflected goal and then Ray Kennedy heading against the post late on. That treble would have been great.

Yep, even a loan deal would make more sense than having a club captain midfielder at the back.

I think this is the important point. Ashley Young was noted for knocking the ball past a player, going into a dive and “initiating contact” and got away with it for ages. He wasn’t, and isn’t, the only one. It was obvious from the replays that Barnes pushed his foot down onto Allison to get, or exaggerate, contact and it was, arguably, the only contact that was made. If exaggeration is the case, or whenever contact is initiated, it shouldn’t be a penalty in my eyes. The problem is whoever is making the decision through VAR will have their own definition of what is deliberate contact or not.
And we know how that has gone in the recent past.  

Guess what, West Ham are two points behind us now.    Thanks for the update Dave, I haven't looked at the table for weeks.