Be careful what you wish for. Everton might cripple half our squad… again.
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Well, send out Endō with his mouthguard.
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Are we winning? Cant find a stream
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True, that’s the danger with those dirty cloggers. Very little quality, so they are content to define themselves by any problems or difficulties we might have. If they can injure us in a blood and thunder contest, while benefitting from lenient refereeing, their baying mob will be delighted.
Hopefully the massacre will be in the form of a decisive win, and three useful points that helps us in our march to the title.
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That’s it … blame the Irish again !
MacAlister’s suspension is also now transfered to a seemingly easier home game against Fulham
The only downside is when Arsenal win this weekend the narrative will be about a 5 point swing in their lead and how all of a sudden the pressure is on us
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The media love it. Let them. Pretty comfortable that the players and slot wont feel a difference in pressure. If anything, the pressure is off a touch for the festive run in.
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12 mins to go in this rerun. Hopefully Kelleher catches it this time 
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Let’s hope they’ve got a bit of the North London spirit from their brothers-in-arms.
It would be hilarious for the media narrative prior to the games to be how City and Arsenal could well close the gap only for both to lose.
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I rested too after waking up at 4 am to see if it was on.
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We do proper storms. Not those ones with a mild breeze
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We would have lost in those conditions.
Hopefully our injuries are better then.
It seems Jota and Alisson May be back pretty soon looking at training (wouldn’t bet against Girona) and we will remain top.
Also we get a rest which is fantastic to be honest at a point when it felt a bit gung ho we can also be a bit more up for the game on Wednesday and seal qualification and then we have two dead rubbers post Christmas.
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Yep. Hopefully we use the relative unimportance of the Girona game as an opportunity to get Harvey some game time and allow Endo to replace some of the more heavily worked players like Grav. And maybe even some time for Morton
By the time Fulham rolls around we should have relatively fresh legs all around, Trent back closer to full fitness, Harvey with needed game time in his legs, and a couple of key players back on the bench at least
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How does the CL knockout work? I know top 8 advance. And I know 9-16 do a two-legged tie, with the winners playing the top 8 in the last 16.
My question is whether or not there is a seeding process, based on position within the top 8? If there is no seeding, fine, treat any dead rubbers as an opportunity to rest some legs where needed, and help some others see some action where needed.
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Thanks, still doesn’t seem crystal clear to me, especially the part that says, “partly determined by the league phase rankings.”
Partly? And what else is considered?
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How?
9-16 are seeded against 17-24
Then 1-8 are seeded in the last 16.
Hardly difficult. 
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I get all that. But how are the opponents of 1-8 seeded in the last 16?
It just tells us how they get to the last 16, the winners of 9-16 v 17-24. Ok. So line up the 8 winners of that group. How are they seeded to face the top 8? That’s the part that’s not clear to me.
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Ah, ok, this is the breakthrough moment for me then. Cheers.
If only 8 of the final 16 are seeded, the benefit of seeding is only partial. It only ensures the top 8 are kept apart, rather than a purer format that would seed all of them and play 1v16, 2v15, 3v14, 4v13, 5v12, 6v11, 7v10, and 8v9.
As it stands there is no great incentive for teams who finish 9-24 in the initial 32 team group. They are all going to play the extra two game tie, but it makes no difference to them if they finish 9th or 24th.
I think this is why we are seeing a lackadaisical Real Madrid team, for example. If they aren’t going to finish top 8, all they need to do is coast along and not fall out of the top 24 in order to advance, and it won’t effect any seeding they would have because only the top 8 are seeded.
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