What do we need for a top ten finish?

The rather unexpected point gained at Stamford Bridge yesterday has give us a good chance of securing a top ten finish this season.

In my mind that would be a fantastic achievement for our first season back in the Premier League and would have untold benefits for the club. There would be more money brought in through prize money, we'd be a much better proposition to sign for, and we'd have a sense of pride that you can only get when you exceed your original target.

It's not a given yet though as there is still some work that needs doing before we can celebrate a top ten finish. The question is, just what do we need to do to make sure we are in the top ten come around 5:30pm next Sunday?

Well the first thing we have to do is win. If we can beat West Brom at St James' Park we'd leapfrog them and Bolton into 10th place providing Bolton fail to beat Manchester City regardless of any other results. Those are the cold hard facts. A draw would be fine for us as long as Bolton lost as we'd go above The Trotters on goal difference.

If you dare to dream there is a chance of finishing as high as 8th place in the table. Manchester City would need to beat Stoke on Tuesday and get we'd have to hope that Stoke can muster no more than one point from their home game against Wigan next Sunday. Once again we could draw and Stoke could lose both games which would put us ahead of The Potters on goal difference and into 9th place.

To get into 8th place we'd need a minor miracle to be honest. We'd have to beat West Brom and hope that Arsenal can beat Fulham. Plausible? Well there also needs to be a seven goal swing in our favour, so we'd have to thump The Baggies or The Arse would have to thump Fulham, and even then we'd only go above Fulham on goals scored.

Realistically then 9th is the highest we can aim for now. I'll settle for that as I never thought we'd be in this position at the start of the season. If we could grab 9th place, even 10th place, it would be a fantastic achievement and each and every one of the squad could feel justifiably proud of the effort they have put in this season.

Now, fingers crossed!