I thought it might be of interest to point out how things stand now compared with 2005/06 when we last faced real problems getting a Champions League place.

Thanks to this stat-tastic website you can see we're actually one point better off (we'd lost an incredible eight games by this point in 2006) but were only four points behind Tottenham and had a superior goal difference. Obviously this time we're five behind and a goal worse off than Villa.

More worryingly though is that Villa are better than that Spurs team and it is pretty hard to imagine them collecting only 24 points over the final 15 games as Spurs did. We were fortunate to make fourth then but this time we really might have to win the Champions League to qualify. Unless someone can start booking Martin O'Neill in at the Marriott for us...

05/06
Spurs P23 W11 D8 L4 F31 A19 Pts 41
AFC P23 W11 D4 L8 F36 A19 Pts 37

08/09
Villa P23 W14 D5 L4 F38 A24 Pts 47
AFC P23 W12 D6 L5 F36 A19 Pts 42