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Feels like forever since I updated this.
After 32 games played -
Distance from 1st - 18 points off - 3 point improvement. If we win at the weekend (not optimistic) and League leaders Arsenal lose, we'd be 15 points off. I bring this up because when we moved Houllier on years ago, the distance from top was mentioned at board level, as we finished a whopping 30 points behind Arsenal back then. If we can finish closer to 15 points behind, it would be a little less embarrassing - indeed, Man United finished 15 points off the pace that year.
Distance from 4th and 5th - 3 points behind Villa in 4th (we're 2 points better off) and we ourselves are 5th. We find ourselves 3 points behind Man United, who are 3rd which is a little bit of an improvement. I don't think we'll catch them, but finishing 3rd after a horror season is something to aim for.
Distance ahead of 6th - we are now 4 points ahead of Chelsea.
Game-week 32 was absolutely huge for us - a win for us, chased Brentford and Everton drew, Chelsea lost to Man City. It's rare that we get everything we want in a weekend, but that was pretty perfect at the time.
We could easily have been going into our Game-week 33 game (Everton) facing the prospect of the Bitters drawing level with us if we lost the Derby, if only a couple of results had gone differently.
Nobody will call the 4 point gap on Chelsea or the 5 points gap on Brentford and Everton "comfortable" but we do at least have a tiny bit of wiggle-room.
6 games to go and we still have a tiny bit of breathing space in our attempt to finish in the Champion's League spots.
Hopefully that remains the case for week 33, week 34 and beyond.