Are we nearly there yet?

The win against Wolves yesterday allowed all those of a black and white persuasion to breath a large collective sigh of relief.

I can only imagine what it would have been like had we lost the match. Thankfully, all I can do is imagine that now as the lads pulled together and put in a performance that was good enough for the win. The fact that it was a 4-1 win was a bonus and goes some way to restoring our goal difference, which is now the best outside of the top six. That has to be worth another point, surely?

So with seven games remaining, and with seven points being the cushion between ourselves in 9th and West Ham in 18th, the question has to be; are we there yet? With 39 points on the board, is safety assured?

Well the simple, and technically correct, answer is no. We are not mathematically safe. However, it would take an awful lot for the other teams to overtake us, especially those teams in the bottom three. currently.

Based on us not picking up another point for the rest of the season, West Ham need to average 1.17 points a game to overcome us, as do Wolves in 19th place. Bottom club Wigan need to average 1.24 points per game to over come us. If we win just one game then West Ham and Wolves will need 1.43 points whilst Wigan will need 1.57 points per game. It's possible, but realistically it just isn't going to happen. Wigan and West Ham play each other before the season draws to a close which prohibits them both from getting full points.

I'm not saying that it's those three teams who are going to be the ones that go down, but it's just illustrating the point that it would take an awful lot for them to overtake us. As I said earlier, we aren't safe until it's mathematically assured, but all bar the shouting we should be over the line as we speak.

Anyway, that is what I think. What I want to know is whether or not you guys think we are safe?

Answer away....

P.S I was digging around earlier, and whilst we are on about stats, I worked out that Newcastle have been more prolific in terms of scoring goals since the sale of Andy Carroll. With Carroll we hit the back of the net an average of 1.63 times per game but since he went to Liverpool that has been raised to 1.66 goals per game. Andy who? ;)