Is it time to get the calculators out?

This is the time in the season if your club is in the running for a top prize finish when you just might want to look ahead at the remaining games and work out all the permutations of what happens if this game is a draw,  that one is a defeat and we win that one. It is nail biting time when nobody can say with any confidence that their team will get the results they need and even if they look like doing it, some team elsewhere can still ruin the party. In a way, it was that kind of scenario that played out last year for the Cherries even though we were promoted. Like many supporters I have a few mixed emotions about how the season might end this time around and if all would be fantastic if the club did manage a top six finish.

It's just great to be around Dean Court these days.

Still it is something that will be decided on the pitch and our little games of predicting results will not be the deciding factor. You have to admit though that Bournemouth's fixture list gives them a realistic shot at exceeding all expectations. Forest at home and Ipswich away are probably games that I would rather see the team play than the games against Yeovil away and Millwall away. That is not because I think Forest and Ipswich will be easy games but they will be under similar pressure to obtain the same results knowing that we are all after that sixth spot. Against Yeovil and Millwall I expect more scrappy affairs as those teams will play ugly if they have to and just try whatever they can to disrupt the flow of the game if Bournemouth start to get on top with their precise passing game.

I don't know why I should worry though. We are in the top 10 and if the team is not good enough this season to reach its ambitious long term target of Premier League football then so be it. I am up for another season in the Championship for sure. It has been a breath of fresh air and I have loved every moment of it. 

If a top six place is the requirement then the new target is 76 points by my reckoning and an improved goal difference. The team that would get me jittery is Brighton as they have a good run in even if Reading are two points ahead. Having dispatched Leicester City so easily, I hope Brighton find the other games they have left a bit trickier. At least we can do something about Nottingham Forest and Ipswich Town.

When the season started I was just looking forward to having a season ticket that would let me see many of those big teams coming to Dean Court, but like many I weakened and steadily started going to a few more away matches than I had probably planned. Now I am thinking, hang on a second - what of we do make the top six? I will need to find a little more cash. It's still early days yet, but I would not have foreseen such an end to the season in Bournemouth's first year back in the Championship. 

Now where is that fixture list? Who have Brighton got left to play? And what about Reading? Do you think Forest will drop more points in their remaining games? It was easier working out when AFCB would get to 50 points!