We are a decent distance behind them.
Not really excusable.
Sticking by my take that anything less than a title charge is a fucking disaster for this club now but I'll deal with that disaster given the context and circumstances of this season.
Games we've dropped points in:
Wolves (A) - Davies, Dier and Emerson making up the back four. No Maddison or Udogie. Poor performance, though was first game after Chelsea where we were missing half of the eleven.
Man City (A) - Davies and Emerson at centre back. No Maddison or Sarr. Decent performance overall to be honest.
Brighton (A) - Emerson and Davies at centre back. No Bissouma, no Maddison. Was a very poor first half and Brighton countered on Davies/Emersons distribution big time.
Man Utd (A) - Should have got more here really.
Everton (A) - Not our best performance but seconds away from all three points in this one.
Fulham (A) - A stinker but worse than made out.
West Ham (A) - Another game where set pieces let us down. Udogie should have won it at the end
Newcastle (A) - Less said the better.
All in all, probably didn't really deserve much more than we got. Late goals at Wolves and Everton real killer blows.
This season for me will always come across as "what could have been" if we didn't suffer all those injuries and suspensions in November.