It was a very tight week this week, with nearly everyone doing alright. I think the key games were the Chelsea win, along with the Sunday games, and then last night's result at Liverpool. I say that, because 3 of those 4 games were the only games were the result that occurred wasn't the most predicted result between us. These 4 games separated the men from the boys, or rather the grizzled obsessives from the chancers. Or something like that...
I think it's fair to say that the "Big 6" have now broken away, and I supposed there is an argument to say that Liverpool are straggling behind in that group. The question will be, can Spurs & Arsenal keep up their good form, and can Man Utd & Chelsea improve to maintain pressure. I know Utd have been grinding out the wins, but they haven't been playing well, and unless they start scoring more, I think that over the next month they'll drop some points as fatigue sets in (and Rio's dodgy back goes again). Man City look relentless meanwhile, like some sky-blue verion of the Soviet forces at the Battle of Stalingrad (I may have watched Enemy at the Gates recently....). I was going to ask who can stop them....but that would be asking who is going to try and be the Nazis...so I think I'll quit whilst I'm behind.
Full breakdown:
This week, 16 people played
Most popular predicted result: Spurs & Man City WINS (16/16 or 100% concordance)
Most disputed result: Blackburn vs Swansea (6-5-5 split)
Longest odds: Ryan Wain 5565/1
Shortest odds: Joe Miller 747/1
Best predictor: Lawro, Doron Salomon, Joe Miller & Yanik Joshi (again - it's good for us all he doesn't qualify for the leaderboard...yet) (7/10)
Worst predictor: Ryan Wain (3/10)
Best predicted result: Spurs & Man City WINS (16/16)
Worst predicted result: Stoke & Fulham WINS (1/16 - congrats to me & Doron)
Villain of the week: I'm breaking my own rule here. Technically, none of us performed well enough for there to be a villain, but the David Luiz incident was so spectacularly bad, and so game changing that I'm going to have to go with MIKE DEAN.
Everyone's results:
Because the results were so tightly grouped, there wasn't much movement on the leaderboard. Lawro jumps up 2 places, but otherwise it's as you were. There are a couple of players who should join the leaderboard in the next few weeks, and shake it up a little. Joel Salamon stays close enough to Joe Miller to keep him honest.
I'm going away for 3 weeks tomorrow, and am not entirely sure what my internet access is going to be like. There will definitely still be posts though - so life will continue as normal for you all, although I won't be hassling you! If for whatever reason, I can't get a bets post done one week, please just stick the predos in the comments for the last week's post and I'll sort out all the results when I get back. Total nightmare - going on holiday over the xmas period. The football schedule is so unhelpful....
Here are my predos for this weekend's games:
Norwich vs Newcastle - NEWCASTLE
Arsenal vs Everton - ARSENAL
Liverpool vs QPR - DRAW
Swansea vs Fulham - DRAW
WBA vs Wigan - WBA
Bolton vs Aston Villa - BOLTON
Man Utd vs Wolves - MAN UTD
Sunderland vs Blackburn - SUNDERLAND
Stoke vs Tottenham - SPURS
Chelsea vs Man City - CHELSEA
Total odds: 3618/1 with PaddyPower.
Good luck guys, have a great festive season however you celebrate it, and set a reminder for yourself to check the blog every week!
