Matchday 20 & 21:Small Gains

So everyone survived then? Good stuff guys. Shame the tube drivers weren't all taken out. That'd be the best apocalypse ever.

The Christmas football period was a little strange this year I felt. Chelsea handing out a whopping to Villa, and the Man Utd/Newcastle game on Boxing day were the only 2 games that I really enjoyed. I suppose that watching as a "neutral" (which I was from about 2.30pm on the Saturday) isn't the most fun at this time of year, with plenty else to distract the attention.

Anyway, no real controversies either to discuss, though I'm glad van Persie didn't suffer a worse injury at the hands of that violent thug Williams. He could have died, you know. Or not. Deflective arse - Ferguson has a lot of apologising to do in 2013 - starting with Williams and the officials from the Boxing day game over the Evans og. I rarely link to other sites, but as this piece was (co)written by one of our own, I thought I'd include it as it brilliantly explains why the decision was a good 'un. Pinnacle of your career that, Doz....very few get published on these hallowed pages.

Let's get statty:

Matchday 18:
 This week, 16 people played
Most popular predicted result: Man City WIN (16/16)
Most disputed result: WBA vs Norwich (8-5-3 split)

Longest odds: Josh Daniels, 34,179/1
Shortest odds: Sam Ruback 702/1
Average odds:6140/1 (1467/1 without the anomalous Josh above)

Best predictors: ECI, Jonathan Chernick, Sam Ruback & Yanik Joshi (7/10)
Worst predictors: Doron Salomon (2/10)
Average score: 5/10

Best predicted result: Man City WIN (16/16)
Worst predicted result: Sunderland WIN (0/16)

Villain of the week: Not applicable

Everyone's results:

Matchday 19:
 This week, 17 people played
Most popular predicted result: Man Utd WIN (17/17)
Most disputed result: QPR vs WBA (7-5-5 split)

Longest odds: Doron 3185/1
Shortest odds: Feneley (& his mum) 562/1
Average odds: 1743/1

Best predictors: Richard Verber & WhoScored.com (7/9)
Worst predictors: Tarek Najm (2/9)
Average score: 4/9

Best predicted result: Man Utd WIN (17/17)
Worst predicted result: Sunderland WIN (0/17)

Villain of the week: still not applicable

Everyone's results:

The leaderboard sees a new entrant this week - having now played >2/3 of games (13 of 19). As we're now halfway through the season, it'd unlikely anyone else will join (potentially 2 more, although if they miss a few more weeks, they will be unable to qualify) so this looks like it'll be everyone. What order though?

Drama at the top as 1st & 4th swap places, whilst Yanik and Josh Gaon have poor Christmases, otherwise, fairly unremarkable. New entrant Menachem (from now on, MG) pops into midtable, with a decent cushion from those below.

This week's predictions:

Matchday 20:

Sunderland vs Spurs - DRAW

Aston Villa vs Wigan - ASTON VILLA

Fulham vs Swansea - DRAW

Man Utd vs WBA - MAN UTD

Norwich vs Man City - MAN CITY

Reading vs West Ham - WEST HAM

Stoke vs Southampton - STOKE

Arsenal vs Newcastle - ARSENAL

Everton vs Chelsea - CHELSEA

QPR vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL

Total odds: 1600/1 (Paddypower)

Matchday 21:

I'm going to try the tactic used by some of you and make the second set of predictions separately. If you want to do this, feel free, or copy & paste as usual and do both now. I can't guarantee that I'll chase you for the New Year's fixtures though, so if in doubt, do it now.

WBA vs Fulham - WBA

Man City vs Stoke - MAN CITY

Swansea vs Aston Villa - SWANSEA

Spurs vs Reading - SPURS

West Ham vs Norwich - NORWICH

Wigan vs Man Utd - MAN UTD

Southampton vs Arsenal - ARSENAL

Chelsea vs QPR - CHELSEA

Liverpool vs Sunderland - LIVERPOOL

Newcastle vs Everton - EVERTON

Total odds: 236/1 with Paddypower

Good luck everyone, have a great new year's eve, and hope all your predictions come true in 2013.