S4M34: Pearson, Pulis and Precious Van Gaal

So, a truncated programme of Premier League football still managed to fox us all. Pun somewhat intended. Leicester seem to have finally woken up and are now going on the sort of run that could see teams that thought they were safe do that whole wake-up-with-a-start-at-stupid-o-clock-in-the-morning-being-really-confused-and-bleary-eyed-thing-and-know-that-were-it-a-real-problem-like-a-burglar-then-you-just-couldn't-do-anything-about-it-'cos-you-were-coming-from-a-cold-start thing.

You know the feeling. Pearson's team could make it 4-in-a-row (ok, might have overdone the hyphens now) playing a Burnley team who look like their resistance is starting to crumble. Their issue is goals - they work hard and rarely concede loads - but if you can't score, then conceding 1 is often enough to drop points, and 2 is nearly always a death sentence. In fairness, I think many, both fans of the club and neutrals, thought they would be even worse off now, so it's par for the course, and they'll gladly take the parachute payments and, will in due course, be back, I'm sure.

They lost to an Everton side also putting together a late run - but by contrast, this has been disappointing to Evertonians compared to last season's valiant effort to get CL football. They face a Man Utd team who they doubled last season - the question now is whether van Gaal will get his team to respond or whether their newly found confidence is fragile. I didn't see the game last week, but by everything I've heard/read - it went roughly to the predicted Mourinho plan. I did, however, see the van Gaal press conference on MoTD. Wow. Talk about spitting the dummy out. I get that these are uber competitive guys being interviewed in a cupboard (seriously...flash interview spaces are amazingly cramped) after an emotionally draining afternoon, but no need to act like a complete John Terry about it.

Speaking of whom, Chelsea will look to pull the same miserable rabbit out of their blue hat against the form team in the league. Arsenal have been less fluid in recent weeks, but have won their last 3 "big games" (don't think I've ever written that sentence on this blog in 4 years) and would love to at least delay the Chelsea open-top bus-ride around Fulham for another week. Arsenal of course, would be hoping to have one of their own in May after confirming their FA Cup final spot - followed by a rejuvenated Villa under Tim Sherwood - who seems to have nailed this mid-season boost malarkey. A post previously held by Pulis last season, who bested his successor in the role, Pardew to halt the Palace renaissance.

Quick run through of the rest: Newcastle are absolutely hopeless and I reckon Mike Ashley has just placed the club in 'Caretaker' mode. Stoke are not a bad side anymore, although you wonder in Southampton have just run out of puff now the run for 4th place is over - are their legs just a little heavy? Man City can't yet be said to have kick-started their form - West Ham are only marginally behind Newcastle in the 'already on holiday' travel brochure.

Long article - I've missed you guys

Let's get statty:

This week, 21 people played

Most popular predicted results: Palace & Man City results (19/21)
Most disputed result: Newcastle vs Spurs (7-6-8 split - plenty of eedjits like myself thought Newcastle might want to win one more match before the end of the season)

Highest odds: Feneley's mum (obvs) with a frankly staggering 17,952/1. This is over only 7 games.
Highest odds excluding Feneley's mum: Me (373/1)
Average odds: 3234/1 (290/1 excluding the outlier)

Best predictors: Yo Abbott (what a run of form he's had), JC backpage pin up Dinkin, Times page 20 something pinup FinkTank and er, the internet's EuroClubIndex (5/7)
Worst predictor: Me & Tarek (2/7)
Average score: 3.52/7

Best predicted result: Man City WIN (19/21)
Worst predicted result: WBA WIN (1/21 - well done Mrs Feneley)

Everyone's score:

To the leaderboard, for those who have played >2/3 games - or 23/33.

Fink Tank has hunted down Josh Gaon....could he overtake in the final straight? Yo Abbott pushing for CL football next year...more likely glorious failure and a transfer to Real Madrid though...

To this week's predos:

Southampton vs Spurs - SPURS

Burnley vs Leicester - LEICESTER

Crystal Palace vs Hull - CRYSTAL PALACE

Newcastle vs Swansea - SWANSEA

QPR vs West Ham - QPR

Stoke vs Sunderland - STOKE

WBA vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL

Man City vs Aston Villa - MAN CITY

Everton vs Man Utd - MAN UTD

Arsenal vs Chelsea - DRAW (as ever, not really)

Total odds: 4832/1 (PaddyPower)

Good luck guys!