S5M20: All downhill from here

The festive football often throws a curveball or 2 - often due to the frequency of fixture and the propensity for derbies. Arguably, as the league becomes more compacted (as per the Elo method), "shocks" shouldn't be quite so surprising - and therefore the adage that anyone could beat anyone else rings truer.

And so it was - Leicester ended their long unbeaten run with defeat at Anfield and Stoke continued their great form against the bigger clubs to beat Man Utd. Arsenal fluffed the chance to go top by being soundly beaten at St Mary's for the 2nd time in a year - although they then took top spot with a comfortable performance against a blunted Bournemouth side.

Chelsea's ship is stabilising (#sadface) as would be expected - the old regression to the mean thing.  Norwich and Spurs continued their good form as well, whilst the rest bumbled around without really doing much of interest.

Except for in the North East. 4 games, 4 defeats for Newcastle & Sunderland. Combined with Villa's trajectory, and this might be the first season where the 3 relegation spots are confirmed before the league title/top 4 is decided. I've not factchecked that statement.

Anyway, let's get statty:

Matchday 18:
 28 people played
Most popular predicted result: Man City WIN (28/28)
Most disputed result: Stoke vs Man Utd (9-11-8 split)

Highest odds: My mother 16,475/1
Lowest odds: Doron 2968/1
Average odds: 7315/1

Best predictor: David Silverman (7/10)
Worst predictor: Steven Daniels (2/10)
Average score: 4.29/10

Best predicted result: Man City WIN (28/28)
Worst predicted result: Chelsea vs Watford DRAW & Southampton WIN (1/28 - congrats Eli Daniels & Stan Collymore)

Swing: Bojan & Benteke's openers/winners - 11 in each match left disappointed

Matchday 19:
28 people played
Most popular predicted result: Arsenal WIN (28/28)
Most disputed result: West Ham vs Southampton (8-9-11 split)

Highest odds: Josh Daniels 19,825/1
Lowest odds: Doron Salomon 8,549/1
Average odds: 13,209/1

Best predictor: Lawro (7/10)
Worst predictor: WhoScored.com, Stan Collymore & Zoe Daniels (2/10)
Average score: 4.29/10

Best predicted result: Arsenal WIN (28/28)
Worst predicted result: Stoke WIN (3/28)

Swing: Son's (illegal) late winner for Spurs - 12 have arguable cases for compensation

Everyone's results:

As ever, 1st column M18, 2nd M19

Leaderboard (>2/3; 13/19)

To this week's predos:

West Ham vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL
Arsenal vs Newcastle - ARSENAL
Leicester vs Bournemouth - LEICESTER
Man Utd vs Swansea - MAN UTD
Norwich vs Southampton - NORWICH
Sunderland vs Aston Villa - SUNDERLAND
WBA vs Stoke  - STOKE
Watford vs Man City - MAN CITY
Crystal Palace vs Chelsea - CRYSTAL PALACE
Everton vs Spurs - SPURS

Remember - return of the FA Cup game  next week - only £5 to enter!

Happy new year guys - and good luck