S6M19 & M20: All downhill from here

The annual landmark that is Boxing Day football was slightly different this year, spread out over 3 days. Don't like that. It's a beautiful tradition - the simultaneous kick off all around the country after a heavy Christmas Day. I don't know if this is the first time they've ruined it - but you can be sure it won't be the last. It'll also spread to the other time this happens on the last day of the season soon enough - mark my words.

On the pitch, Big Sam marked his return to management with a point against Watford, Deeney scoring his 100th goal for Watford in that game.

Arsenal huffed & puffed and eventually blew the house down, which was a crying shame for a side who had done their utmost to waste every last second from kick off. Foster suddenly speeding up added a whole new level of enjoyment there.

Burnley won late to take 3 valuable points against 'Boro, whilst Chelsea swatted aside Bournemouth and Everton won away for the first time in ages to continue the worst title defence since last year.

Manchester United comfortably beat Sunderland, with the pick of the goals coming from Zlatan. Mkhitaryan scored a lovely flick too, but was unfortunately offside and so the highly capable officials were left with no choice but to rule it out, thus depriving the game of a gif to be played on loop forever. What's that you say?

West Ham thumped Swansea, who decided to get rid of useless Yank (TM Daily Mail) coach Bradley. 'Cos it's his fault that they bought a load of no-hopers in the summer...

Man City's wagon keeps rolling - Hull the latest team to show minimal resistance, and Liverpool decided that attack is the best form of defence, coming from behind with 4 unanswered goals to beat Stoke. The same scoreline was seen on the South coast with Poch's return to St Mary's...Delle Alli somehow beating Van Dyk to a header to score one of those goals.

Let's get statty:

This week, 24 people played

Most popular predicted results: Arsenal, Man Utd & Man City WINS (24/24)

Most disputed result: Swansea vs West Ham (5-8-11 split)

Highest odds: Doron 988/1

Lowest odds: AFM 421/1

Average odds: 687/1 (a new record)

Highest scorers: Josh Daniels & Nick Jones (9/10)

Lowest scorers: Matt Abbott, David Brickman & David Silverman (5/10)

Average score: 7/10

Best predicted results: Arsenal, Man Utd & Man City WINS (24/24)

Worst predicted result: Everton WIN (2/24)

Everyone's scores:

Ignore the FT 0, I'm trying to source their results

To the leaderboard (>2/3; 13/18)

Weekend predos:

Hull vs Everton - EVERTON
Burnley vs Sunderland - BURNLEY
Chelsea vs Stoke - CHELSEA
Leicester vs West Ham  - WEST HAM
Man Utd vs Middlesbrough  - MAN UTD
Southampton vs WBA - DRAW
Swansea vs Bournemouth  - BOURNEMOUTH
Liverpool vs Man City - DRAW
Watford vs Spurs - SPURS
Arsenal vs Crystal Palace - ARSENAL

Midweek predos:

Middlesborough vs Leicester - MIDDLESBOROUGH

Everton vs Southampton - EVERTON

Man City vs Burnley - MAN CITY

Sunderland vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL

WBA vs Hull - WBA

West Ham vs Man Utd - MAN UTD

Bournemouth vs Arsenal - DRAW

Crystal Palace vs Swansea - CRYSTAL PALACE

Stoke vs Watford - STOKE

Spurs vs Chelsea - CHELSEA

This is also the last blog before the FA Cup game returns - so as ever, let me know if you want to join the cash game for £ prizes. £5 remains the entry fee.

Good luck guys

S6M18: Festive Fixtures

Good news!

I've sorted my technical gremlins so will replace this text in due course with all the results from the last 3 matchdays.

Just thought I'd put a quick placeholder in with the festive predos 'cos I know people vanish off the face of the planet to stuff their faces with turkey, so wanted to give you as much time as possible.

The plan is for the the updated blog to go live later this evening

For now however:

Right - here goes with 3 matchdays' worth of data. I've tried my hardest not to drop the ball on this - but I've received submissions via a variety of media so, if I've missed one of your submissions out, my apologies. Please let me know where you sent it and I'll add it to the database so future scores will be updated. If anyone has a spare copy of the Times from 10/12/16 knocking about and wants to let me have the FT predos from that day too....

Let's get cracking:

Matchday 15

Total players: 25
Most predicted result: Liverpool WIN (25/25)
Most disputed prediction: Watford vs Everton (9-7-9 split)

Highest odds: My mother (4377/1)
Lowest odds: Feneley 770/1
Average odds: 2249/1

Best predictors: EuroClubIndex, David Dinkin + Mrs F (7/10)
Worst predictors: Loads of you (3/10)
Average scores: 4.36/10

Best predicted result: Chelsea WIN (24/25)
Worst predicted result: Liverpool vs West Ham DRAW (0/25)

Matchday 16

Total players: 21
Most predicted results: Man City & Spurs WINS (20/21)
Most disputed prediction: Stoke vs Southampton (11-6-4 split)

Highest odds: Josh Daniels 55,979/1
2nd highest: Sam Ruback 6,008/1
Lowest odds: Both my parents...217/1
Average odds: 12,552/1 (1695/1 without the anomaly)

Best predictors: A few of you (8/10)
Worst predictor: Mrs F (3/10)
Average scores: 6.38/10

Best predicted results: Man City & Spurs WINS (20/21)
Worst predicted result: Everton WIN (0/21). How nice.

Matchday 17

Total players: 25
Most predicted results: Spurs |& West Ham WINS (25/25)
Most disputed predictions: Sunderland vs Watford & Manc City vs Arsenal (10-6-9 & 9-10-6 respectively)

Highest odds: Mrs F 6916/1
Lowest odds: Josh Daniels 1850/1
Average odds: 3205/1

Best predictor: ECI 9/10
Worst predictor: David Silverman (3/10)
Average scores: 6.04/10

Best predicted results: Spurs |& West Ham WINS (25/25)
Worst predicted result: Stoke vs Leicester (5/25)

Everyone's results:

A really horrible graph. My apologies. I've also noticed an error  for M17. TN didn't play so each bar should shift 1 to the right. DSIL scored the 3 given to DS, who scored the 7 from SR and so on. The database is correct, but to remake the graph would make me cry. Sorry.

The leaderboard (>2/3; 12/17)

A phenomenal run of form from ECI sees the model open up a good lead at the top. All 4 models in the top 6. I've gone into freefall. Very tight at the bottom however. Sure there's some sort of Sid James/Barbara Windsor-esque noise to make at that sentence...

To this week's predictions:

Boxing Day (M18)

Watford vs Crystal Palace - WATFORD
Arsenal vs WBA - ARSENAL
Burnley vs Middlesborough - MIDDLESBOROUGH
Chelsea vs Bournemouth - CHELSEA
Leicester vs Everton - LEICESTER
Man Utd vs Sunderland - MAN UTD
Swansea vs West Ham - WEST HAM
Hull vs Man City - MAN CITY
Liverpool vs Stoke - LIVERPOOL
Spurs vs Southampton - SPURS

New blog to follow with the New Years Fixtures!

Check back later on for the fully updated blog!

Good luck guys! Normal service should now be resumed from now on!

Whatever you're up to this weekend, have a good one! And if anyone sees a lonely looking Chilean bloke walking 2 dogs around Hampstead, send him over to Whitechapel. Ya know. For the kids....

S6M17: Technical difficulties

A quick one now as unfortunately, due to a slight computing problem, I'm not going to be able to provide you with the last 2 matchday's results right now. Aside from this midweek's Fink Tank predictions (which may not exist - if anyone has them, please pass them along), I've got everyone else either online or elsewhere, so the database will be updated in due course and hopefully, you'll get a nice long blog to read for the Xmas weekend.

So, for now, it's just the weekend predos:

Crystal Palace vs Chelsea - CHELSEA

Middlesborough vs Swansea - DRAW

Stoke vs Leicester - LEICESTER

Sunderland vs Watford - SUNDERLAND

West Ham vs Hull - WEST HAM

WBA vs Man Utd - MAN UTD

Bournemouth vs Southampton - BOURNEMOUTH

Man City vs Arsenal - DRAW

Spurs vs Burnley - SPURS

Everton vs Liverpool - DRAW

Total odds: 4377/1 (Paddypower)

Quick reminder for the FA Cup game starting in January - £5 entry as per usual so start saving those pennies...

Good luck guys - apologies for the inconvenience. Fingers crossed for normal service next week

S6M15: Sergio's not the Messiah

Regular readers will know I've got a thing for Aguero. He's one of my favourite players - everything from his running style (Oh Hi there, Jordan Henderson) to his variety to finishing to his butter-wouldn't-melt face. The last of these is difficult to square with the Aguero who launched himself at David Luiz. He was suitably phlegmatic about it afterwards (would be quite difficult to protest the red card decision in fairness) and it's easy to put it down to frustrations at his own game, the decision not to send off Luiz in the first half for a pretty blatant professional foul and then the game running away from City in the 2nd half. Easy, understandable - and yet....he's done this before. On Luiz. In similar circumstances.

So one could argue that the following is true:

• Aguero & Luiz aren't besties
• Aguero isn't happy at the minute - but clearly cares enough about City's form this season
• Aguero's one of THEM.

You see, as we all know, all the best* strikers have a little bit of the devil in them. Suarez, Shearer, and Bergkamp were all capable of acts of violence on the pitch whether premeditated or just rushes of adrenaline-saturated blood to the head. Pantomime villains like Drogba, van Nistelrooy & Costa are wind-up merchants extraordinaire - supremely gifted strikers willing to act the fool to unsettle opponents before capitalising when this tactic provided a chink. 

For me, it's a human element of the game that I love - without condoning acts of assault, that atavistic thrill that results from seeing these athletic giants with their impeccable technique revert to the mean. We all watch professionals do the basics and become desensitised - but how many of us could control the ball and pass with the same consistency in a 5 a side game? Then how many could do it if you increase the pace of the pass, decrease the space to work in and add in an 85kg muscular missiles hurtling towards you? And not to control the ball, but to then pass, move, and make the right decisions over and over for 45 minutes without respite. To have perfect spatial awareness and be both proactive & reactive - it's remarkable the level that these guys perform at - which is why they are professionals and I write a weekly blog predicting poorly what these guys will do.

However, every now and again, they descend from Olympus and show that for all the money, the boot deals, the training and the pressure - under all of that, deep down is a piece of you and me. For which of us hasn't got really frustrated with the clogger on your team at Powerleague, or with your chocolate-wristed keeper single handedly turning a win into defeat? Who hasn't sworn at some higher footballing power  (physical or metaphysical) for any perceived slight against you, or for that awful touch when through on goal.

We all know what it's like to crack, to want to thump the ball/player/dressing room wall and we've all seen players having a bad day and thought...I'm gonna go there...he's on tilt. That glimpse of the underlying amateur in the finest professionals is, for me, one of football's little delights, and makes up for seeing Chelsea win...again.

*best - my favourite. Lineker was boring. Messi moans more than needing to be evil, but is also actually not human so doesn't count.

In other news, Bradley's bright new dawn didn't last all that long at the hands of a revitalised Spurs, Palace won against a Southampton side who's focus might now have been entirely in South London, Sunderland are doing their utmost to make me look stupider, West Ham's karma for the Olympic stadium debacle comes home to roost with Alexis Sanchez having a blinder. PAY THIS MAN WHATEVER HE WANTS. Middlesborough look good against a Hull side in all kinds of trouble, and Fellaini fellaini'd it to drop yet more late points at Everton. A generous penalty I thought, but given that Rojo absolutely got away with one before....

Any other week, we'd talk more about Bournemouth vs Liverpool but I think I've written plenty and I've still not quite processed how 1-3 went south so quickly for Klopp's men. Momentum and mentality - 2 of the intangibles in professional sport - maybe a topic for another time. It'll be interesting to see how they respond to this - and whether Karius gets the chop 'cos frankly, he's not good enough for them right now.

Let's get statty:

Last week, 23 people played.

Most popular predicted result: Spurs WIN (22/23)

Most disputed result: Sunderland vs Leicester (5-5-13 split). I think. Man City vs Chelsea was 12-7-4 and my head can't work out whether that's a bigger or smaller split. The range is the same, and arguably the distribution is more even. This leads me to conclude that I really should have paid more attention in my maths classes at school. Answers on a postcard to the usual address..

Highest odds: My mother  (6439/1)

Lowest odds: Me (1343/1) 

Average odds: 3327/1

Best predictors: Lawro, WhoScored.com & Matt Abbott (7/10)

Worst predictors: Steven Daniels, Feneleys 1 & 2 & Will O'D (cracking up...) (3/10)

Average score: 4.96/10

Best predicted result: Spurs WIN (22/23)

Worst predicted result: Bournemouth WIN (0/23)

Everyone's scores:

To the leaderboard now (>2/3; 10/14)

A new leader & a new name at the bottom. Aron "Sunderland" Kleiman sees himself off the foot of the table for the first time this season, whilst Lawro's stealthy climb continues. In other very important news, I've also caught my father up. Not that I'm competitive like that. There are a few people who are a few good weeks of attendance away from joining the leaderboard, which could shake things up further, so make sure to play over the festive fixtures, as things could change very quickly.

To this week's fixtures:

Matchday 15

Watford vs Everton - DRAW

Arsenal vs Stoke - ARSENAL

Burnley vs Bournemouth - BOURNEMOUTH

Hull vs Crystal Palace - CRYSTAL PALACE

Swansea vs Sunderland - SUNDERLAND

Leicester vs Man City - MAN CITY

Chelsea vs WBA - CHELSEA

Man Utd vs Spurs - MAN UTD

Southampton vs Middlesborough - SOUTHAMPTON

Liverpool vs West Ham - LIVERPOOL

Total odds: 826/1 (Paddypower)

Matchday 16

Bournemouth vs Leicester - LEICESTER

Everton vs Arsenal - DRAW

Middlesborough vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL 

Sunderland vs Chelsea - CHELSEA

West Ham vs Burnley - DRAW

Crystal Palace vs Man Utd - MAN UTD

Man City vs Watford - MAN CITY

Stoke vs Southampton - SOUTHAMPTON

Spurs vs Hull - SPURS

WBA vs Swansea - WBA

Good luck guys!

S6M14: Will OD's on fire, Menachem is terrified

Sometimes the headlines just write themselves. Albeit with a little bit of creative licence with regard to how it scans...

We'll do things slightly out of order this week:

An underdog story for the ages. The first man ever to score a 0 way way back in Season One, a man who's reliability issues have prevented him from appearing on a leaderboard so far this season. A man who's life journey has been a climb to this point.

Well you can forget your Griggs, your Vardy's and the bloke from the Goal! series of films. This is the stuff of legend.

Parachuting into top spot....

In the football, it got cold. Very cold.

That didn't bother Aguero who scored twice to give City victory from behind at Burnley. It didn't bother Costa who played a brilliant game in Chelsea's comeback victory to end the last unbeaten record in the PL (#diadelosinvincibles). I can't imagine the fans felt warmed by the fare at Hull in their draw, but the draw at Leicester seemed fun enough with a double Algerian penalty display (surely a first?) and a Negredo double too - I love Negredo and always felt a bit sorry for him after his single season at City - try saying that with a mouthful of Paella.

Sunday was also cold. Watford beat themselves at Hull, Gomes scoring yet another OG. He does this a lot right? Arsenal beat Bournemouth at home by a margin that was both deserved and undeserved at the same time. Lots of penalty drama left 2 managers very unhappy with the reffing display. Then in the last 2 games, we decided to get all the goals out the way in the first 20 minutes and then do nothing for the rest of the game, which was very kind as it meant I didn't miss anything when I went out later. 

Let's get statty:

This week, 26 people played

Most popular predicted results: Arsenal & Liverpool WINS (26/26)

Most disputed result: Swansea vs Crystal Palace (10-9-7 split)

Highest odds: AFM 4593/1

Lowest odds: Steven Daniels 609/1

Average odds: 1656/1

Best predictors: Will O'Doherty & Matt Abbott (7/10)

Worst predictor: RDM (3/10)

Average score: 4.81/10

Best predicted results: Arsenal & Liverpool WINS (26/26)

Worst predicted result: Stoke WIN (0/26) - special mention to Nick Jones who was the only one to predict a draw at Old Trafford

Everyone's results:

To this week's predos:

Man City vs Chelsea - MAN CITY

Crystal Palace vs Southampton - SOUTHAMPTON

Stoke vs Burnley - STOKE

Sunderland vs Leicester - DRAW

Spurs vs Swansea - SPURS

WBA vs Watford - DRAW

West Ham vs Arsenal - ARSENAL

Bournemouth vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL

Everton vs Man Utd - MAN UTD

Middlesborough vs Hull - MIDDLESBOROUGH

Total odds: 1343/1 (PaddyPower)

Good luck guys!

S6M13: No Buzz This Weekend

So last weekend was weird. I mean, I didn't know it at the time but the news has now outed yet another story about Man Utd & toilets. This time, 2 fans hid overnight in the toilets to try and catch the Arsenal game the next day. Where they thought they'd sit I don't know...

Anyway, they managed to hide out overnight but were then caught the next day. In some ways, this is the complete opposite of the bombscare earlier in the year - that seemed sinister at first, but then became farcical - this one worries me a lot more.

I used to work as a Tour Guide at the Emirates - I have absolutely no doubt that no one could have peeled off during my tours to hide. I can think of at least 3 separate methods utilised to avoid the possibility of this happening - and whilst it's funny to think of the lengths some people will go to to watch a (predictably) poor game - it yet again shatters the entertainment facade that sport offers. Can people please stop doing dumb things?

On the pitch - it's fair to say that Mourinho would have been livid to have dropped 2 late points. I was asleep yet again - no BBC sport app notifications this week - so didn't see the game live but sounds like daylight robbery doesn't do justice to this at all.

Yaya came back from the wilderness to bully Palace into submission whilst Merseryside went double-draw. Stoke's good form came to an end at the hand of Bournemouth, whilst Sunderland have clearly stuck my blog up on the dressing room wall. Champions Leicester slide further down the table (although now CL qualification is done and dusted there might be some more focus on all matters domestic).

Spurs's unbeaten record was done. West Ham won the battle of Stratford. Bloody bottlers. You had 1 job to do. 3 minutes. Urgh. We'll still have to wait for the Dia de los Invicibles to occur.

Chelsea held off a scrappy and spirited M'Boro side before Pulis' WBA went goal-crazy against Burnley. That there was the weekend stuffing.

Let's get statty:

This week, 23 people played
Most popular predicted results: Man City & Chelsea WINS (22/23)
Most disputed result: Watford vs Leicester (5-8-10 split)

Highest odds: Feneley 9073/1
Lowest odds:  Josh Daniels 1466/1
Average odds: 3785/1

Best predictor: Sam Ruback (7/10)
Worst predictor: Josh Gaon (3/10)
Average score: 5.13/10

Best predicted results: Man City & Chelsea WINS (22/23)
Worst predicted result: Bournemouth WIN (1/23 - me mother)

Everyone's results:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 9/12)

To this week's predictions:

Burnley vs Man City - MAN CITY

Hull vs WBA - WBA

Leicester vs M'Boro - LEICESTER

Liverpool vs Sunderland - LIVERPOOL

Swansea vs Crystal Palace - SWANSEA

Chelsea vs Spurs - CHELSEA

Watford vs Stoke - WATFORD

Arsenal vs Bournemouth - ARSENAL

Man Utd vs West Ham - MAN UTD

Southampton vs Everton - EVERTON

Good luck guys

S6M12: Cleft in 3

The first full matchday of Winter - at least as far as clocks go back, and the conclusion of the 1st trimester. What have we learnt so far?

We've learnt that Leicester really did something quite unique last year. We've learnt that the media really need to stop drawing zero-sum conclusions based on small datasets (this may not be an entirely new idea from this season). We've learnt that Klopp & Liverpool go together like Tom Cruise & Jerry Bruckheimer - you know it's box office even though you suspect there might be a little depth issue...

We've learnt that Wazza is a big fan of Farrell/Vaughan comedies from 2005 and that Sunderland are really really terrible (this too, may not be entirely novel). We've also learnt that whilst Friday night football is awful, the little Sky Sports highlights clips provided live (or slightly delayed on Saturdays) are invaluable in freeing up useful TV memory space when MOTD no longer needs recording. This is probably the singlest most beneficial thing so far this season.

1 third of the way in and what I've learnt is that with the exception of Sunderland, there really are no standout teams and very few awful ones. The PL is going to cluster around a top 6, whose lower margins may blur with another 3 or 4. The remaining 9 are but a short Pardewesque streak away from a fantastic season or relegation. This of course makes predictions very tough, because lots of teams are quite equally matched, and even when a disparity exists, the tactics and occasional diamonds (funded by your TV money) mean that there exists a very real chance of the underdog leaving with a little something in their goodie bag.

I have absolutely no intention of following this theory up, but I wonder whether El Impossibilitee or Die Impossibilitee would be any easier than our Anglocentric game. My suspicion is probably not - or at least not statistically so....but amigos & Kamerads....feel free to test this out for yourselves.

Let's get statty:

This week, 22 people played
Most popular predicted result: Man City WIN (22/22)
Most disputed result: Burnley vs Crystal Palace (8-6-8 split)

Highest odds: Me 11,267/1 (not sure how)
Lowest odds: Josh Daniels 451/1
Average odds: 3027/1

Best predictor: Will O'Doherty (6/10)
Worst predictors: David Silverman, Tarek & my mother (2/10)
Average score: 3.68/10 (season lowest)

Best predicted results: Chelsea & Liverpool WINS (20/22)
Worst predicted results: Sunderland, WBA, Hull WINS & Man City vs M'Boro DRAW (0/10 - I believe 4 0s is a new record)

Everyone's results:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 8/11)

To this week's predos:

Man Utd vs Arsenal - DRAW

Crystal Palace vs Man City - MAN CITY

Everton vs Swansea - EVERTON

Southampton vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL

Stoke vs Bournemouth - STOKE

Sunderland vs Hull City - HULL CITY

Watford vs Leicester - WATFORD

Spurs vs West Ham - DRAW

Middlesborough vs Chelsea - CHELSEA

WBA vs Burnley - WBA

Good luck guys!

S6M11: All the Golazos

As a general rule, this chat is pretty Premier League-centric. It's a Premier League game, and that's where we've all focused on.

This week, however, I'm going to veer into something a little continental. Namely, how damn good this week's Champions' League was for goals. Like, there are always lots of goals, but there were some proper wowsers-in-my-trousers moments.

I'm still trying to work out which my favourite was (no I'm not, it's obvious, but I'm trying to pretend I'm not biased).

Antoine Griezmann - He's quite good at football. His kung-fu first goal was delicious but I was also a major fan of the late winner - the way he quickly adjusts his body position to stab the ball into the top corner. Yeesh.

Thomas Meunier - Still think he sliced it but you have to like the balls on a full back having a dig in the last minute from a floated cross, outside the box. The slo-mo of the Basel keeper wrapped around the post was also both hilarious and upsetting at the same time

Mesut Ozil - Knicking. A. Living. He shares the ability of the true greats to play with the fabric of time. Really interesting from him playing on the last shoulder when Giroud drops deep - no idea why Ludogorets persisted with such a high line but the control, the vision and the way he could have scored that goal about 5 different ways. Just #JaMesutJa

Gareth Bale - my first experience of the BT Sport goal show started with a bang. They hadn't finished introducing the kick offs when it was a goal in Warsaw (and what a bizarre game that was). Bale absolutely creaming a volley in - something his manager did in iconic fashion in the same competition in the 2002 final. Absolute filth.

Vadis Odjidja - The catalyst for the Legia comeback. Keylor Navas left grasping at thin air with a perfectly placed curler from distance. It's possible that the Madrid defence were a little complacent in shutting the shot down but you have to respect the execution.

I have fought the temptation to mention Kevin Kampl. Oops

So yeah, some fantastic strikes this week. Honorably mentions also to Messi & Gundogan. Does anyone else have any additions I may have missed?

Premier League service will be resumed next week.

Let's get statty:

This week, 23 people played (sort it out guys....)
Most popular predicted result: Arsenal WIN (23/23)
Most disputed result: Southampton vs Chelsea (4-9-10 split)

Highest odds: AFM (4676/1)
Lowest odds: Doron (451/1)
Average odds: 1761/1

Best predictors: Feneley & EuroClubIndex (8/10)
Worst predictor: AFM & David Brickman (4/10)
Average score: 6.04/10

Best predicted result: Arsenal WIN (23/23)
Worst predicted result: Man Utd vs Burnley DRAW (1/23 - well done Feneley)

Everyone's results:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 7/10)

To this week's predictions:

Bournemouth vs Sunderland - BOURNEMOUTH

Burnley vs Crystal Palace - BURNLEY

Man City vs Middlesborough - MAN CITY

West Ham vs Stoke - DRAW

Chelsea vs Everton - CHELSEA

Arsenal vs Spurs - DRAW

Hull vs Southampton - SOUTHAMPTON

Liverpool vs Watford - DRAW

Swansea vs Man Utd - SWANSEA

Leicester vs WBA - LEICESTER

Total odds: 11,267/1

Good luck guys

S6M10: Buzz

I believe I've previously alluded on these hallowed pixels to the BBC Sport app I have on my phone, and its instantly recognisable push-notification vibrations. I think I mentioned being woken by the late Cazorla winner against Southampton when I was on night shifts. Well, I have another story to share involving work & BBC Sport. Except this time, there was no vibration. My Saturday shift remained buzzless for 2 45 minute spells in the afternoon. You were sorely missed.

This was made worse by my colleague being a massive Liverpool fan - his phone seemingly didn't stop buzzing, as he was quick to point out. However, the important thing to note is that we were both very happy on Sunday evening, and that's the true Christmas miracle. Let's start backwards. Is there anything more schadenfreudey than Mourinho being a colossal sourpuss-hypocrite? Both my Scouse (from Coventry, natch) mate and I were also pretty happy with the City/Saints & Bournemouth/Spurs results from earlier in the weekend too.

Working does funny things to your brain, and I was convinced I'd had a shocker this week. Leicester getting back on track wasn't something I'd predicted nor Burnley beating Everton. Fortunately, you can always rely on Sunderland to lose. Stoke's good form continued and something happened between Watford & Swansea, but let's face it...no one cares. Now the Watford story is on faking a bank letter. School boy error. All they needed to do was provide proof that Pozzo's Nigerian uncle was stumping up the cash...

Don't really have much more to add today other than to share this with those of you who have yet to see it. CLICK IT. IT'S GOOD.

Let's get statty:

This week, 28 people played
Most popular predicted result: Arsenal WIN (28/28)
Most disputed result: Swansea vs Watford (9-10-9 split)

Highest odds: Me 4559/1
Lowest odds: Feneley 378/1
Average odds: 1909/1

Best predictor: Me (7/10)
Worst predictors: Doron, Joe & Aron (2/10)
Average score: 4.36/10

Best predicted result: West Ham WIN (26/28)
Worst predicted result: Arsenal vs M'Boro DRAW (0/28)

Everyone's scores:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 7/9)

To this week's predictions:

Sunderland vs Arsenal - ARSENAL
Man Utd vs Burnley - MAN UTD
Middlesborough vs Bournemouth - BOURNEMOUTH
Spurs vs Leicester - LEICESTER
Watford vs Hull - WATFORD
WBA vs Man City - MAN CITY (stuffing)
Crystal Palace vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL
Everton vs West Ham - DRAW
Southampton vs Chelsea - SOUTHAMPTON
Stoke vs Swansea - STOKE

Total odds: 3021/1

Good luck guys

S6M9: Definitely on top of all this

2 weeks in a row eh.

That's what you call poor form. I'm not entirely sure where this week has gone - but thanks for the reminder messages. It's a great feeling to know you're waiting on tenterhooks for my weekly offering.

Just looked up what a tenterhook is. If I'm honest, I'm not entirely convinced by that phrase.

Last week, Chelsea continued their return to form, Arsenal deservedly won although really did their darndest to welcome Bob Bradley in friendly fashion. Bournemouth gained their best PL result, whilst Koeman continued to show up Martinez with an outstanding defensive display to take a point away from the Etihad. Sunderland added another datapoint to my hypothesis that they are genuinely the worst team ever, whilst Peak Pulisball was achieved at the expense of Spurs. West Ham are back amongst the winners - Cresswall's return the catalyst according to many, and Watford also had a fullback to thank for their win up in the northeast. Charlie Austin's hot streak continues and then we turn to Red Monday. And forget all about it - so nearly Peak Mourinho.

Anyway - a double stats blog to get through this week, so without further ado....

Matchday 7

This week, 27 people played
Most popular predicted result: Arsenal WIN (27/27)
Most disputed result: Sunderland vs WBA (6-10-11 split)

Highest odds: Josh Daniels (14,623/1)
Lowest odds: Feneley (432/1)
Average odds: 5632/1

Best predictor: Josh Gaon (9/10)
Worst predictors: Loads of ya (3/10)
Average score: 4.7/10

Best predicted result: Arsenal WIN (27/27)
Worst predicted result: Man Utd vs Stoke DRAW (2/27)

Everyone's results:

Matchday 8

This week, 27 people played
Most popular predicted result: Southampton WIN (27/27)
Most disputed result: Middlesborough vs Watford (7-11-9 split)

Highest odds: Feneley (1727/1)
Lowest odds: Me & Steven Daniels  (391/1)
Average odds: 1075/1

Best predictor: Aron Kleiman (9/10)
Worst predictor: Menachem Grunewald (3/10)
Average score: 5.48/10

Best predicted result: Southampton WIN (27/27)
Worst predicted result: Man City vs Everton DRAW (3/27)

Everyone's results:

To the leaderboard (>2/3; 6/8)

A new leader after 2 week's movement, plus the range has significantly reduced.

To this week's predictions:

Bournemouth vs Spurs - DRAW

Arsenal vs M'Boro - ARSENAL

Burnley vs Everton  - EVERTON

Hull vs Stoke - STOKE

Leicester vs Crystal Palace - CRYSTAL PALACE

Swansea vs Watford - DRAW

West Ham vs Sunderland - WEST HAM

Liverpool vs WBA - LIVERPOOL

Man City vs Southampton - DRAW

Chelsea vs Man Utd - CHELSEA

Total odds: 4559/1

Good luck guys.

Hopefully a little more organised next week....

S6M8: PPPPP (sort of)

I knew this week would be tough so (Tom) cleverly got all my ducks lined up. Did the statty bit last week so all I had to do was write & post this week. Even planned to use autopublish as I knew last night wasn't going to be a posting night.

Somewhere along the way however, there was a slight issue, a minor snag, un (Emmnauel) petit obstacle. The blog never actually got written.

To apologise in the fashion of a man unlikely to become America's next top president would be unworthy of all you folks, but obviously it wasn't my fault that this little hiccup occurred. That was down to the good folks at Rowan's bowling, beer & karaoke who essentially kidnapped me very much with my consent. So blame them. And if you're them, I don't blame you and feel free to throw a free game my way for the plug AND the promise of the sexennial Impossibilitee Christmas party....

A full results blog will be uploaded shortly, but here are some predos before the weekend and please accept my humblest apologies for the delay in arrival of your blog.

This week's predos:

Chelsea vs Leicester - CHELSEA
Arsenal vs Swansea- ARSENAL
Bournemouth vs Hull - BOURNEMOUTH
Man City vs Everton - MAN CITY
Stoke vs Sunderland - STOKE
WBA vs Spurs - SPURS
Crystal Palace vs West Ham - PALACE
Middlesbrough vs Watford - DRAW
Southampton vs Burnley - SOUTHAMPTON
Liverpool vs Man Utd - LIVERPOOL

Full odds to follow

Good luck guys!

S6M7: Gaiety

One of the problems with writing a blog post 30-something weeks of the year for 5 years is that I can't really remember everything I've written. I'm pretty sure I've talked before about my pity for those who don't get "sports" and the wonderful spectrum of emotions that can only be unleashed by proper psychological investment in the contest.

Well, this week was one of those weeks. I can't pretend like I got any joy from watching Man Utd finally drop Rooney 3 years too late and start picking up some form. I absolutely took immense pleasure in the Benteke injury time winner condemning Sunderland to (yet another) defeat, thus sparking a Moyesian meltdown in the post-match interview & also edging closer to my suspicion that Sunderland will finish the season with a single point. They really are awful. I watched gleefully as a very poor Chelsea side were dismantled by a rampant Arsenal team that really wouldn't have been flattered by a couple more goals added onto their side of the scoreline. And then West Ham (see last week's blog) losing at home was also a smile from the universe. 

What else? Stoke giving up 2 points late on was amusing, and good on Bournemouth for finally getting a good result this year. Difficult second album and all that. Liverpool & City look ominous in an attacking sense, but City have the advantage in that they also believe in the part of the game revolving around defending. 10/10 for Guardiola so far. Spurs have also got off to their best start to a league campaign since the 1950s which is very nice for them. In the Monday fixture, Dyche got his revenge over Watford, with a 2-0 victory at Turf Moor.

And in breaking news as I write this...Allardici has had his wonderful karmic come-uppance and been sacked (jumped before pushed wtvr) from his dream job as England manager for frankly, being venal and corrupt. The fawning over him from the pundits on the Champions League coverage is nauseating. He's tried to earn a quick buck in a dodgy fashion and had his hand well and truly caught in the cookie jar. Couldn't have happened to a nicer walrus. God knows who the PFM media will now trumpet as the next heir annointed. For my money, we should give Keegan another bash. He was good at Euro 2000. According to Facebook, I'm also only 1 degree of separation from one of the Telegraph journos who did this whole thing - so if they're reading this, well done them and if you ever play Impossibilitee you get a special prize...

'Nuff of that. Let's get statty:

This week, 26 people played

Most popular predicted results: Man City & Liverpool WINS (26/26)

Most disputed result: West Ham vs Southampton (10-8-8 split)

Highest odds: Josh Daniels 7725/1

Lowest odds: Steven Daniels 2130/1

Average odds: 4148.1

Best predictors: Loads of ya (7/10)

Worst predictor: Aron Kleiman & Yo Abbott (3/10)

Average score: 5.62/10

Best predicted results:  Man City & Liverpool WINS (26/26)

Worst predicted result: Bournemouth WIN (2/26)

Everyone's results:

To the leaderboard (>2/3; 5/6)

This week's predictions:

Everton vs Crystal Palace - CRYSTAL PALACE
Swansea vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL
Hull vs Chelsea - CHELSEA
Sunderland vs WBA - WBA
Watford vs Bournemouth - DRAW
West Ham vs M'Boro - DRAW
Man Utd vs Stoke - MAN UTD
Leicester vs Southampton - LEICESTER
Spurs vs Man City - DRAW
Burnley vs Arsenal - ARSENAL

Total odds: 4626/1

Good luck guys

S6M7: Gaiety

One of the problems with writing a blog post 30-something weeks of the year for 5 years is that I can't really remember everything I've written. I'm pretty sure I've talked before about my pity for those who don't get "sports" and the wonderful spectrum of emotions that can only be unleashed by proper psychological investment in the contest.

Well, this week was one of those weeks. I can't pretend like I got any joy from watching Man Utd finally drop Rooney 3 years too late and start picking up some form. I absolutely took immense pleasure in the Benteke injury time winner condemning Sunderland to (yet another) defeat, thus sparking a Moyesian meltdown in the post-match interview & also edging closer to my suspicion that Sunderland will finish the season with a single point. They really are awful. I watched gleefully as a very poor Chelsea side were dismantled by a rampant Arsenal team that really wouldn't have been flattered by a couple more goals added onto their side of the scoreline. And then West Ham (see last week's blog) losing at home was also a smile from the universe. 

What else? Stoke giving up 2 points late on was amusing, and good on Bournemouth for finally getting a good result this year. Difficult second album and all that. Liverpool & City look ominous in an attacking sense, but City have the advantage in that they also believe in the part of the game revolving around defending. 10/10 for Guardiola so far. Spurs have also got off to their best start to a league campaign since the 1950s which is very nice for them. In the Monday fixture, Dyche got his revenge over Watford, with a 2-0 victory at Turf Moor.

And in breaking news as I write this...Allardici has had his wonderful karmic come-uppance and been sacked (jumped before pushed wtvr) from his dream job as England manager for frankly, being venal and corrupt. The fawning over him from the pundits on the Champions League coverage is nauseating. He's tried to earn a quick buck in a dodgy fashion and had his hand well and truly caught in the cookie jar. Couldn't have happened to a nicer walrus. God knows who the PFM media will now trumpet as the next heir annointed. For my money, we should give Keegan another bash. He was good at Euro 2000. According to Facebook, I'm also only 1 degree of separation from one of the Telegraph journos who did this whole thing - so if they're reading this, well done them and if you ever play Impossibilitee you get a special prize...

'Nuff of that. Let's get statty:

This week, 26 people played

Most popular predicted results: Man City & Liverpool WINS (26/26)

Most disputed result: West Ham vs Southampton (10-8-8 split)

Highest odds: Josh Daniels 7725/1

Lowest odds: Steven Daniels 2130/1

Average odds: 4148.1

Best predictors: Loads of ya (7/10)

Worst predictor: Aron Kleiman & Yo Abbott (3/10)

Average score: 5.62/10

Best predicted results:  Man City & Liverpool WINS (26/26)

Worst predicted result: Bournemouth WIN (2/26)

Everyone's results:

To the leaderboard (>2/3; 5/6)

This week's predictions:

Everton vs Crystal Palace - CRYSTAL PALACE
Swansea vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL
Hull vs Chelsea - CHELSEA
Sunderland vs WBA - WBA
Watford vs Bournemouth - DRAW
West Ham vs M'Boro - DRAW
Man Utd vs Stoke - MAN UTD
Leicester vs Stoke - LEICESTER
Spurs vs Man City - DRAW
Burnley vs Arsenal - ARSENAL

Total odds: 4626/1

Good luck guys

S6M7: Gaiety

One of the problems with writing a blog post 30-something weeks of the year for 5 years is that I can't really remember everything I've written. I'm pretty sure I've talked before about my pity for those who don't get "sports" and the wonderful spectrum of emotions that can only be unleashed by proper psychological investment in the contest.

Well, this week was one of those weeks. I can't pretend like I got any joy from watching Man Utd finally drop Rooney 3 years too late and start picking up some form. I absolutely took immense pleasure in the Benteke injury time winner condemning Sunderland to (yet another) defeat, thus sparking a Moyesian meltdown in the post-match interview & also edging closer to my suspicion that Sunderland will finish the season with a single point. They really are awful. I watched gleefully as a very poor Chelsea side were dismantled by a rampant Arsenal team that really wouldn't have been flattered by a couple more goals added onto their side of the scoreline. And then West Ham (see last week's blog) losing at home was also a smile from the universe. 

What else? Stoke giving up 2 points late on was amusing, and good on Bournemouth for finally getting a good result this year. Difficult second album and all that. Liverpool & City look ominous in an attacking sense, but City have the advantage in that they also believe in the part of the game revolving around defending. 10/10 for Guardiola so far. Spurs have also got off to their best start to a league campaign since the 1950s which is very nice for them. In the Monday fixture, Dyche got his revenge over Watford, with a 2-0 victory at Turf Moor.

And in breaking news as I write this...Allardici has had his wonderful karmic come-uppance and been sacked (jumped before pushed wtvr) from his dream job as England manager for frankly, being venal and corrupt. The fawning over him from the pundits on the Champions League coverage is nauseating. He's tried to earn a quick buck in a dodgy fashion and had his hand well and truly caught in the cookie jar. Couldn't have happened to a nicer walrus. God knows who the PFM media will now trumpet as the next heir annointed. For my money, we should give Keegan another bash. He was good at Euro 2000. According to Facebook, I'm also only 1 degree of separation from one of the Telegraph journos who did this whole thing - so if they're reading this, well done them and if you ever play Impossibilitee you get a special prize...

'Nuff of that. Let's get statty:

This week, 26 people played

Most popular predicted results: Man City & Liverpool WINS (26/26)

Most disputed result: West Ham vs Southampton (10-8-8 split)

Highest odds: Josh Daniels 7725/1

Lowest odds: Steven Daniels 2130/1

Average odds: 4148.1

Best predictors: Loads of ya (7/10)

Worst predictor: Aron Kleiman & Yo Abbott (3/10)

Average score: 5.62/10

Best predicted results:  Man City & Liverpool WINS (26/26)

Worst predicted result: Bournemouth WIN (2/26)

Everyone's results:

To the leaderboard (>2/3; 5/6)

This week's predictions:

Everton vs Crystal Palace - CRYSTAL PALACE
Swansea vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL
Hull vs Chelsea - CHELSEA
Sunderland vs WBA - WBA
Watford vs Bournemouth - DRAW
West Ham vs M'Boro - DRAW
Man Utd vs Stoke - MAN UTD
Leicester vs Stoke - LEICESTER
Spurs vs Man City - DRAW
Burnley vs Arsenal - ARSENAL

Total odds: 4626/1

Good luck guys

S6M6: Goals Galore

I'd thought after Koscielny & Costa's overheard kicks that the Goal of the Month competition was wrapped for September. Jordan Henderson had other ideas. Then Granit Xhaka decided he wanted some too. And Mahrez wanted to show off his dribbles and City did the whole lightening counter-attack team goal thing twice. Basically, this weekend saw some great goals, and more so, lots of goals!

It started off on the Friday. Friday night games are a real bugger for the rhythm of this blog, and also screw over the FinkTank who automatically loses a potential point. That said, I'm unwilling to try and assist them on this matter due to the eponymous Lord being quite unpleasant to a number of colleagues over a small industrial dispute playing out in the courts at the minute. So, the FinkTank and others have to remember that Friday evening weeks are here to stay and I recommend a phone reminder to do all predictions by lunchtime Friday as to not find yourself in the same situation.

Special props to Nick Jones who snuck in with a 1 word prediction at (according to my system) 8:01 on Friday night, before giving me the full list on Saturday. I've allowed it because 1) I'm allowing for the internet delay betwen send-receive, 2) I'm not certain the game didn't kick off at 8.05 as is customary with TV games and 3) it amused me. Next time, let's try for a few minutes earlier as to avoid any doubt.

Arsenal, City & WBA raced through the gears on their way to comfortable wins (although West ham briefly threatened a comeback) and Leicester took a little while to hit their stride, but were never really in danger of dropping points once they'd scored against Burnley. Everton continued their good form with a good win against potential banana skin Middlesborough, coming from behind after an interesting decision to allow a rather agricultural challenge from Negredo on the 'keeper. Quelle 1960s...

On Sunday, we were treated to a huge win from Watford against Man Utd, Mazzari triumphing over a disgruntled Mourinho gaining revenge for some old school Serie A beef from back in the day. A result so surprising the only 2 to predict it were mine and Andre Feneley's mothers....regular players will appreciate that this is a rare occurrence. Charlie Austin scored again to secure 3 points for Southampton and Harry Kane scored the winner for Spurs before getting injured and then weirdly sucking his thumb as he left the pitch.

Bizarre.

Let's get statty:

This week, 28 people played (season high)
Most popular predicted result: Leicester WIN (27/28)
Most disputed result: Chelsea vs Liverpool (12-9-6 split)

Highest odds: AFM 35191/1
Next highest odds: RDM 4177/1
Lowest odds: Doron Salomon 407/1
Average odds: 6327/1 (1517/1 without the outlier)

Best predictors: EuroClub Index, Josh Daniels & Brad Allix (8/10)
Worst predictor: Joe Miller (4/10)
Average score: 6.5/10

Best predicted result: Leicester WIN (27/28)
Worst predicted result: Watford WIN (2/10)

Everyone's scores:

To the leaderboard (>2/3; 4/5)

Menachem keeps a clear lead at the top before some clustering below. If I knew anything about cycling, I'm sure there's a peloton comment there somewhere...David climbs off the bottom in a Spurs-eat-Spurs battle.

To this week's predictions:

Man Utd vs Leicester - DRAW

Bournemouth vs Everton - EVERTON

Liverpool vs Hull - LIVERPOOL

Middlesborough vs Spurs - SPURS

Stoke vs WBA - STOKE
Sunderland vs Crystal Palace - CRYSTAL PALACE (I think I'm going to bet on Sunderland to lose every single game this year)

Swansea vs Man City - MAN CITY

Arsenal vs Chelsea - DRAW

West Ham vs Southampton - SOUTHAMPTON

Burnley vs Watford - WATFORD

Total odds: 3772/1

Good luck guys!

S6M5: Pep Talk

Well that got interesting.

The Manchester derby was given the full hype...and legitimately so. 1-0 Pep in the battle for Mancunian supremacy and deservedly so. Working night shifts isn't exactly the ideal way to watch games, but from what I saw, de Bruyne was terrific. When I saw him at the Emirates last year, he absolutely terrified me. A superb player, direct and efficient - Pep's clearly got him playing at the top of his game and, in tandem with Aguero and a slowly-returning to form Sterling, could recreate a modified version of Barca's MSN - pace, trickery and lethal finishing. One to watch, especially as Fernandinho continues to protect the possible weak links in the defence.

Returning to my work pattern, I was annoyed to be woken up at 5pm on Saturday a good hour earlier than I'd planned. I'd stupidly forgotten to put my phone on mute and heard 3 double vibrations in quick succession. Thanks BBC Sport:

** PENALTY (Arsenal)**
** GOAL (Cazorla 90+4)**
**FT Arsenal 2-1 Southampton**

There are worse ways to be woken than a last minute Santi winner :D

My next topic is the kray kray game at the Olympic stadium. West Ham 2-0 up and cruising before Watford go into overdrive and end up disappointed to have only scored the 4! What a game!

Liverpool dismantled Leicester to continue a miserable start to their tile defence - I think you'd struggle to find odds of 5000/1 for a repeat this year. Spurs battered a poor Stoke side shorn of the ever passhunate Sparky from the sidelines, whilst Lukaku scored a hat trick far too late to help my fantasy league team.

Finally to overhead kicks. 2 glorious efforts from Koscielny and Costa this week to draw their teams level. Anyone who thinks these goals should be banned due to dangerous play needs a timeout in a dark room. Who amongst us didn't spend hours in the garden as a child willingly throwing themself backwards to the ground, legs and arms flailing as you tried to connect with a ball thrown straight in the air moments earlier.

It's what it's all about...

Let's get statty:

This week, 27 people played
Most popular predicted result: Arsenal WIN (26/27)
Most disputed result: Burnley vs Hull (13-9-5 split)

Highest odds: Feneley 18954/1
Lowest odds: Steven Daniels 1118/1
Average odds: 9419/1

Best predictor: Menachem Grunewald (6/10)
Worst predictors: David Brickman & Aron Kleiman (2/10)
Average score: 4.15/10

Best predicted result: Arsenal WIN (26/27)
Worst predicted result: Swansea vs Chelsea DRAW (1/27 - well done AFM)

Everyone's results:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 3/4)

To this week's predictions now:

Chelsea vs Liverpool - CHELSEA
Hull vs Arsenal - ARSENAL
Leicester vs Burnley - LEICESTER
Man City vs Bournemouth - MAN CITY
WBA vs West Ham - DRAW
Everton vs M'Boro - EVERTON
Watford vs Man Utd - DRAW
Crystal Palace vs Stoke - CRYSTAL PALACE
Southampton vs Swansea - SOUTHAMPTON
Spurs vs Sunderland - SPURS

Total odds: 737/1 (Paddypower)

Good luck guys!

S6M4: Leaderboard's up

International breaks are strange times. International breaks immediately post-transfer window are frustrating times. I had an exam a few days after the England game, so also forgot that was on. Watched the 2nd half - what a load of tosh that was. Well worth the Hodgson payoff for more of the same.

My exam was in Stratford, so at lunch I went for a wander around the Queen Elizabeth Park, or the park formerly known as the Olympic Park if I were to pay homage to Minnesota's finest. Peaceful place, if you ignore all the tourists and building sites, and trains and stuff. The riverboats are nice though. It's cool that you can go for a paddle at the same place I went to watch the diving back in the day (over 4 years now....wowsers). I've been back about once a year since for various reasons - last time was probably for the Rugby World Cup which was the first time I'd been inside the Olympic Stadium - really nice I thought.

Well that's been ruined.

Who on earth thought that the Olympic legacy involved a giant Andy Carroll? We're trying to regenerate East London, not scare off children. Urgh.

On a more serious note, it's pretty wrong. You don't blame West Ham for grabbing the opportunity, but it's pretty unfair on every other club who've had to organise their finances accordingly and spend years planning and building etc. Arsenal was a £400m, 10 year project. Spurs even more. Look at the difficulty Chelsea, Liverpool & Everton are having. 

I think my revulsion stems from 2 places - and I think this is where it differs from Man City in 2002.

• The cost - it's a bloody steal. Why are we not charging West Ham say £100m upfront and £20m a year for 50 years or whatever? Why has the taxpayer funded not only the construction of the stadium (fair enough) but also it's conversion and much of the ongoing maintenance?
• The local effect - I've spent much of the last 2 years working in this area, a good goal kick away from Leyton Orient & Brisbane Rd. A Premier League club decamping to their patch could potentially kill the Os in year to come, especially if West Ham keep discounting tickets to try and fill the place. Why weren't Leyton Orient given at least shared tenancy of the Olympic Stadium? At least that way, arguably the legacy is befitting the locals a little more.

Anyway, I've always quite liked West Ham. I liked Julian Dicks, and that Di Canio doing Barthez thing. I was obviously happy they thwarted Spurs's attempt to move to Stratford. But now I really find myself hoping that they suffer a little, as I just think it's pretty unfair. Petty? Mean spirited? Would you expect any less.

Enough of that. No recap of 2 week old football here.

Let's get statty:

This week, 26 people played

Most popular predicted result: Chelsea WIN (26/26)

Most disputed result: WBA vs Middlesborough (6-13-7 split)

Highest odds: Me, 1599/1

Lowest odds: Steven Daniels 362/1

Average odds: 1213/1

Best predictors: Millions of you (8/10)

Worst predictors: Me, AFM & Aron Kleiman (4/10)

Average score: 6.58/10

Best predicted result: Chelsea WIN (26/26)

Worst predicted result: Southampton vs Sunderland DRAW (2/26)

Everyone's results:

For the first time this season, the leaderboard. For our new amigos, to qualify for the leaderboard, you have to play in >2/3 of available weeks. Obviously, only having played 3 weeks, that means for this leaderboard, you have to be an ever present.

Early days yet though, and loads of movement at this time of year.

To this week's predos:

Man Utd vs Man City - MAN UTD

Arsenal vs Southampton - ARSENAL

Bournemouth vs WBA - BOURNEMOUTH

Burnley vs Hull - HULL

Middlesborough vs Crystal Palace - BORO

Stoke vs Tottenham - DRAW

West Ham vs Watford - WEST HAM

Liverpool vs Leicester - LIVERPOOL

Swansea vs Chelsea - CHELSEA

Sunderland vs Everton - EVERTON

Total odds: 1989/1

Good luck guys!