S5: Final Leaderboard & FA Cup Final

The midweek action had left very little to be decided. Which club nabbed the 4th Champions League spot, and therefore which teams qualified for the Europa League, who got more prize money for finishing higher in the table and finally, whether St Totteringham would make his annual appearance.

Before all that was decided, we had some excitement up at Old Trafford - and not the usual last-day-of-the-season type. The official line was a training device left behind - which calls into account the competency of the training company and the success of the exercise, but events were pretty scary as they unfolded live - the spectre of Paris looms. As a regular attender, this kind of thing really spooks me - the half-hearted frisking offered in the outer circle at the Emirates isn't really fit for purpose. Loads of people praised the Police and stewards for a calm, timely evacuation of OT but 1 security expert I follow on Twitter pointed out that it took nearly an hour to evacuate a public space which a suspected explosive device in it - he pointed out that this wouldn't be considered particularly efficient in many other places.

Anyway, it was all alright in the end, but for the 2nd time this season, the fragility of the football bubble was brought home.

On the pitch, Man City did enough to all but mathematically secure 4th place, whilst Southampton took advantage of a distracted Crystal Palace side to secure Europa League over West Ham who conceded a late winner to Stoke. The Hammers can play in Europe next year if Man Utd win the FA Cup on Saturday.

And so to the battle for 2nd place. The Spurs collapse over the last month has been both predictable in it's Spursyness, but also in it's Pochettinoness. That hasn't made it less funny though, and the door was opened a crack for Arsenal to overtake on the last day. Suffice it to say, that crack was enough to stick a tonne of TNT in and blow the bloody doors off.  Newcastle were doing their bit being 2-0 up at half time, whilst Arsenal had a nervy 1-0 lead. Mitrovic's red for a filthy leg-breaker of a tackle, and Lamela's strike made for squeaky bottoms at the Emirates, but a remarkable 15 minute spell saw Newcastle score (dive!), Giroud score 2 to secure the Arsenal win and then another 2 to rub salt in from the Toon.

Jamie Vardy had his party on the Monday, and Man Utd didn't score 19 on the Tuesday - and that's the PL season done.

So, let's get statty:
This week, 25 people played
The most popular predicted result: Arsenal WIN (25/25)
Most disputed result: Stoke vs West Ham (6-9-10 split)

Highest odds: Steven Daniels 16198/1
Lowest odds: Doron Salomon 892/1
Average odds: 8948/1

Best predictor: Doron - 7/10
Worst predictors: My mother & sister - 3/10
Average score: 5.08/10

Best predicted result: Arsenal WIN (25/25)
Worst predicted result: Newcastle WIN (3/25 - all delusional/prophetic gooners)

Swing: Ayew's equaliser for Swansea through out 15 people's predictions

Everyone's scores:

The final leaderboard for Season 5 (>2/3; 25/37)

So Dagmar holds on for a maiden season victory. EuroClubIndex wins "Model of the Year", whilst reigning champ Josh Gaon does a reverse-Leicester...oh dear.

We'll get the trophy engraved and presented ASAP and then photos to follow!

All the other particpants this season as follows:

So, to the FA Cup game:

Quarter Finals:

9.25/13 participated
Arsenal to beat Watford was the most popular choice (9/13). It was also the worst choice (Watford WIN 0/13)
Everton vs Chelsea was the most disputed choice (4-5 split), whilst Palace winning was the best predicted result (7/13)
8 people also thought West Ham would win!

All 2s and 1s this round - see below!

Semi Finals:
12/13 participated
Man Utd to WIN was the most popular prediction and the best predicted (9/13)
Palace vs Watford was a 6-6 split.
Lots of 2s, I was the only 0 who actually predicted...

All the results:

So Tarek has a 1 point lead over me, Steven Daniels, Joe Abbott and Josh Daniels - Zoe & Doron could also potentially split the prize pot.

So to the final prediction of the season:

FA Cup Final:

Crystal Palace vs Manchester United - Prediction TBC

I'm happy for people to message me privately or post comments below if they don't care - this doesn't give Tarek the tactical advantage of being able to German everyone....

Good luck to all the FA Cup participants, results blog to follow next week and thank to everyone who played the main game all season - hope you'll all be back in August for Impossibilitee Season 6!