S5M38: Playing for pride (and Automatic CL Qualification)

The midweek games confirmed a few things:

• Arsenal finish Top 4 again. This could be 2nd - 4th depending on this weekend's results
• Spurs are also guaranteed automatic qualification - I think this was only true after the Man City vs Arsenal draw although I might be wrong...
• West Ham fans love a headbutt - against a bus. What kind of idiot headbutts a moving bus? 
• They said farewell to their historic ground with an awful performance against Swansea, followed by a rousing comeback against Man Utd. Bilic's season in a nutshell.
• All the stick for their post-game show thing - these things are universally awful. But I stayed after Arsenal's last game at Highbury (10 years ago!) for about 2 hours for something equally shite (Roger Daltry's "Highbury Highes" song composed specially...) so they have full empathy from me. 
• Sunderland are safe - and Big Sam does it again. Dunno about that nauseating conducting thing, but credit where credit's due...
• John Terry's red card. Just amazing. Good riddance
• Newcastle are down. I genuinely don't understand how a side too good to be relegated manages to do it TWICE in a decade. Once is careless enough...but if you can't beat Villa....
• Norwich are also down. They've really struggled to get to grips with the league this year - finding a balance between solidity and creativity
• Martinez has outstayed his Merseyside welcome. You'd have to say that's probably the peak for his career too....he was a young promising manager once upon a time, but now you can see the same flaws in all his teams, you have to assume that's his genuine ability. Can't see a big club taking him on - his next move would probably be to a defensively sound team where he can give a boost to the attacking play...like his 1st year at Everton. Weird that they sacked him with 1 game left....why not wait until Monday?

That's after the weekend saw Leicester lift the title in front of a raucous crowd & Andrea Bocelli! Mna Utd scraped a win and you'd have to say that if/when they finish 5th, that's van Gaal gone. Still think Mourinho would be a bigger mistake though - I think his shtick is also done now.

Let's get statty:

This week, 25 people played

Most popular predicted result: West Ham WIN (24/25)

Most disputed result: Spurs vs Southampton (10-7-8 split respectively)

Highest odds: Steven Daniels 6984/1

Lowest odds: Doron Salomon 1463/1

Average odds: 4394/1

Best predictors: Dinkin & Nick Jones (6/10)

Worst predictors: Nearly everyone else (3/10)

Average score: 3.88/10

Best predicted result: Man Utd WIN 923/25)

Worst predicted result: Aston Villa vs Newcastle DRAW (0/25). Honourable mention to Feneley who was the only one to predict a Swansea WIN. 

Swing: Defoe's winner for Sunderland deprived 10 of a point.

Everyone's scores:

Penultimate leaderboard (>2/3; 25/36)

For the final time this league season:

Arsenal vs Aston Villa - ARSENAL

Chelsea vs Leicester - DRAW

Everton vs Norwich - EVERTON

Man Utd vs Bournemouth - MAN UTD

Newcastle vs Spurs - SPURS

Southampton vs Crystal Palace - SOUTHAMPTON (FA CUP FINAL HOLIDAY FOR PALACE)

Stoke vs West Ham - DRAW

Swansea vs Man City - DRAW

Watford vs Sunderland - WATFORD

WBA vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL

Good luck guys!