S6M21: Nelly the Prophet

Memory is a baffling thing. We don't really get it. We know which bits of the brain light up under scan...we sort of know the route mapped out to lay down memory but the how is still full of shrugs.

And that's without even touching on the other aspect - recovery. 'Cos unless you're me moving house, there's no point shoving stuff in a box which will never be opened again and anyway what if it comes in useful shut up I'm not a hoarder you're a hoarder.

So some memory is obvious and we access it daily. How to do tasks, remembering faces etc. A lot of this is subconscious but there's also the flipping through the mental roladex to get the information you want. Then there's the random incursion triggered by some unknown switch. Your mind might link a particular smell or a sound or song to a memory instantly bringing the past front & centre.

But we also get triggers from bizarre stuff. The "I don't know what you did there Brain, but I kinda liked it" surprises. Which is basically the whole reason for the last 300 words. I was looking for someway to talk about Chelsea losing to Spurs & therefore ending their winning streak. As a Gooner, it was a real Heart vs Head vs Heart that one...obviously Chelsea couldn't win as 1) they're Chelsea 2) they're way ahead in the league and 3) the whole Arsenal consecutive wins record thing but also Spurs are Spurs (thanks Prime Minister for allowing us to get away with meaningless definitions in every day contexts now. Top PMing).

In the end, I was happy enough with the result given that my prayers for the whole (Batman) Bale-stadium-earth-crack thing  (see previous blogs) never comes true, but every now and again, I try to at least pretend that I'm objective which meant recognising the brilliant run that Conte managed to put together and how transformative it's been for their season. So I came up with the phrase "all good things must come to an end" as a starting point at which point the inspiration for the waffle above popped into my head like one of those autoplay ads ruining the internet.

Nelly Bloody Furtado.

Who remembered she existed? Who's now humming the song to themselves? Apologies all round.

In other footballing news, Man City's redemption continues, Man Utd keep on rolling like Old Man River, Arsenal managed to win 3-3 after Bournemouth really should have put the game to bed at 70 odd minutes.  Hull & Swansea appointed new managers to try and turn their seasons around, Liverpool have righted themselves after their stutter and Everton are still inconsistent as heck. Palace's new manager has still to do anything of note other than drink a pint of wine as a grown man.

For those of you who were concerned about how abruptly I'd jettisoned the Furtado tangent, let me reassure you that she's doing fine and has a new album out in March apparently...

Think that's enough waffle for now. Let's get statty:

Matchday 19:

20 People played
Most popular predicted result: Chelsea, Man Utd & Arsenal WINS (20/20)
Most disputed prediction (split): Southampton vs WBA (6-7-7 split)

Highest odds: : Doron 1325/1
Lowest odds: Doron 1325/1
Average odds: er....1325 /1

Best predictors: Loads of you  7/10
Worst predictor: David Brickman 4/10
Average score 6.25/10

Best predicted results: Chelsea, Man Utd & Arsenal WINS (20/20)
Worst predicted result: Hull vs Everton DRAW (2/20)

Matchday 20:

20 People played
Most popular predicted result: Man City & Liverpool WIN (20/20)
Most disputed prediction (split): Middlesborough vs Leicester (5-5-9) - no bet from Nick Jones

Highest odds: AFM 3772/1
Lowest odds: AF 441/1
Average odds: 1560/1

Best predictor: Doron  7/10
Worst predictor: Josh Daniels  2/10
Average score 4.85/10

Best predicted result: Man City WIN (20/20)
Worst predicted result: Sunderland vs Liverpool DRAW (0/20)

Everyone's results:

*ECI is on me. FT is on them.

The leaderboard (>2/3; 15/21)

To this week's predos now:

Spurs vs WBA - SPURS

Burnley vs Southampton - SOUTHAMPTON

Hull vs Bournemouth - BOURNEMOUTH

Sunderland vs Stoke - SUNDERLAND

Swansea vs Arsenal - ARSENAL

Watford vs Middlesborough - WATFORD

West Ham vs Crystal Palace - WEST HAM

Leicester vs Chelsea - CHELSEA

Everton vs Man City - MAN CITY

Man Utd vs Liverpool - DRAW

Total odds: /1 (Paddypower)

Good luck guys & Happy New Year!