S8M20-21: tnorfotkcab

I'm aware time is slipping away so, predos now, results to follow

M20:

Brihgton vs Everton - EVERTON
Fulham vs Huddersfield - DRAW
Leicester vs Cardiff - LEICESTER
Spurs vs Wolves - SPURS
Watford vs Newcastle - WATFORD
Liverpool vs Arsenal - DRAW
Crystal Palace vs Chelsea - CHELSEA
Burnley vs West Ham - WEST HAM
Southampton vs Man City - MAN CITY
Man Utd vs Bournemouth -  MAN UTD

M21:
Everton vs Leicester - EVERTON
Arsenal vs Fulham - ARSENAL
Cardiff vs Spurs - SPURS
Bournemouth vs Watford - WATFORD
Chelsea vs Southampton - CHELSEA
Huddersfield vs Burnley - BURNLEY
West Ham vs Brighton - WEST HAM
Wolves vs Crystal Palace - WOLVES
Newcastle vs Man Utd - MAN UTD
Man City vs Liverpool - MAN CITY


Good luck guys, check back later on for a results post & next weekend for the FA Cup game!

S8M18 & 19: Range

Let's start with the football, before we get onto the sad news.

A rather predictable weekend saw high scores for most. Man City won, as did Spurs. Watford  saw off Cardiff and Chelsea beat Brighton. Nothing too shocking there. Palace vs Leicester was a trickier one to call - home advantage did for a Leicester side who then were knocked out the League Cup to complete a miserable first half to the season for them. Wolves continued their renaissance against Bournemouth, as did Newcastle against a really poor Huddersfield side. West Ham, like Watford vacillate in performance and result, but had enough to put away Fulham, who haven't gained the new manager bounce apparent at Southampton who scored something like 80% of their goals in the last 3 years in once match. Obviously against Arsenal. Merry Xmas.

The biggy on Sunday came at Anfield and Mourinho's usual big game tactics came up short. Shorter than a little Swiss fella. See what I did there.

Anyway, it's come as no surprise to anyone that Mourinho was fired in the latest episode of "How can Man Utd screw things up" - in fairness, in this case, it's not the firing (that's been obvious since he was hired stupidly) but the handing out of a new contract last year was criminal and will cost them loads. Which they can pay. Along with the Glazer money. Which they can pay. And still spending stupid money on transfers and wages. Which they can pay. A financial juggernaut hampered not by FFP or then Home Office trying to prove a message to Putin, but by gross mismanagement on all levels footballistically. I'm not complaining, I'm just gutted that they've decided to try and get it right.

The other sad departure this week, is the Fink Tank. Confirmed by Impossibilitee Sources, the statistical model is no more, and so has been removed from the graphs, and will slink off the leaderboard in due course. Fink Tank was a long term contributor to the competition, joining in Season 3 with a 2nd place finish, to ECI, replicating the feat in Season 6, and finishing 3rd last season.

On a personal note, since I stopped having access to a paper copy of the Times, it's been a pain to collect the data, so I'm sorry to see you leave until you decide to reintroduce your website which made life a lot easier back in the day. You're welcome.

A moment's reflection if you please.

Au revoir FT

Let's get statty:

This week, 21 people played
Most popular predicted results: Man City & Spurs WINS (21/21)
Most disputed result: Crystal Palace vs Leicester (8-6-7 split)

Highest odds: Doron Salomon (503/1)
Lowest odds: Steven Daniels (391/1)
Average odds: 447/1

Best predictors: 5 of you (8/10)
Lowest predictors: Lawro, Sam Ruback & Doron (6/10 - feels a bit mean that - very compacted scores)
Average score: 7.1/10 - season high

Best predicted results: Man City & Spurs WINS (21/21)
Worst predicted result: Southampton WIN (0/21) - 20 of you thought that Arsenal would win so really I win for going DRAW because we're always rubbish at the Dell

Everyone's results:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 12/17)

This week's predos: 

Wolves vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL

Arsenal vs Burnley - ARSENAL

Bournemouth vs Brighton - BOURNEMOUTH

Chelsea vs Leicester - CHELSEA

Huddersfield vs Southampton - SOUTHAMPTON

Man City vs Crystal Palace - MAN CITY

Newcastle vs Fulham - FULHAM

West Ham vs Watford - DRAW

Cardiff vs Man Utd - MAN UTD

Everton vs Spurs - SPURS

Boxing Day predos:

Fulham vs Wolves - WOLVES

Burnley vs Everton - DRAW

Crystal Palace vs Cardiff - CRYSTAL PALACE

Leicester vs Man City - MAN CITY

Liverpool vs Newcastle - LIVERPOOL

Man Utd vs Huddersfield - MAN UTD

Spurs vs Bournemouth - SPURS

Brighton vs Arsenal - DRAW

Watford vs Chelsea - CHELSEA

Southampton vs West Ham -DRAW

Good luck, and wishing everyone well over the festive break

S8M17: There's something about Lucas

There have been a few clubs in recent years where you can say the fans have had value for money. That's not the same a an enjoyable ride, but certainly in the footballing soap opera, certain clubs are anchor characters, whilst others have cameo roles, or follow only an extended story arc. I think I've pushed that metaphor far enough...

One such club is the nouveau-riche bunch on Fulham Road. That's Chelsea in case you 1) don't know West London and/or 2) were trying to work out whether al-Fayed or Shahid Khan pre-dated Abramovich. They've been a roller-coaster club year on year, but seem to be going week to week at the moment. Defeating Man City was not on the cards in anything other than the most-optimistic Chelsea fan's mind - especially after a dismantling from Spurs and a defeat to Wolves. But win they did....

No such qualms were had over Liverpool and Arsenal winning nor Man Utd or other soap-opera side, West Ham (!). Most also had Spurs to win too. Burnley overcame recent poor form to beat Brighton at home, as did Cardiff, although frankly Southampton really need their new manager, Ralph Longsurname to hit the ground running. Wolves got a good win at Newcastle who've seemingly ended their run of good form, whilst a manic 5 minutes saw Watford heading for all 3 points against Everton who managed to equalise with the last kick of the game from a luverly freek kick from Lucas Digne.

Let's get statty:

This week, 24 people played
Most popular predicted result: Arsenal WIN (24/24)
Most disputed result:

Highest odds: Steven Daniels 1160/1
Lowest odds: Me, 801/1
Average odds: 941.1

Best predictors: Lawro, Joe Abbott & Joni Kleiman (7/10)
Worst predictors: Adrian Daniels & Will O'Doherty (4/10)
Average score: 5.63/10

Best predicted result: Arsenal WIN (24/24)
Worst predicted result: Chelsea WIN (1/24 - well done Joe Machta)

Everyone's results:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 11/16)

This week's predos:

Man City vs Everton - MAN CITY

Crystal Palace vs Leicester - DRAW

Huddersfield vs Newcastle - NEWCASTLE

Spurs vs Burnley - SPURS

Watford  vs Cardiff - WATFORD

Wolves vs Bournemouth - DRAW

Fulham vs West Ham - WEST HAM

Brighton vs Chelsea - CHELSEA

Southampton vs Arsenal - DRAW

Liverpool vs Man Utd - LIVERPOOL

Good luck guys

S8M16: Triggered

2 matchdays worth of synopsising to do so I'll forgo the small talk this week.

Friday night football is rubbish, but Cardiff would have temporarily disputed this, as they beat a Wolves side seemingly out of form. See below....

Palace beat a woeful Burnley side, and Brighton continued their quiet march to form with an away win at equally woeful Huddersfield. Leicester and Man City had comfortable home wins, but that was not the case in Newcastle where West Ham got a shock away win - 3-0 of all things. Of course, Arnautovic got injured again. I've forgotten to do my fantasy team for 4 weeks running now, so it's probably a who's who of invalids by now. Southampton got a draw against Man Utd at home, but from 2-0 up they threw the game away and Hughes paid for it with his job. He'll hopefuly join Moyes, Curbishley, Allardyce etc in disappearing off into the shadows now. Surely nobody else will give him a Premier League management job?

Sunday = Derby day and home wins in West London (comfortable), North London (Ultimately comfortable - side note, the way to not do derby day is via BBC sport notifications to your phone which loses battery at 2-1 down) and Liverpool (very much not comfortable you jammy buggers).

The weekend matchdays were different. Easier to predict, fewer people involved. A gimme for those organised enough to participate without regular prompts. Go you guys.

Bournemouth beat Huddersfield, West Ham beat Cardiff and Man City beat Watford - no great shocks there. In the derby that I've never really understood why it's a derby, Brighton beat Palace 3-1, even after going down to 10 men in the first half. Liverpool came from behind to comfortably win at Turf Moor (stupid name for a ground. Think they should be relegated purely on those terms) and Spurs won comfortably against a Southampton side trying to impress their new manager by showing who was best at Crossbar Challenge. Draws at Fulham, Goodison Park & in an awful game of football at Old Trafford. Not one for the defensive purists.  The big shock came in Wolverhampton, which I've recently been assured is a real place, where the struggling-for-form Wolves turned around a deficit to beat Chelsea, who've looked a little wobbly in recent weeks. If I were Eden Hazard, I'd be off...

Let's get statty:

Matchday 14:
24 people played
Most popular predicted result: Chelsea WIN (23/24)
Most disputed result: Arsenal vs Spurs (12-5-7 split)

Highest odds: Steven Daniels 2437/1
Lowest odds: Doron Salomon 1364/1
Average odds: 1901/1

Best predictor: Feneley (8/10)
Worst predictor: Me (3/10)
Average score: 5.21/10

Best predicted result: Chelsea WIN (23/24)
Worst predicted results: Brighton WIN & Southampton vs Man Utd DRAW (2/24)


Matchday 15:
17 people played
Most popular predicted results: West Ham, Man City, Liverpool & Spurs WINS (17/17)
Most disputed result: Fulham vs Leicester (5-6-6 split)

Highest odds: Doron Salomon 490/1
Lowest odds: Steven Daniels 455/1
Average odds: 473/1

Best predictor: David Brickman (8/10)
Worst predictors: AFM & Josh Gaon (5/10)
Average score: 6/10

Best predicted result: West Ham, Man City, Liverpool & Spurs WINS (17/17)
Worst predicted results: Wolves WIN (0/17)

Everyone's results:

Eli actually scored a 4 on Matchday 14, but it didn't alter the leaderboard positions so haven't updated my graphics 'cos I'm extremely busy wallpapering my house with Lucas Torreira photos.

Leaderboard (>2/3; 11/15)



This week's predos:

Bournemouth vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL
Arsenal vs Huddersfield - ARSENAL
Burnley vs Brighton - BRIGHTON
Cardiff vs Southampton - CARDIFF
Man Utd vs Fulham - MAN UTD
West Ham vs Crystal Palace - WEST HAM
Chelsea vs Man City - MAN CITY
Leicester vs Spurs - SPURS
Newcastle vs Wolves - DRAW
Everton vs Watford - EVERTON

Total odds: 801/1 (someone else other than Doron & Stevie D should occasionally do some...)

Good luck guys

S8M14: Into the midst

Well hello there.

Coming at you live from my lunch break because....duh dug duh....I fell asleep yesterday and forgot to write anything. So yes, very organised etc.

Still, got me stats all sorted this week so that's a start. Let's go back through some football though shall we....

The weekend kicked off with a draw between Brighton and Leicester. Its difficult to get enthused about this Brighton side who don't seem to be kicking on. Its that whole standing on the down escalator thing - relying on 3 worse teams for survival is a risky strategy. Leicester frankly get a free pass for the rest of the season from me.

Everton continued their good form with a home win over Cardiff whilst Ranieri's return was joyous as Fulham beat an atrocious Saints side who surely must be about to end Mark Hughes' career once and for all. Please.

Comfortable wins for Man City & Liverpool were no surprise, but Spurs demolishing Chelsea was less expected and frankly Man Utd struggling to a 0-0 draw at home to Palace was more surprising than it really should be.

2  creditable away wins for Arsenal and Huddersfield on the Sunday were followed by another from Newcastle on the Monday.  Surprisingly low number of home wins this weekend actually.

Let's get statty:

Matchday 12:

27 people played

Most popular predicted result: Liverpool WIN (27/27)

Most disputed result: Newcastle vs Bournemouth (9-9-9 split)

Highest/Lowest/Average odds: 457/1 (Doron the only one....)

Best predictor: Nick Taylor-Collins (7/10)

Worst predictor: Joseph Machta (2/10)

Average score: 3.89/10 

Best predicted result: Liverpool WIN (27/27)

Worst predicted results: Leicester vs Burnley, Chelsea vs Everton & Asrsenal vs Wolves DRAWS (1/27 - Gaj Thiru, WhoScored.com & David Graniewitz resepctively)

Matchday 13:

25 people played

Most popular predicted results: Everton, Man Utd & Man City WINS (25/25)

Most disputed result: Burnley vs Newcastle (9-8-8 split respectively)

Highest odds: Steven Daniels (1026/1)

Lowest odds: Doron Salomon (610/1)

Average odds: 818/1

Best predictor: Josh Daniels (7/10)

Worst predictor: Joni Kleiman (3/10)

Average score: 4.96/10

Best predicted results: Everton & Man City WINS (25/25)

Worst predicted results: Man Utd vs Crystal Palace DRAW & Huddersfield WIN (0/25)

Everyone's scores:

Leaderboard (>2/3 weeks; 9/13)

To this week's predos:

Cardiff vs Wolves - WOLVES
Crystal Palace vs Burnley - DRAW
Huddersfield vs Brighton - HUDDERSFIELD
Leicester vs Watford  - DRAW
Man City vs Bournemouth - MAN CITY
Newcastle vs West Ham - NEWCASTLE
Southampton vs Man Utd - MAN UTD
Chelsea vs Fulham  - CHELSEA
Arsenal vs Spurs - DRAW
Liverpool vs Everton - LIVERPOOL

And the midweek games 'cos I'm off on holibobs

Bournemouth vs Huddersfield - DRAW

Brighton vs Crystal Palace - BRIGHTON

West Ham vs Cardiff - WEST HAM

Watford vs Man City - MAN CITY

Burnley vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL

Everton vs Newcastle - EVERTON

Fulham vs Leicester - FULHAM

Wolves vs Chelsea - CHELSEA

Man Utd vs Arsenal - DRAW

Spurs vs Southampton - SPURS

Good luck folks

S8M13: 1st placeholder of the season

So unfortunately my organisational plans fell through due to a catastrophic failure of my previously impervious physical health. Preternatural healing has given way into mortal ache. I'm like Samson without the hair. Achilles with the ankle. Iron Man without the glowy bit.

Anyway, I'd set up the database well in advance but then wasn't able to actually write the blog due to the aforementioned near brush with death. Then this week, I was really busy (hence the plan to be organised in advance) and so we're into placeholder territory for the first time this season. In fairness, it would have been the usual post-international break waffle, so the quality of writing has, if anything, probably improved.

Results will follow this weekend, so check back. Just predos for now though:

Brighton vs Leicester - LEICESTER
Everton vs Cardiff - EVERTON
Fulham vs Southampton - DRAW
Man Utd vs Crystal Palace - MAN UTD
Watford vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL
West Ham vs Man City - MAN CITY
Spurs vs Chelsea - DRAW
Bournemouth vs Arsenal - DRAW
Wolves vs Huddersfield - WOLVES
Burnley vs Newcastle - NEWCASTLE

Good luck folks

S8M12: Ye of little faith

Let's get straight to it. This week comes close to the highest scoring week of all time which was way back in 2014. Kudos to nearly everyone who beat their average scores.

However, as a not-at-all biased Gooner, I find no pleasure in noting that many people fell down by underestimating the rightful winners of this season's PL - Emery's Eagles. Serves you all right.

Man Utd's mini-renaissance is becomingly worryingly maxi and I reckon that he's now going to last until the summer the bugger. Leicester got their win - you have to reckon everyone outside of Cardiff was gunning for them. The scenes at full-time were brilliant too. Wins for Everton and West Ham were expected, but Newcastle bucked the trend, in actually winning a game. Spurs and Chelsea won, whilst Man City got all spanky again. Finally, Huddersfield scored their first goal at home since 2001 to beat a woeful Fulham. Bring back al Fayed.

Let's get statty:

This week, 27 people played

Most popular predicted results: Man City & Chelsea WINS (27/27)

Most disputed result: Huddersfield vs Fulham (10-9-8 split respectively)

Highest odds: Steven Daniels 531/1

Lowest odds: Doron Salomon 420/1

Average odds: 476/1

Best predictors: Lawro & EuroClubIndex (9/10 - neither went for a draw at the Emeryates)

Worst predictor: WhoScored.com (4/10)

Best predicted results: Man City & Chelsea WINS (27/27)

Worst predicted result: Arsenal vs Liverpool DRAW (5/27)

To the leaderboard (>2/3; 8/11)



This week's predos:

Cardiff vs Brighton - DRAW
Huddersfield vs West Ham - WEST HAM
Leicester vs Burnley - LEICESTER
Newcastle vs Bournemouth - NEWCASTLE
Southampton vs Watford - WATFORD
Crystal Palace vs Spurs - SPURS
Liverpool vs Fulham - LIVERPOOL
Chelsea vs Everton - CHELSEA
Arsenal vs Wolves - ARSENAL
Man City vs Man Utd - MAN CITY

Good luck guys

S8M11: Reflection

I'm going to make an assumption that everyone still playing this game has more than a casual interest in football. There will be varying levels of devotion, but I'd wager more than my standard accumulator stake that everyone here spends more than a few seconds each week on football-related past times - reading about, playing, watching, thinking etc.

So you're all probably aware of Bill Shankly's famous, tongue-in-cheek line that "Some people think football is a matter of life & death...it's much more important than that". It can be read into in a variety of ways, not least of which being the positive force that football can be (It's coming home....) but the straightest meaning is clearly untrue. In fact, arguably football is at it's best when  this epithet is demonstrably untrue - the football "family" to use FIFA-speak comes together beautifully at times of great emotion.

This week, unfortunately was one of those times. A blogpost 6 days later isn't going to shine any new light on the tragedy at the King Power Stadium but this is a topic that was too strong to minimise in favour of the usual blog structure.

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and 4 others lost their lives in a silly, Dream Team-esque story which has touched so many people. I don't know what's the key ingredient here. The title win? The embedding into the local community? The ambitious, hands on, positive chair? The senselessness of it all?

It just struck me that I'm not sure of another comparable figure in the league who'd have the same reaction come their way. He clearly touched a lot of people, and nobody seemed to have a bad word to say. It's events like this, or the Stade de France attacks or any of the numerous stadium tragedies from history that just recentre you slightly; that tear away fragments of the child's wonder and commitment and just that bit more phlegmatic about the overhit pass, or the missed penalty. It's a huge part of my, and I'm sure your life and I love the emotional rollercoaster - it adds to my existence...but at the end of the day, it's just football.

Let's get statty:

This week, 26 people played
Most popular predicted results: Liverpool & Arsenal WINS (25/26)
Most disputed result: Brighton vs Wolves (8-8-10 split)

Highest/Lowest odds: Steven Daniels 480/1
Average odds: 480/1

Best predictor: Joe Abbott (8/10)
Worst predictor: Josh Gaon (3/10)
Average score: 5.73/10

Best predicted result: Liverpool WIN (25/26)
Worst predicted result: Crystal Palace vs Arsenal DRAW (1/26 - Lawro)

Everyone's results:

Leaderboard (>2/3 weeks; 7/10)

This week's predos:

Bournemouth vs Man Utd - DRAW

Cardiff vs Leicester - LEICESTER

Everton vs Brighton - EVERTON

Newcastle vs Watford - WATFORD

West ham vs Burnley - WEST HAM

Arsenal vs Liverpool - DRAW

Wolves vs Spurs - SPURS

Man City vs Southampton - MAN CITY

Chelsea vs Crystal Palace - CHELSEA

Huddersfield vs Fulham - DRAW

Good luck guys

S8M10: Bunching

Regular readers will know my active research is limited but I can't remember a time where we had 5 bunched clubs so close after 9 games of the season. 5 clubs within 2 points of each other. Feels very exciting not to have a runaway leader already, even if 1 of the 5 is just so superior to the rest.

The standard mid-table candidates - Everton, Leicester, Man Utd etc are all doing their thing in an almost perfect sequence - if Wolves had drawn one of their victories you'd have positions 6-12 with points 11-17. This makes me happy, but unfortunately it's not true. Bet you're glad you read that paragraph.

Then the dross has started to separate. Burnley and West Ham just about haul themselves up, along with Palace and Southampton. This is a shame, as the 4 utter dross clubs are preferable to many in the division, but frankly they're all awful and so can't really look beyond 3 of these 4 to go down even at this early stage. Obviously, change of manager and some learning to shoot (Huddersfield) or defend (Fulham) might change matters.

Oh - I've looked it up on 11v11.com and it was only 2 years ago that we had 5 clubs bunched by 1 point after 2 years. By my count, that makes both the first and second paragraph nonsense. I really do try...

Let's get statty:

This week, 26 people played
Most popular predicted results: Man City, Liverpool & Arsenal WINS (26/26)
Most disputed result: Cardiff vs Fulham (6-7-13 split)

Highest odds: Doron Salomon (1287/1)
Lowest odds: Steven Daniels 472/1
Average odds: 880/1

Best predictors: Eli Daniels & Andrew Feneley (7/10)
Worst predictor: Joe Abbott (3/10)
Average score: 5.23/10

Best predicted results: Man City, Liverpool & Arsenal WINS (26/26)
Worst predicted result: Bournemouth vs Southampton DRAW & Watford WIN (1/26)

Everyone's scores:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 7/9)

To this week's predos:

Brighton vs Wolves - WOLVES

Fulham vs Bournemouth - BOURNEMOUTH

Liverpool vs Cardiff - LIVERPOOL

Southampton vs Newcastle - SOUTHAMPTON

Watford vs Huddersfield - WATFPRD

Leicester vs West Ham - LEICESTER

Burnley vs Chelsea - CHELSEA

Crystal Palace vs Arsenal - ARSENAL

Man Utd vs Everton - MAN UTD

Tottenham vs Man City - MAN CITY

Good luck guys

S8M9: Boycott all things Algerian

As a general rule, I don't write a huge amount after an international break because it's not current and I can't really remember what happened before. As it happens however, this week I've remembered as I did my statty bit and recalled that godawful penalty at the end of the last game of the weekend. It was a crime against my predictions and a crime against humour as the same yawn-inducing jokes were rolled out from their post-Waddle/Baggio/Beckham hibernation. So yeah, this week's title is less cryptic than others are.

More Nations League stuff over the last 2 weeks and I've still not really bothered to look up what the benefit of winning your group etc is, so yay them. Unless you're Germany in which case, ouchy. Maybe the problem with the team isn't really due to great players not being Aryan after all...

Not a huge amount more to say - let's just get statty already:

This week, 26 people played
Most popular prediction: Spurs WIN (26/26)
Most disputed prediction: Palace vs Wolves (9-8-9 split)

Highest odds: Me 2114/1
Lowest odds: Doron 1150/1
Average odds: 1551/1

Best predictor: Joe Machta (8/10)
Worst predictor: 9 (NINE) of you (4/10)
Average score: 5.15/10

Best predicted result: Spurs WIN (26/26)
Worst predicted result: Bournemouth WIN (2/26)

Everyone's results:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 6/8)

This week's predos:

Chelsea vs Man Utd - CHELSEA

Bournemouth vs Southampton - BOURNEMOUTH

Cardiff vs Fulham - DRAW

Man City vs Burnley - MAN CITY

Newcastle vs Brighton - BRIGHTON

West Ham vs Spurs - SPURS

Wolves vs Watford - WOLVES

Huddersfield vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL

Everton vs Crystal Palace - EVERTON

Arsenal vs Leicester - ARSENAL

Good luck guys

S8M8: The Mourinho boxset is compulsive viewing

Regular readers will know that over the years, I've been forthright with my opinions with Mou. The breath of fresh air seen 14 years ago has long since gone stale & rancid. The siege mentality, the media manipulation and the simple but effective football has long gone, and the old emperor is left standing, naked and bitter, screaming abuse at passersby as he searches for a half-empty extra-strong cider bottle amidst the rubble at his feet. 

Scrumpy Jose amirite?

That said, he's nearly always been good value for a 3rd season meltdown, and Series 6 of Mou is not disappointing. Sure the plot is getting a bit predictable and formulaic, and we all know how the series ends, but it's still a great watch and the suspense is building.

This week's protagonist was West Ham, who have had a good little run since the last international break. Only ardent Hammer, Brad Allix backed them to beat Man Utd though - the power of faith eh?

No major shocks involving Spurs or Man City, whilst Arsenal defeated recent bogey team Watford with more comfort on the scoreboard than on the xG scoreboard. Cry me a river on that one. Everton & Leicester also picked up simple victories with Wolves continued their brilliant start to the season. Champions' League? You're sort of having a laugh...

Burnley & Bournemouth got back to winning ways, and finally, Liverpool managed to hold onto their unbeaten start with a cracker from Daniel Sturridge, who seems back in both fitness & form. City go top now, and will look to consolidate at Anfield on Sunday.

Let's get statty:

This week, 22 people played

Most popular predicted results: Spurs & Man City WINS (22/22)

Most disputed result: Cardiff vs Burnley (4-8-10 split)

Highest odds: Me 2453/1

Lowest odds: Steven Daniels 1454/1

Average odds: 1942/1

Best predictors: 6 of you (8/10)

Worst predictor: Gaj Thiru (3/10)

Average score: 6.5/10

Best predicted results: Spurs & Man City WINS (22/22)

Worst predicted results: West Ham WIN (1/22 - Well done Brad)

Everyone's results

Leaderboard (>2/3; 5/7)

This weeks's predos:

Brighton vs West Ham - WEST HAM
Burnley vs Huddersfield - BURNLEY
Crystal Palace vs Wolves - WOLVES
Leicester vs Everton - DRAW
Spurs vs Cardiff - SPURS
Watford vs Bournemouth - DRAW
Man Utd vs Newcastle - MAN UTD
Fulham vs Arsenal - ARSENAL
Southampton vs Chelsea - CHELSEA
Liverpool vs Man City - MAN CITY

Total odds: 2114/1

Good luck everyone

S8M7: Tarek's on Fire (Bookmakers are terrified)

It's an inevitability of time that we all get older - and this inanimate blog is no different. A famous consequence of the unstoppable senescence is forgetfulness, and frankly I'm sure I've riffed on the title before a couple of years ago but frankly, you probably had forgotten and I can't be bothered to go back and check. Kudos to you if you stopped reading with indignation when I implied that senescence was an inevitable consequence of ageing - you might think of yourself as a bottle of Chateau Lafite 1787 ($156,450) but wouldn't drink that if I were you.

Anyway, Tarek gets the plaudits because he's (co-) topscored 2 weeks in a row. Apologies for the inevitable terrible score he gets this week. It's been a roller coaster 7 seasons for the big man - the Zlatan of Central London, some would say, with some league positions to forget - but here he is, riding high, a shining example to us all. You win the David Silverman Award for fairytales come true.

Right, there's enough smoke blown up 2 of you - let's talk football...

Fulham & Watford drew at the Cottage, whilst Burnley finally got their season off to a start, thumping Bournemouth 4-0. Not quite as thumpy as Man City who are starting to crank up the pressure and really shine. The Dwight Gayle (MEMORIAL JOSH GAON ARE YOU HAPPY) derby ended in stalemate whilst Leicester & Liverpool recorded comfortable home wins. This was not the case at Old Trafford, where a spirited Wolves continued their great start to the campaign with a draw at a very unhappy Man United. That Pogba/Mourino training video was just ice cold. Spurs kept ticking over away to Brighton, winning relatively comfortably 2-1, whilst Arsenal won 2-0 relatively uncomfortably the following day to Everton. Aubameyang's clincher was only offside if you agree with the concept of parallel lines, which I think is really up for debate in these turbulent times.

<<INSERT GRAPHIC OF THAT SKY SPORTS THING WITH THE WIGGLY OFFSIDE LINE. YOU KNOW THE ONE>>

Chelsea were held by a West Ham side who could well have taken all 3 points, leaving Liverpool all alone in the 100% record club. They will have the chance to end that this weekend...

Let's get statty:

This week, 24 people played
Most popular predicted results: Liverpool, Arsenal & Man Utd WINS (24/24)
Most disputed result: Burnley vs Bournemouth (7-7-10 split)

Highest odds: Steven Daniels (506/1)
Lowest odds: Me (216/1)
Average odds: 335/1

Best predictors: Tarek, Josh Gaon & David Brickman (7/10)
Worst predictors: 4 of you (4/10)
Average score: 5.46/10

Everyone's scores:

The leaderboard (>2/3; 5/6)

To this week's predos:

West Ham vs Man Utd - MAN UTD
Arsenal vs Watford - ARSENAL
Everton vs Fulham - DRAW
Huddersfield vs Spurs - SPURS
Man City vs Brighton - MAN CITY
Newcastle vs Leicester - LEICESTER
Wolves vs Southampton - WOLVES
Chelsea vs Liverpool - CHELSEA
Cardiff vs Burnley - BURNLEY
Bournemouth vs Crystal Palace - DRAW

Total odds: 2453/1

Good luck guys

S8M6: Whoever invented Fantasy Football had a desk job

Every now and again, you just have to stand back and enjoy quality, regardless of where it comes from. In the era of Messi/Ronaldo levels of output, quality & consistency, everyone else stands in the shade. In any other era though, we'd be spoilt by some of the talent out there, even if they don't turn it on in every match. Hazard is one such player. When  he's hot, he's unplayable. Ask the Cardiff defence - his hat trick just deserts for toying with them.

The best players bend games to their will, and that's why *controversially* I don't include Salah in that. He's a deadly weapon, but doesn't contribute enough elsewhere, and so when his hot-streak cools, he's not at the same level. Fortunately, Liverpool didn't rue the missed chances, defeating Spurs at their first game at the new stadium.

What?

DOCK. THEM. POINTS.

(In all honesty, not only do I find this both hilarious and the special treatment infuriating, but actually the parking at work would be a disaster had they moved in, so frankly I hope this goes on for the whole season, and ideally, part of next season too)

Bournemouth are looking strong this year, as, annoyingly are Palace (well, strong...stronger than I'd predicted). Which idiot said Hodgson would be the first manager to go?

Man City don't seem to have the same swagger as last year, but still have enough to swat aside most sides, Fulham the latest victims. Arsenal won consecutive away matches for the first time since ages, - the Rafalution teeters on the edge of Rafvolt. Your're welcome.

Man Utd's (Mourinho's) mini-revival continues - this is what's known as the pre-terminal boost where the system pulls together it's last remaining reserves to improve before it runs out of juice and one final bump sends the whole thing crashing down. Mark my words, this is where Man Utd are - it's all forced smiles, but it's one unexpected defeat away from Mourinho offering to fight Martial et al in the carpark after the game. That would be an outstanding addition to MoTD.

Wolves really have got off to a flyer, but in fairness they are the budget Man City so there is that. Congrats to West Ham for finally getting some points, but frankly I could have done without the Arnautovic injury, so thanks for that. Southampton & Brighton shared the South Coast honours, with a cracker from Hojbjerg, 2 penalties with last minute drama. Boss.

Let's get statty:

This week, 26 people played
Most popular predicted results: Chelsea & Man City WINS (26/26)
Most disputed result: Bournemouth vs Leicester (10-7-9 split)

Highest odds: Doron 1730/1
Lowest odds: Sam 1094/1
Average odds: 1451/1

Best predictors: Josh Daniels & Tarek Najm (8/10)
Worst predictors: WhoScored.com & David Brickman (4/10)
Average score: 5.77/10

Best predicted results: Chelsea & Man City WINS (26/26)
Worst predicted result: West Ham WIN (0/26)

Everyone's results:

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

This week's predos:

Fulham vs Watford (Jokanovic derby)- DRAW
Burnley vs Bournemouth - BOURNEMOUTH
Crystal Palace vs Newcastle (Dwight Gayle derby) - CRYSTAL PALACE
Cardiff vs Man City - MAN CITY
Leicester vs Huddersfield - LEICESTER
Liverpool vs Southampton (Literally everyone derby) - LIVERPOOL
Man Utd vs Wolves - MAN UTD
Brighton vs Spurs - SPURS
West Ham vs Chelsea - CHELSEA
Arsenal vs Everton - ARSENAL

Total odds: 217/1

Good luck guys

S8M5: 1 glove does not a winter make

Regular readers will know that post-International breaks, I tend to phone the blog in a bit. Not much point rehashing old PL news and frankly my memory doesn't always stretch that far anyway - so stuff like that anyway. If you want to read a blog about an obscure match in 1994, I'm your man...

Anyway, we had some League of Nations/Nations League stuff that meant nothing to me, other than a salutory lesson in poor branding from the bods at UEFA. Hopefuly, this idea won't fail quite so spectacularly. War and the subsequent domination of Europe(an football) by Germany. #opitimism

Anyway. that's all done now and we can look forward to the return of the PL with all its attendant delight.

I really have nothing else to say. Let's get statty:

Matchday 4:

27 people played
Most popular predicted results: Chelsea, Everton & Man City WINS (27/27)
Most disputed result: West Ham vs Wolves (12-7-8 split)

Highest odds: Me 229/1 (big spender!)
Lowest odds: Steven Daniels 153/1
Average odds: 200/1

Best predictors: 4 of you (7/10)
Worst predictors: Josh Gaon & Stuart Patterson (4/10)
Average score: 5.48/10

Best predicted results:Chelsea & Man City WINS (27/27)
Worst predicted result: Everton vs Huddersfield DRAW (0/27)

Everyone's results:

The leaderboard (>2/3 available weeks, 3/4)

That early season range still there - it'll move about quite a bit for the next few weeks...

This week's predos:

Spurs vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL
Bournemouth vs Leicester - LEICESTER
Chelsea vs Cardiff - CHELSEA
Huddersfield vs Crystal Palace - DRAW
Man City vs Fulham - MAN CITY
Newcastle vs Arsenal - ARSENAL
Watford vs Man Utd - DRAW
Wolves vs Burnley - WOLVES
Everton vs West Ham - EVERTON
Southampton vs Brighton - DRAW

Total odds: 1728/1

Good luck guys

S8M4: Galatians 6:7

I'll be honest, I'm not really one for the New Testament. I have a pristine copy sitting on my bookshelf that I got in Year 7 at school, sitting next to my pristine Koran (uni) and slightly less pristine Old Testament (Bar Mitzvah). I never really paid much attention to school assemblies where we were subjected to some sort of sermon about morality UNLESS it was from Winnie the Pooh. True story. Our school chaplain loved that  willy, nilly, silly old bear as much as he hated William Hague. This all means that I had to google the title to see where the relevant line came from relating to this episode:

We'll start on Monday. What an insufferable hypocrite he is? You all know I'll rarely give Spurs a public compliment but they deserved that win, and good on them. It's actually a little bit boring now - I had fun under Moyes, and have enjoyed the progressive mediocrity that's ensued - I'm certainly not looking for a United renaissance but the enjoyment of watching them suffer is being ruined by a total irritant. I was a big Mou fan in 2004. Something fresh. But it's an old and tired shtick now, and footballistically it's just dull. Chequebook managers can't succeed when their competitive advantage goes, and his tactics are dull and easy to overcome, whilst his man-management style has a natural expiry date. Nowadays. you need to also be a coach to be elite - the days of having your niche are long gone. I've been saying for about 4 years now - he's done as a top-level coach and is living off past glories. He has become, what you might term, a specialist in extraordinarily expensive failure.

Sunday's games were good fun. Late drama at St James' Park allowed Chelsea to maintain their 100% record, as did Watford at home to Palace. Liverpool the 4th member of that group won the night before. Fulham took advantage of a Europa-weary Burnley to thump them 4-2 for their first points of the season. Outrageous the squads that Fulham & Wolves have put together. See the above point about chequebook managers...

The shock of the weekend came when the aforementioned Black Country gems held City to a creditable draw by the thickness of a post. Bonus point for them frankly. Arsenal got their season on track with a win over West Ham (pointless) made to look more comfortable by a late Wele winner. I'm not saying Southgate should lose his job, but frankly, more Dat Guy in the summer would have literally seen it come home. Fact.

Leicester also won with a late winner from the summer's other hero. Harry Maguire crashing home from the other side of the world after Hojberg was sent off for being a little bit of a cheat. Them's the breaks.

Match of the weekend was the draw between Everton & Bournemouth. Early red for Everton before taking a 2 goal lead. Red for Bournmemouth before pulling level. Highly enjoyable stuff. Less can be said about the no-score draw at the John Smith, so we'll leave it there.

Let's get statty:

This week, 29 people played

Most popular predicted results: Man City & Liverpool WINS (29/29)

Most disputed predicted results: Southampton vs Leicester & Man Utd vs Spurs (12-8-9 splits)

Highest odds: Doron Salomon 13,311/1

Lowest odds: Josh Daniels 1583/1

Average odds: 5548/1

Best predictor: Eli Daniels (8/10)

Worst predictor: Joe Machta (3/10)

Average score: 5.52/10

Best predicted result: Liverpool WIN (29/29)

Worst predicted result: Wolves vs Man City DRAW (0/29)

Everyone's results:

And for the first time this season, the Impossibilitee leaderboard! To qualify, you have to have played in >2/3 of gameweeks - so that's 3/3 this week.

Feneley with the frankly outrageous early season form. The Kentish Man City. Dagmar wants her trophy back - there's clearly a space on her desk that neither love nor money can fill. Eli Daniels & er, Feneley's mother (average odds: >10000000/1) make up the rest of the top 4. Down at the bottom, Tarek (perennial) and Joe (novice) are holding up the considerable combined weight of the rest of the group, whlst reigning champ David Silverman is frankly suffering from his May hangover. If you will fill the coveted Impossibilittee trophy with Apple Sourz as your night-time beverage every day, it may impact on your predicting ability folks...

To this week's predos:

Leicester vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL
Brighton vs Fulham - BRIGHTON
Crystal Palace vs Southmapton - DRAW
Chelsea vs Bournemouth - CHELSEA
Everton vs Huddersfield - EVERTON
West Ham vs Wolves - WOLVES
Man City vs Newcastle - MAN CITY
Cardiff vs Arsenal - ARSENAL
Burnley vs Man Utd - MAN UTD (mini rally)
Watford vs Spurs - SPURS

Total odds: 229/1

Good luck guys

S8M3: Let me tell you a thing

August is the best month and that's irrefutable, so as the kids say, don't @ me.

However, at the Tower, we believe in things like science & logic  - recently did a personality test thing for work. You'll be shocked to hear where my strengths lay... - so I'll lay out proofs so weighty that your Giuliani-esque alternative truths will be crushed. You ready?

1) Hot > Cold. This leave us May - August. I have no truck with the southern hemisphere but this is Old World focused .

2) Football > No football. So it's either May or August.

3) The Many > The Few. Now, as some of you might know, I'm not all that into politics. Ok, I'm interested, but not all that vocal. Sure I might occasionally call out a certain antisemitic garden gnome on Twitter but Impossibilitee is avowedly apolitical until John Terry runs for office. We did make a campaign contribution to Sol Campbell's attempt to become Mayor of London but that was for 2 reasons. We wanted to see him head a journalist's question back over the halfway line and wanted to see him open the new Spurs stadium. Obviously, he ran 4 years too early for that one.

Anyway, our apolitically communist tendencies have not at all influenced the 3rd proof which is that in May, many clubs are done and looking forward to 2 weeks in Magaluf/a nice villa in LA/caravaning in Minehead. Sure, some have somethng to play for, maybe a bauble or two, but many of us have switched off by then. August is for The Many however. Previous sins are forgiven in the excitement of the new season. New kit, new signings, warm day (see point 1), gleaming pitch etc - the world is everyone's oyster until the whistle goes and you concede from the kick off.

4) The tiebreaker. Not required but it's also my birthday which means sometimes you get football on your (my) birthday which is a special feeling unless you lose in which case the day is ruined. Fortunately, this hasn't quite happened for me this year so I can enjoy my birthday AND the football this week (until we lose).

Now I don't expect cards and presents but you might consider it if you've had a slow start to the season and want to curry some favour with the notoriously typo-laden data entryist who does the back end  of this site, ifyaknowwaddamean. Yes I have people. I don't just refer to Impossibilitee Towers to aggrandise this blog.

Anyway, so yes. August is the best.

The deliberate grammar overload above has been deliberately engineered to irritate NJSPTC early in the morning. Pour over that one big boy.

There was also some football last week which I might talk about now I've written 1000 words on stuff.

Saturday saw Cardiff pick up their first point of the season with a bore draw at home to Newcastle. Rafa must be only weeks ago from meltdown. Him or Mou first? Everton beat Southampton in a game notable for 3 things - Richarlison making everyone keep talking about his transfer fee, Walcott scoring a non-instictive goal and Southampton scoring. At all.

Leicester and Spurs racked up comfortable wins, whilst the Harry Redknapp Memorial Derby saw a top top win for Bournemouth who have 2 from 2 already. Maradonna has been reincarnated in Callum Wilson's body.

The evening game was a bit mad and could have been any scoreline from 2-2 to 5-5, but wasn't. A late Alonso winner gave Chelsea maximum points in a game they could have been dead and buried by halftime in. Fun for the neutral, not one for fans of defending.

Sunday saw Burnley lose at home to Watford #Europaleaguehangover before Man City thumped Huddersfield, without half a team and in 2nd gear. Ominous. Regular readers will know I'm a huge Agüero fan and he bagged his customary Early-season-hat-trick-in-a-thrashing. I mentioned a few weeks ago on Twitter that in my opinion, he was the 4th best striker in PL history and if he stayed a little fitter, he'd join the top 3 (to make a top 4, he's just that rung below currently for me. Henry, Drogba, Shearer if you were wondering). 

Anyway, I was informed by a very strange Mancunian (Utd fan weirdly) on Twitter that I was wrong and he was actually better than Henry and set about trying to prove it with a curated selection of statistics that didn't really stand up to further questioning.

The take home is that only a weirdo would try and prove to strangers the truth of something patently subjective. 

The last 2 games saw the Mou Meltdown edge closer as they lost comfortably to Brighton - a late penalty giving the scoreline a gloss it did not deserve. They were abject. Then on the Monday, Liverpool banished their Crystanbul demons for another year, 2nd clean sheet of the season for them.

Long post this week. Taken my whole commute to write. Probably should have one hand on the steering wheel* now though.

Let's get statty.

This week, 26 people played

Most popular predicted results: Spurs, Man Utd & Man City WINS (26/26)

Most disputed result: Cardiff vs Newcastle (4-9-13 split)

Highest odds: Doron Salomon 1413/1

Lowest odds: Steven Daniels 788/1

Average odds: 1085/1

Best predictor: Josh Gaon (8/10)

Worst predictors: Me, Tarek & Silverman (4/10)

Average score: 5.58/10

Best predicted result: Spurs & Man City WINS (26/26)

Worst predicted result: Brighton WIN (0/26)

Everyone's results:

To this week's predos:

Wolves vs Man City - MAN CITY

Arsenal vs West Ham - ARSENAL

Bournemouth vs Everton - EVERTON

Huddersfield vs Cardiff - DRAW

Southampton vs Leicester - DRAW

Liverpool vs Brighton - LIVERPOOL

Watford vs Crystal Palace - WATFORD

Fulham vs Burnley - FULHAM

Newcastle vs Chelsea - CHELSEA

Man Utd vs Spurs - SPURS

Good luck guys

*you don't take a toy steering wheel on the train with you?

S8M2: Spherical Release

As I get older, I lose track of what I've said in the  300-odd blogs I've written here, so forgive me if I'm occasionally repetitive. That said, I'm sure that there may only be one or two savants amongst you who can remember that anyway, so I'm probably safe.

In any case,  I really feel for those who don't like football. I felt like a little kid skipping to the sweet shop in an idyllic village in the Yorkshire Dales in 1953 with a thrupenny bit in my pocket on Friday. A different time, folks. A different time.

Anyway, great to be back. 

Man Utd got us off to a flying start with victory over Leicester. Then a corker in the North East saw 3 points get the train home to White Hart Lane.

Oh, no, sorry. Wembley. *went there*

Let's just take a minute to look at this farce. PL rules allow for 1 nominated home ground per season with a 4 point deduction if not adhered to. Somehow, a 1 game permission was granted for Spurs to use Wembley and then the fixtures were manipulated to allow a huge gap before the next home fixture, which STILL isn't enough, so it's now postponed indefinitely - potentially until the new year according to some sources. No punishment, just an extra payment to the FA for the use of Wembley.

Meanwhilst, fans are cast to the side as usually, Spurs fans overcharged and away fans may need to change travel arrangements if dates have to be moved. It's one rule for them, another for the rest and it's poor from Spurs & the FA. It's been pretty apparent to anyone who's followed it that the stadium was never going to be ready for the season, and frankly, if it was too ambitious a build project, then manage expectations and say we'll be out for 2 years like Chelsea were planning to do before Roman canned the project. Don't treat your fans like idiots and don't allow the club to get away with lies. Levy's gone for the builder who's promised the world for peanuts and been left holding a pile of monkey droppings, which to be honest, he'll probably feed Harry Kane. 

Fairness should be Spurs to play the rest of the season at Wembley (why should Fulham (and now Liverpool and maybe City) have the competitive advantage/disadvantage over the rest) and to be honest a points deduction wouldn't be unfair either, but is never going to happen. My full sympathies to Spurs fans over this, and obviously I'm not exactly neutral in this, but it's poor from the Premier League to allow this.

In other news - it's going to be a hard year for Cardiff & Huddersfield, whilst Fulham will feel unlucky to have lost. Bournemouth & Watford started with solid wins as did Liverpool and a below-par-but-still-comfortably-better-than-everyone-else City. Southampton & Burnley provided the snorefest whilst Wolves & Everton was the all-action game. On that note, did everyone see the Wazza clip from the MLS? Rolled back the years to chase down a breakaway from a corner at 2-2 in injury time, tackled the fella on the halfway line with 60 yards of empty grass ahead of him, picked himself up, thumped a crossfield pass into the box for the leftback to head home and win the game 3-2. Haven't seen him do that for years. Worth a Google...

For the first time this season, let's get statty:

This week, 30 people played

Most popular predicted result: Liverpool WIN (27/30)

Most disputed result: Southampton vs Burnley (12-9-9 split)

Highest odds: Josh Daniels 10,998/1

Lowest odds: Doron Salomon 1168/1

Average odds: 5778/1

Best predictors: Dagmar, Andrew Feneley's Mother & Aron Kleiman (8/10)

Worst predictors: Adrian Daniels & David Silverman (3/10)

Average score: 5.63/10

Best predicted result: Liverpool WIN (27/30)

Worst predicted result: Wolves vs Everton DRAW (4/30)

Everyone's results: 

This week's predos:

Cardiff vs Newcastle - NEWCASTLE
Everton vs Southampton - EVERTON
Leicester vs Wolves - DRAW
Spurs vs Fulham - SPURS
West Ham vs Bournemouth - WEST HAM
Chelsea vs Arsenal - ARSENAL
Burnley vs Watford - BURNLEY
Man City vs Huddersfield - MAN CITY
Brighton vs Man Utd - MAN UTD
Crystal Palace vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL

Total odds: 938/1

Good luck guys, and please share the blog far and wide - our record for a week is 35 participants - we can definitely beat that this year!

Season 8 M1: Smug as

Well hello again dear reader, and a huge welcome back to you all. An equally huge welcome to any new friends who've joined us for the latest edition of Impossibilitee.

I hope you've all had great summers without too much stress. It's flown by here at Impossibilitee Towers. A combination of work and play, with an added soupçon of newmanageritis for the first time in 22 years has condensed the summer big-time. Throw in a quite good World Cup (I cracked, more on that later) and frankly it's flown by. In fact, my other usual summer sporting pursuits have largely been ignored. Did they even have a Wimbledon this year? What is the cricket? Who actually likes Pimms? That's not a sporting question but equally important to answer. It's possibly the most underwhelming thing in the world and frankly I'd far rather have a cold beer, or a nice glass of wine or one of about a zillion other cocktails on a nice warm (scorching) day. That Aperol fella seems nice if he didn't sponsor Man Utd...

Welcome new readers to my ability to get sidetracked.

So the World Cup was quite good, wasn't it? Big teams had a shocker, Football Came Home, some great goals WITHOUT ANYONE MOANING ABOUT THE BALL BEING TOO ROUND and the best team winning. And obviously, a happy Giroud = a happy world. I don't care who pays his wages anymore, he's a gooner and I'm the captain of the Oli Giroud Fan Club (Impossibilitee edition). That Mbappe kid also looks quite good too and if he's interested in a glass of anything-but-Pimms, he's welcome to come round and have a drink/sign a 10 year deal for the Arsenal.

Oh, almost forgot...

The inaugral Impossibilitee World Cup tournament (7 leagues, 6 FA Cups and now 1 World Cup to date) and finally the first bit of silverware to grace my mantelpiece...

Now I'm a gracious winner but also it's important to note that I'm also the CHAMPION OF THE WORLD. Like Danny. There's no actually trophy 'cos I'm also not made of money but you can all feast upon this image and frankly it should be desktop/phone backgrounds for all of you, and maybe even a little framed effort in front of the wedding photo but *next to* the kids. I'm not a monster.

Those are really my arms by the way.

Of course, we should also pay tribute to our domestic champion, David Silverman who managed to go from bottom in Season 6 to victory in Season 7. There's a life lesson there for everyone, and as soon as I've done a few other things, I'll be writing a kids book about this inspirational tale. Should be out in time for Christmas and will make a great stocking filler for everyone you know. Heads up.

Here's David looking like a champ:

Those are really his arms by the way.

So to the season ahead, lots to look forward to...

• Can City improve on a frankly outrageous season?
• Will Liverpool fix their defence whilst maintaining the same output from Salah?
• How many weeks will Mourinho last before exploding?
• Spurs - new stadium, no money. Attendent problems. Could this be their last year to prove to Kane, Eriksen, Alli etc that their project is worth sticking around for? Looks like Alderweireld has already decided "no" - the first of many?
• Chelsea could be brilliant under Sarri or frankly could be a huge adjustment ending in chaos. Plus...what's going on with Abramovich's commitment?
• Emery
• Burnley have to compete on 2 fronts for a little longer - can their squad cope?
• Everton, Palace & Leicester - 5th to 18th on the cards for any of them..
• Newcastle - what are they?
• Which promoted club will have success?
• Will West Ham finally live up to their potential?

and I'm sure many more...

A quick recap of how it all works for any new players:

Each matchday, I'll post the fixtures here and you have to chose the result (not the score)

ie: Man City vs Chelsea - MAN CITY (win), Leicester vs Burnley - DRAW

The best (and easiest for me) way to give your scores is via the comments on the blog and each prediction has to be in before kick off in that game. Ie, If you post at 1300 on Saturday, then the early game will be ignored but the rest of the weekend will be valid. I do also accept predos by any other means (it's just a pain to keep track of) or even after the fact if a valid timestamp is there (ie a betting slip).

1 point per correct prediction. If there are <7 games on a matchday (ie FA Cup quarters/semis or League cup final), we don't play. If there are 7-9 games, the score is pro-rata'd out of 10. Results are published weekly, a league table using mean score is compiled after 3 matchdays for those who play >2/3 weeks (no 1 week high score and never play again stuff here) and that's it really...

I try to publish the blog 2 days before matchdays and use Facebook, Twitter, email and Whatsapp to send reminders. If you want to use any of those options, please let me know.

We started out as an accumulator accumulator so *if* you place a 10 match (or however many matches are in the matchday) accumulator bet, let me know your odds and I'll include them. It's entirely optional and only adds a layer of data to my database for statisticians to pour through in later years. 

The game is free to play and the more who play the better so if you have friends, family, colleagues, neighbours, pets or anyone else who'd like to play, get them involved and spread the word.

We'll do a cash game for the FA Cup as usual from January but more about that later in the year

I don't have much more to add, but feel free to be in touch with any questions. 

To the Matchday 1 predos:

Man Utd vs Leicester - MAN UTD

Newcastle vs Spurs - DRAW

Bournemouth vs Cardiff - BOURNEMOUTH

Fulham vs Crystal Palace - FULHAM

Huddersfield vs Chelsea - CHELSEA

Watford vs Brighton - BRIGHTON

Wolves vs Everton - EVERTON

Liverpool vs West Ham - LIVERPOOL

Southampton vs Burnley - DRAW

Arsenal vs Man City - DRAW

10 match acca odds: 3824/1

BONUS Predictions (no points, feel free to share, will praise/shame at end of season)

League Champions: Man City

2-3-4: Liverpool - Arsenal - Chelsea

Relegated: Wolves, Cardiff & Huddersfield

League Cup: Man City

FA Cup: Liverpool

1st manager to go: Hodgson (Gracia & Benitez soon after)

Best new signing: Jorginho (that Chelsea midfield *could* be delicious - Kante-Jorginho + 1 (Cesc, RLC etc)

Wadda-waste-of-money: Deulofeu (3 early highlights before nothing all season resulting in bugger all game time from Feb)

Top Scorer: Aubameyang

Golden Gloves: Ederson

Will Harry Kane score in August: Yes

Good luck guys!