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!