Thursday 28 February 2019

S8M29: Contraction

2 games in a week eh, AND a blog out on time. This is a bizarre level of efficiency that for sure won't last.

Let's briefly recap.

The weekend was the truncated weekend due to the League Cup final. Let's start there even though it's not really relevant. Specifically with Kepagate. Thoroughly enjoyable stuff, utterly unique and only the slightly bit mad. Then obviously, not saving the penalty from Aguero which he really should have...lovely. There were some other delicious penalties too - Hazard is frankly superhuman to be able to dribble so skilfully whilst weighed down by his ferrous appendages.  The Sterling pen was also all about the #narrative so good things all round.

In terms of the Premier League, 2 Friday night games had bags of goals. with Watford and West Ham running rampant. Then Burnley turned Spurs over, the Geordie revival gathered momentum with the addition of Almiron and Palace beat Leicester handsomely in a statistical anomaly. Bournemouth & Wolves played out a draw on the South coast. Arsenal beat Southampton relatively comfortably whilst Man Utd & Liverpool also held each other to a stalemate, noticeable mainly for the vast quantities of medical supplies used. No need for the moulage this week from the medical crews at Old Trafford.

Then in midweek, the fun continued for Newcastle, and Everton got back to winning ways, consigning Cardiff to yet more misery. They're done. Huddersfield are too, but beat Wolves for the 2nd time this season - 43% of their points have come from beating the Boys from the Black Country. Leicester, having changed their manager in the interval, got Brodge off to a good start, beating Brighton. Arsenal & Liverpool won handsomely, whilst Man Utd and Southampton registered comfortable wins against Palace and Fulham respectively. Man City only won by the single goal - wastefully apparently and we'll finish, as we started with Chelsea, who won a huge game at the Bridge against Spurs, with a potential goal of the season contender from Trippier. Tekkers that Thierry would have been proud of at his peak.

Let's get statty:

Matchday 27:

19 people played
Most popular predicted result: Arsenal WIN (19/19)
Most disputed result: Man Utd vs Liverpool (5-9-5 split)

Highest/Lowest/Average odds: 317/1 (Doron)

Best predictors: Tarek & I (7.5/10 pro-rata)
Worst predictors: 5 of you (3.75/10 pro-rata)

Best predicted result: Arsenal WIN (19/19)
Worst predicted result: Burnley WIN (0/19)

Matchday 28:

23 people played
Most popular predicted result: Liverpool WIN (23/23)
Most disputed result: Cardiff vs Everton (4-5-14 split)

Highest odds: Steven Daniels 1358/1
Lowest odds: Doron 943/1
Average odds: 1151/1

Best predictor: EuroClub Index (9/10)
Worst predictor: David Graniewitz (3/10)

Best predicted result: Liverpool WIN (23/23)
Worst predicted result: Huddersfield WIN (0/23)

Everyone's results:


Leaderboard (>2/3; 19/28



To this week's predos:

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

Good luck guys

Tuesday 26 February 2019

S8M28: Doubled Up

For the second time as it didn't save.
Late because I forgot
#audittrail
Cardiff vs Everton - CARDIFF
Huddersfield vs Wolves- WOLVES
Leicester vs Brighton - LEICESTER
Newcastle vs Burnley - NEWCASTLE
Arsenal vs Bournemouth - ARSENAL
Southampton vs Fulham- DRAW
Crystal Palace vs Man Utd - MAN UTD
Chelsea vs Spurs - DRAW
Liverpool vs Watford - LIVERPOOL
Man City vs West Ham - MAN CITY
Good luck guys

Thursday 21 February 2019

S8M27: Vertical play

So, we are into the final third of the season, and it's pretty finely balanced. Several micro battles still ongoing, managerial drama and chaos in the Premier League boardroom.

As ever, I'm not gonna rehash 2 week old games...shame 'cos we could all enjoy a laugh at Chelsea...

Let's get statty:

This week, 22 people played - sorry ECI (again)
Most popular predicted results: Man Utd, Arsenal & Liverpool WINS (22/22)
Most disputed prediction: Crystal Palace vs West Ham (12-9-1 split)

Highest odds: Doron Salomon (484/1)
Lowest odds: Steven Daniels (413/1)
Average odds: 449/1

Best predictor: Lawro (8/10)
Worst predictors: Joseph Machta & Tarek Najm (4/10)
Average score: 5.7/10

Best predicted results: Man Utd, Arsenal & Liverpool WINS (22/22)
Worst predicted result: Cardiff WIN (0/22)

Everyone's results:


To the leaderboard, (>2/3 games; 18/26)


It should be noted that my repetitive failure to note the ECI predos down in time might actually affect the title race this season, so if anyone knows how I can see old cached internet pages, I'll try to put it right...

This week's predos:

Cardiff vs Watford - WATFORD
West Ham vs Fulham - WEST HAM
Burnley vs Spurs - SPURS
Bournemouth vs Wolves - DRAW
Newcastle vs Huddersfield - NEWCASTLE
Leicester vs Crystal Palace - LEICESTER
Arsenal vs Southampton - ARSENAL
Man Utd vs Liverpool - DRAW

Remember this one is the pro-rata adjusted week


Thursday 14 February 2019

FA Cup 2019: Round 5

Philosophical question for you this week: Is the Arsene Wenger Invitational Cup even a trophy anymore without his presence?

Let's get statty:
This week, 7 people played. I'm presuming Joe Abbott doesn't want to join in a round late so have discounted him...

Most popular predicted results: 6 results (6/6). Devilish
Most dispiuted results: Brighton vs WBA (3/6)

Best predictors: Me & Doron (11/16)
Worst predictor: Joe Machta (8/16)

Everyone's results:


This week's predos:

QPR vs Watford - WATFORD
Brighton vs Derby - DERBY
AFC Wimbledon vs Millwall - WIMBLEDON
Newport vs Man City - MAN CITY
Bristol City vs Wolves - WOLVES
Doncaster vs Crystal Palace - CRYSTAL PALACE
Swansea vs Brentford - SWANSEA
Chelsea vs Man Utd - MAN UTD

Good luck guys.

Wednesday 6 February 2019

S8M26: Rejuvenate

Since the advent of football in 1992, there's been some competition amongst fan groups as to who claims the title of  the "Henson Award" given to the Biggest Muppets. Fanrisebases have waxed and waned, although there have been perennial challengers as well as intermittent runners. Liverpool are one such frequent competitor. It's not their fault of course - they were big dogs prior to the first ever game of football, and have somewhat fallen away since, short of 2 magical seasons that fell just short.  The thing was, they could always be relied on to perform a preemptive poultry census which more often than not, left them Ovum in Faciem. Ornithological. This year seemed different. This year, they were wiser and more tactically adept. Less brio away from Anfield, and less hubris from the fans. Whilst City stumbled, the message discipline from the Boot Room & the Kop remained. Forget the bookies - we're still the plucky underdogs waiting for the Moss Side/Emirati posse to come back into form and regain the lead.

Fair play to them. Hasn't made a damned bit of difference. City's stumbles seem to have passed, whilst Liverpool have hit a stickier patch. The lead is now only theoretical. City have top spot, although having played a game more. The pressure is well and truly only.

Neighbours Man Utd have also hit form and now hold 5th spot - an achievement given where they were a few weeks ago. Spurs are grinding the results out without their attacking talent, whilst Chelsea's blip may well have ended. Arsenal are now 6th, 3 points off 4th and this mini-battle will likely run on for a while yet.

I'll gloss over mid-table as usual because what's the point, but going further down, Newcastle & Southampton have had their form rewarded with a rise up the table. Cardiff & Burnley to be honest need to pick it up soon or risk being left behind.

Let's get statty:

This week, 21 people played
Most popular predicted results: Chelsea & Liverpool WINS (21/21)
Most disputed predicted result: Brighton vs Watford (7-7-7 split)

Highest odds: Doron 1283/1
Lowest odds: Steven D 847/1
Average odds: 1065/1

Best predictor: Gaj (7/10)
Worst predictor: Lawro (2/10)
Average score: 4.71/10

Best predicted result: Chelsea WIN (21/21)
Worst predicted result: West Ham vs Liverpool (0/21)

Everyone's scores:


Leaderboard (>2/3; 17/25)



This week's predos:

Fulham vs Man Utd - MAN UTD
Crystal Palace vs West Ham - CRYSTAL PALACE
Huddersfield vs Arsenal - ARSENAL
Liverpool vs Bournemouth - LIVERPOOL
Southampton vs Cardiff - SOUTHAMPTON
Watford vs Everton - WATFORD
Brighton vs Burnley  - BRIGHTON
Spurs vs Leicester - SPURS
Man City vs Chelsea - MAN CITY
Wolves vs Newcastle - WOLVES

Good luck guys