S9M21 & FA Cup 2020!

Lots of stats so minimal chat. Xmas fixtures this year have lost me frankly. I have no clue who's played when and so on, so quite looking forward to getting back to a nice once-a-week schedule. To quote the domitable Roger Murtaugh....

Let's get statty:

Matchday 18:
26 people played
Most popular predicted result: Aston Villa & Man Utd WINS (24/26)
Most disputed prediction: Sheffield Utd WIN (5/26)

Highest odds: AFN (10,850/1)
Lowest odds: Feneley (1517/1)
Average odds: 4467/1

Best predictor: Steven Daniels & WhoScored.com (5.56/10 pro-rata)
Worst predictors: Loads of you (2.22/10 pro-rata)
Average score: 3.72/10 pro-rata

Best predicted result: Wolves WIN (/26)
Worst predicted result: Watford WIN (1/26) - Lawro

Matchday 19:
20 people played
Most popular predicted result: Spurs & Chelsea WINS (20/20)
Most disputed prediction: Leicester vs Liverpool (3-4-13 split respectively)

Highest odds: AFM (11,626/1)
Lowest odds: Doron Salomon (545/1)
Average odds: 3850/1

Best predictor: Brad Allix (7/10)
Worst predictors: Joseph Machta (3/10)
Average score: 5.1/10

Best predicted result: Spurs WIN (20/20)
Worst predicted result: Southampton WIN (0/20)

Matchday 20:
21 people played
Most popular predicted result: Liverpool WIN (21/21)
Most disputed prediction: Newcastle vs Everton (7-7-7 split respectively. I love it when this happens)

Highest odds: AFM (5214/1 - festive hat trick)
Lowest odds: Aron Kleiman (498/1)
Average odds: 1668/1

Best predictor: Aron Kleiman (8/10)
Worst predictors: Loads of you (4/10)
Average score: 5.38/10

Best predicted result: Liverpool WIN (21/21)
Worst predicted result: Norwich vs Spurs DRAW (1/21 - well done David Silverman)

Everyone's results:

And to the leaderboard (>2/3 matchdays; 14/20)

To this week's predictions:

Finally, to the 2020 edition of the FA Cup game. As always, this is a cash game with actual £ prizes, and as always, the prize pot depends on the number of players, so the more who play, the more £ is available to win.

To recap the rules:

Stand alone from PL game - you can play this if you've not been involved before

£5 buy in - submitting predictions = agreeing to pay. Please don't make me chase you. If you don't have my details, let me know and I'll be in touch privately.

Pick the club to progress from each tie - no draws! (replays, a.e.t., pens etc all count)

Predictions need to be submitted before kick off

1 point per correct prediction

Prize money payouts to 1st, 2nd 3rd places in May (£ depends on size of prize pot)

Share with anyone who's interested - happy to set up another email chain/WhatsApp group for reminders - the more, the merrier, the richer someone gets...

Good luck all!

S9M18-20: Festive Fixtures

Somehow, the halfway point of the season is almost upon us. Time's a funny thing. Flies by when it's not crawling. Like paint. Or something less mixed.

In any case, the issue with the whole halfway point is it compounds emotions. If you're a Liverpool fan, that giant lead is the classic 2-0 half-time lead. You should be good enough, but there's always the nagging thought that it could all unravel quite quickly and momentum shifts. It doesn't seem likely at the moment - their consistency is staggering, and in fact it's Leicester and Chelsea who are stumbling, but still, since when is football rational?

Those on a downer though feel like they're hitting the wall in a marathon. What's passed already hardly counts when your legs are screaming and your lungs are burning and your mind knows there's still no end in sight. Yay. West Ham would have felt a bit like this - but then won away at Southampton to keep Pellegrini in paychecks over Xmas. Sheffield United & Burnley also picked up maximum points.

The Spurs revival continues apace with an away win over Wolves, whilst the Moyes/Fellaini Derby ended all square. A fair result for everyone associated with that particular historical highlight. Man City continued their streak of comfortable wins against Arsenal with a, er, comfortable win against Arsenal. Like Arnie arm-wrestling a baby. Finally in a derby that I will never fully understand, Brighton and Palace shared the points after Wilf spanked one in the top corner to rescue a point. A lovely finish if I do say so myself.

Let's get statty:

This week, 26 people played
Most popular predicted result: Liverpool, Chelsea & Leicester WINS (26/26)
Most disputed predicted result: Burnley vs Newcastle (11-7-8 split respectively)

Highest odds: Josh Daniels (3524/1)
Lowest odds: Steven Daniels (513/1)
Average odds: 1617/1

Best predictor: Will O'Doherty (6/10)
Worst predictor: Doron Salomon & Brad Allix (2/10)
Average score: 3.85/10

Best predicted result: Liverpool WIN (26/26)
Worst predicted result: Everton WIN & Leicester vs Norwich DRAW (0/26)

Everyone's scores:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 12/17):

To the predos - will put up everything until the NYD fixtures to allow anyone who wants to fire and forget about this over the festive period to do so. NY fixture and FA Cup game will be up after Boxing Day.

M18 (Only 9 matches)

M19

M20


Good luck and have a wonderful Impossibilibreak

S9M17: Sleek

Editorial note: Writing a blog whilst watching election coverage is difficult. If I were smart, I'd link it to the impact of Brexit on football but frankly, everything has fallen out of my head.

Let's do a quick recap:

Everton turned around their form and beat Chelsea. Liverpool, Spurs and Leicester predictably all won comfortably. Watford drew with Crystal Palace as did Brighton & Wolves. Surprise wins for Man Utd away at the Etihad and Arsenal away at West Ham. Surprising for different reasons. Newcastle & Sheffield United both won to complete the programme.

Let's get statty:

This week, 25 people played
Most popular predicted results: Newcastle & Chelsea WINS (24/25)
Most disputed results: Norwich vs Sheff Utd & Brighton vs Wolves (8-8-9 & 8-9-8 split respectively)

Highest odds: Aron Kleiman (14576/1)
Lowest odds: AFM (1312/1)
Average odds: 5350/1

Best predictors: Doron Salomon, Eli Daniels & Joe Abbott (7/10)
Worst predictor: Steven Daniels (3/10)
Average score: 5.16/10

Best predicted result: Newcastle WIN (24/25)
Worst predicted result: Everton WIN (0/25)

Everyone's results:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 11/16)



This week's predos:

Good luck all

S9M16: The Jester is Dead, Long Live the Jester

The winter period starts with the intensive fixture runs that can lead to all sorts of unexpected results. Obviously not on day 1, but this is often the time where fatigue and rotation throw up the occasional shock - although obviously these days, what is shock? Pipe down Feneley, nobody wants the physiological definition...

Where to start but at the beginning, with an early shock to disprove the above paragraph. A late Jonjo Shelvey equaliser meant City fell ever further behind after Liverpool beat Brighton. Southampton beat woeful Watford whilst Mou made it 3 from 3 to reverse the downwards momentum at Spurs. Away wins for Palace at Burnley and West Ham at Stamford Bridge however fall into the shock column.

Less shocking were results from the Sunday fixtures. Man Utd dropped points against Villa. Leicester beat a poor Everton about to sack their manager whilst Arsenal showed that ridding yourself of a managerial anchor is no panacea, drawing with Norwich. The final draw was at Molineux, in a very lowkey fixture that continued the great start to the season for the Blades.

Then the midweek games, and the first streamed on Amazon. Let's start with that. It was fine. *shrugs*

What it means for the consumer to need yet another subscription is a different story but as all 7 billion people in the world already have Amazon Prime, it's certainly less of an issue than with most new entrants to the football TV rights world.

Palace made it 2 wins in a week with victory over Bournemouth, even after being down to 10 men for much of the game. Burnley likewise repeated their weekend result, with a home defeat against a defiant Man City. Rodri's goal especially wooshy.

John Terry's return to Stamford Bridge was an unhappy one, and I think we can all get behind that, however transiently. Leicester & Southampton both also won as did Wolves against a yo-yoing West Ham. Liverpool won the most one-sided Merseyside derby in 85 years 5-2 and they're looking pretty good to go the season unbeaten at this rate, especially if teams continue to play a high line against their attack. How much data would you like at this point to suggest you play a different tactic?

ARSENAL BRIGHTON
SHEFF UTD NEWC

Let's get statty:

Matchday 14:
22 people played
Most popular predicted result: Chelsea, Liverpool vs Leicester WINS (22/22)
Most disputed prediction: Norwich vs Arsenal (4-6-12 split respectively)

Highest odds: Aron Kleiman (947/1)
Lowest odds: Doron Salomon (127/1)
Average odds: 400/1

Best predictor: Joe Machta (6/10)
Worst predictor: 4 of you (3/10)
Average score: 4.27/10

Best predicted result: Liverpool & Leicester WINS (22/22)
Worst predicted result: Newcastle vs Man City DRAW and West Ham WIN (0/22)

Matchday 15:
20 people played
Most popular predicted result: Liverpool, Leicester, Chelsea & Arsenal WINS (20/20)
Most disputed prediction: Man Utd vs Spurs (5-6-8 split respectively)

Highest odds: Feneley 576/1
Lowest odds: Steven Daniels 320/1
Average odds: 438/1

Best predictors: ECI & Nick Taylor-Collins
Worst predictors: AFM, Gaj & Joseph Machta (4/10)
Average score: 5.84/10

Best predicted result: Chelsea, Leicester & Liverpool WINS (20/20)
Worst predicted result: Brighton WIN (0/20)

Everyone's results:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 11/15)

To this weeks' predictions:

Good luck all