S11M3: Circle of Life

I can confirm that the football has returned. The surrealism of last weekend has started to dissipate and routine is slowly returning, exercising some mental muscles that once got a good working out.

Always nice as well when a bit of footballing routine helps ease that transition. Easy Liverpool & Man City wins. Check. Newcastle defeat. Check. Man Utd struggle at Southampton. Check. Arsenal get bullied out of the game by a Chelsea striker. Check. Nice.

What else happened? The newest London derby ended with spoils shared at Selhurst Park, as did the first PL game in front of a full Elland Rd in ages. Brighton battered Watford and they look very good this season. Bissouma anyone? The return to Wolves ended happily for Nuno Espirito Santo, with an early Dele penalty the difference maker. Finally, what on earth is happening to West Ham and how are they maintaining this form. I can't prove it but I reckon its EPO or something.

Let's get statty:

This week, 18 people played

Most popular predicted results: Liverpool & Man City WIN (18/18)

Most disputed result: West Ham vs Leicester (5-8-5 split)

Highest/Lowest odds: Steven Daniels 1042/1

Average odds: .....

Best predictors: David Brickman/Gaj Thiru (8/10)

Worst predictor: Daniel Wigman (3/10)

Average score: 5.71/10

Best predicted result: Liverpool & Man City WIN (18/18)

Worst predicted result: Southampton vs Man Utd DRAW (1/18 - well done Gaj)

Everyone's results:

Leaderboard to follow in the next blog

Matchday 3 predos:

Good luck all!

S11M2: Are we back?

Well that was nice...

I'm not sure why it still doesn't feel real to me. I haven't been to a football match for ~18 months, which is probably the longest I've not been since I went my first game. I'm unlikely to go for several months more - so no idea if that'll change matters. Therefore, all the return of the matchday pageantry hasn't really impacted me. I don't really watch MOTD anymore 'cos online highlights are faster and Jermaine Jenas is a pillock, so that's not changed. The summer seems to be more about transfers than football and that soap opera is still going. So yeah - all still surreal to me.

I've gotten into Kit Twitter. It's really interesting to hear designers talking about the process - the briefs, the challenges and a bit more about the mechanics of how the process works - including the economics of it after the whole "Messi pays for himself" shpiel - spoiler: he doesn't. Highly recommend falling down that rabbithole.

Meandering here. Let's look at what happened on matchday 1. 

The season kicked off in West London, inaugurating Brentford's new stadium and their return to the top flight for the first time in 200 years. My club believe in values, morals and being gracious guests, so we played our part in allowing them their party. You are welcome, Bees fans.

Moving onto the Bs, Brighton beat Brunley at Turf Moor. Easy home wins for Man Utd & Chelsea, less easy home wins for Everton, Leicester and Watford who had a bit of a squeaky bum time in injury time. Liverpool are up and running with a comfortable 3-0 win at Norwich and West Ham came from behind twice to continue their good form from last season at St James Park. 

Finally, a Spurs side missing Harry Kane for [insert reason] beat Man City - a team they seem to have a slight hoodoo over since they moved to their new stadium. Didn't watch the game as I have self respect but apparently it was a deserved victory so let's all thank Spurs for making Invincibles Day more likely this year. 

Let's get statty:

This week, 21 people played

Most popular predicted result: Leicester WIN (21/21)

Most disputed prediction: Burnley vs Brighton (8-6-7 split respectively)

Highest odds: Josh Daniels 2462/1

Lowest odds: Steven Daniels 1418/1

Average odds: 1940/1

Best predictor: David Brickman (8/10) 0- someone wants their title back...

Worst predictors:3 of us (4/10)

Average score: 5.62/10

Everyone's scores:

No leaderboard until after Matchday 3....

To this week's predos:



Good luck all!

S11: 'Ere We Go

 Somebody needs to have a word with the Sun. Or Earth. Whoever's in charge of orbits and stuff. How is it already the eve of a new season? We've just done the last one. Then the Euros. Then the Olympics. And now we're all lined up in the tunnel waiting to go again.

A reminder of the rules for any new players:

• Predict the result (Home Win/Draw/Away Win) for each fixture
• 1 point per correct prediction
• Leaderboard = weekly average score for those who play >2/3 of available weeks
• That's basically it

There's a more detailed expansion here

So, let's ImpossibiliPreview - give me your season predictions which we'll pull out in May...

and Matchday 1 Predictions

Please share this widely - the more the merrier!

Good luck all!