S11M5: It's happened again

Retrospective blogging:

In the famous words of Ned Flanders, let's get it on.

Obviously we're now 1.5 matchdays in arrears which means you'll no doubt have been unable to enjoy the football this weekend whilst you are in need of my tepid takes.

I would beg forgiveness but I've just spent 10 days doing that (niche, know your audience) so soz, wait until next season.

The early kick off saw Arsenal titan Paddy V batter the North London Cockerels 15-0 or something. Just like old times. New titan PEA then battered the DeliaSmiths from a yard out to kickstart something special. 35 games. 35 wins. You read it here first.

Graham Potter - linked with the Spurs job over the summer showed his skill in getting Brighton the first away win at the new Griffin Park. Away wins continued with the Mahrez grudge match going the way of his current employers.

THE soap opera of the weekend was the return of sex criminal Club Legend Cristiano Ronaldo to Old Trafford where he was watched on from the Directors Box by Sex Criminal Club Legend Ryan Giggs. A redebut brace left his fans wanting more which was conveniently the gist of the gurner's letter to his lawyer in the US legal proceedings. Close to the mark perhaps - but as someone who was unaware of the details of the episode until very recently, I think it's probably worth the oxygen of publicity now (Tough read).

Moving on, Southampton & West Ham bored everyone to tears. Wolves finally got the W they deserved, Chelsea & Liverpool both got easy wins and lastly, on Monday night, Everton held off a Burnley side who have really got out of bed on the wrong side this season so far.

Norwich & Burnley to go own already?!?!?

Let's get statty:

This week, 18 people played
Most popular predicted result: Man Utd WIN (18/18)
Most disputed prediction: Brentford vs Brighton (8-6-4 split respectively)

Highest odds: Aron Kleiman (1738/1)
Lowest odds: Josh Daniels (1403/1
Average odds: 1681/1

Best Predictor: Joe Abbott & Nathan Daniels (8/10)
Worst Predictors: Jospeh Matcha & Raffi Kleiman (4/10)
Average score: 6.11/10

Best predicted result: Man Utd WIN (18/18)

Worst predicted result: Crystal Palace WIN (1/18 - well done Dr NJSPTC) 

Everyone's results:




Leaderboard (>2/3 matchdays; 3/4)

This week's predictions

Good Luck all!

S11M4: Time for an Undershirt

 I've previously written about the glory of a sunny August afternoon setting the scene for the return of football after a summer break. The warm glow setting the scene for a party atmosphere both on & off the pitch. Someone should invent a term for that sort of thing that you'll learn for GCSE English Literature and then never use again in real life, except to point out that you still remember a pretty pointless term from your English Literature GCSE which is now a scary amount of years ago.

Also 9/11 was 20 years ago. What the actual **** happened there? (for our younger players, ask your parents). I remember the day like it was yesterday. Arsenal were playing Real Mallorca in the Champions league and it was on ON DIGITAL (younger players, ask your parents) which we didn't have so I went to my friend Ben's house to watch it. I got there a bit early and we were just watching the now infamous clip of the planes hitting the tower over and over - no information was really coming out then, and even at that age, I couldn't believe that the game would go ahead. It was sort of a bit meaningless.

Oh, UEFA. How I should have realised then....

Arsenal lost 1-0 if you want to know, Ashley Cole was sent off. Battered them 3-1 in the return though with one of my favourite goals - Bergkamp heading in a bullet from a Gio van Bronckhorst cross, before Henry sealed progression in injury time with a classic Henry goal and a classic Henry celebration.

Ah nostalgia. I digress. Younger players - by season 31 of Impossibilitee, you too will do this. Older players - this must be how you feel about *checks notes* Stanley Matthews.

International break to qualify for a corrupt World Cup (oh FIFA....how I should have realised...) and some stuff happened but it's basically a 128 team tournament or something which nobody is not allowed to qualify for so I find it hard to care any more than my usual level of care about international football which is surprisingly little. I've been distracting myself with the cricket (oh) and the tennis, enjoying the meteoric rise of Emma Raducanu who wasn't even born when Arsenal lost 1-0 to Real Mallorca. Madness

Let's get statty:

This week 21 people played
Most popular predicted result: Spurs WIN (20/21)
Most disputed prediction: Brighton vs Everton (9-6-6 split)

Highest odds: Steven Daniels (851/1)
Lowest odds: Aron Kleiman (770/1)
Average odds: 811/1

Best Predictor: David Brickman (7/10
Worst Predictor: Zoe Daniels (1/10)
Average score (4.9/10)

Best predicted result: Spurs WIN (20/21)

Worst predicted results: Burnley vs Leeds, West Ham vs Crystal Palace & Aston Villa vs Brentford DRAWS (2/21)

Everyone's stats:

The leaderboard for the first time this season. Reminder that to qualify you have to play >2/3 of available weeks, which in this case is all 3 weeks so far)

Early days yet but David Brickman wants to be the first person to retain the trophy. I on the other hand love the Arsenal so much that I want to be just like them. Volatility will reign for several weeks yet so....yeah.

To this week's predictions:

Good luck all!