Tuesday 24 March 2009

Premier League Picks of the Week

Sports - Football - Premier League

Match: Liverpool's five-goal haul against Aston Villa made a clear and promising statement about the Scousers' intentions and potential for the remainder of the title race.

Result: Manchester United's defeat against Fulham just revealed more lacks and weaknesses of the defending champions. Nobody is perfect but the last couple of weeks have been shocking - especially for Man Utd fans.

Team: Liverpool have shone lately - not just the usual suspects Torres and Gerrard, but the whole team have backed them up and improved a lot.

Goal: Fulham's Zoltan Gera's bicycle kick which settled the score and match.

Hero: Mark Schwarzer made brilliant saves and frustrated the Man Utd forwards - especially Rooney. Pepe Reina needs a mentioning as well for his top saves when the game was still relatively evenly ballanced at 1:0.

Villain: Cristiano Ronaldo should have seen red as well for his dangerous lunge-tackle on Danny Murphy. He is walking on thin ice if he he thinks he can continue like this, just like his team in general.

Manager: Roy Hodgson could not have done a better job after his side were thrashed and battered in the FA Cup by the same team they upset and beat deservedly, fair and square.

Referee: This week the assistants at Anfield and Ewood Park need mentioning, on a bad note. In the build-up to Weat Ham's goal, Mark Noble was left unchallenged for nearly 40 yards and free to cross the ball to Luis Boa Morte, who clearly looked offside. He flicked it on to Tristan, who put it back to Noble in the box for him to curl it into goal off the left post with his left boot. Good goal in the end, but just frustrating for Blackburn in their relegation battle, decision errors like this can cost clearly and dearly at the end of the season. Brad Friedel's sending off was harsh, especially after watching the referee and the linesman discussing and looking everything else but confident and sure of their decisions.

My Predictions - Actual Results

Blackburn 2:2 West Ham - 1:1
Fulham 1:2 Man United - 2:0
Newcastle 1:3 Arsenal - 1:3
Portsmouth 1:1 Everton - 2:1
Stoke City 1:0 Middlesbrough - 1:0
Tottenham 2:1 Chelsea - 1:0
West Brom 2:0 Bolton - 1:1
Liverpool 2:1 Aston Villa - 5:0
Man City 2:0 Sunderland - 1:0
Wigan 0:0 Hull City - 1:0

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