Premier League Picks Of The Week 19

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 19

The 19th week of the Premier League action saw:

270 shots - most by Man United = 32!
33 goals - most by Burnley, Chelsea & Spurs = 4 each
216 fouls - most by West Brom = 17
37 bookings - most by Leicester = 5
1 red card - van Dijk 2nd yellow for Saints
1 penalty - 1 scored (Barnes for Burnley)

Their boss José Mourinho was sad.

Usain Bolt was much happier with his side's win.

Whilst Jürgen Klopp doesn't care.

What a game! Stoke proved a tough test for league leaders Chelsea in the six-goal thriller at Stamford Bridge, five of which were scored in the second half. The Potters threw everything at the Blues, they were up for it, but a classy Diego Costa and Willian double proved too much for Mark Hughes' men. Antonio Conte's side stay six points clear at the top after their 13th consecutive league win, equalling Arsenal's record of most consecutive wins in a season consisting of 38 games from 2001-2. Can anything or anyone stop them?!

What a team! Manchester United rolled back the years, scoring two goals within seconds, turning the game on its head in the final minutes. Middlesbrough had taken a shock lead in the second half thanks to midfielder Grant Leadbitter (67') after the hosts had hit the post twice. But Aitor Karanka's men grew tired and the Red Devils pounced on that, Anthony Martial (85') and Paul Pogba (86') making the most of it and taking their unbeaten league run to ten games, winning all five in December, moving them to just one point behind Arsenal in fourth place.

What a man! Man of the match Harry Kane (27' & 33') and Dele Alli (41' & 46') sealed an easy 1-4 win for Tottenham at Watford with a double each. The England striker must love New Year's Day, matching Thierry Henry's record with his 59th goal in 100 Premier League games. After thrashing Southampton 1-4 last week as well, it was the first time since October 1960 Spurs scored four goals in two consecutive away games - the season they did the Double. Promising. Andre Gray more than deserves a shoutout too after being the first Burnley player to score a Premier League hat-trick, downing Sunderland 4-1 at Turf Moor.

What a goal! Olivier Giroud's elastic "scorpion" goal, looped in off Alexis Sánchez, that gave Arsenal the lead against Crystal Palace, was a beauty. The piece of magic resembled Henrikh Mkhitaryan's stunner from last week, with the main difference being, it was not offside! It was the Frenchman's second goal in as many games, keeping the Gunners in the title race with a shout, in third place, three points behind Liverpool in second, nine behind Chelsea at the top. Hal Robson Kanu's stunner as West Brom beat Saints 1-2 at St Mary's deserves a mention, too, in the Welshman's first Premier League start since May 2013.

What the hell?! Liverpool recorded just five shots in their win against Manchester City, man of the match Georginio Wijnaldum (8') on the scoreboard with the one and only goal. It was a rare defensive performance by the Reds, keeping back and even wasting time at the end. Very unlike Jürgen Klopp and his teams, but the German manager didn't care, the main thing was the clean sheet and three points. City meanwhile looked very laboured, the defeat taking them out of the top four, down to fifth, level on points with Spurs in fourth, Pep Guardiola not happy. Click here for my match report.

My Predictions - Actual Results
(Forgot to make predictions, hence, auto-allocation = 1:0)
Hull City 1:0 Everton - 2:2
Burnley 1:0 Sunderland - 4:1
Chelsea 1:0 Stoke City - 4:2
Leicester 1:0 West Ham - 1:0
Man United 1:0 Middlesbrough- 2:1
Southampton 1:0 West Brom - 1:2
Swansea 1:0 Bournemouth - 0:3
Liverpool 1:0 Man City - 1:0 or click here for my match report
Watford 1:0 Tottenham - 1:4
Arsenal 1:0 Crystal Palace - 2:0

Click here for last week's Premier League Picks.

Pictures taken from the BBC match reports.