Premier League Picks Of The Week 10

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 10

The tenth week of the Premier League action saw:

23 goals - most by Liverpool & Man City = 3 each
114 shots - most by Crystal Palace = 19
68 on target - most by Crystal Palace = 9
92 corners - most by Crystal Palace = 11
195 fouls - most by Crystal Palace = 18
29 yellow cards - most by Watford & Stoke = 4 each
0 red cards
2 penalties - 1 scored (Mohamed Salah missed for Liverpool, Luka Milivojevic for Crystal Palace)

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What a game! West Brom against Manchester City started with a flood of goals, three in under 15 minutes! Leroy Sané opened the scoring for the visitors with a vicious strike from 15 yards. Jay Rodriguez levelled the score for the hosts three minutes later lifting the ball past Ederson off Gareth Barry's cross. But seconds later Fernandinho restored the Citizens' lead, seeing the ball deflect off a couple of players and in off the post. Former LFC winger Raheem Sterling made it 1-3 with just over an hour gone after the game calmed down a bit. The home side pulled one back late on, what a massive mistake it was by Nicolás Otamendi, Matt Phillips capitalizing well on it, but it was too little too late for the Baggies. The blue league leaders keep flying high five points clear at the top even after not exactly their best performance.

What a team! Just when Arsenal looked to be on top of their game after taking Everton apart 5-2 last week, they were humbled by Swansea, in the first half. The Swans took the lead when Sam Clucas slotted one in against the run of play halfway through the opening half. And it could have been worse if it weren't for Petr Čech's stops, denying Jordan Ayew, who came closest to double the Welsh side's lead. But the Gunners hit back and completed a great turnaround after the break, thanks to two goals in seven minutes by Sead Kolašinac (51') and Aaron Ramsey (58'). It's the third successive game the Londoners have fought back from behind, ending manager Arsène Wenger's 800th Premier League game on top, remaining fifth in the league table, level on points with Chelsea in fourth.
Newcastle definitely don't like Mondays after losing their 10th consecutive top-flight match on this miserable opening day of the week. Burnley deserved the win thanks to Jeff Hendrick's second league goal of the season, sealing a nice fifth anniversary present for manager Sean Dyche, who has been linked with the vacant Everton job. I don't think he'd be that stupid: Burnley are sitting high and happy in seventh, whilst the Toffees are stuck in the bottom three, more to their defeat below.

What a man! Super sub Anthony Martial won the early kick-off on Saturday for Manchester United, beating two Spurs defenders to slot the ball home off Romelu Lukaku's headed cross with 81 minutes on the clock, just over ten minutes after coming on. Too easy. With this victory, the hosts have won their last six league games at Old Trafford, conceding zero, keeping them second in the league table. The last time they recorded such a strong league run at home was March 2010 under Sir Alex Ferguson. The weather was just as dire as the entertainment value and quality of the match though. The first half saw the visitors on top, the home side were poor, but took more control after the interval, José Mourinho's substitution(s) proved to be crucial. Harry Kane and Victor Wanyama were ruled out due to injury and certainly missed, both scorers in Tottenham's win over the Red Devils the last time the two sides met in an emotional farewell at White Hart Lane. The result put an end to Mauricio Pochettino's men's unbeaten run on the road this season, recording their second defeat in the league, keeping them in third place, local rivals Chelsea and Arsenal closing the gap to just a point. The London side definitely don't like this ground, having lost 21 of their 26 Premier League trips to Old Trafford. (After this match, Manchester City will surely not be all too worried though, neither side looking half as threatening and lethal as the league leaders.)

What a goal! Both West Ham goals impressed, from nice team play to top quality individual effort! Javier Hernández broke the deadlock with a nice finish and André Ayew doubled the Hammers' lead with a stunner driven from 20 yards out. But a spot kick by Luka Milivojević and late late late late late Wilfried Zaha goal grabbed a point back for Crystal Palace (90'+7!!!), who had also hit the woodwork twice and pulled numerous saves from Joe Hart. It ended a point each for Roy Hodgson and Slaven Bilić, but very different feelings, the fourth point of the season for Palace, denying West Ham a first Premier League away win in six attempts.
Eden Hazard made it three in three for Chelsea, as many goals as in his previous 17 games, to beat Bournemouth 0-1 at the Vitality Stadium. Clinical. Asmir Begović was beaten from a tight angle on the side the Bosnian keeper should have had covered. The Cherries fought hard, but just could not find a breakthrough. Cruel.
And what a run and goal Leicester's opener was against Everton! Jamie Vardy banged the chance in from close range after the Foxes broke and ripped through the Toffees, Demarai Gray with the run past Tom Davies and two more Evertonians, followed by a Riyad Mahrez cross, top top top counter attack. Jonjoe Kenny's deflection added to the visitor's misery, awarded to Gray, who was on fire and involved again with a fine run and shot. The Claude Puel era is up and running, it was certainly a Super Sunday for he Frenchman. Not sure caretaker David Unsworth will get nor want the job at the Merseyside club permanently at this rate, watching his side nowhere near competing, moulding in 18th.

What the hell?! Only Jürgen Klopp knows why Mohamed Salah took the spot kick for Liverpool. James Milner and Roberto Firmino left watching as Huddersfield keeper Jonas Lössl denied the Egyptian from the spot. It just added to the frustrations, the last league win difficult to remember. It was over a month ago to be exact, 2-3 at Leicester, felt like years ago! A slice of luck saw Daniel Sturridge capitalize on Terriers captain Tommy Smith's misplaced header to give the Reds the lead and relieve them of a lot of pressure!!! Firmino doubled the lead with a strong header off a corner. Georginio Wijnaldum made it three with a rifle of a shot, past four defenders, the 150th PL goal under Klopp. What was I ranting about again? The Reds turned on the style at Anfield in the second half, finally!!! Something/someone finally clicked and turned the switch on, and keeping only their fourth clean sheet in ten league games will boost the confidence more, too. The win takes Klopp's men up to sixth, three points behind the top four. It was the first league meeting between the two sides since February 1972 and there was a lot covered in the buildup to the match about the close friendship between the two managers, Klopp and David Wagner. History. The last time the Terriers beat the Reds was 1959 under non-other than Bill Shankly before his LFC era! History-and-a-half.

My Predictions - Actual Results
Man United 2:1 Tottenham - 1:0
Arsenal 1:1 Swansea - 2:1
Crystal Palace 1:2 West Ham - 2:2
Liverpool 1:1 Huddersfield - 3:0
Watford 2:1 Stoke City - 0:1
West Brom 1:3 Man City - 2:3
Bournemouth 1:3 Chelsea - 0:1
Brighton 1:0 Southampton - 1:1
Leicester 1:1 Everton - 2:0
Burnley 0:1 Newcastle - 1:0

Click here for last week's Premier League Picks.

All pictures, facts and stats were taken from the BBC match reports, MOTD, Twitter and SFR live match coverage.