Tuesday 21 November 2017

Premier League Picks Of The Week 12

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 12

The 12th week of the Premier League action saw:
32 goals - most by Bournemouth, Man United & Chelsea = 4 each
247 shots - most by Liverpool = 22
92 on target - most by Liverpool = 8
116 corners - most by Man United & Huddersfield = 11 each
136 fouls - most by Everton = 26
34 yellow cards - most by Arsenal & West Ham = 4 each
1 red card - Simon Francis for Bournemouth (second yellow)
1 penalty - 1 scored (Leighton Baines for Everton)

What a game! Arsenal surprisingly impressed recording their first league win against Tottenham since 2014 in the early kick-off on Saturday. Shkodran Mustafi headed the Gunners ahead in the big London derby from Mesut Özil's controversial free kick in the 36th minute. Alexis Sánchez doubled the lead five minutes later lashing in from Alexandre Lacazette's square ball. Both goals looked offside, close calls though. Arsène Wenger has now beaten 10 of the 11 Spurs managers he has faced in the Premier League, the only exception being Christian Gross in 1997-98. It was the first time Harry Kane failed to score in this bitter derby and was subbed off in the 75th minute, with Dele Alli, Son Heung-min and Fernando Llorente replacing them. Mauricio Pochettino was surely bitterly disappointed with the officials and his side, but his away record looks very dire, winning just once in the last 15 visits to top six sides. Everton came back twice against Palace, the game ending 2-2 with a point each. The two worst defences fought hard, how the match ended up last on MOTD shows how action-packed, eventful and entertaining the day was! Who can start a petition to get rid of international breaks, please?!!!

What a team! Manchester City recorded their 16th consecutive win in all competitions, 34 points in the opening 12 league games - equalling the Premier League record they set under Roberto Mancini in 2011-12. Gabriel Jesus opened the scoring from close range and Kevin De Bruyne added a breathtaking smacker that could be heard hitting the back of the net. The league leaders were lucky with some decisions though, see more below. Manchester United set a club record of their own going 38 games unbeaten after thrashing Newcastle 4-1. Dwight Gayle gave the Magpies the lead early on in the game, giving neutral viewers the hope they could be up for an actual contest. But it went all downhill from there at Old Trafford, Rafael Benítez's side conceding four including Paul Pogba netting on his return from injury. Burnley! Boom! Boom! The Clarets moved within a point of the top four after an impressive 2-0 win against struggling Swansea. Sean Dyche would be more than daft to leave this strong position for any of the shaky job vacancies going around at the moment... More to that below!

What a man! I doubt Tony Pulis will keep his job much longer after Chelsea hammered his side West Brom 0-4 at the Hawthorns, making it 2 wins in the last 21 for the Baggies. And as I am editing this, the news breaks of his sacking. It's the second Premier League week in a row that's happened, the Welshman is already the fifth sacking of the season after Slaven Bilić was sent packing before the international break and it's not even December yet!
Callum Wilson's hat-trick more than helped ten-man Bournemouth thrash Huddersfield 4-0. The Cherries are flying up the table, but the Terriers were more than up for the f(l)ight, working and fighting hard despite the scoreline.
Watford stopper Heurelho Gomes starred with breathtaking/double/triple saves!!! A super keeper on the only Super Sunday match! 22-year-old former Derby County midfielder Will Hughes scored with his first ever shot in the Premier League and Brazilian Richarlison doubled West Ham's misery after the break. Who wants to be David Moyes, ey?! The former Everton and United boss lost his first game as Hammers manager and 500th in the top-flight. The Hornets meanwhile impressed and went up to eighth.

What a goal! There was some top quality team play produced by both Chelsea and Man City in all their goals, both men of the matches Eden Hazard and De Bruyne starring for their sides respectively. Mohamed Salah scored two on the day to help Liverpool beat Southampton 3-0, the Egyptian star's ninth league goal of the season to make him top scorer and 14 after 18 games in all competitions. The last LFC player to score more than 14 goals in a season was none-other than Luis Suárez. And it's only November. On. Fire. The win meant Liverpool have now won by three or more goals in four consecutive games for the first time since Bob Paisley's Reds in 1980. Double BOOM!

What the hell?! Referees!!! City defender Vincent Kompany  had a lucky escape after a late tackle felling down last man Jamie Vardy. And what is offside again?! The Citizens and Gunners were both very lucky with those decisions respectively, but deserved the wins looking at the performances and general displays. The Cherries were just as fortunate with a few decisions as well before their first couple of goals. Fouls and offsides were missed again, I think the officials need to google both. But Eddie Howe's men doubled that score thrashing Huddersfield 4-0 despite going down to ten men, killer goals, killer score, killer points. Terriers boss David Wagner was rightly very unhappy about those decisions that went against his side. The officials at the Amex didn't cover themselves in glory either, where Brighton extended their unbeaten league run to five games as they drew 2-2 with Stoke, but could and should have done better after being denied a blatant penalty in a frantic first half. Referees, ey. What's their job again? Hm. Who knows. They don't seem to have a clue!

My Predictions - Actual Results
Arsenal 1:1 Tottenham - 2:0
Bournemouth 2:1 Huddersfield - 4:0
Burnley 1:0 Swansea City - 2:0
Crystal Palace 1:1 Everton - 2:2
Leicester 1:2 Man City - 0:2
Liverpool 4:1 Southampton - 3:0
West Brom 2:1 Chelsea - 0:4
Man United 4:1 Newcastle - 4:1
Watford 1:1 West Ham - 2:0
Brighton 2:1 Stoke City - 2:2

Click here for my previous Premier League Picks Of The Week.

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

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