Premier League Picks Of The Week 14

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 14

The 14th week of the Premier League action saw:

30 goals - most by Arsenal = 4

254 shots - most by Crystal Palace = 29

85 on target - most by Crystal Palace & Chelsea = 9 each

107 corners - most by Crystal Palace = 10

201 fouls - most by Fulham & Tottenham = 17 each

38 bookings - most by Southampton & Man United = 4 each

3 red cards - Mounié for Huddersfield, Capoue for Watford, Vertonghen for Tottenham

3 penalties - 3 scored (Vardy for Leicester, Aubameyang for Arsenal, Kane for Tottenham)

What a game! The Super Derby Sunday was super duper! All three derbies were entertaining to watch, Chelsea ending up comfortable 2-0 winners against a spirited Fulham in the earliest kick-off of the day, followed by definitely-not-shining Liverpool leaving it later than late to find a winner against Everton in the Merseyside derby. But the other London derby between those two matches smashed all expectations, Arsenal firing Tottenham to bits, 4-2 the final score, the Emirates going absolutely mad, goals, cards, penalties, bust-ups galore! The Gunners were relentless, pushing and pressing throughout, absolutely bossing the first half an hour, taking the lead early on thanks to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's penalty after Jan Vertonghen handled the ball in the area (10’). But then a crazy four minutes ensued, Spurs hitting back twice, Eric Dier’s glance and a Harry Kane penalty after Son Heung-min’s pathetic dive in the box, referee Mike Dean falling for it hook, line, and sinker. But Unai Emery’s men did not give up, drew level shortly after the break with Aubameyang’s second (56’) and two crucial substitutions making a big difference: Alexandre Lacazette and Aaron Ramsey. The Welshman set up the equaliser and the Frenchman gave the home side the lead (74’), three minutes before Lucas Torreira settled and sealed it with an outstanding run and finish (77’). Vertonghen’s sending off later on (84’) condemned Mauricio Pochettino’s men to their fourth defeat of the season, their arch rivals taking their place in the top four whilst they slide down to fifth, both sides just separated by goal difference. Tense.

What a team! Bournemouth did brilliantly well and made it very hard for Manchester City, but the league leaders continued their bulldozing run, winning 3-1 to maintain their 100% home record in the league this season and take their unbeaten run to a total of 20 games in the league, sending them five points clear at the top, for just under 24 hours, before the Reds kept the gap down to two points with their late late late winner. More to that goal below.

Manchester United meanwhile were terrible to watch, going 2-0 down inside the opening 20 minutes at Southampton, including an awesome curler by Cédric Soares (20') that put a big fat surprised grin on his boss’ face. But Marcus Rashford inspired a comeback before the break, setting up two goals in six minutes, including Romelu Lukaku’s first goal since September ended his goal drought of 12 games or 981 minutes (33'). It all looked like Mark Hughes’ men were going to collapse and give it away after the restart, but the Red Devils only produced one shot on target in the second half and were a drag to watch. José Mourinho can moan, complain, point and blame as much as he likes, like last week, his job is to manage the team and it will be very surprising if the Portuguese lasts much longer.

What a man! Jürgen Klopp’s celebrations after super sub Divock Origi’s crazy injury-time winner (90’+6’) may be criticised by some, but the fans love him for it. Different to other managers (naming no names), the German just ran on the pitch to celebrate with his keeper, he wasn’t in anyone else’s face from the opposing team nor fans. It shows passion and heart and how much the derby win means to them, keeping the Reds in second, two points behind the Citizens, as mentioned above. Even Toffee boss Marco Silva understood that. Their keeper Jordan Pickford will have woken up today hoping his error was just a nightmare but having to realise it was his fumbling giveaway off the crossbar that cost his side a point and the Merseyside derby honours.

Despite the point against United mentioned above, Saints boss Hughes received the marching orders earlier today. Can’t say it’s a surprise with the side stuck in the relegation zone. As mentioned above, a certain Portuguese manager should be very worried, especially with the high-firing Gunners next on their fixture list!

What a goal! Soares' curler for Southampton mentioned above was a dream. So was Andros Townsend's opener for Crystal Palace against Burnley, an awesome smacker, more to their win below.

It took only 55 seconds for Huddersfield’s Mathias Jørgensen to open the scoring against Brighton, but it went all down hill from there for the home side. Steve Mounié was sent off for a dangerous high challenge (32’), from then on everything and every call went against David Wagner's men, the German-American boss was not happy with Michael Oliver. Shane Duffy equalised deep into injury time before the break. Florin Andone completed the comeback and won it for Brighton with a strong header {69'), his first goal in English football, his club’s first comeback win.

James Maddison’s superb goal (23’) made it 2-0 for Leicester against Watford and his manager Claude Puel a very proud manager, comparing the English youngster to Glenn Hoddle.

And last but definitely not least, Aron Gunnarson’s acrobatic finish (65’) and Junior Hoilett’s curler from distance (77’) completed a perfect comeback for Cardiff after they had fallen behind against Wolves thanks to Matt Doherty (18’) in the Friday night match. Sweet for Neil Warnock to see his side move out of the relegation zone ahead of his 70th birthday, sour for Nuno Espírito Santo, his men dropping down to 12th with the defeat.

What the hell?! After a run of three consecutive wins, Newcastle came crashing down losing 0-3 against West Ham, taking their total of defeats to six of their opening eight Premier League games at St James’ Park this season (W2), the last time that happened was 1953-54. Rafael Benítez blamed the lack of money, the Hammers having spent five times the sum of the Magpies’ investment in the transfer market in the last window. It was very frustrating as the home side had over doubled the chances (16-7 shots). Manuel Pellegrini was full of praise and will surely argue against those numbers, having nowhere near the budget of other sides, and his side in overall control throughout the match.

Crystal Palace scored their first goal from open play and recorded their first home win of the season beating Burnley 2-0. It was a shocking display by the Clarets! It could have been a much worse thrashing if it weren’t for Joe Hart’s saves and Wilfried Zaha’s misses! 29-4 shots, 9-0 on target!!! As mentioned above, Townsend’s goal that sealed the win (77') was an absolute belter! Is Sean Dyche in trouble? Eagles boss Roy Hodgson on the other hand, can be very happy, that’s for sure, his side up to 14th after this win.

My Predictions - Actual Results

Cardiff 1:1 Wolves - 2:1

Crystal Palace 1:2 Burnley - 2:0

Huddersfield 2:2 Brighton - 1:2

Leicester 2:1 Watford - 2:0

Man City 5:0 Bournemouth - 3:1

Newcastle 1:0 West Ham - 0:3

Southampton 1:1 Man United - 2:2

Chelsea 3:0 Fulham - 2:0

Arsenal 1:1 Tottenham - 4:2

Liverpool 3:1 Everton - 1:0

Click here for last week’s Premier League Picks.

All pictures, facts and stats were taken from the BBC match reports, MOTD, BT and Sky Sports match coverage.