Premier League Picks Of The Week 11

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 11

The 11th week of the Premier League action saw:
24 goals - most by Liverpool = 4
213 shots - most by Chelsea = 18
74 on target - most by Chelsea = 8
118 corners - most by Newcastle = 11
226 fouls - most by Man United = 20
30 yellow cards - most by Arsenal = 6
1 red card - Christopher Schindler for Huddersfield
3 penalties - 2 scored (Sergio Agüero for Man City, Leighton Baines for Everton, Tom Cleverley missed for Watford)

What a game! All the buildup to the Super Duper Sunday was bound to disappoint. Tottenham just about scrambled through to a win over bottom side Crystal Palace. Manchester City had some help from the officials to down the fighting Gunners and don't get me started on the refs at Stamford Bridge! Chelsea number 9 Álvaro Morata had all the space in the world to head the home side ahead after Manchester United were lucky to still be in the game. More to all that below. All eyes were on Antonio Conte and José Mourinho and their Blue history, pre-match, during the match and post-match. But in the end the top game was Everton's comeback against Watford from two goals down at Goodison Park, would you believe it!!! Or top half should I say, as all goals came after the break. Leighton Baines scored a club-record 24th penalty for the Toffees and won the game in injury time, 90 + 1!  That wasn't all though. Ten minutes later, the Hornets got the chance to draw level from the spot, yep, in the 101st minute, and Tom Cleverley missed it, putting the penalty wide. Yes, you read right, it stayed 3-2, handing David Unsworth his first win as Everton's caretaker. And the temp boss can take a lot of credit as all the changes he made ended up crucial in all goals and completing the perfect unbelievable turnaround. Oh, and by the way, that was the only game on Sunday that was NOT live on telly. FFS.

What a team! Burnley shot up to sixth in the table (at least temporarily) after substitute Sam Vokes' late header was enough to beat Southampton at St Mary's. Sean Dyche's side withstood all of the pressure and Saints chances, their keeper Nick Pope making some excellent stops. Liverpool snatched that sixth spot back in the table in the late kick-off on Saturday, after beating West Ham 1-4 at the London Stadium thanks to Mohamed Salah's double on Sadio Mané's return. You can read all my match notes here. Or my full LFC match report here. Has Jürgen Klopp handed Slaven Bilić his final notice? With the Hammers dropping into the relegation zone after Sunday's results and the international break coming up, I will be very surprised to see the Croat again... Plus David Moyes being interested in the job... And as I was editing this blog, both got confirmed, the prior's sacking and the latter's interest and likely appointment. Surprise surprise.

What a man! Huddersfield keeper Jonas Lössl was hugged and kissed by everyone after some acrobatic saves late on in the match and win against West Brom! Dutchman Rajiv van La Parra produced the stunning 20-yard winner, curled into the top corner just before the break, increasing calls against Tony Pulis. The Yorkshire side were down to ten men after defender Christopher Schindler received a second yellow card with just under an hour gone but fought on hard to hang on to the win which took the promoted side into the top half of the table. Glenn Murray gave Brighton victory at Swansea, eleven of his 15 Premier League goals coming in away fixtures. It was a gift though as Federico Fernández ducked out of the way of a cross, condemning the Swans to their fifth defeat from six home league games this season and seeing them slip into the relegation zone. The Seagulls meanwhile are up to ninth after back-to-back away wins in the top flight for the first time since 1981 and only the second time in their history.

What a goal! Peter Crouch headed home Xherdan Shaquiri's corner to make it 2-2 for Stoke and grab a point from Leicester. It's the 36-year old's Premier League record 52nd netted header and 15th goal coming off the bench - only Jermain Defoe (23), Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (17) and Nwankwo Kanu (17) have scored more as a sub in the PL. Both sides had more chances, both keepers were busy, so, faire result in the end, a thrilling draw. The late Bournemouth winner headed in by defender Steve Cook was fully deserved after all the chances and pressure they produced at Newcastle. Rafael Benítez's men wasted a lot of chances and then ran out of steam, the visitors pouncing and bouncing out of the relegation zone with the win at St James' Park.

What the hell?! How did Wilfried Zaha miss that chance?! The Palace forward cost his side three points as minutes after he put a sitter wide, Son Heung-min swept the one and only goal in from 20 yards. Tottenham will be very relieved after another win at Wembley from a less than convincing performance. And how the hell did the linesman not see goalscorer Gabriel Jesus AND David Silva were BOTH offside when the official was exactly on the same line as the players when the cross came in?! The error made it 3-1 to City at the Eithad and destroyed any kind of competition or chance of a late comeback by Arsenal, who enjoyed a much better second half after not offering much before the break. Although, Arsène Wenger's men were also unlucky to concede the penalty in the first half, Raheem Sterling making the most out of nothing, which gave Sergio Agüero his record 179th City goal from the spot and the home side a two-goal lead. Harsh. And seeing a spectacular Phil Jones own goal disallowed for an alleged push by Morata just added more crap creme on the horrendous refereeing cake of the weekend!!! Lucky Mancunian buggers!!!

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

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.