Premier League Picks Of The Week 19

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 19

The 19th week of the Premier League action saw:

31 goals - most by Man City = 4
250 shots - most by Chelsea = 25
86 on target - most by Liverpool = 9
102 corners - most by West Brom = 11
203 fouls - most by Leicester = 19
23 yellow cards - most by Everton & Crystal Palace = 3 each
1 red card - Daniel Amartey for Leicester
3 penalties - 2 scored (Newcastle's Rob Elliot denied West Ham's Andre Ayew, Luka Milivojevic scored for Crystal Palace, Harry Kane for Tottenham)

What a game! Defenders seemed to have already gone on their Christmas break! Three goals in 388 crazy seconds saw Arsenal come back from two goals down, but Liverpool grabbed a third to make it 3-3 and a point each in a gob-smacking encounter at the Emirates on Friday Night Football. Click here for my full match report.
The first win in ten games for Newcastle came against West Ham, a five-goal thriller at the London Stadium, and it could have been many more, the woodwork was hit twice, a penalty saved, is that Rafael Benítez's job saved after two miserable winless months? The three points have moved the Magpies out of the relegation zone.
And the late and last kick-off of a very busy Saturday definitely had it in it. Leicester produced some class to take the lead, top stuff by Jamie Vardy, but Manchester United came back thanks to Juan Mata's double. The Fox mascot and Santa Clause ended up celebrating in the King Power crowd when Harry Maguire found the late late equaliser beating the Red Devils bus after playing just over 20 minutes down to ten men thanks to substitute Daniel Amartey's sending off after being just 16:09 minutes on the pitch. Even Claude Puel had a big fat smile on his face when the final whistle blew! José Mourinho less so. But that's nothing new.

What a team! Manchester City cruised to victory against Bournemouth, their 17th win on the trot, which ended up looking like a training game. Sergio Agüero netted his 100th at the Etihad, followed by City's 100th Premier League goal in 2017. They are the first English top-flight team to score 100 goals in a calendar year since Liverpool in 1982 (106). Raheem Sterling and sub Danilo added a couple more in-between and after the great Argentine respectively, the match ending 4-0, if I kept count correctly. Who can the way Pep Guardiola's men are going?! On fire! Unstoppable! Halfway through the season now, the Citizens are 13 points clear of United after their draw mentioned above, the biggest points gap between first and second place at Christmas in English top-flight history! It's the same gap (of 13 points) between Everton in ninth to Swansea at the bottom!!! Unbelievable!

What a man! Everton boss Sam Allardyce was once again scary to watch on the sideline at Goodison Park, shouting his face off and going mental watching his side put ten men back to frustrate the hell out of Chelsea and earn a point, keeping his unbeaten run going. Skipper Phil Jagielka cleared the ball off the line twice within seconds to make sure the game remained goalless! The Toffees failed to have a shot on target in a Premier League home game for the first time since December 2011, 2211 days ago, against Stoke. The Big Sam effect?
Stoke City boss Mark Hughes was a relieved man after seeing his side beat West Brom 3-1, only their second win in nine Premier League games, avoiding the drop into the relegation zone. The Baggies meanwhile are on their worst run, 18 games without a win in all competitions, 17 in the league (D8, L9), worst run since Aston Villa in 2016 (19 games without a win) and we all know what happened with them... Alan Pardew's side remain 19th, three points from safety.

What a goal! It was a great finish by Pascal Groß for Brighton to finally record a win again, their first in eight, and only their second goal in seven, at Watford's cost, their fourth league defeat in a row and fifth in their last six games, keeping Marco Silva's side stuck in tenth, whilst the Seagulls have gone up to 12th. Huddersfield manager David Wagner's double change immediately payed off when Laurent Depoitre headed in the equaliser at Southampton, Tommy Smith the provider seconds after coming on. Another super sub was Jordan Ayew for managerless Swansea, levelling out Crystal Palace's penalty by Luka Milivojević to make it 1-1 moments after replacing Luciano Narsingh. Temporary player-manager Leon Britton will celebrate that point for sure after Paul Clement was sacked during the week... Roy Hodgson meanwhile could celebrate his club's eighth unbeaten Premier League game, their longest run in the top-flight since October 1990!

What the hell?! Tottenham's Dele Alli got booked within the opening four minutes for a reckless challenge, to go on and win one of the softest of the soft penalties just a couple of minutes later, for Harry Kane to give Mauricio Pochettino's side the lead at Burnley. Double ARGH for Sean Dyche and every other neutral watching! But the top striker finished off the hard-fighting Clarets with a hat-trick, his seventh in 2017, equalling Alan Shearer's record of most Premier League goals in a calendar year (36 in 1995), and moving to the top of the league scoring list this season, level with Mohamed Salah on 15. Only Lionel Messi has scored more goals this year, 54 in all games played, just one more than the Spurs forward. The Argentine has no games left to play this year, whilst Kane has Southampton at home on Boxing Day. ⚽️👊🏻⚽️👊🏻⚽️

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

Click here for my previous Premier League Picks.

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