Premier League Picks Of The Week 20

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 20

The 20th week of the Premier League action saw:

35 goals - most by Tottenham & Liverpool = 5 each
295 shots - most by Bournemouth & Chelsea = 25 each
103 on target - most by Bournemouth = 10
117 corners - most by Chelsea = 13
206 fouls - most by Southampton = 15
38 yellow cards - most by Burnley = 7
0 red cards
0 penalties

What a game! It didn't even take two minutes for Burnley to take the lead at Old Trafford, Ashley Barnes poking home the ball after a bit of ping pong in the box, messy, Manchester United shocked. Steven Defour doubled the Clarets' lead with a lovely curled unstoppable free-kick over the wall and into the top corner. Mourinwho?! Jesse Lingard pulled one back with a cheeky back-footer shortly after Nick Pope denied the substitute tipping the ball over excellently. But not long after the visitors had a goal disallowed, Fergie Time came, as the same sub netted the equaliser for the Red Devils in the 91st minute, sparing José's side from their first home defeat on Boxing Day in 39 years. Cruel. Lucky. Or both. Still doesn't hide all the negativity around a certain Portuguese...
Arsène Wenger's 810th Premier League match as Arsenal manager equalled Sir Alex Ferguson's total of games at Manchester United and was sweetened by Alexis Sánchez's double to secure three points at hard-fighting Crystal Palace. It was an entertaining derby on Thursday night at Selhurst Park, end-to-end stuff, both sides at each other. Shkodran Mustafi opened the scoring in the first half before Andros Townsend levelled the score shortly after the break. The Chilean Gunner scored two goals in four minutes with just over an hour gone, but James Tomkins' late header set up a tense finish to the game, Roy Hodgson's men not going down easily. The win pushes Arsenal within a point of fourth-placed Liverpool, level with Tottenham in fifth, whilst the Eagles drop to 16th, just one point separating them from the drop zone.

What a team! Liverpool thrashed managerless bottom side Swansea 5-0 at Anfield in the late kick-off on Boxing Day, a dominant home victory that consolidated their place in the top four. Click here for my full LFC match report.
Manchester City less than impressed at Newcastle on Wednesday, the one time I put money on them, Sergio Agüero and co dominated but struggled and just about scraped out a 0-1 win thanks to Raheem Sterling's scruffy goal. Rafael Benítez's tactics showed but didn't bare any fruit, tight tight tight, cover cover cover, but no points to show for it. That's what champions are made of, not always nice, but wins wins wins, their 18th consecutive league win to be exact, moving them 15 points clear at the top, whilst the Magpies are moving closer and closer to the drop zone after recording their fifth consecutive home defeat for the first time since October 1953.

What a man! Harry Kane made it eight hat-tricks and 39 Premier League goals in 2017, a new record, smashing Alan Shearer's 1995 tally, helping Spurs smash aside a poor Southampton side 5-2 at Wembley in the early kick-off on Boxing Day. The Tottenham striker is the first player to score six Premier League hat-tricks in a calendar year, bringing his goals total in all competitions in 2017 to 56, surpassing Lionel Messi (54), Cristiano Ronaldo (53), Edinson Cavani (53) and Robert Lewandowski (53). And it won't get any easier for Mauricio Pellegrino's men with Manchester United next on the fixture list at Old Trafford on Saturday evening. Who needs Virgil van Dijk, ey?!

What a goal! It was all about the misses (and howlers) on Boxing Day afternoon. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting missed from two yards for Stoke at Huddersfield. Jamie Vardy tried to be too clever for Leicester at Watford, through on goal, but his cheeky chip went wide. Kasper Schmeichel will not have liked the one he let squirm through under him to make it 2-1, his own goal handing Watford their first win in six games even though the Hornets only got one shot on target themselves.
Salomón Rondón was through on goal but slipped for West Brom against Everton, stretching his side's winless run to 18 league games. And Asmir Begović's slip whilst trying to clear handed Marko Arnautović an easy equaliser for West Ham at Bournemouth before the Austrian forward netted a late winn... Nope. Bournemouth nicked a point with an injury time equaliser. But was it handball?! And/or offside?! It looked like both...

What the hell?! ... Hammers boss David Moyes was certainly not happy with the controversial equaliser for the Cherries in the 93rd minute, Callum Wilson diverting in Nathan Aké's header, which was disallowed before referee Bobby Madley gave it after speaking to the linesman. Confused? Me too!!! Replays showed it was a close call, a hint of handball and offside. And the linesman did raise his flag, but the referee overruled it. Either way, Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe was very happy with his side's spirit, not giving up and scoring for the first time in four league outings despite missing Jermain Defoe due to his ankle injury. The draw still keeps the Cherries in the drop zone and without a win in eight (D4, L4), one point behind West Ham in 17th. Tight.

My Predictions - Actual Results
Tottenham 2:1 Southampton - 5:2
Bournemouth 1:2 West Ham - 3:3
Chelsea 2:0 Brighton - 2:0
Huddersfield 1:0 Stoke City - 1:1
Man United 3:1 Burnley - 2:2
Watford 0:1 Leicester - 2:1
West Brom 0:1 Everton - 0:0
Liverpool 4:0 Swansea - 5:0 or my match report
Newcastle 0:3 Man City - 0:1
Crystal Palace 1:2 Arsenal - 2:3

Click here for my previous Picks Of The Week.

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