Premier League Picks Of The Week 21

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 21

The 21st week of the Premier League action saw:

16 goals - most by Chelsea = 5
200 shots - most by Chelsea = 21
65 on target - most by Chelsea = 12
91 corners - most by Man United = 10
195 fouls - most by Huddersfield, Burnley, Watford, Crystal Palace & West Brom = 14 each
41 yellow cards - most by Crystal Palace = 5
0 red cards
3 penalties - 2 scored (Willian for Chelsea, Rodriguez for West Brom)

What a game! Swansea turned the game around at Watford with two goals in the last four minutes! André Carrillo had headed the home side ahead early on, before Jordan Ayew netted the equaliser from close range late on and Luciano Narsingh found the winner even later after Heurelho Gomes had saved Nathan Dyer's attempt. It was an explosive end and turnaround, the Welsh side's fourth win from 21 Premier League games, whilst Marco Silva's men slipped to their fifth defeat from six league games.
Bournemouth climbed out of the relegation zone in big style, all the way up to 14th, after beating Everton 2-1 and ending Sam Allardyce's unbeaten run thanks to Ryan Fraser's double. Jordan Pickford saved against Callum Wilson and Jordon Ibe, so, the scoreline could have been much worse. With the win, Eddie Howe's men avoided going nine league games without a win and denied Big Sam being the first Toffees manager to go unbeaten in his first seven Premier League games.

What a team! Crystal Palace should have won against Manchester City, but keeper Ederson denied Luka Milivojević from the spot, giving his side an "air of invincibility about them" as Gary Lineker put it on Twitter. Bang on. The league leaders' winning streak was finally halted after 18 games. Crises? The Sky Blues are still unbeaten and 14 points clear at the top, I don't think Pep Guardiola will have lost much sweat, tears nor sleep. But the ex Barca man was less optimistic, not believing his side are or will stay untouchable nor unbeatable. Let's wait and see, I can't see anything or anyone stopping them at the moment!
Manchester United didn't look like they were at home against Southampton, grinding out a goalless draw at Old Trafford. Boss José Mourinho just complained about the referee Craig Pawson not giving a penalty against Maya Yoshida, ignoring the fact that this draw has stretched his side's winless run to three games, the Red Devils just unable to make or break a real game or an opposition. Saints manager Mauricio Pellegrino will be much happier with this point despite his team now being eight games without a win. Better than nought.

What a man! Mohamed Salah's double turned the game around for Liverpool after Jamie Vardy had given Leicester the lead early on at Anfield. The Egyptian star man completed the perfect comeback with his 16th and 17th Premier League goal, Reds manager Jürgen Klopp calling his side's reaction to going a goal down the best he has ever seen. The Foxes aren't the German's favourite opponent, having lost three times against them already, more than any other club since he took over in October 2015. Liverpool have scored 77 goals in 30 games so far this season, their highest total at this stage of the campaign as a top-flight club. Nicht schlecht! Vielen Dank!

What a goal! Danny Drinkwater's take and shot into the top right corner of the goal to make it 2-0 for Chelsea against Stoke City was like scripted out of a football movie. Beautiful. The game was just too easy for the Blues. Davide Zappacosta made it five slashing the ball in from the edge of the box, wham bang thank you ma'am. Potters manager Mark Hughes was under heavy fire and pressure already, this thrashing will not have helped. Injuries have not helped the old boss either, but resting quite a few because of the tight schedule, fans and board will say enough is enough at some point if their dire run continues this way. 20 points after 21 games is their worst-ever total at this stage of the Premier League.

What the hell?! West Brom should never have come back into the game against Arsenal, the last-minute penalty should not have been. Yes, the ball came off Calum Chambers' arm, but the arm was on the chest, so, the ball would have come off the chest anyways, the arm did not make a difference. He can not beam his arm away! It ended a goal and point each at The Hawthorns, Jay Rodriguez easily beating Petr Čech from the spot, making up for James McClean's own goal off Alexis Sánchez's free-kick. Even Baggies boss Alan Pardew conceded it was a generous decision. It certainly soured Arsène Wenger's record 811th league match as Gunners boss.
And Huddersfield keeper Jonas Lössl said there was contact between him and Burnley's Jeff Hendrick and he said so much to the referee, a clear penalty not given, the game ending goalless at the John Smith's stadium. Terriers boss David Wagner admitted his side's luck staying in 11th, leaving the Clarets winless in their past four games and Sean Dyche more than disappointed, but still in seventh.

My Predictions - Actual Results
Bournemouth 2:2 Everton - 2:1
Chelsea 2:1 Stoke City - 5:0
Huddersfield 1:1 Burnley - 0:0
Liverpool 1:1 Leicester - 2:1
Newcastle 0:1 Brighton - 0:0
Watford 1:0 Swansea - 1:2
Man United 1:1 Southampton - 0:0
Crystal Palace 1:2 Man City - 0:0
West Brom 0:1 Arsenal - 1:1

Tottenham v West Ham was postponed to Thursday 4th January.

Click here for my previous Picks Of The Week.

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