Premier League Picks Of The Week 32

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 32

The 32nd week of the Premier League action saw:

29 goals - most by West Ham, Man City, Arsenal & Chelsea = 3 each
231 shots - most by Arsenal = 24
79 on target - most by Arsenal = 13
95 corners - most by Man City = 11
196 fouls - most by Watford & Southampton = 16 each
29 yellow cards - most by Leicester, Huddersfield & Watford = 4 each
1 red card - Wilfred Ndidi for Leicester
5 penalties - 4 scored (Milivojevic for Palace, King for Bournemouth, Aubameyang & Lacazette for Arsenal)

What a game! Glenn Murray's first penalty miss for Brighton cost his side dearly, Kasper Schmeichel guessing right and saving it, equalling his dad Peter's record of three penalty saves (3 in 14 v 3 in 21 attempts respectively, not bad at all!!!). Late drama in the last ten minutes and stoppage time saw Vicente Iborra head the visitors ahead after the spot kick miss and Jamie Vardy doubling the lead and sealing the win deep into injury time after Wilfred Ndidi was sent off for a second bookable offence. Not his day. But the Foxes still ran away with the win in the end.
Spot kicks is what saved the game and day for Arsenal on Sunday, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette netting both soft penalties, the prior's brace completing the scoreline in-between. Three goals in the last 16 minutes against Stoke at the end of a boring encounter, the visitors will have felt very hard done by at the Emirates, the result seeing them stay 19th, three points from safety.

What a team! West Ham were very happy 3-0 winners against sad Southampton, as I read on BBC, what a difference three weeks, three goals and three points make after all the fan trouble!!! João Mário and Marko Arnautović with a brace, Hammers' first win since February made David Moyes' life so much easier. "The crowd were good." one of the scorers said in the post-match interview. A bit patronising, no? (Despite the added security after all the trouble last time in the London Stadium.) The win has taken them up to 14th. And breath.
Leroy Sané's left-footed smacker gave league leaders Manchester City the lead at Goodison Park after just about four minutes played. Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling added to Everton's misery. Yannick Bolasie did pull one back for the home side but it was too little too late, the visitors enjoying 90% possession at times, the highest FT total of 81% ever held in a PL match by any side. Pep Guardiola recorded his 50th PL win and his men can win the title against arch rivals Manchester United at the Etihad next week. Wow.

What a man! Top scorer Mohamed Salah was on the scoreboard once again, topping the Premier League list and nearing Cristiano Ronaldo's 2007-08 record to help Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 1-2 at Selhurst Park. More to that difficult win on Saturday lunchtime below.
Romelu Lukaku scored his 100th Premier League goal with just over four minutes on the clock helping Manchester United to a comfy 2-0 win against Swansea in the evening match at Old Trafford. Alexis Sánchez doubled the Red Devils' lead with under half an hour gone and David de Gea made a couple of brilliant saves, but they won't have it that easy at the Etihad next weekend, that's for sure!!!

What a goal! Ayoze Pérez left it late to net the winner for Newcastle against Huddersfield at the end of a frustrating encounter for the home side at St James' Park. An important goal for an important win as manager Rafael Benítez put it bang on.
A spectacular full body volley by Ashley Barnes helped Burnley to their win at West Brom, keeping his side's European hopes alive with their third successive win, whilst sealing his opponents' misery condemning them to a Premier League record eighth successive defeat keeping them rock bottom.
Tottenham's Christian Eriksen's stunning equaliser from 25 yards out, up and over Chelsea keeper Willy Caballero, woke everyone up at Stamford Bridge, levelling out Álvaro Morata's opening header. Dele Alli then put the visitors ahead just past the hour-mark with a lovely touch and shot, the Blue defence just watching, leaving free space to score. And the England forward pounced on the stunned hosts again seconds later off Son Heung-min, both Spurs players not giving up after some ping pong in the box and in eventually to make it 1-3. And then Harry Kane came on... But it was all sealed by then, Spurs' first league win at Stamford Bridge in 28 years! Too easy! Chelsea shambles!

What the hell?! Jermain Defoe was the super sub with an injury-time equaliser, his first goal since December, for Bournemouth at Watford, the Cherries never give up, comeback kings! José Holebas' daft punch away handball that gave the visitors the penalty for their first leveller didn't help the home side either. How stupid can you get?! And Sadio Mané diving, whining, being flagged offside, scoring, handling the ball - the Senegalese was one lucky man to stay on the pitch at Selhurst Park!!! Click here for my full match report. Jürgen Klopp and some of the reporters covering said there was contact and it should have been a penalty - contact doesn't mean foul and he did dramatise it! And then handling the ball before the ref whistled, he was pushing it!!! His German boss cannot defend that! If the Reds play like this in the big Champions League clash against City on Wednesday, they'll get thrashed!!!

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

Click here for my previous Premier League Picks Of The Week.

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