Premier League Picks Of The Week 25

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 25

The 25th week of Premier League action saw:

23 goals - most by Chelsea = 5

249 shots - most by Chelsea = 23

84 on target - most by Man City = 12

86 corners - most by Chelsea and Palace = 11 each

209 fouls - most by Cardiff = 17

30 bookings - most by Leicester and Man United = 4 each

0 red cards

5 penalties - 5 scored (Barnes for Burnley, Hazard for Chelsea, Milivojević for Palace, Neves for Wolves, Reid for Cardiff)

What a game! The early(er) Sunday kick-off saw the fifth consecutive away win for Manchester United, nine wins out of ten for Ole Gunnar Solskær, despite Leicester’s dominance in the second half. The referee didn’t cover himself in glory, but in the end, the blunders evened themselves out, more to that below. The Foxes just didn’t get there, despite all their efforts, Marcus Rashford's 10th goal of the season was enough to bank the three points for his side (9'). The Red Devils went up to fifth, before Arsenal’s Super Sunday clash at Manchester City. But the Gunners didn’t help themselves. Sergio Agüero’s hat-trick (1’, 44’, 61’), his 14th for the club, was enough to down the visitors at the Etihad after a promising first but useless second half - although one goal was offside and the other a handball! Laurent Koscielny's header (11') was the only lonely reply for the Londoners. The Citizens must have been glad watching West Ham frustrating the hell out of Liverpool, the officials’ dismal performance not helping neither side in the Monday night match either. It ended 1-1 at the London Stadium after plenty of blunders, misses, muck-ups and giveaways, sloppy stuff on both sides. Sadio Mané's goal was given despite James Milner being obviously offside in the build-up (22'), before Michail Antonio levelled the score with a low finish off the post (28'). The Reds are still top, three points clear, but Pep Guardiola’s side are five goals better off. More below...

What a team! The Huddersfield fans were brilliant at Stamford Bridge! 3-0 down against Chelsea, with just over an hour gone, they could still be heard chanting, cheering and singing over the blue lot! “We’re gonna win 4-3!” made me laugh! There was a fourth and fifth goal - but it all went to the home side, five goals and three points to take Maurizio Sarri's men above Arsenal and back into the top four, whilst the Terriers remain rock-bottom, 13 points from safety.

Crystal Palace won convincingly against Fulham thanks to captain Luka Milivojević's spot kick (pen 25') and Jeff Schlupp's late tap in (87'). The Cottagers were surprisingly flawed and condemned after their convincing comeback win against Brighton last week, but only 2 points from 13 matches on the road this season speak for themselves! 
Cardiff boss Neil Warnock was a very proud and emotional man after watching his side win their first home game since Emiliano Sala’s disappearance. It ended a crucial 2-0 win against Bournemouth thanks to Bobby Reid’s double (5’ pen, 46’). Cherries manager Eddie Howe was left down and wondering what happened after his side had thrashed Chelsea just a few days before. With the win the Bluebirds remain 18th, but five points clear of Fulham in 19th and only two points behind Burnley in 17th. 

What a man! New signing Peter Crouch came on late to make his debut for Burnley and made the difference, involved in the incident that lead to the penalty, their first in 68 games, Ashley Barnes snatching the Clarets a last-gasp goal from the spot and point against Southampton (90’+4’). Barnes was brought down in the first half by Saints keeper Alex McCarthy, it should have been a penalty then, but he was booked for simulation instead! It was an absolute howler by the ref! And what was the assistant doing?! More to the unbelievable refereeing in general above and below. Nathan Redmond gave the visitors the lead against the run of play after the break, but Sean Dyche did get some justice back. A point each it was in the end.

Watford’s keeper Ben Foster did very well with a string of top-notch saves to keep it goalless at the Falmer Stadium and deny Brighton their first win of the year. Hornets boss Javi Gracia was full of compliments for the opposition's stopper in the post-match interview, which says it all really. 

What a goal! Newcastle worked so hard to keep a clean sheet at Tottenham in the early kick-off on Saturday, and threatened a few times on the counter, just to be broken by non-other than Son Heung-min (83’), off super-sub Fernando Llorente, who has been involved in seven goals in his last eight appearances for the side (5 goals, 2 assists). It was a calamity goal by the keeper Martin Dúbravka, who should have blocked and stopped the goal, but it somehow went through the Czech stopper. One cannot say Spurs didn’t deserve it, they dominated, and are now 29 matches without a draw, a new Premier League record. But the Magpies will still be gutted, more points dropped in the fight for survival, seeing them fall down to 15th, level on points with Southampton and Burnley in 16th and 17th, only two points away from the drop zone.

What the hell?! Everton boss Marco Silva once again watched his side fail and fall 1-3 at home against high-flying Wolves. The only highlight for the home side at Goodison Park was a cat. Yes, A CAT!!! The Toffees have lost three of their last four Premier League home games, as many defeats as in their previous 23, and just won one of their last nine league matches this season against teams starting the day higher in the table (W1 D2 L6), losing the last five in a row. No discrediting the Wanderers, who are doing brilliantly sitting comfortable four points clear in seventh.

The refs were once again absolute shambles! As already ranted above, in nearly every match and category, plenty of decisions were more than dubious, just blatantly wrong, what the hell are they doing?! Offside goals, handballs and plenty of other obvious stuff are being overlooked again and again, not just on Monday night! It's costing sides precious points, that lead to titles or relegations - can the officials be relegated or just disqualified, sent off or substituted like the teams and players when they are doing that bad?! ARGH!!!

My Predictions - Actual Results 

Tottenham 1:2 Newcastle - 1:0

Brighton 2:2 Watford - 0:0

Burnley 2:1 Southampton - 1:1

Chelsea 2:1 Huddersfield - 5:0 

Crystal Palace 3:3 Fulham - 2:0

Everton 2:2 Wolves - 1:3

Cardiff 2:1 Bournemouth - 2:0

Leicester 1:1 Man United - 0:1

Man City 4:3 Arsenal - 3:1

West Ham 1:2 Liverpool - 1:1

Click here for the previous Premier League Picks.

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