Premier League Picks Of The Week 31

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 31

The 31st week of the Premier League action saw:

31 goals - most by West Ham = 4

249 shots - most by Tottenham = 26*

78 on target - most by Tottenham = 10*

93 corners - most by Liverpool = 10

208 fouls - most by Everton = 17

33 bookings - most by Watford = 5*

1 red card - Maguire for Leicester

4 penalties - 3 scored (King for Bournemouth, Noble for West Ham, Milner for Liverpool)

What a game! There were not many games this weekend thanks to the FA Cup ties, only three matches on Saturday, but plenty of action and goals, very late goals and awesome comebacks! Huddersfield scored three at West Ham! But still ended up on the losing end yet again as the Hammers hit four, three of them in the last 15 minutes, and turned everything and everyone on their heads at the London Stadium. The Terriers looked like they would climb off the bottom of the Premier League for the first time since December when Karlan Grant's brace (30', 65') had put the visitors 1-3 ahead, adding to Juninho Bacuna's headed equaliser (17') in reply to captain Mark Noble's opener from the spot (pen 15'). But after Angelo Ogbonna's header made it 2-3 with 15 minutes to go, half-time substitute Javier Hernández made all the difference with two goals in seven minutes to make it 4-2 (84', 90'+1'). His boss Manuel Pellegrini showed how decisive changes and experience can be, whilst the Yorkshire club which the Chilean upset remain rock bottom and are still looking for their first win on the road since November. Counterpart Jan Siewert was understandably distraught and angry. Gutted. 

What a team! Chelsea are falling to bits! No discrediting Everton and Jordan Pickford’s strong performance with some solid stops and keeping a clean sheet. But after dominating the first half at Goodison Park, the Blues were well beaten thanks to Richarlison's header off a corner (49') and Gylfi Sigurðsson netting the rebound of his own soft penalty take (72'). As a result, Chelsea failed to capitalise on their game in hand and remain in sixth, one point behind Manchester United in fifth, three behind Arsenal in fourth. Blues boss Maurizio Sarri was chewing his fag end as always, saying his side "have reached their mental limit". Looking at the usual lack of patience at the club, the Italian must be sweating through his hotter than hot seat (although I have said that before, so, am surprised he lasted this long)! Much in contrast to that, Marco Silva was finally able to smile, seeing his side record their first home win in nine weeks after four defeats in the last six home games. Finally.

What a man! It was a roller coaster ride at Craven Cottage on Sunday afternoon! I covered all the action on Twitter for ByTheMinLFC. It was so easy in the first half for Liverpool, Sadio Mané with the opener, a nice side-footer set up by Roberto Firmino, his 20th in all competitions, 11th in 11 games (26'). But then, after the break, the normally strong duo of super keeper Alisson and stubborn third-skipper Virgil van Dijk messed up and mixed up the ball between each other and handed Ryan Babel the equaliser for still managerless Fulham (74'). But sub and vice-captain James Milner had the last laugh, scoring the winning goal from the spot after the other keeper Sergio Rico had a nightmare of his own, dropping Mohamed Salah's curling shot and fouling Mané in the aftermath, conceding the penalty (81'). The great Egyptian did everything else, but just couldn't hit the back of the net. The Reds still went to the top of the table for the international break, to Jürgen Klopp's relief, the German looking tense watching his league leaders topple the relegation-doomed London side. Too tense. Just two points separating the top two, Manchester City with a game in hand.

What a goal! Matt Ritchie’s last-breath equaliser for Newcastle against his former side Bournemouth handed Rafael Benítez’s men a crucial point. It was a a spectacular take, super volley, into the top corner, no chance for anyone to stop, cover or recover, to make it 2-2 four minutes into stoppage time! Salomón Rondón had put the visitors ahead at Dean Court with a lovely free-kick deep into injury time as well (45'+5). Joshua King turned the game on its head and completed the comeback for the Cherries with his brace (pen 48', 81'). Or so we thought. Benítez was not happy with the officials decisions, especially with the spot kick, but the Spaniard was left more than consoled with a point thanks to the last-second smacker. "The job is not done" he said after the match. His side are sitting in 13th, on 35 points, seven points clear from the drop zone, two behind Everton in 12th. Not done, but more than alright.

What the hell?! In the only other game played over the FA Cup weekend, last man Harry Maguire was sent off after just four minutes at Turf Moor, a straight red for felling down goal-bound Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson. How daft can you be?! Ten-man Leicester still fought on and ended up 1-2 winners against a stubborn Burnley side. Foxes captain Wes Morgan’s 90th minute header handed new boss Brendan Rodgers his second consecutive win, the Northern Irishman full of praise for his side. Sean Dyche on the other hand, is watching his side continue to struggle, tumbling through their fourth successive defeat and falling down to 17th, just two points away from the drop zone. Only Fulham (68) have conceded more goals than the Clarets (59). Worrying.

My Predictions - Actual Results 

Bournemouth 1:1 Newcastle - 2:2

Burnley 2:2 Leicester - 1:2

West Ham 1:0 Huddersfield - 4:3

Fulham 1:3 Liverpool - 1:2

Everton 1:2 Chelsea - 2:0

(Brighton 0:1 Cardiff - 0:2 - see week 34)*

(Man United 0:2 Man City)*week 35

(Tottenham 2:0 Crystal Palace - see week 33)*

(Watford 1:1 Southampton)*week 35

(Wolves 3:1 Arsenal)*week 35

*(Postponed due to the FA Cup ties. All stats added to this week = week 31 after the fixtures have been played.)

Click here for the previous week’s Premier League Picks.

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

Premier League Picks Of The Week 30

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 30

The 30th week of Premier League action saw:

33 goals - most by Liverpool = 4

237 shots - most by Liverpool = 23

81 on target - most by Man City = 9

103 corners - most by Chelsea = 13

220 fouls - most by Brighton and Man United = 18 each

38 bookings - most by Brighton = 5

0 red cards

3 penalties - 2 scored (Milivojević for Crystal Palace, Aubameyang for Arsenal)

What a game! It was a super comeback by Newcastle against Everton, their best, winning a Premier League game from two goals down for the first time since October 2003 against Fulham under Sir Bobby Robson. Rafael Benítez's men were 0-2 down and showed no sign of any threat at half-time, however, the Magpies took the Toffees apart after the break. Ayoze Pérez was the controversial hero with a brace (81’, 84’) plus an assist (Rondón 65’), for a perfect second-half comeback, including a Jordan Pickford flop. More to the England keeper's disastrous performance below.

It was a Super Sunday indeed, three games, plenty of goals, including two braces at Anfield, later than late equaliser at Stamford Bridge and end of a run at the Emirates. More to the first two below. The Gunners shot down and ended the Red Devils' unbeaten run in the league under caretaker Ole Gunnar Solskjær, thanks to Granit Xhaka's swerving shot making David de Gea look like a fool (12') and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang converting a super-soft penalty (69'). The visitors had hit the woodwork a couple of times before the break and didn't go down easily, so it was a sweet win for Unai Emery's men, their ninth home win in a row, which takes them above United and back up to fourth, just one point behind Tottenham in third.

What a team! Liverpool kept the title race going thrashing Burnley 4-2 at Anfield, but not without controversies and tensions. Roberto Firmino (19’, 67’) and Sadio Mané (29’, 90’+3’) with a brace each made up for Ashley Westwood’s controversial opener (6’), where Alisson looked like being fouled before the corner went into the back of the net. The Red keeper was booked for his objections against the decision, double argh! Sub Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson pulled one back late on (90’+1’), but the home side sealed and bagged the three points despite all ups and downs. Manchester City had kept the pressure on with a win the day before, more to the questionable calls at the Etihad against Watford below.

Fulham join Huddersfield in deep trouble after a flopping defeat at Leicester. West Ham have to be careful not to join the two clubs in the drop zone after yet another disappointing result at Cardiff! Consistently inconsistent! More below.

What a man! The double-century for Harry Kane was set up by Dele Alli (26’), but was all for nothing thanks to the super goal by Southampton mentioned below. The Spurs star looked offside anyways. More to the usual useless refereeing below, as always. 

Jamie Vardy’s 100th and 101st banked Brendan Rodgers his first win as Leicester boss against Fulham. The managerless London side look doomed and down with Huddersfield.

And it was Eden Hazard of course, who else, to spare Chelsea from yet another miserable defeat against Wolves. His 92nd minute equaliser was like scripted, fitting to the top player he is, curled in to the bottom corner to nullify Raul Jiménez’s opener on the counter (56’). It was the only shot on target for the Blues. Cruel. More to Manchester City's hat-trick-man below. 

What a goal! Brighton’s and Southampton’s second goals were both unstoppable crackers into the top corner, no chance for either keeper. The prior was Anthony Knockaert’s winner at Crystal Palace (74’), whilst the latter was James Ward-Prowse’s incredible free-kick that shocked Tottenham (81’) after Yan Valery’s equaliser (76’). The prior was especially outraging for Roy Hodgson after the Brighton winger got booked with just 28 seconds on the clock, lucky it wasn’t red! Glenn Murray’s 100th was double-sweet/sour after that (depending which side you're on)! 
The first Manchester City goal looked offside: The defender made contact with the ball, yes, but when the cross was made, Raheem Sterling was offside. The long debate between the linesman and ref was double-annoying. The Watford bus was broken after that. Sterling doubled the lead, Sergio Agüero looking offside in that buildup. The hat-trick was no doubt though, the former Red running through the Hornets defence, to make it three goals in 13 minutes (46’, 50’, 59’), 3-1 to the Citizens, keeping them at the helm. For now

What the hell?! Everton keeper Pickford should have been sent off. He was the last man, didn’t go for the ball and took the man out, in this case Rondón, in a goalscoring opportunity. Penalty was given, but the England stopper was lucky to stay on the pitch. Matt Ritchie's poor take of the spot kick was an easy stop, the more aggrieving and annoying it was for the home side. And was Newcastle’s late winning goal offside? Marco Silva was not happy but cannot ignore his side's inconsistencies and lack of oomph. Just poor all round. The Portuguese cannot deny that his side did not deserve more and had lucky calls of their own. He is not alone with his frustrations about the officials, I rant on about them every week! Week in week out there are too many errors. In any other profession, one would expect consequences if someone would make so many bad calls! Penalties, suspensions, sackings... I am not gonna repeat all the bad calls I mentioned above... And there were more! Cardiff’s second goal was just as questionable as City’s opener. As well as Burnley’s first. Etc. Etc. So. Many. Calls. JUST WRONG! AGAIN! ARGH! BOO! WTF?!

My Predictions - Actual Results 

Crystal Palace 2:1 Brighton - 1:2

Cardiff 2:0 West Ham - 2:0

Huddersfield 1:0 Bournemouth - 0:2

Leicester 2:1 Fulham - 3:1

Newcastle 2:1 Everton - 3:2

Southampton 1:2 Tottenham - 2:1

Man City 2:0 Watford - 3:1

Liverpool 3:0 Burnley - 4:2

Chelsea 3:1 Wolves - 1:1

Arsenal 3:2 Man United - 2:0

Click here for last week’s Premier League Picks.

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

Premier League Picks Of The Week 29

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 29

The 29th week of the Premier League action saw:

23 goals - most by Man United and Crystal Palace = 3 each

234 shots - most by Man City = 23

80 on target - most by Man City and Chelsea = 7 each

106 corners - most by Man City = 14

204 fouls - most by Tottenham and Watford = 15 each

39 bookings - most by Watford = 5

1 red card - Torreira for Arsenal 

4 penalties - 2 scored (Kane for Tottenham, Noble for West Ham)

What a game! There were goals and action galore at Old Trafford. Southampton scored two crackers, but were still the losers in the end, whilst Manchester United had plenty more chances and misses but were able to end up on top despite more injuries and a missed spot-kick. More details about all the top goals below.

It was derby day on Sunday... More on Chelsea’s win at Craven Cottage below. Disappointing 200th league Merseyside derby for goalless and hopeless Liverpool: Everton were definitely happier after denying Mohamed Salah and Fabinho, the only two that got anything on target for the visitors at Goodison Park. Red boss Jürgen Klopp blamed the wind. Whatever it is, it’s costing his side dearly. Four draws in the last six league games means eight points dropped. For the first time in 14 weeks, the Reds have dropped all the way down to second (ignoring week 26 where Manchester City played the extra game because of the League Cup), one point behind Pep Guardiola's men. Following the Red Twitter world, it seems like all is over, the chance has been blown, the first title in 28 years is gone. The difference between the top two clubs is just ONE point, with NINE games to go. And LFC are TEN points and TWO places BETTER off than last season (whilst City are TEN points DOWN!). PERSPECTIVE!

What a team! More injuries hit Manchester City on Saturday, but they’re still winning, that’s the main thing for the league leaders in the title race. It was one-way traffic at Bournemouth (18%-82% possession, 0-23 shots, 0-7 on target, 0-14 corners). Kevin De Bruyne went off injured, his replacement Riyad Mahrez got the winner (55’), a fine low finish in the bottom right corner after a nice team interplay, his first goal since 4th December, his 11th of the season. That is all that was needed. Crucial. 

And it was another good away win for Crystal Palace, this time at Burnley, Roy Hodgson consolidating his and his sides’ place in the top league. A fine run of three wins in the last five games has seen the London side climb up the table by two places, eight points clear from the drop zone. This time, Phillip Bardsley (OG 15'), Michy Batshuayi (48') and Wilfried Zaha (76') were on the scoreboard, denying Sean Dyche’s side any way back, condemning them to their second defeat on the trot, sucking them down to 16th. Contrast.

What a man! REF!!! Watford's opener was just weird?! Jonathan Moss made a very late call on a free-kick after Troy Deeney broke free into the box... To head it in seconds later off the set-piece, but the English striker looked offside (5’). More iffy goals and decisions are mentioned above and below as well. Ridiculous refereeing! So, Brendan Rodgers’ first match as Leicester boss didn’t start well with that! Kasper Schmeichel made a brill block seconds before. Jamie Vardy and keeper Ben Foster clashed and you can tell when players are really injured and hurt when they lay flat and DON’T ROLL AND MOAN AROUND!!! Both were fine in the end. But OUCH! And the champion striker levelled the score in the second half (75’) after the visitors dominated all round, keeping his record going of scoring under five out of six new Foxes managers and taking his club tally to 99. But Hornets sub Andre Gray nicked an injury-time winner for the home side and got booked for his shirtless celebrations (90’+2’) to spoil the party for the Northern Irishman. Javi Gracia and co meanwhile were over the moon. A tense finish at Vicarage road saw Foster blocking and saving again, but it ended 2-1. BRilliant.

What a goal! Talking about managers, Fulham’s first match after sacking Claudio Ranieri was only against Chelsea at Craven Cottage. The managerless side did well under the circumstances, keeping the pressure on and not making it easy for the Blues. Ryan Sessegnon’s injury-time equaliser was flagged offside - a very close call! It looked fine! Another tense finish. Maurizio Sarri’s men ended up on top 1-2 thanks to Gonzalo Higuaín (20’) and Jorginho (31’) after Calum Chambers' leveller (27’). Cruel. How the latter boss is still hanging on to his job, I do not know... *shaking*my*head*

Saints defender Yan Valery’s first professional goal (26’) and United’s first equaliser by Andreas Pereira, the Brazilian's first Premier League goal (53’), were both just unstoppable, breathtaking takes. To add to the iffy list mentioned above, the 2-1, Romelu Lukaku’s first (59’), looked a hint offside though? The second equaliser (2-2 in case you can't keep track) was a beautiful free-kick by James Ward-Prowse (75'), into the top corner, who’s the keeper again?! However, Lukaku snuck in the late low winner (88’), a cruel one into the bottom right corner, 3-2. And that was not all! A later than late penalty to the Red Devils, after Stuart Armstrong brought down Marcus Rashford from behind, saw Paul Pogba selfishly take it, not giving Lukaku a chance of a hat-trick, keeper Angus Gunn kicking the central shot away with his left boot. Top match. Top goals. Plenty of flops as well. Never boring. Another win for Ole Gunnar Solskjær, to make it 10 wins out of 12 league games for the Norwegian temp boss.

What the hell?! Another soft penalty call went Tottenham's way in the London derby Saturday lunch-time, and it was offside in the build-up to the foul as well?! An easy equaliser for Harry Kane out of nowhere against Arsenal (74’) after Aaron Ramsey’s opener (16’). The Gunners got a spot-kick back late on, but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang made a soft mess of the take and Hugo Lloris the hero, and Jan Vertonghen’s defending in the aftermath controversial as the Belgian defender looked way over the line when the penalty was taken, denying the visitors a winner. The game exploded into life in the final minutes, seeing Lucas Torreira sent off. As mentioned above, numerous times, I know I am repeating myself, but that is because the bad calls and refereeing overlooks and errors are piling up, again and again, every game, every week! If you like VAR or not, at least that is SOMETHING to check and double-check all these iffy calls!!!

After Cardiff boss Neil Warnock revealed that Nuno Espírito Santo is his wife's favourite manager, there could only be one winner on the day at the Molineux Stadium... ;-) I LMAO AT THE CHANTS!!!

My Predictions - Actual Results 

Tottenham 0:1 Arsenal - 1:1

Bournemouth 2:2 Man City - 0:1

Brighton 0:1 Huddersfield - 1:0

Burnley 2:3 Crystal Palace - 1:3

Man United 1:1 Southampton - 3:2

Wolves 2:1 Cardiff - 2:0

West Ham 2:1 Newcastle - 2:0

Watford 1:1 Leicester - 2:1

Fulham 1:2 Chelsea - 1:2

Everton 1:2 Liverpool - 0:0

Click here for the previous Picks Of The Week.

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