Premier League Picks Of The Week 19

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 19

The 19th week of the Premier League action saw:

31 goals - most by Man City = 4
250 shots - most by Chelsea = 25
86 on target - most by Liverpool = 9
102 corners - most by West Brom = 11
203 fouls - most by Leicester = 19
23 yellow cards - most by Everton & Crystal Palace = 3 each
1 red card - Daniel Amartey for Leicester
3 penalties - 2 scored (Newcastle's Rob Elliot denied West Ham's Andre Ayew, Luka Milivojevic scored for Crystal Palace, Harry Kane for Tottenham)

What a game! Defenders seemed to have already gone on their Christmas break! Three goals in 388 crazy seconds saw Arsenal come back from two goals down, but Liverpool grabbed a third to make it 3-3 and a point each in a gob-smacking encounter at the Emirates on Friday Night Football. Click here for my full match report.
The first win in ten games for Newcastle came against West Ham, a five-goal thriller at the London Stadium, and it could have been many more, the woodwork was hit twice, a penalty saved, is that Rafael Benítez's job saved after two miserable winless months? The three points have moved the Magpies out of the relegation zone.
And the late and last kick-off of a very busy Saturday definitely had it in it. Leicester produced some class to take the lead, top stuff by Jamie Vardy, but Manchester United came back thanks to Juan Mata's double. The Fox mascot and Santa Clause ended up celebrating in the King Power crowd when Harry Maguire found the late late equaliser beating the Red Devils bus after playing just over 20 minutes down to ten men thanks to substitute Daniel Amartey's sending off after being just 16:09 minutes on the pitch. Even Claude Puel had a big fat smile on his face when the final whistle blew! José Mourinho less so. But that's nothing new.

What a team! Manchester City cruised to victory against Bournemouth, their 17th win on the trot, which ended up looking like a training game. Sergio Agüero netted his 100th at the Etihad, followed by City's 100th Premier League goal in 2017. They are the first English top-flight team to score 100 goals in a calendar year since Liverpool in 1982 (106). Raheem Sterling and sub Danilo added a couple more in-between and after the great Argentine respectively, the match ending 4-0, if I kept count correctly. Who can the way Pep Guardiola's men are going?! On fire! Unstoppable! Halfway through the season now, the Citizens are 13 points clear of United after their draw mentioned above, the biggest points gap between first and second place at Christmas in English top-flight history! It's the same gap (of 13 points) between Everton in ninth to Swansea at the bottom!!! Unbelievable!

What a man! Everton boss Sam Allardyce was once again scary to watch on the sideline at Goodison Park, shouting his face off and going mental watching his side put ten men back to frustrate the hell out of Chelsea and earn a point, keeping his unbeaten run going. Skipper Phil Jagielka cleared the ball off the line twice within seconds to make sure the game remained goalless! The Toffees failed to have a shot on target in a Premier League home game for the first time since December 2011, 2211 days ago, against Stoke. The Big Sam effect?
Stoke City boss Mark Hughes was a relieved man after seeing his side beat West Brom 3-1, only their second win in nine Premier League games, avoiding the drop into the relegation zone. The Baggies meanwhile are on their worst run, 18 games without a win in all competitions, 17 in the league (D8, L9), worst run since Aston Villa in 2016 (19 games without a win) and we all know what happened with them... Alan Pardew's side remain 19th, three points from safety.

What a goal! It was a great finish by Pascal Groß for Brighton to finally record a win again, their first in eight, and only their second goal in seven, at Watford's cost, their fourth league defeat in a row and fifth in their last six games, keeping Marco Silva's side stuck in tenth, whilst the Seagulls have gone up to 12th. Huddersfield manager David Wagner's double change immediately payed off when Laurent Depoitre headed in the equaliser at Southampton, Tommy Smith the provider seconds after coming on. Another super sub was Jordan Ayew for managerless Swansea, levelling out Crystal Palace's penalty by Luka Milivojević to make it 1-1 moments after replacing Luciano Narsingh. Temporary player-manager Leon Britton will celebrate that point for sure after Paul Clement was sacked during the week... Roy Hodgson meanwhile could celebrate his club's eighth unbeaten Premier League game, their longest run in the top-flight since October 1990!

What the hell?! Tottenham's Dele Alli got booked within the opening four minutes for a reckless challenge, to go on and win one of the softest of the soft penalties just a couple of minutes later, for Harry Kane to give Mauricio Pochettino's side the lead at Burnley. Double ARGH for Sean Dyche and every other neutral watching! But the top striker finished off the hard-fighting Clarets with a hat-trick, his seventh in 2017, equalling Alan Shearer's record of most Premier League goals in a calendar year (36 in 1995), and moving to the top of the league scoring list this season, level with Mohamed Salah on 15. Only Lionel Messi has scored more goals this year, 54 in all games played, just one more than the Spurs forward. The Argentine has no games left to play this year, whilst Kane has Southampton at home on Boxing Day. ⚽️👊🏻⚽️👊🏻⚽️

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

Click here for my previous Premier League Picks.

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

Spurs Thrash LFC 4-1 At Wembley

Sports - Football - Premier League - THFC 4:1 LFC

Harry Kane scored two and set up one as Tottenham downed Liverpool 4-1 at Wembley in the Super Sunday afternoon kick-off.

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The super striker didn't even take four minutes to rip through the Red back line and round keeper Simon Mignolet to break the deadlock.

Eight minutes later, the 24-year-old set up Son Heung-min to double the score, the Red defence just lagging behind.

Mohamed Salah pulled one back for the visitors just over halfway through the first half, putting away Jordan Henderson's through ball.

But just before the interval Dele Alli's volley from the edge of the area made it 3-1.

Kane sealed the deal just over ten minutes after the break after Mignolet flapped and failed to clear a free-kick, the rebound of Jan Vertonghen's shot falling to the Ballon d'Or nominee to make it 4-1.

Liverpool's defence was just over-stretched. All goals were due to leaks, massive gaps, lack of physical presence, speed and any kind of cover.

Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren were nowhere near good enough, too slow, too sloppy, clueless, Joe Gomez and Alberto Moreno unable to cope.

It said it all when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was brought on for Lovren with just over half an hour gone.

But the visitors were unable to get back into the game, despite Salah's and Philippe Coutinho's best attempts and dominance in possession.

Spurs stopper Hugo Lloris showed the opposition how it's done with some great stops, quick reaction, strong and solid presence. Something the Reds are missing!!!

Their Belgian stopper has made 13 errors leading to goals in the league since making his Liverpool debut in 2013, three more than anyone else.

The London side's boss Mauricio Pochettino was very happy for his fans, in front of Diego Maradona and Kobe Bryant, "Wembley starts to feel home" with a Premier League record crowd of 80,827.

Tottenham are up to third on 20 points, level with United in second, four points ahead of Chelsea in fourth, after their second consecutive win at their new home.

LFC manager Jürgen Klopp took "100% responsibility" pointing out the "bad, bad, bad defence. Their desire was better than ours."

Sad but true. It was no contest. The Reds are left slumbering in ninth on 13 points, trailing the top by 12 points.

Liverpool have conceded 16 goals in the league this season, their worst defensive record after nine top-flight games since 1964-65.

They have struggled most on the road, conceding 15 goals, the most in the league this season.

Next on the fixture list: A little break as the Reds are out of the League Cup, until they host Huddersfield at Anfield on Saturday.

The Tigers are high-flying after beating Manchester United 2-1 in a very convincing, strong, organised and confident display.

Again, something the Reds are missing!!!

Tottenham Goals: Kane 4' & 56', Son Heung-min 12' & Alli 45'+3.

Liverpool Goal: Salah 24'.

Tottenham Team: 1 Lloris, 4 Alderweireld, 6 Sánchez, 5 Vertonghen, 2 Trippier, 23 Eriksen (15 Dier 81'), 29 Winks, 20 Alli, 24 Aurier, 10 Kane (18 Llorente 88'), 7 Son Heung-min (17 Sissoko 69').
Subs not used: 3 Rose, 13 Vorm, 14 Nkoudou, 33 Davies.

Liverpool Team: 22 Mignolet, 12 Gomez, 32 Matip, 6 Lovren (21 Oxlade-Chamberlain 31'), 18 Moreno, 7 Milner, 14 Henderson, 23 Can (booked) (16 Grujic 83'), 10 Coutinho, 9 Firmino (15 Sturridge 77'), 11 Salah.
Subs not used: 1 Karius, 17 Klavan, 29 Solanke, 66 Alexander-Arnold.

Match Stats: THFC 4-1 LFC
Possession: 36%-64%
Shots: 14-12
On target: 6-7
Corners: 3-5
Fouls: 2-8
Yellow cards: 0-1
Red cards: 0-0

Referee: Andre Marriner
Man of the match: Harry Kane
Ground: Wembley
Attendance: 80,827

Click here for my previous LFC match report. 

All pictures, quotes, facts and stats were taken from the BBC match report, MOTD2, Twitter and SFR match coverage.

Premier League Picks Of The Week 7

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 7

The 7th week of the Premier League action saw:

22 goals - most by Tottenham & Man United = 4
256 shots - most by Arsenal & Everton = 23
75 on target - most by Arsenal = 11
92 corners - most by Everton = 9
188 fouls - most by West Ham = 15
24 yellow cards - most by West Brom & West Ham = 3 each
0 red cards
1 penalty - 0 scored (Berahino denied by Forster for Stoke)

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What a match! It was a routine win for Arsenal beating Brighton 2-0 on Sunday at the Emirates, a nice 21st anniversary present for their boss Arsène Wenger. The second goal was sweet, Alexis Sánchez's back-heel pass finding Alex Iwobi nicely to make it 2-0 and three points for the Gunners, taking them up to fifth in the table, just three goals behind the champions. The French manager has now won Premier League matches against 45 different clubs - a record! Man City totally outplayed Chelsea, beating the Blues 0-1 at Stamford Bridge, which keeps them in fourth place on goal difference. It was disappointing to watch, no competition at all, the result not quite reflecting the Citizens dominance, staying top of the league on goal difference.

What a team! Crystal Palace lost again, surprise surprise. Just like their local rivals, it was too easy for United as well, winning comfortably 4-0 and it could have been more. The thrash took the Red Devils just one goal behind the top. Watford showed strength and stubbornness once again, grinding out a result, a late late late equaliser, 2-2 at West Brom. In contrast to that, Bournemouth and Leicester shared their miserable form, no goals, a point each. And why Everton don't like Sundays: They lost their last five Premier League matches on this day by an aggregate score of 1-13! Burnley meanwhile remain unbeaten away from home after beating the Toffees convincingly 0-1 at Goodison Park, the win taking them up to sixth on 12 points from seven games with more away points than in the whole of last season. Ronald Koeman's side meanwhile are down in 16th on seven points. Contrast.

What a man! Harry Kane can't stop scoring! The star striker made it 0-3 to Tottenham within 23 minutes at Huddersfield, in style! Floating and bossing it! The 24-year-old Spurs forward has 13 goals in September, equalling the record in a single month by Lionel Messi (March 2012) and Cristiano Ronaldo (October 2010). Romelu Lukaku continued his top run too, adding a late goal to make it 4-0 to United and keeping his scoring streak going. Daniel Sturridge got a rare start for Liverpool and had scored five goals in the four previous league starts at St James Park, seven in total against Newcastle, making them his favourite opponent. But the out-of-form striker did not impress on Sunday, wasting chance after chance. Philippe Coutinho opened the scoring with a smacker from outside the box, the Reds seemingly in total control. Until the defence mucked it all up again, Joel Matip desperately running back after leaving a big gap between him and Dejan Lovren, kicking the ball against Joselu, for it to roll over the line oh so slowly to make it 1-1. So so so agonising for Jürgen Klopp's men once again, here is my full match report. The only positive stat: The Reds haven't lost a Premier League game in October for the last seven years according to Martin Tyler. Yay?

What a goal! Richarlison's last-breath equaliser for Watford, completing the comeback from two goals down to save a point at West Brom, in the 95th minute, was his second consecutive 90+th minute goal. Peter Crouch scored a late winner as well for Stoke City, three goals in seven appearances for the 36-year-old striker, two of those as a sub, prove he has still got it. Diafra Sakho's last-minute winner for West Ham against Swansea relieved the London Stadium and manager Slaven Bilić of all tension and despair. For now. Marcus Rashford's top-quality free kick, made it too easy for Marouane Fellaini to net, putting United on top, temporary at least. Kevin De Bruyne's finish for City against a less-impressive Chelsea, the build-up and conversion, was just top-quality! Boom!

What the hell?! Dele Alli was rightly booked for his diving antiques in Tottenham's comfortable win at Huddersfield. After his England middle-finger ban, you would think he would try to stay out of trouble. Manager Mauricio Pocchetino rightly came out strong saying the 21-year-old has to learn and work on his attitude. Do these players forget they are being watched?!?!?! It made a change to the officials act and react correctly. Bournemouth were denied an obvious handball by Leicester's Danny Simpson! And Lovren had his shirt pulled to bits, again, nothing given. The refs are just blind, ignorant and/or oblivious. When will the FA introduce something called VI-DE-O that will show the officials within seconds whether their decision can stand or not. And how many times do I rant about it!!! FFS!!!

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

Click here for last week's Premier League Picks.

Pictures, stats and facts taken from the BBC match reports, MOTD, Twitter, Sky Sports and SFR match coverage.

Premier League Picks Of The Week 6

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 6

The 6th week of the Premier League action saw:

29 goals - most by Man City = 5
232 shots - most by Man City = 25
82 on target - most by Man City = 9
91 corners - most for Southampton = 9
209 fouls - most by Tottenham = 20
46 yellow cards - most for West Ham, Man United & West Brom = 4 each
1 red card - Serge Aurier for Tottenham
2 penalties - 1 scored (Jamie Vardy denied by Simon Mignolet, Alexandre Lacazette netted for Arsenal)

What a match! It was goals and action galore in the opening match of the weekend! After all the hard work by West Ham to keep Tottenham at bay, the visitors took over at the London Stadium. And it had to be, Dele Alli from the right, headed in by Harry Kane to break the deadlock. Not even a couple of minutes later, the star striker doubled the score, netting the rebound of Joe Hart's save against Alli, his 11th goals in the last five away matches. Hard life for the Hammers, after a strong start, everything went downhill for Slaven Bilić's men when Michail Antonio had to come off injured and be replaced by Andy Carroll with just under half an hour gone. The home side's control fell to bits from then on, the substitute's stupid mistakes and giveaways costing them dearly. Christian Eriksen made it three after the break, Kane hit the woodwork twice before Javier Hernández pulled one back for the home side. It got more interesting after Serge Aurier saw red though, booked a second time for his silly and clumsy challenges, Spurs' first sending off in 84 league games. Cheikhou Kouyaté made it 2-3 with three minutes plus stoppage time to go, setting up a nail-biting finish, including chances, bust-ups, pure drama! But it ended with Spurs on top! A full-on derby that has seen 21 goals in the last 6 meetings! Wow! ⚽️👊🏻⚽️👊🏻⚽️👊🏻⚽️

What a team! Everton were in bits! There was nothing and no one giving them anything, not even straws to clutch on! Joshua King got a free run and nice free hit to give Bournemouth the lead at Goodison Park. It was over a decade since the Toffees lost four consecutive league matches without scoring (last miserable run like that was August to October 2005). I couldn't see Ronald Koeman survive much longer! So much money! So many players! So little goals, results and points! But Oumar Niasse's late double turned the game on it's head and put all those pressures on hold. For now. What a let-off! What a turnaround! Talk about super-sub! The saviour for both club and boss?!?!?! More to their luck (or lack of) below... 💩👊🏻🙈👎🏻💩
Watford also left it late late late, Richarlison striking in the 90th minute to counter Swansea's fightback and beat them 1-2 at the Liberty Stadium. Both goals by the visitors were defensive howlers, giveaways, backing the impressive, stubborn, consistent form by Marco Silva's men. First for both: The Swans losing the opening three home matches, the Hornets winning the first three away games. Boo(m)! 👊🏻⚽️👊🏻⚽️👊🏻

What a man! It took Romelu Lukaku  not even 20 minutes to smash in a rebound from close range to give Manchester United the lead at Southampton, making it six goals in the six opening league games for the Red Devil, equalling Louis Saha's record. The Belgian striker became the first to score for three different teams at St Mary's. José Mourinho's men were under pressure, the Saints on top for most of the second period, but made it through the storm, holding on to the three points to continue their top run. 16 points from the opening six games is United's best start to the Premier League since 2011-2. Chelsea downed Stoke 0-4 at the Bet365 Stadium, Alvaro Morata with a hat-trick, his second and Chelsea's third was a lovely run and finish, making it six in six PL games for the Spaniard. In form. ⚽️👊🏻⚽️👊🏻⚽️
Liverpool keeper Simon Mignolet went from zero to hero, conceding a goal and then a spot kick against Jamie Vardy within a couple of minutes, before denying the Leicester striker an equaliser from the spot. The Belgian stopper has saved eight of the 15 PL penalties he has faced for LFC, more than any other keeper, securing the Reds their first win in nearly a month! 👊🏻⚽️👊🏻⚽️👊🏻

What a goal! Manchester City's opener against Crystal Palace shortly before the interval was a nicely worked goal. Leroy Sané's short free-kick found David Silva, who clipped it over the defence for Sané to stab it in at the near post. It changed the dynamic of the game, Raheem Sterling adding a couple to make it 3-0. Sergio Agüero with his 176th and Fabian Delph into the top corner sealed it with a fourth and fifth respectively. Th-r-ash. Pep Guardiola's side have become the first PL side to score five or more goals in three consecutive games! Wow! Cannot say anyone was surprised. It's been over 10 hours since Palace scored in the league (last one was on 14 May). In that time City have scored 29. The aggregate score of their last six meetings is 21-1, the last home defeat for the Sky Blues against the Eagles was in 1990. Worlds apart! ⚽️🙈⚽️🙈⚽️
Tomer Hemed's hooked finish gave Brighton their second Premier League win in the only Super Sunday game. A top-quality goal, followed by some brilliant defending by the Seagulls, putting everything and everybody on the line, denied Newcastle a comeback, leaving Rafa visibly frustrated. 👊🏻⚽️👊🏻⚽️👊🏻

What the hell?! Bournemouth were so lucky! Defender Simon Francis elbowed Wayne Rooney in the face, in the box, so, it should have been red and penalty. But the Everton man ended up red in the face, full of blood, fuming after being denied both by referee Martin Atkinson. Ridiculous. At least the Toffees finally got a win, that will have settled some Scouser nerves and tempers at least. Same for their Red neighbours after they finally banked three points at Leicester. But not without any hiccups, threats, flaps, fails and drama. The referee didn't make many Merseyside friends there either... Click here for my full match report. And how Jay Rodriguez didn't get a penalty for West Brom, but Aaron Ramsey did for Arsenal at the Emirates, only referee Robert Madley knows and can explain... Maybe... Hopefully... Consistency? None! The call settled Gunners' nerves as the Baggies were a constant threat to get something back, hitting the post and seeing Monreal clear off the line. The spot kick doubled the score and handed Arsène Wenger's men a much needed clearer lead and win, more than they deserved, Tony Pulis left fuming and wondering... 💩🙈😡🙈💩

My Predictions - Actual Results
West Ham 1:2 Tottenham - 2:3
Burnley 0:1 Huddersfield - 0:0
Everton 2:1 Bournemouth - 2:1
Man City 6:0 Crystal Palace - 5:0
Southampton 2:4 Man United - 0:1
Stoke City 1:2 Chelsea - 0:4
Swansea 0:1 Watford - 1:2
Leicester 2:1 Liverpool - 2:3 or my match report
Brighton 1:0 Newcastle - 1:0
Arsenal 3:0 West Brom - 2:0

Click here for last week's Premier League Picks.

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

Premier League Picks Of The Week 32

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 32

The 32nd week of the Premier League action saw:
243 shots - most by Man City = 23
29 goals - most by Tottenham & Everton = 4 each
221 fouls - most by Man United = 20
34 bookings - most by West Ham & Man United = 5 each
1 red card - Sebastian Larsson for Sunderland
1 penalty - 1 scored (Milivojevic for Palace)

What a game! From the first minute, it was all bang boom bang, comeback versus comeback, game on at Goodison Park! Everton took the lead in the first minute thanks to Tom Davies poking in the joint fastest goal in the Premier League. But champions Leicester came back hitting two in six minutes, Islam Slimani in the fourth and Marc Albrighton in the tenth minute. The Toffees showed more stubbornness and hunger though, Romelu Lukaku's double taking his tally to 13 in the last eight home games and turning the game on its head yet again. The Belgian striker served Craig Shakespeare his first defeat, making it a club record of seven out of seven home wins for Ronald Koeman's men. Great entertainment, which saw the home side in seventh move level on points with Arsenal in sixth, whilst the Foxes stay in 11th.

What a team! Liverpool did what Arsenal were not able to - both played absolute shambles, the Reds making much needed changes at the break to turn the game around at Stoke, whilst the Gunners kept firing blanks and looked nowhere near anything at Crystal Palace. Jürgen Klopp started with the youngsters, but after seeing his side being chopped to bits and falling behind thanks to boyhood Evertonian Jonathan Walters, the German brought on Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino who both banged in a goal each to take and turn the game around 1-2 and make a statement, even though the boss was adamant they didn't start due to lack of fitness... Arsène Wenger meanwhile looked clueless and helpless at Selhurst Park, his team mirroring that in their way of play, or lack of, the Eagles bossing it from start to finish, winning convincingly 3-0. If the games reveal or reflect anything, then it's the contrasting trend/spiral each side is finding themselves in!

What a man! This weekend my vote goes to the keepers, so many superb saves! Wow! Simon Mignolet kept Liverpool in the game with some great quick-reaction, reflex-type stops, putting his body on the line till the final whistle, very much appreciated by his team mates and manager and fully deserved to be crowned man of the match. Both Ben Foster and Fraser Forster served tung twisters for the commentators with their super saves at the Hawthorns, Jordy Clasie the only one to find a way through with a perfect strike, bang into the right side of the net to make it 0-1 to Southampton. And it was thanks to Forster it stayed that way late on, denying West Brom a late equaliser. Darren Randolph also starred keeping West Ham ahead after Cheikhou Kouyaté had given the Hammers the lead at the Olympic Stadium, with some astonishing stretching and diving, denying Swansea any way back into the game and point with it. Show stoppers and stealers with it, well and truly!

What a goal! Dele Alli's right-foot curler into the top right corner that opened the scoring for Tottenham against Watford gets my vote. It was a beauty that just started what ended up being a thrashing onslaught that downed the Hornets 4-0 with Eric Dier and Son Heung-min also on the scoreboard. The double for the latter saw Spurs complete their 11th straight home win, their best run since 1987. Table-toppers Chelsea also eased to a win at Bournemouth, Marcos Alonso making it 1-3 with a perfect unstoppable free-kick, left-foot curler into the top-right corner. It just finished off a top class win, the Cherries just could not compete with the likes of Eden Hazard, who scored the second goal and is outrunning and -scoring anyone and everyone at the moment it seems. Top class.

What the hell?! The refs were so hypocritically useless once again this weekend. On the one hand, Firmino and Kouyate got booked for celebrating their goals for Liverpool and West Ham respectively, but then Burnley's Ashley Barnes got away with elbowing his opponent in the face and then giving him a blow in the nuts just to top it off. Oh, and the last defender Michael Keane incident bringing down Patrick Bamford also at the Riverside, shouldn't that have been red rather than yellow? It ended up goalless between Boro and Clarets, the bottom three remaining winless in the last six, and deservedly so looking at this less impressive encounter. And then seeing Sunderland's Sebastian Larsson sent off for the first time in his 278 Premier League appearances the next day in the Super Sunday clash against Manchester United... It just crushed any kind of chance the Black Cats had against the Red Devils, destroying any kind of competition there was. And it was harsh. Very harsh. And very inconsistent.

My Predictions - Actual Results
Tottenham 2:1 Watford - 4:0
Man City 3:3 Hull City - 3:1
Middlesbrough 2:1 Burnley - 0:0
Stoke City 3:2 Liverpool - 1:2
West Brom 2:2 Southampton - 0:1
West Ham 2:1 Swansea - 1:0
Bournemouth 0:2 Chelsea - 1:3
Sunderland 1:1 Man United - 0:3
Everton 3:2 Leicester - 4:2
Crystal Palace 1:2 Arsenal - 3:0

Click her for last week's Premier League Picks.

All stats and pictures are taken from MOTD and BBC match reports.

Premier League Picks Of The Week 20

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 20

The 20th week of the Premier League action saw:

240 shots - most by Liverpool = 21
29 goals - most by Bournemouth, Arsenal, Everton & West Brom = 3 each
192 fouls - most by Watford = 15
40 bookings - most by Man City = 5
3 red cards - Francis for Bournemouth, Fernandinho for Man City & Feghouli for West Ham
4 penalties - 4 scored (Wilson for Bournemouth, Baines for Everton & Defoe for Sunderland x 2!!!)

What a game! Tottenham's 2-0 win against league leaders Chelsea thanks to Dele Alli's double at White Hart Lane was, as Mauricio Pocchetino put it, massive! Massive for them, massive for everyone! The Blues' first defeat in over three months means three points dropped, and the game is still on in the title race. The season is not over as too many had already ticked it off. Antonio Conte's side is not perfect, stopped from recording their 14th consecutive win and making Premier League history. Spurs meanwhile are unbeaten at home this season, beware of the overlooked sneaking up.

What a team! It was the first time Arsenal came back from three goals down, Bournemouth the victims. Olivier Giroud was the hero once again with an injury-time winner after being involved in the other two goals, too, to make it 3-3 at Dean Court.The dramatic comeback was helped by Simon Francis being sent off for a challenge on Aaron Ramsey, Cherries boss Eddie Howe felt it was "harsh". Harsh but true, the Gunners' stubbornness payed off, hitting and hurting the home side hard.

What a man! Everton manager Ronald Koeman enjoyed a comfortable 3-0 win against his former side Southampton, thanks to Enner Valencia (73'), Leighton Baines (81' pen) and Romelu Lukaku (89), taking the latter's league tally to 54. Only Harry Kane (59) and Sergio Agüero (77) have scored more Premier League goals since the Belgian forward's debut in September 2013. Everton did leave it late, but it was worth it for them, leaving Saints down and dire in 10th after three consecutive defeats.

What a goal! New Swansea boss Paul Clement can be more than happy with his winning start moving his side off the bottom of the Premier League table. Spanish right back Àngel Rangel found the winner at Crystal Palace in the 88th minute, crucial and crushing for Sam Allardyce in his first home game with the Eagles, who are now hovering just one place and one point above the relegation zone. It was the first time ever the former England boss has lost his opening home Premier League match, having previously won four and drawn one.

What the hell?! Leicester, oh Leicester. 21 points from 20 Premier League games is the worst return by reigning league champions and there is nothing much else to report from their dull 0-0 draw at Middlesbrough. Meanwhile at the Stadium of Light, Jürgen Klopp was left shaking his head in disbelief (with a sarcastic smile on his face) after his side gave the lead away, twice, handing two spot kicks to non-other than Jermain Defoe. After beating Manchester City last week, Liverpool will be gutted to have dropped two points against the struggling Black Cats. The happier and more grateful and relieved David Moyes will be after two defeats in a row.

My Predictions - Actual Results
Middlesbrough 2:1 Leicester - 0:0
Everton 2:1 Southampton - 3:0
Man City 1:1 Burnley - 2:1
Sunderland 1:4 Liverpool - 2:2
West Brom 1:1 Hull City - 3:1
West Ham 1:2 Man United - 0:2
Bournemouth 1:3 Arsenal - 3:3
Crystal Palace 1:0 Swansea - 1:2
Stoke City 3:2 Watford - 2:0
Tottenham 3:3 Chelsea - 2:0

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Pictures and stats taken from the BBC match report.