Premier League Picks Of The Week 14

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 14

The 14th week of the Premier League action saw:

30 goals - most by Arsenal = 4

254 shots - most by Crystal Palace = 29

85 on target - most by Crystal Palace & Chelsea = 9 each

107 corners - most by Crystal Palace = 10

201 fouls - most by Fulham & Tottenham = 17 each

38 bookings - most by Southampton & Man United = 4 each

3 red cards - Mounié for Huddersfield, Capoue for Watford, Vertonghen for Tottenham

3 penalties - 3 scored (Vardy for Leicester, Aubameyang for Arsenal, Kane for Tottenham)

What a game! The Super Derby Sunday was super duper! All three derbies were entertaining to watch, Chelsea ending up comfortable 2-0 winners against a spirited Fulham in the earliest kick-off of the day, followed by definitely-not-shining Liverpool leaving it later than late to find a winner against Everton in the Merseyside derby. But the other London derby between those two matches smashed all expectations, Arsenal firing Tottenham to bits, 4-2 the final score, the Emirates going absolutely mad, goals, cards, penalties, bust-ups galore! The Gunners were relentless, pushing and pressing throughout, absolutely bossing the first half an hour, taking the lead early on thanks to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's penalty after Jan Vertonghen handled the ball in the area (10’). But then a crazy four minutes ensued, Spurs hitting back twice, Eric Dier’s glance and a Harry Kane penalty after Son Heung-min’s pathetic dive in the box, referee Mike Dean falling for it hook, line, and sinker. But Unai Emery’s men did not give up, drew level shortly after the break with Aubameyang’s second (56’) and two crucial substitutions making a big difference: Alexandre Lacazette and Aaron Ramsey. The Welshman set up the equaliser and the Frenchman gave the home side the lead (74’), three minutes before Lucas Torreira settled and sealed it with an outstanding run and finish (77’). Vertonghen’s sending off later on (84’) condemned Mauricio Pochettino’s men to their fourth defeat of the season, their arch rivals taking their place in the top four whilst they slide down to fifth, both sides just separated by goal difference. Tense.

What a team! Bournemouth did brilliantly well and made it very hard for Manchester City, but the league leaders continued their bulldozing run, winning 3-1 to maintain their 100% home record in the league this season and take their unbeaten run to a total of 20 games in the league, sending them five points clear at the top, for just under 24 hours, before the Reds kept the gap down to two points with their late late late winner. More to that goal below.

Manchester United meanwhile were terrible to watch, going 2-0 down inside the opening 20 minutes at Southampton, including an awesome curler by Cédric Soares (20') that put a big fat surprised grin on his boss’ face. But Marcus Rashford inspired a comeback before the break, setting up two goals in six minutes, including Romelu Lukaku’s first goal since September ended his goal drought of 12 games or 981 minutes (33'). It all looked like Mark Hughes’ men were going to collapse and give it away after the restart, but the Red Devils only produced one shot on target in the second half and were a drag to watch. José Mourinho can moan, complain, point and blame as much as he likes, like last week, his job is to manage the team and it will be very surprising if the Portuguese lasts much longer.

What a man! Jürgen Klopp’s celebrations after super sub Divock Origi’s crazy injury-time winner (90’+6’) may be criticised by some, but the fans love him for it. Different to other managers (naming no names), the German just ran on the pitch to celebrate with his keeper, he wasn’t in anyone else’s face from the opposing team nor fans. It shows passion and heart and how much the derby win means to them, keeping the Reds in second, two points behind the Citizens, as mentioned above. Even Toffee boss Marco Silva understood that. Their keeper Jordan Pickford will have woken up today hoping his error was just a nightmare but having to realise it was his fumbling giveaway off the crossbar that cost his side a point and the Merseyside derby honours.

Despite the point against United mentioned above, Saints boss Hughes received the marching orders earlier today. Can’t say it’s a surprise with the side stuck in the relegation zone. As mentioned above, a certain Portuguese manager should be very worried, especially with the high-firing Gunners next on their fixture list!

What a goal! Soares' curler for Southampton mentioned above was a dream. So was Andros Townsend's opener for Crystal Palace against Burnley, an awesome smacker, more to their win below.

It took only 55 seconds for Huddersfield’s Mathias Jørgensen to open the scoring against Brighton, but it went all down hill from there for the home side. Steve Mounié was sent off for a dangerous high challenge (32’), from then on everything and every call went against David Wagner's men, the German-American boss was not happy with Michael Oliver. Shane Duffy equalised deep into injury time before the break. Florin Andone completed the comeback and won it for Brighton with a strong header {69'), his first goal in English football, his club’s first comeback win.

James Maddison’s superb goal (23’) made it 2-0 for Leicester against Watford and his manager Claude Puel a very proud manager, comparing the English youngster to Glenn Hoddle.

And last but definitely not least, Aron Gunnarson’s acrobatic finish (65’) and Junior Hoilett’s curler from distance (77’) completed a perfect comeback for Cardiff after they had fallen behind against Wolves thanks to Matt Doherty (18’) in the Friday night match. Sweet for Neil Warnock to see his side move out of the relegation zone ahead of his 70th birthday, sour for Nuno Espírito Santo, his men dropping down to 12th with the defeat.

What the hell?! After a run of three consecutive wins, Newcastle came crashing down losing 0-3 against West Ham, taking their total of defeats to six of their opening eight Premier League games at St James’ Park this season (W2), the last time that happened was 1953-54. Rafael Benítez blamed the lack of money, the Hammers having spent five times the sum of the Magpies’ investment in the transfer market in the last window. It was very frustrating as the home side had over doubled the chances (16-7 shots). Manuel Pellegrini was full of praise and will surely argue against those numbers, having nowhere near the budget of other sides, and his side in overall control throughout the match.

Crystal Palace scored their first goal from open play and recorded their first home win of the season beating Burnley 2-0. It was a shocking display by the Clarets! It could have been a much worse thrashing if it weren’t for Joe Hart’s saves and Wilfried Zaha’s misses! 29-4 shots, 9-0 on target!!! As mentioned above, Townsend’s goal that sealed the win (77') was an absolute belter! Is Sean Dyche in trouble? Eagles boss Roy Hodgson on the other hand, can be very happy, that’s for sure, his side up to 14th after this win.

My Predictions - Actual Results

Cardiff 1:1 Wolves - 2:1

Crystal Palace 1:2 Burnley - 2:0

Huddersfield 2:2 Brighton - 1:2

Leicester 2:1 Watford - 2:0

Man City 5:0 Bournemouth - 3:1

Newcastle 1:0 West Ham - 0:3

Southampton 1:1 Man United - 2:2

Chelsea 3:0 Fulham - 2:0

Arsenal 1:1 Tottenham - 4:2

Liverpool 3:1 Everton - 1:0

Click here for last week’s Premier League Picks.

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

Premier League Picks Of The Week 30

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 30

The 30th week of the Premier League action saw:

29 goals - most by Leicester & Tottenham = 4 each
229 shots - most by Huddersfield = 30!!!
79 on target - most by Chelsea = 11
116 corners - most by Liverpool = 13
180 fouls - most by Liverpool = 16
25 yellow cards - most by Swansea & Leicester = 3 each
2 red cards - Anthony Knockaert for Brighton, Jordan Ayew for Swansea
2 penalties - 0 scored

What a game! It could not have been more one-sided at Huddersfield, 30-0 shots, Swansea down to ten men after just ten minutes when Jordan Ayew was sent off for catching Jonathan Hogg with his studs. Keeper and MOTM Łukasz Fabiański was kept busy busy busy, but the Welsh side somehow held on, it ended 0-0 and a point each!!! Swans boss Carlos Cavalhal was full of praise, understandably, the Portuguese called it an epic point, and it was, whilst Tigers manager David Wagner was left wondering WTF?! Krass!!!

Arsenal avoided losing a fourth league game in a row for the first time in over 30 years thanks to PETR ČECH SAVING A PENALTY!!! That's a first for Arsenal! And the Czech keeper's first since 2011! And finally kept his 200th clean sheet after a long long wait, the first goalkeeper to achieve this feat in the PL! It ended 3-0 against Watford at a half-empty Emirates, the Gunners still making the clear win look difficult. Goals from Shkodran Mustafi, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan completed the London side's first league win since 3rd February when they beat Everton 5-1 and Arsène Wenger's 700th win in his 1,222nd match in charge of Arsenal. Party time? I think not.

What a team! West Brom's and West Ham's illness and injury list did not help them, both ended up well thrashed, continuing their miserable form! The prior lost 1-4 against Leicester, the latter 0-3 v Burnley, both Alan Pardew and David Moyes not gaining any points nor fans respectively, it especially over-boiling in the London Stadium, more to that below. Not. Nice.
Chelsea got back to winning ways beating Crystal Palace 2-1 in a dominant display at Stamford Bridge and closing the gap to the top four. Former Liverpool defender Martin Kelly was involved in both goals for the Blues, Willian aided by a deflection for the first, the second a ping pong own goal, Patrick van Aanholt's goal too little too late. Unfortunate for Roy Hodgson once again, finally back on track for Antonio Conte.

What a man! Brighton manager Chris Hughton won the PL manager of the month award for the first time in his career and fully deserved it after seeing his side remain unbeaten for the whole of February. Much in contrast to that form, the Seagulls self-destructed at Everton, conceding two goals and seeing Anthony Knockaert sent off for his mad tackle on Leighton Baines, all in the last half an hour after frustrating the hell out of the Toffees. A Gaëtan Bong own goal broke the deadlock, Cenk Tosun doubled the lead with a quality finish and it could have been worse, Wayne Rooney missing a penalty. Sam Allardyce ended up being happy despite that miss, 2-0 winners which took them up to ninth.

Mauricio Pellegrino accused his side of giving up after watching Southampton downed 3-0 at Newcastle on Saturday, Kenedy scoring twice for the Magpies, the first a lovely turn and take after just 63 seconds, and Matt Ritchie adding a third and more misery on the visitors, leaving the Saints just one point above the relegation zone, Rafael Benítez on the other hand with a big smile. On Monday night, the news of the sacking of the Argentinian boss was confirmed during City's easy 0-2 win at Stoke thanks to David Silva's brace, no surprise there, with neither the news nor the result. Not even 48 hours later, Mark Hughes was announced the new boss, a lot of fans not happy with that news it seems...

What a goal! Marcus Rashford's first-half brace was enough for Manchester United to cut open and beat arch rivals Liverpool 2-1 in the Saturday lunch-time kick-off at Old Trafford, widening the gap between the two in 2nd and 3rd place respectively to five points in the Premier League table. It wasn't the visitors' day, the referee helping the hosts with a lot of decisions, more to that below and click here for my full match report.
Son Heung-min's double made it 1-4 for Tottenham at Bournemouth on Sunday, completing the perfect comeback after falling behind in the seventh minute thanks to Junior Stanislas and losing Harry Kane due to injury in the first half. It was the South Korean's sixth and seventh goal in his last four outings. Dele Alli's equaliser and Serge Aurier's header added up to complete Mauricio Pochettino's 150th league win as a manager to see the club up to third one point ahead of Liverpool after their defeat against United mentioned above.

What the hell?! The referee at Old Trafford missed and messed up a lot. I may be bias, but please, how there weren't any penalties after Antonio Valencia's handball, Ashley Young wrapped himself around Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané was felled down by Marouane Fellaini and how Rashford didn't get booked for his celebrations with the crowd, which would have added up to two bookings a couple of minutes later = red card, is beyond me!!! Aaaaah!!!
It wasn't just one pitch invasion at the London Stadium, but FOUR!!! WTF?! That's taking the mick!!! What the hell happened to the security staff?! Did they forget to do their job?! What about safety of the players and everyone else on and around the pitch?! I understand the fans' frustration, but have you forgotten you are a football fan, as in the sport, the game?! Yes, you can present and demonstrate your frustrations, but please not by disrupting and destroying the game and sport!!!

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

Click here for last week's Premier League Picks.

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