Premier League Picks Of The Week 11

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 11

The 11th week of the Premier League action saw:

234 shots - most by Liverpool = 28

36 goals - most by Liverpool = 6!!!

239 fouls - most by Sunderland & Tottenham = 17

37 bookings - most by Southampton = 5

1 red card - Pienaar for Sunderland

4 penalties - 4 scored (Benteke Palace, Kane for Spurs, Defoe for Sunderland & Austin for Saints)

What a game! It was goals and action galore at Turf Moor! And it was all topped and finished off by Burnley's last-minute winner! Wow, smashing home form for the Clarets! And finally, Sunderland were rewarded for the hard work and recorded their first win of the season at Dean Court. The more remarkable it was made by the fact that the Black Cats were reduced to ten men for the majority of the game/second half! And strugglers Hull City have recorded their first win since the 20th August and the first three points under Mike Phelan a, who will also be mightily relieved going into the international break.

What a team! Liverpool have gone top of the Premier League for the first time since May 2014 and will be more than happy with that going into the international break. Jürgen Klopp's men absolutely thrashed and took Watford apart, it ended 6-1, it could have been double that! Sadio Mané was the man and made it five in five with his superb goal. It was the fifth time the Reds have scored four goals or more in the league, making them top scorers and overachievers at the moment. Einfach geil! :-D

What a man! Eden Hazard is a changed man for Chelsea scoring in the fourth consecutive Premier League game for the Blues. The Blues are hot and close on Liverpool's heels just one point behind in second. Confidence was high after the 4-0 thrashing of Man United, Everton did not get a word/kick/shout in edgeways. Antonio Conte's 3-4-3 formation was spot on and is flourishing. Put all of that together and you get the result, a comfortable and confident 5-0 win.

What a goal! Yes, you read right, Paul Pogba AND Zlatan Ibrahimov were on the scoreboard for Man United! And the prior's was superb! The result ended a run of four Premier League games without a win for the Red Devils. Whether or not it is a coincidence that they recorded that win with their controversial manager José Mourinho in the stands serving his suspension is interesting and intriguing either way.

What the hell?! Such a shame to see Leicester crumbling away like everyone predicted and Claudio Ranieri scratching his head wondering how the hell... The defending champions have suffered yet another defeat, thanks to Danny Drinkwater's error that led to the second goal to make it 1-2 to West Brom. It's the Foxes first home defeat since September 2015, and unbeaten run of 20 games (13 wins, 7 draws). End of an era.

My Predictions - Actual Results
Bournemouth 2:0 Sunderland - 1:2
Burnley 1:2 Crystal Palace - 3:2
Man City 3:1 Middlesbrough - 1:1
West Ham 1:1 Stoke - 1:1
Chelsea 1:0 Everton - 5:0
Arsenal 1:1 Tottenham - 1:1
Hull City 0:1 Southampton - 2:1
Liverpool 4:0 Watford - 6:1 - click here for my match report
Swansea 1:1 Man United - 1:3
Leicester 2:1 West Brom - 1:2

Click here to read last week's Premier League Picks

All pictures taken from the BBC match reports 

Premier League Picks Of The Week 2

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 2

The second week of Premier League action saw:

253 Shots - most by Liverpool = 26

22 Goals - most by Man City = 4

237 Fouls - most by Watford = 20

34 Bookings - most by Man City & Watford = 4

1 Red Card - 2nd yellow for Arter for Bournemouth

3 Penalties - 3 scored, 0 missed

Paul Merson's rant about Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger's team selection and choices

Jeff Stelling promoting Hartlepool to the Premier League and Iain Dowie losing track of the score

David Moyes being blunt about Sunderland's chances

What a game! Burnley's win against Liverpool after their seven-goal thriller-victory against Arsenal last week was impressive but less surprising looking at the Reds' mixed form of last season. Jürgen Klopp's men proved once again possession and stats in general don't mean anything and everything. The Reds have created the most chances in the Premier League so far this season (34), but not converting near enough. From top to flop within days and you don't know which one will turn up next. We will wait and see which one will turn up against Burton Albion in the EFL Cup and then at Tottenham in the next Premier League clash (which I will be covering live on ByTheMinute.co).

What a team! Hull City proved all doubters wrong again after beating Swansea 0-2 at the Liberty Stadium. If caretaker manager Mike Phelan doesn't get the job permanently, then fool them. The relegation favourites could not have wished for a better start to the season, flying high in the top four.

What a goal! Cristhian Stuani's opener for Middlesbrough at Sunderland was a stunner. The Uruguayan opened his account for Boro and the Premier League with an unstoppable long-range smacker against the run of play after 13 minutes at the Stadium of Light. He doubled David Moyes' men's misery just before half time and the home side got a goal back in the second half but were not able to recover. Aitor Karanka's side recorded their first win of the season whilst Moyes' account at the Black Cats is still blank, looking more and more difficult and hopeless.

What a man! Zlatan Ibrahimovic can't do anything wrong at the moment. The 34-year old has scored in both opening games to feed United six point out of six and José Mourinho's ego and big mouth. As if the latter needed that! But it's still early days, LVG won the first two games last season as well and we know what happened next...

What the hell?! Diego Costa got away with it once again!!! Manager Antonio Conte's changes did work the magic and got his side back late on after falling behind at Watford. Second sub Michy Batshuayi pulled a goal with ten minutes left before third sub Cesc Fabregas set up Costa for the winner just before the end. But like last week, Costa got away with it! The 27-year-old should have not been on the field after appearing to dive to try and win a second-half penalty, when he had already been in referee Jon Moss' book. The rules are there for a reason, new and old, so please enforce them!!!

My predictions - Actual results

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

Click here for last week's Premier League Picks

Pictures taken from BBC match reports (top picture montage taken from Bing Search)