Premier League Picks Of The Week 12

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 12

The 12th week of the Premier League action saw:
32 goals - most by Bournemouth, Man United & Chelsea = 4 each
247 shots - most by Liverpool = 22
92 on target - most by Liverpool = 8
116 corners - most by Man United & Huddersfield = 11 each
136 fouls - most by Everton = 26
34 yellow cards - most by Arsenal & West Ham = 4 each
1 red card - Simon Francis for Bournemouth (second yellow)
1 penalty - 1 scored (Leighton Baines for Everton)

What a game! Arsenal surprisingly impressed recording their first league win against Tottenham since 2014 in the early kick-off on Saturday. Shkodran Mustafi headed the Gunners ahead in the big London derby from Mesut Özil's controversial free kick in the 36th minute. Alexis Sánchez doubled the lead five minutes later lashing in from Alexandre Lacazette's square ball. Both goals looked offside, close calls though. Arsène Wenger has now beaten 10 of the 11 Spurs managers he has faced in the Premier League, the only exception being Christian Gross in 1997-98. It was the first time Harry Kane failed to score in this bitter derby and was subbed off in the 75th minute, with Dele Alli, Son Heung-min and Fernando Llorente replacing them. Mauricio Pochettino was surely bitterly disappointed with the officials and his side, but his away record looks very dire, winning just once in the last 15 visits to top six sides. Everton came back twice against Palace, the game ending 2-2 with a point each. The two worst defences fought hard, how the match ended up last on MOTD shows how action-packed, eventful and entertaining the day was! Who can start a petition to get rid of international breaks, please?!!!

What a team! Manchester City recorded their 16th consecutive win in all competitions, 34 points in the opening 12 league games - equalling the Premier League record they set under Roberto Mancini in 2011-12. Gabriel Jesus opened the scoring from close range and Kevin De Bruyne added a breathtaking smacker that could be heard hitting the back of the net. The league leaders were lucky with some decisions though, see more below. Manchester United set a club record of their own going 38 games unbeaten after thrashing Newcastle 4-1. Dwight Gayle gave the Magpies the lead early on in the game, giving neutral viewers the hope they could be up for an actual contest. But it went all downhill from there at Old Trafford, Rafael Benítez's side conceding four including Paul Pogba netting on his return from injury. Burnley! Boom! Boom! The Clarets moved within a point of the top four after an impressive 2-0 win against struggling Swansea. Sean Dyche would be more than daft to leave this strong position for any of the shaky job vacancies going around at the moment... More to that below!

What a man! I doubt Tony Pulis will keep his job much longer after Chelsea hammered his side West Brom 0-4 at the Hawthorns, making it 2 wins in the last 21 for the Baggies. And as I am editing this, the news breaks of his sacking. It's the second Premier League week in a row that's happened, the Welshman is already the fifth sacking of the season after Slaven Bilić was sent packing before the international break and it's not even December yet!
Callum Wilson's hat-trick more than helped ten-man Bournemouth thrash Huddersfield 4-0. The Cherries are flying up the table, but the Terriers were more than up for the f(l)ight, working and fighting hard despite the scoreline.
Watford stopper Heurelho Gomes starred with breathtaking/double/triple saves!!! A super keeper on the only Super Sunday match! 22-year-old former Derby County midfielder Will Hughes scored with his first ever shot in the Premier League and Brazilian Richarlison doubled West Ham's misery after the break. Who wants to be David Moyes, ey?! The former Everton and United boss lost his first game as Hammers manager and 500th in the top-flight. The Hornets meanwhile impressed and went up to eighth.

What a goal! There was some top quality team play produced by both Chelsea and Man City in all their goals, both men of the matches Eden Hazard and De Bruyne starring for their sides respectively. Mohamed Salah scored two on the day to help Liverpool beat Southampton 3-0, the Egyptian star's ninth league goal of the season to make him top scorer and 14 after 18 games in all competitions. The last LFC player to score more than 14 goals in a season was none-other than Luis Suárez. And it's only November. On. Fire. The win meant Liverpool have now won by three or more goals in four consecutive games for the first time since Bob Paisley's Reds in 1980. Double BOOM!

What the hell?! Referees!!! City defender Vincent Kompany  had a lucky escape after a late tackle felling down last man Jamie Vardy. And what is offside again?! The Citizens and Gunners were both very lucky with those decisions respectively, but deserved the wins looking at the performances and general displays. The Cherries were just as fortunate with a few decisions as well before their first couple of goals. Fouls and offsides were missed again, I think the officials need to google both. But Eddie Howe's men doubled that score thrashing Huddersfield 4-0 despite going down to ten men, killer goals, killer score, killer points. Terriers boss David Wagner was rightly very unhappy about those decisions that went against his side. The officials at the Amex didn't cover themselves in glory either, where Brighton extended their unbeaten league run to five games as they drew 2-2 with Stoke, but could and should have done better after being denied a blatant penalty in a frantic first half. Referees, ey. What's their job again? Hm. Who knows. They don't seem to have a clue!

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

Click here for my previous Premier League Picks Of The Week.

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

Premier League Picks Of The Week 3

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 3

The third week of the Premier League saw:

270 Shots - most by Man United = 29 

22 Goals - most by Arsenal & Chelsea = 3 each

227 Fouls - most by Watford = 18

46 Bookings - most by Watford = 6

0 Reds Cards

6 Penalties - 3 scored, 3 missed

ByTheMinute coverage at its best, even when the match has not got much to write about...

And the ByTheMinute team are also keeping track of all the transfer gossip and news, deadline day tomorrow!

First international break with Big Sam, here is who the new England boss picked and what he had to say.

What a game! The goalless game between West Brom and Middlesbrough did not have much to watch, report or cheer about. I feel with the fans, who should receive a refund for the ordeal. The fans reacted accordingly, calling for Tony Pulis' head. The pressure is already on, just three games into the season, after the side have only recorded one win in the last 13 games and averaging less than a goal a game since Pulis took over in January 2015. Dire.

What a team! Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United form a quite familiar top three, the only sides left with a 100% winning record in the Premier League after three games. Is this how the season will finish, I hear and read many ask. Wait out! Three new managers, 35 games to go... I think it is very premature to crown the champions already!

What a man(ager)! As mentioned above, the top three unbeaten teams, their three new managers, none other than Pep Guardiola, José Mourinho and Antonio Conte, are untouchable and you cannot get away from them. It seems like none of them can do anything wrong at the moment and could not have asked for a better start to the season. Or could they? Guardiola has been the most honest and realistic, seeing and pointing out where his side is lacking and needs improving... Early days!

What a goal! Star striker Jamie Vardy finally kicked off his season for defending champions Leicester (in case you needed reminding who the actual champions are at the moment after all the hu ha and bla bla about the current top three). And it was a fine finish off Danny Drinkwater's pass, a delicious goal we were used to be fed on a regular basis last season. And surprise surprise, long lost Raheem Sterling also shone with two goals for City. Reborn? Or just an exception? We will see.

What the hell?! Again, the referees are under fire. This time they missed Sergio Agüero's blatant elbow into West Ham defender Winston Reid's throat. I hope and think a ban will take him out of the Manc derby on the 10th September. On the other hand, Arthur Masuaku got away with a late tackle on John Stones when he was already cautioned, so could and should have been sent off, too. So, both sides got away with it, hence you could say justice was evened out. But I wish the referees could use replays, as it is ridiculous to see what players get cautioned for in contrast to what they then get away with! I've ranted enough about that plenty of times, so, to quote a Hammer friend of mine...

"Do referees have a Premier League directive in not sending off the top team's best players? Two weeks ago it was Costa and a blatant hack on Adrian, today its Aguero and a clear elbow in the throat of Reid...if the officials are not seeing these incidents then they are not doing their job, and if the officials are seeing these and taking no action, then they are not just incompetent, but corrupt...no complaints about the result, got beaten by the superior team (just), but something's rotten in the state of Denmark, and its called the FA..."

My predictions - Actual results

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

Click here for last week's Premier League Picks

Pictures taken from Bing search, BBC match reports & another Bing search

Palace fight back shatters Reds' title chances

Sports - Football - Premier League - Crystal Palace 3:3 Liverpool

Liverpool's star striker Luis Suarez was left in tears at the final whistle at Selhurst Park, after seeing his side throw away a three-goal lead against a defiant Crystal Palace side, the Reds' defence and title chances crumbled to bits with the 3-3 draw and two points dropped.

Brendan Rodgers' men had bossed the game for about 70 minutes, before the London side turned the match on its head, cracking for all neutrals and football fans watching.

The visitors took the lead in the 18th minute, Joe Allen heading in his first Liverpool goal off a corner. Selhurst Park stayed loud and defiant, but the Reds kept control till the break.

And the game looked all but over, when Daniel Sturridge at the edge of the box, made, turned, shot and deflected a shot in to double the lead, followed by Suarez, who made no mistake off Raheem Sterling, netting past a stunned Julian Speroni, to make it 0-3 within under two minutes.

The Eagles were rewarded for the noise and defiance, when Damien Delaney smashed a cracker of a shot past a helpless Simon Mignolet to make it 1-3 and kick-off a great comeback.

Seconds later, Philippe Coutinho missed a chance before Palace hit back on the counter attack, with a great break and run by Yannick Bolasie, leaving sub Dwight Gayle with an easy finish, to make it 2-3 with under 10 minutes to go, turning on the crowd even more and louder.

It was all Palace in the end, and Liverpool crumbled to bits, caved in under all the pressure. Mignolet made some strong stops, but was well beaten when Gayle slid a shot under him to double his tally and make it 3-3, completing Liverpool's heartbreak in the final minutes.

Tony Pulis can be proud of his side and job, not just in this match, but in the last few weeks. From relegation destined and written off, to mid-table comfort and delight for the London side.

The Reds meanwhile, were devastated the opposite way, not just in this match, but in the title race. As Martin Tyler said, it went from all right to all wrong for Liverpool, as their title chances are now in Manchester City's control, after this reverse deja vu of the 2005 Champions League final (Liverpool 3-3 AC Milan, three goals in nine minutes for the Reds). 

Crystal Palace 3-3 Liverpool

Crystal Palace Goals: 1.: 78:19 min Damien Delaney (27), 2.&3.: 80:18 & 87:24 min Dwight Gayle (16).

Liverpool Goals: 1.: 17:44 min Joe Allen (24), 2.: 52:45 min & 3.: 54:43 min Luis Suarez (7).

Crystal Palace Team: 1 Speroni; 2 Ward, 27 Delaney, 6 Dann (booked 67'), 3 Mariappa (booked 30'); 8 Dikgacoi (11 Ince '85), 15 Jedinak; 7 Bolasie, 28 Ledley, 13 Puncheon (16 Gayle 65'); 29 Chamakh (17 Murray 71'). 4-2-3-1
Subs not used: 4 Parr, 12 O'Keefe, 19 Gabbidon, 26 Hennessey.

Liverpool Team: 22 Mignolet; 38 Flanagan, 17 Sakho, 37 Skrtel (booked 63'), 2 Johnson; 21 Lucas, 24 Allen (booked 25'), 8 Gerrard; 15 Sturridge (12 Moses 86'), 7 Suarez (booked 50'), 31 Sterling (10 Coutinho 78'). 4-3-3
Subs not used: 1 Jones, 4 Toure, 5 Agger, 9 Aspas, 20 Cissokho.

Opta Match Stats: Crystal Palace-Liverpool
(Attack)
Attempts: 10-26
On target: 6-8
Blocked: 1-9
From outside the box: 6-10
From inside the box: 4-16
Shot Accuracy: 66.7%-47.1%
(General Play)
Possession: 34.9%-65.1%
Duels won: 53.8%-46.2%
Aerials won: 41.5%-58.5%
Interceptions: 18-11
Offsides: 0-3
Corners: 7-7
(Distribution)
Total Passes: 295-608
Long Passes: 13.9%-6.7%
Passing Accuracy: 73.6%-88%
Pass. Acc. Opp. half: 60.8%-79.9%
Total Crosses: 28-14
Successful: 14.3%-35.7%
(Defence & Discipline)
Tackles: 19-16
Won: 78.9%-93.8%
Clearances: 21-28
Fouls conceded: 7-12
Yellow Cards: 2-3
Red Cards: 0-0

Referee: Mark Clattenburg
Attendance: 25,261
Man of the match: Dwight Gayle

Week 33: Premier League Tops & Flops

Sports - Football - Premier League - Picks of the Week(end)

WOW!

Arsenal's late win against Norwich proves the game is never over until the referee blows the final whistle. The result left Chris Hughton's side fuming and only four points safe from the drop zone. For 85 minutes, the Canaries looked like they were going to snatch a win at the Emirates and serve a big blow to the Gunners' hopes of Champions League qualification. But then a controversial penalty equaliser started an unbelievable crumble before Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski took advantage and completed the perfect turnaround for the home side.

OMG!

Sunderland's big derby win at Newcastle had a little bit of everything, a game full of top quality (goals), controversy (Papiss Cisse's disallowed goal), temperament (Paulo Di Canio's celebration) and surprise (result). After the Magpies' goal was wrongly disallowed offside, the visitors turned the game and ground on its head! Similar to Norwich at the Emirates, the home side just crumbled to bits at St James' Park. This was the Black Cats' first win at this ground in 13 years and moved them three points clear from the relegation zone.

TOP!

Manchester United regained their 15-point lead at the top over the weekend, breaking more records and moving only seven points away from securing their 20th title. The Red Devils  and Sir Alex Ferguson took nothing for granted coming to the Britannia Stadium on the back of two consecutive defeats against Manchester City and Chelsea. But after the perfect start with Michael Carrick's early goal, the record-breakers were in total control. After the rescheduled games on Wednesday, City reduced the gap at the top to 13 points after United dropped two points in their draw at West Ham, but Sir Alex's men can secure the title at Old Trafford next weekend if City lose at Tottenham and United beat Aston Villa.

FLOP!

The refs wrinkled a lot of foreheads and released a lot of stress hormones again this week with many controversial decisions. The penalty at the Emirates (awarded by the linesman rather than the referee), wrongly given or disallowed goals (Robin van Persie's equaliser at the Boleyn Ground looked offside whilst Cisse's disallowed goal in the big derby did not) and many more errors could fill this whole page. I think and bet the officials are counting down to next season as much as us fans, players and managers, when finally Hawk-Eye will introduce goal-line technology eradicate such controversies.

HERO!

Reading's keeper Alex McCarthy did brilliantly against Liverpool producing save after save, frustrating the hell out of Luis Suarez and Co. The former England U-21 keeper produced ten saves against the Reds, only Hammer Jussi Jaaskelainen has made more in a game this season (11 v Spurs). The goalless draw ended the Royals club record run of eight successive defeats in all competitions whilst it was Liverpool's first failure to score since November (0-0 v Swansea). Nigel Adkins praised his side's rising attitude and keeper's heroics, but he stayed realistic when he said it is only one point when they need three - they know where they are...

ZERO!

... Is a good summary of Stoke's form, tally of points and goals lately! The Potters have picked up fewer points (five) in 2013 than any other Premier League side. Tony Pulis' men have also got the worst scoring record in the league with only 28 goals in 33 games. Stoke have now just won one of their last eight home league games and only gained one point in the last seven games, dropping 20 points and down to 16th in the process, only three points away from the drop zone! And with QPR (a), Norwich (h), Sunderland (a), Tottenham (h) and Southampton (a) left on this season's fixture list, every game is a crucial clash in the fight for survival!

My Predictions => Actual Results:
Arsenal 2-0 Norwich => 3-1
Aston Villa 2-1 Fulham => 1-1
Everton 1-1 QPR => 2-0
Reading 0-0 Liverpool => 0-0
Southampton 3-2 West Ham => 1-1
Newcastle 4-2 Sunderland => 0-3
Stoke 1-1 Man United => 0-2

Week 29 Rescheduled Games:
Arsenal 3-1 Everton => 0-0
Man City 4-0 Wigan => 1-0
West Ham 0-1 Man United => 2-2
Fulham 0-2 Chelsea => 0-3

Liverpool stay winless at Anfield

Sports - Football - Premier League - Liverpool 0:0 Stoke

Liverpool were frustrated by a typically physical Stoke side after being held to a goalless draw at Anfield, a result which keeps both teams in the bottom half of the table.

The guests kept the home side busy having the best of the early exchanges in an eventful afternoon. Former Red midfielder Charlie Adam pulled a solid save out of Pepe Reina after Nuri Sahin had been caught napping.

The Reds keeper was nearly caught out on a couple of occasions, once by a dipping effort from Michael Kightly, the Spaniard back-pedalling to tip the ball over the bar, and a couple of times when he mistimed back-passes trying too hard to stick to Brendan Rodgers' interplay, one-two, touch-and-go system.

But after that early threat, Rodgers' side looked the most likely team to break the deadlock. Asmir Begovic turned away LFC skipper Steven Gerrard's long-range effort before the Stoke keeper was beaten by Daniel Agger but lucky to see then Dane's effort bounce just wide.

Glen Johnson twice went close, whilst Luis Suarez stole the show once again with his antiques. The Uruguayan bamboozled the Stoke defence with a mazy run before sending his shot wide.

The 25-year old also appeared to be stamped on by Robert Huth earlier on in the game, the German lucky to stay on the pitch, before he himself committed an embarrassing dive in the box, which he also escaped from uncautioned. He, Martin Skrtel and Raheem Sterling were all denied by the woodwork as a typically dogged Stoke side held on for a valuable point.

Tony Pulis may slam Suarez for his drama performance and Rodgers may bemoan the missed chances and the officials' prejudice against his renowned forward, but both manager cannot deny the facts and problems they have to work on and improve on: Stoke's discipline and Liverpool's goal conversion rate (+ Suarez' balance).

Liverpool are still looking for their first league home win and bot hearing YNWA at full time, but seeing streams of fans pouring out the exits sound- and motionless gave me goosebumps.

Anfield is not the glorious fortress it used to be, yes, we know. But it is far from getting back to that, unless something (or someone) changes. QUICKLY!!!

Liverpool 0-0 Stoke

Liverpool: 25 Reina; 2 Johnson, 5 Agger, 37 Skrtel, 47 Wisdom; 24 Allen, 8 Gerrard; 31 Sterling, 4 Sahin (11 Assaidi - 79.), 30 Suso (10 Cole - 67.); 7 Suarez. 4-2-3-1
Subs not used: 1 Jones, 14 Henderson, 16 Coates, 23 Carragher, 29 Borini.

Stoke: 1 Begovic; 12 Wilson, 4 Huth (bkd 33.), 17 Showcross (bkd 79.), 2 Cameron; 16 Adam (bkd 73.) (13 Edu - 81.), 6 Whelab (18 Whitehead - 20., bkd 90.), 15 Nzonzi; 21 Kightly (25.) (26 Etherington - 63.), 19 Walters (bkd 77.); 25 Crouch. 4-3-2-1
Subs not used: 29 Sorensen, 9 Jones, 20 Upson, 33 Jerome.

Sky Stats: Liverpool-Stoke
Attempts: 13-5
On target: 2-2
Offsides: 0-2
Corners: 5-5
Free kicks: 18-9
1st half Possession: 60.3%-39.7%
2nd half Possession: 68.3%-31.7%
Possession: 63.5%-36.5%
Passes: 524-288
Passing Success: 81.1%-66%
Tackles: 13-25
Tackling Success: 92.3%-68%

Referee: Lee Mason
Man of the Match: Ryan Shawcross