This week finally sees the end of the International fixtures and as an England fan I can’t express how happy that makes me. What was especially nice was that I went last week without a single pick in error – I did not get a single premier league pick wrong!
| 13-Sep 2014 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | 2-2 | Manchester City |
| Sunderland | 1-2 | Tottenham Hotspurs |
| Stoke City | 3-1 | Leicester |
| West Bromwich Albion | 2-2 | Everton |
| Chelsea | 3-1 | Swansea City |
| Crystal Palace | 2-0 | Burnley |
| Southampton | 3-2 | Newcastle |
| Liverpool | 3-0 | Aston Villa |
Danny Welbeck makes his debut for the Gunners. I said he was a good buy and now it’s his chance to prove me wrong.. he’ll miss a couple of sitters but he’ll no doubt score one late on and we can all pretend like maybe his England career is on the ups. Ramsey will be disappointing but that’s because he’s going to be busy running the midfield that for once won’t have their way as Ya Ya is on the other team. That task is hard enough fully healthy and more challenging on a gimpy ankle that will slow him down to Wilshere like pace. Jovetic and Fernando are out (that’s one underrated and one overrated player) so could be balanced by bringing in a rather average Lampard. Mangala? Who the heck knows…. these teams defend like no one else… so 2-2 (though it’s hard to ignore the thumpings last year).
Spuds got whipped last week so this will see a turnaround – if not I will descend into picking against them on a regular basis. Sunderland is boring. I want them to lose. That’s good enough reason for me to go Spurs on this one away from home. Besides I don’t think Spurs have lost to Sunderland in 4 years against the stripes… if only they could say that about more teams!
Leicester are like a boy with night terrors – they can’t get through a weekend with a clean shit. Stoke have a giraffe playing for them who once a year pops a corker. This might be the week. Kasper will continue to be a disappointment to Peter the Great.
West Brom are playing Everton and they are due a 2-2 draw – seriously, this is the week it happens… I might be wrong – that could be the next game. Lukaku is a rhino up front and will totally bulldoze his way to the ball from well executed corners. WBA will somehow fluke an undeserved couple of penalties in the last minute (in other words, it’s 2-0 but my match fixing Malaysian friend insists I put 2-2).
Swansea have started the year well but they haven’t yet played against Costa! He will be as deadly as Torres has been these last couple of years ( he already has been – I think 4 goals was more than Torres put togethe anyway). Cesc will be man of the match and score 1 while Hazard slaps in a couple more. The chosen one will talk about being small horses in a race of big men or something.
Crystal Palance and Burnley meet in what is perhaps the fixture of the weak. What a pun.
Fraser Forster will prove what a goalkeeper he is by singlehandedly only letting in 2 goals to the rampant Magpies. Southampton will prove that they are not pretenders by putting a few past an average Newcastle team. How is Newcastle both rampant and average? It’s the Pardew way – you look great going forward and terrible at all other times.
So Livi wanted me to pick against Liverpool so that they will have a good chance. He’s finally convinced himself that my Jedi mind tricks have enabled me to alter the course of the Reds results through my predictions. Sorry mate, Liverpool are going to take Aston Villa to the woodshed … 3-0 is not as bad as it could have been.
BET OF THE WEEK: Three different players to score for Liverpool in one game: Balotelli, Sturridge, and Sterling. Should get great odds on that.
| 14-Sep 2014 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Manchester United | 2-0 | Queens Park Rangers |
Manchester United have spend the national debt of a small nation to buy a bunch of players who are adept at making money are keen to prove how much money they can make. It’s all about the results for these guys, the results of their investments and the returns on their portfolio. They will dominate because they are playing QPR. Disappointing to see that Fellaini, Smalling and Jones are all out because it would have been nice to see them put out their strongest squad.
One hopes that Daley Blind plays like his name – with no vision.
| 15-Sep-14 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Hull City | 2-2 | West Ham United |
Hull and West Ham remind me of West Brom. Never was a 2-2 draw so certain.
1-0 Gabby!
I knew I should have picked Villa 🙂
A performance that deserved nothing. Balotelli did absolutely nothing…. I’m not sure he’s buying into the system.
That was Balotelli’s 2nd game for Liverpool and right away you can see he isn’t buying into the system? I am no Balotelli fan but he has worked a lot harder at Liverpool in two games than all his other clubs combined. I believe Balotelli will get 12-15 goals this season but he will need Sturridge to (somehow) stay fit and help him, as he is not good enough to play upfront on his own in my opinion. If it doesn’t work out well for him at Liverpool then he might be sold to Watford, then all of a sudden he’ll be the best thing since sliced bread.
I said Balotelli was good at Citeh. You said he was rubbish. Now he’s at Liverpool and he’s a hard worker? 🙂
Balotelli has never worked this hard in his entire career. BR mentioned that against the Spuds was the first time he is marking from a corner. His is even getting back in defence and making tackles. I still dont think he’s anything special, but I was just saying that he has become hard worker which goes against his natural instincts. I do believe that he will be rewarded for his hard work IF Sturridge can keep fit and they form a partnership along with Sterling. SBS baby!
I knew you should have picked Villa too but I know it was intentional on your part. The plot was to pick Liverpool knowing that the result would go the other way. Anyway, the Reds will bounce back but not sure it will be against the Hammers.