I haven’t updated the banner yet – it’s still not showing Watford which is a shame for I am a Watford fan. The update of the theme and banner is on my list of to-do’s but I’ve decided that I have the transfer window to work the changes to the site in. So be patient.
On the bright side I’ve finally created my spreadsheet that will compare my results to Mark Lawrenson and the actual table in an automated fashion. Although I’ve not got off to the best start I think Mark will be extremely disappointed with where he is with his picks so far; of course there have been a number of surprises in the league already – Arsenal getting hammered (pun intended), Liverpool beating Stoke… 🙂
Here’s my table (based on picks) and indication of how far I diverge from the actual table.
I think I’m going to have to start re-assessing my Watford picks as I have them pretty high up the table there!
As I’m working in the spreadsheet the scores will be in a new format. This is so much easier than using TablePress to manage the scores. I did appreciate that it stored the tables in an easily accessible JSON format as I could extract the data nicely. But it’s a new year and a new method.
| 8/22/2015 | Manchester United | 1 | 0 | Newcastle |
| 8/22/2015 | Crystal Palace | 2 | 1 | Aston Villa |
| 8/22/2015 | Leicester | 1 | 1 | Tottenham |
| 8/22/2015 | Norwich | 1 | 1 | Stoke |
| 8/22/2015 | Sunderland | 1 | 2 | Swansea |
| 8/22/2015 | West Ham | 2 | 1 | Bournemouth |
| 8/23/2015 | West Brom | 1 | 1 | Chelsea |
| 8/23/2015 | Everton | 1 | 2 | Manchester City |
| 8/23/2015 | Watford | 1 | 0 | Southampton |
| 8/24/2015 | Arsenal | 2 | 1 | Liverpool |
Manchester United are at home against the team I still don’t feel anyone really has a handle on. Conversely, I think we know far more about Manchester United that we needed to – I’m not sure I needed to know about LVGs man crush on Memphis Depay. There’s probably a sense of frustration around the team given that Chelsea have stepped in to steal Pedro so I expect them to look slightly disorganized, not all that good but someone force Newcastle to allow the ball to get into their net on the only shot on goal.
Talking of Chelsea stealing Pedro (who is not good enough for Barcelona apparently), this is much like their successful effort to steal Willian and Spurs. Does the great one not know how to do his own scouting?
Crystal Palace are doing well and are building on their season ending run. Alan Pardew is in danger of improving his win percentage and I have an instinct to bet against him but I’m just not too sure where Tactics Tim is with Villa. Here he is with all active Villa fans.
They wear the same colors so I hope they don’t get confused! Look for Zaha to score the winner.
Harry Kane has to score this week because they’re already talking about his “drought” (2 games this year so far media, 2 gamses..) I can’t in good conscience go against Leicester again when they’ve done nothing but disappoint me so far by not losing!.
Norwich are boring. Stoke are boring. This game will be boring.
Swansea have been impressive and Sunderland are a team that considers a short term assignment in charge is actually strategic. I boring draw. West Ham are one of those teams that both impresses you and then lets you down with some mediocrity just when you think they should be pushed up the table.
I’m going out on limb picking Watford at home because they’re my team and we need to pick up some points in what is a relatively easy start to the season and West Brom because Chelsea have looked dodgy and Diego Costa spends more time appealing for fouls and grabbing people than trying to score. Finally, Liverpool and Arsenal. Liverpool are passing the ball around, defending well, and not scoring. Arsenal are as inconsistent as you can be in two games. All in all this makes the game unpredictable and like all the other picks I’m just going to guess.
| Leicester | ||||
| 8/22/2015 | West Ham | 2 | 1 | Bournemouth |
| 8/23/2015 | West Brom | 1 | 1 | Chelsea |
| 8/23/2015 | Everton | 1 | 2 | Manchester City |
| 8/23/2015 | Watford | 1 | 0 | Southampton |
| 8/24/2015 | Arsenal | 2 | 1 | Liverpool |