Club World Cup

Club World Cup now down to the last 16
A handful of decent games so far with a couple of shocks.
South American teams started well but both Argentine teams out, the four Brazilian teams all through.
Man City the only team with 3 wins, and did look good in the Juventus game.
Chelsea through despite a loss to Flamengo.
Bayern Munich, PSG, Real Madrid, Inter Milan all potential winners.

America proving it probably isn't the best place to hold a world cup.
Poor pitches, bad weather, poor crowds at many games, silly player introductions.
No Man of the Match, now Superior player of the Match 🙄
Stadiums with stupid names "we're on our way to the Camping World Stadium"
Games played at midday in 90f+ temperatures.

Home of the brave? "thunder storm ten miles away, stop play run for cover"
Six games so far stopped for weather delays, although I haven't seen any rain on the pitch.
Chelsea last 16 game taking nearly 5 hours to complete.

To be continued

Summer Break

The June / July break for English teams (except Chelsea & Man City)

Many transfers already happening, Chelsea & Man City stocking up for the WCC, Liverpool spending big to hold on next season.
Man Utd and Arsenal being linked with everyone but not getting anything done.

Shock news was Ange Postecoglou getting the boot after upsetting the Trophy room cleaners who had to clear 17 years of dust from the cabinet.
Shame that Thomas Frank has left the safety of Brentford to drop down the league to take over at Tottenham, hopefully for him the pay packet and redundancy package will make it worth it.

Might watch some of the WCC as some being shown on Channel 5 at stupid O'clock.

End Of Season

Football season is over? .... so just 94 games to go, all taking place in Trumpton over the next month.

World Club Cup & CONCACAF Gold Cup 

Will be a good test to see what happens ahead of next year's World Cup?

Obviously teams competing should be able to bring fans to watch them?

Haiti are in the CONCACAF tournament but Trump has banned visitors from there this week.

Mexico, Panama, El Salvador, Honduras are also in it, so are the goon squads going to start arresting them as well 😕

Iran have already qualified for the World Cup next year

If fans (and maybe even teams) are not allowed entry to the States maybe they should move it to  another country

 

Fantasy Leagues 24/25

This year's NBTF Fantasy League Tables

 

Fantasy Premier League (FPL)

 

 

A win for Tommy who is a French Arsenal fan, and has been a regular in my League for the last 6 years.

So congratulations to him 😀

Overall a bit of a drop off this season with only 7 players in the top 10% (was 15 last season).

I ended 7th  (if I hadn't made transfers in the final week I would have been 5th) 🙄

Paul was 35th, and occasional reader Dave J was 39th (he had Ivan Toney all season?)

Telegraph Fantasy Football (TFF)

Congratulations to Dave R with a top 1000 finish to win this season.

A pretty rubbish season for me considering there were only 5 people actually playing myself, Dave, Sean, John with 5 teams each and one from Colin.

Might give this a miss next season? see how I feel in August

 

Predictions 2024/25

The full information predictions table for the 2024/25 season

 

Win for Paul with 8 wins from 38 weeks of predictions

Strong end from Paulo but ran out of weeks

My defence of the title was pretty awful, only 4 wins which included 3 in a row in weeks 19-21

All of us left in the shade for points by professional predictor Chris Sutton

Although if I included guests (Sutton, Model etc) in the weekly competition it would have been a win for Paulo, 6 of his 7 wins were over everybody. In my 4 wins I only won outright in one of those weeks.

Premier Predictions (Week 38)

Here we go with the final games of the 2024/25 season
All games on Sunday 16:00 kick off
Just positions 3 to 8 to decide, Man City need a point and Newcastle need a win to guarantee top 5, Villa need a win and hope Chelsea drop points.
So Forest v Chelsea is the big one, even a Forest win might not get them Top 5.

The prediction competition like the Premier League is now just a battle for 3rd place 😧

Last nights football, Southend on their way to Wembley to play former Premier League Oldham.
Europa final was pretty dire showing why these 2 teams are so low in the League, only goal when Luke Shaw handballed it into his own net, watched all the replays and couldn't see a touch by Johnson?
Gutted that Tottenham won, but couldn't see Man Utd scoring if they played all night, they were awful.

Interesting season with many of the big names (Man City, Arsenal, Man Utd) winning nothing, Liverpool get a 2nd Premier league, Crystal Palace and Newcastle winning cups and even serial losers Tottenham and Harry Kane winning trophies 😑

Still some football to come after this
Chelsea in the Conference league final on Wednesday v Real Betis (West Ham connection, Pellegrini, Fornals, Adrian)
Champions League Final next Saturday, Inter v PSG
New World Club Cup + CONCACAF Gold Cup starting mid June in America (if the players can get through customs?).

Anyway after all that here's Sunday's games 😃


Bournemouth v Leicester
Fulham v Man City
Ipswich v West Ham
Liverpool v Crystal Palace
Man Utd v Aston Villa
Newcastle v Everton
Nottm Forest v Chelsea
Southampton v Arsenal
Tottenham v Brighton
Wolves v Brentford

Good Luck All  😀

Premier Predictions (Week 37)

Week 37 - 2 weeks to go
An elongated week with 10 Premier League games and the FA Cup Final

2 games on Friday, 1 on Saturday, 5 on Sunday, 1 on Monday, 2 on Tuesday

(Friday 19:30 - that is 11:30am Canada time for Biopunk's sake) 

 

The Man Utd and Tottenham games moved forward due to next weeks Europa League Final

Two English teams making the final possibly because there were no Champions League drop-outs this season as there has been in previous seasons?

The Crystal Palace and Man City games moved due to both being in the Cup final on Saturday.
FA Cup Final (90 minute score to count only)

In the Euro places battle Chelsea and Villa are at home to the two Euro finalist probably fielding weakened teams so should win, putting the pressure on those above them making the Arsenal v Newcastle game pretty important.


Aston Villa v Tottenham
Chelsea v Man Utd
*
Crystal Palace v Man City (FAC)
*
Everton v Southampton
West Ham v Nottm Forest
Brentford v Fulham
Leicester v Ipswich
Arsenal v Newcastle
*
Brighton v Liverpool
*
Crystal Palace v Wolves
Man City v Bournemouth

Good Luck All  😀

Premier Predictions (Week 36)

3 weeks to go, 5 games On Saturday, 5 games on Sunday

Just the battle for European places to play for.
Liverpool v Arsenal should have been a title match, but now Arsenal need 3 points to guarantee Champions league.
Europa and Conference league qualifiers gets confusing as FA Cup and League cup winners qualify ahead of 8th place unless they finish in Top 5 ?? 😕

Fulham v Everton
Ipswich v Brentford
Southampton v Man City
Wolves v Brighton
Bournemouth v Aston Villa
*
Newcastle v Chelsea
Man Utd v West Ham
Nottm Forest v Leicester
Tottenham v Crystal Palace
Liverpool v Arsenal

Good Luck All  😀

Premier Predictions (Week 34 + 35)

Week 34 and 35 almost overlap, so this is a double bill

I've included the 2 FA Cup S/F to make up the numbers (90 minute score to count), the final game is not until Thursday.
Euro Semi Finals this week as well involving Arsenal, Man U, Tottenham and Chelsea
The title and last relegation place should be confirmed, so just the European places to fight for.

Week 34
6 games on Saturday, 3 on Sunday, 1 on Thursday

Chelsea v Everton
Brighton v West Ham
Newcastle v Ipswich
Southampton v Fulham
Wolves v Leicester
Aston Villa v Crystal Palace (FAC)
*
Bournemouth v Man Utd
Liverpool v Tottenham
Man City v Nottm Forest (FAC)
*
Nottm Forest v Brentford

================================

Week 35
1 game Friday, 4 games Saturday, 4 games Sunday, 1 game Monday

Man City v Wolves
*
Aston Villa v Fulham
Everton v Ipswich
Leicester v Southampton
Arsenal v Bournemouth
*
Brentford v Man Utd
Brighton v Newcastle
West Ham v Tottenham
Chelsea v Liverpool
*
Crystal Palace v Nottm Forest

Good Luck All  😀

Premier Predictions (Week 33)

Week 33 - Six weeks to go
Extra games this week with 2 re-arranged games
5 games Saturday, 4 Sunday, 1 Monday, 1 Tuesday, 1 Wednesday

Relegation - Southampton down, Leicester and Ipswich could be down this week
Title - Liverpool still need 6 points, but probaly less
Europe - Arsenal pretty safe, 5 teams chasing the 3 other Champions League places

2 big games for Aston Villa this week, Forest not looking so safe now.

Brentford v Brighton
Crystal Palace v Bournemouth
Everton v Man City
West Ham v Southampton
Aston Villa v Newcastle
*
Fulham v Chelsea
Ipswich v Arsenal
Man Utd v Wolves
Leicester v Liverpool
*
Tottenham v Nottm Forest
*
Man City v Aston Villa
Arsenal v Crystal Palace


Good Luck All  😀

Premier Predictions (Week 32)

One extra game this week, the re-arranged Newcastle v Palace game
5 games Saturday, 4 on Sunday, 1 on Monday, 1 on Wednesday
With at least 8 teams in Europe next season, probably still 12 teams in the mix.
Liverpool seem to be on their summer holidays, but not sure West Ham could even beat Southampton at the moment?
More Euro games next week so a few will have their mind on that, Arsenal and Chelsea look safe after good 1st leg wins, the others with work to do.

Man City v Crystal Palace
Brighton v Leicester
Nottm Forest v Everton
Southampton v Aston Villa
Arsenal v Brentford
*
Chelsea v Ipswich
Liverpool v West Ham
Wolves v Tottenham
Newcastle v Man Utd
*
Bournemouth v Fulham
Newcastle v Crystal Palace

Good Luck All  😀

Premier Predictions (Week 31)

Week 31 starts on Saturday, (Week 30 still going on)
5 Games on Saturday, 4 on Sunday, 1 on Monday
Euro games follow next week for Villa, Arsenal, Tottenham, Man U and Chelsea.

Manchester derby on Sunday, Villa Forest Euro place battle on Saturday.
Ipswich need to beat Wolves to stay in with a slight chance of staying up?

Everton v Arsenal
Crystal Palace v Brighton
Ipswich v Wolves
West Ham v Bournemouth
Aston Villa v Nottm Forest
*
Brentford v Chelsea
Fulham v Liverpool
Tottenham v Southampton
Man Utd v Man City
*
Leicester v Newcastle

Good Luck All  😀

Premier Predictions (Week 30)

Midweek Premier League fixtures this week
3 games on Tuesday, 6 on Wednesday, 1 on Thursday

Title and relegation just about over, so just the battle for the European places still up for grabs.
Mersey derby, a bit more jeopardy than might be expected with Everton on an unbeaten run.

Arsenal v Fulham
Wolves v West Ham
Nottm Forest v Man Utd
*
Bournemouth v Ipswich
Brighton v Aston Villa
Man City v Leicester
Newcastle v Brentford
Southampton v Crystal Palace
Liverpool v Everton
*
Chelsea v Tottenham

Good Luck All  😀

FA Cup Predictions 2025 (Quarter Finals)

At least this year they have given the Quarter finals their own weekend, instead of mixing it with Premier league fixtures.
2 matches on Saturday, 2 on Sunday

Cup Info
4 teams have never won the Cup (Crystal Palace, Fulham and Brighton have lost finals)
Bournemouth have never gone past the Quarter Finals

Preston (1889, 1959) and Nottm Forest (1898, 1959) have 2 wins each
Aston Villa (1887, 1895, 1897, 1905, 1913, 1920, 1957) and Man City (1904, 1934, 1956, 1969, 2011, 2019, 2023) have 7 wins each

Only Man City have won it in my lifetime 🤯

Usual Rule - Scores at full time (90+ minutes) only not including extra time and penalties.

Fulham v Crystal Palace
Brighton v Nottm Forest
Preston v Aston Villa
Bournemouth v Man City


Good Luck All  😀

Tables Updates

Here we go with a full info predictions table

+ the current NBTF FPL and TFF top 10's

 

Premier Predictions (Week 29)

One more set of fixtures before another International break.
I've included the League Cup final due to postponed fixtures (as I always do) 😉
So that's 5 games on Saturday, and 4 on Sunday.

Good European week so far Madrid derby was superb, shame VAR got involved in the penalties at the end.

5 of 6 English clubs through + Rangers, although none of them look like favourites to win.

London derbies on Sunday at Arsenal and Fulham
Relegation battles at Southampton and Leicester
West Ham face David Moyes 🙄
Cup final might be closer than expected if Liverpool are still shell shocked, and Newcastle get the decisions again?

Everton v West Ham
Ipswich v Nottm Forest
Man City v Brighton
Southampton v Wolves
Bournemouth v Brentford
*
Arsenal v Chelsea
Fulham v Tottenham
Liverpool v Newcastle (LCF) (90 minute score only)
Leicester v Man Utd

Good Luck All  😀

Premier Predictions (Week 28)

Week 28 Starts on Saturday at 12:30
6 games on Saturday, 3 on Sunday, and West Ham get a Monday game again.

In the middle of European games, good away wins for Arsenal and Villa, the PSG v Allison game was pretty good as well. The others all playing at 5:45 tonight.
At the bottom the two near relegated teams go to Liverpool and Chelsea, Ipswich might have some hope now that Wolves have lost star man Cunha.
In the battle for 2nd to 5th Arsenal go to Man Utd so should win, Forest 3rd v Man City 4th is a tough call.
With just 6 points covering 3rd to 10th at least that keeps the entertainment going.


Nottm Forest v Man City
Brighton v Fulham
Crystal Palace v Ipswich
Liverpool v Southampton
Brentford v Aston Villa
Wolves v Everton
*
Chelsea v Leicester
Tottenham v Bournemouth
Man Utd v Arsenal
West Ham v Newcastle

Good Luck All  😀

FA Cup Predictions 2025 (5th Round)

Crammed in the middle of League and Europe is the FA Cup 5th Round
Spread over 4 days again? 1 game Friday, 4 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday, 1 on Monday
Tough draw for the Championship teams, only Preston getting a home tie.
Usual Rule - Scores at full time (90+ minutes) only not including extra time and penalties.

Aston Villa v Cardiff
Crystal Palace v Millwall
Preston v Burnley
Bournemouth v Wolves
Man City v Plymouth
Newcastle v Brighton
Man Utd v Fulham
Nottm Forest v Ipswich

Good Luck All  😀

 

**************

As Google won't let me post a comment, even if I use anonymous?

Here's my predictions, as it appears I can still update the actual post

Aston Villa v Cardiff 3-0
Crystal Palace v Millwall 3-1
Preston v Burnley 0-1
Bournemouth v Wolves 3-2
Man City v Plymouth 5-0
Newcastle v Brighton 1-2
Man Utd v Fulham 0-2
Nottm Forest v Ipswich 2-1

 

Apologies if anyone else is having the same problem 😕

Premier Predictions (Week 27)

Week 27 Midweek games
4 games Tuesday, 5 games Wednesday, 1 game Thursday

Looks like most things are sorted now, Liverpool need a Newcastle style meltdown to lose the title now.
Bottom 3 look very unlikely to survive.
So just the European spots up for grabs with probably 10 teams still in with a shout.
Chelsea have Southampton and Leicester up next so might get back into it.

Brighton v Bournemouth
Crystal Palace v Aston Villa
Wolves v Fulham
Chelsea v Southampton
Brentford v Everton
Man Utd v Ipswich
Nottm Forest v Arsenal
Tottenham v Man City
Liverpool v Newcastle
West Ham v Leicester

Good Luck All  😀

With FA Cup and Europe coming up some teams get a week off (11 days for West Ham), with next Premier league fixtures not till the 8th March.

This amused me 😁

Premier Predictions (Week 26)

This congested season rolls on.
Week 26 has 1 game on Friday, 7 games on Saturday, 2 on Sunday
(Week 27 is midweek from Tuesday, new post for that)

The big game would usually be Man City v Liverpool, but this season it's not looking so vital.
At the bottom Southampton are down, so 2 from Leicester, Ipswich or Wolves? would like Ipswich to stay up but think Wolves will.
West Ham still need a few points, unlikely this week.

Leicester v Brentford
Everton v Man Utd
Arsenal v West Ham
Bournemouth v Wolves
Fulham v Crystal Palace
Ipswich v Tottenham
Southampton v Brighton
Aston Villa v Chelsea
Newcastle v Nottm Forest
Man City v Liverpool

Good Luck All  😀

Bio and Paulo need a win to tighten it up even more 😉