Premier Predictions (Week 01)

It's that time again, Another season of Premier League predictions. 😀
Hopefully someone will join in and make it a competition? Ended with just 3 of us last season 😢
As sadly there is no West Ham this year I should be able to make unbiased choices and hopefully do better

Will publish the BBC predictions (Sutton, Guest and AI) to see what I'm up against.

Lots of 4 day weekends this season which is a pain for anyone playing Fantasy Football.

Week 1
1 game Friday, 5 on Saturday, 3 on Sunday, 1 on Monday

Arsenal v Coventry
*
Hull v Man Utd
Everton v Crystal Palace
Ipswich v Sunderland
Nottm Forest v Leeds
Brentford v Spurs
*
Brighton v Aston Villa
Man City v Bournemouth
Newcastle v Liverpool
*
Fulham v  Chelsea

Good Luck All  😀

T&C's - Usual rules apply
3 Points for a correct score, 1 Point for a correct result.
Predictions League will be decided on weekly wins first, if 2 or more people share a weekly win that will be classed as a draw, if at the end things are still level the total points for the season come into play.
Predictions in the comments please  😀     
Obviously predictions will only count if they are made before the kick offs, please try and post the whole set at once (but I won't enforce it as these Friday night games catch everyone out including me).
All 380 Premier League games will be covered, plus sometimes FA Cup games and the League Cup Final will be included to make up weeks where there are many postponements due to those games.

Fantasy Football 2026/27

Fantasy Football 2026/27

FPL Fantasy Premier League 

Have re-started the "Nothing Better Than Football" League 😀

Code for joining if anyone wants to is : lp2mz2  or the Auto Join link below

https://fantasy.premierleague.com/leagues/auto-join/lp2mz2

https://fantasy.premierleague.com/leagues/auto-join/lp2mz2

Have done the Telegraph one as well - Code to join that is : KUJDMD

Premier League 2026/27 Preview

Premier League 2026/27 Preview

Must admit it's hard to get motivated this season with no West Ham 😔
But the show goes on.

Here are my thoughts on this season's teams.

Already (as of 17th August) with 2 weeks before the transfer window closes the 20 teams have spent just under £2.5 Billion.
Only Sunderland have yet to spend, while Chelsea have spent £365m.
Newly promoted Ipswich have spent £162m and Coventry £115m

Based on the Charity Shield performance Arsenal must be favourites again, as Man City look to have a bit of work to do to catch up.
Tottenham have spent big and will hope to improve on their usual 17th place.
Other contenders would probably be Man Utd, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Liverpool and an outside pick Leeds?


Arsenal
Have strenghened the squad with Bruno Guimaraes and Tzolis while only losing Trossard.
If players like Rice, Saka and others can get over the long season and World Cup they should be too strong for the others.

Aston Villa
Losing top players like Tielemans, Rogers, Digne will affect them with Champions League football on top of the League season.
Emery will need to show what a good manager he is to keep them in European contention.

Bournemouth
Iraola gone, new manager Rose unproven?
If they keep up the performances of last season despite having Europa League they should be safe mid table

Brentford
Impressive last season, will Thiago carry on from last season even though his Brazil adventure was a disappointment. I would expect mid table again.

Brighton
Hürzeler not the most likeable manager but does seem to get a tune out of Brighton.
European football could be a distraction.
Lots of player turnover again with a few bigger names gone, can't see them finishing top half but should be safe from relegation.

Chelsea
Another big spending pre-season with Rogers, Lacroix, Palestra, Barco all joining for big fees. Losing Cucurella is a gamble as he was their stand out player last year other than Pedro.
Alonso getting a huge squad with no European football to give playing time could be a big problem, will need to move on a bunch of players.
Even so should make European positions.

Coventry City
Were impressive last season, but a big step up.
Might start the season well but lack of squad depth will probably see them in the relegation places.

Crystal Palace
Glasner had them playing some great football over the last two season, but no idea if new boss Pierre Sage will motivate them.
Qualified for the Europa league after the conference win, so more games for a thin squad. Lacroix gone and they never replaced Guehi last season so will need to get some defenders.

Everton
Moyes made a bright start last season but it tailed off, a few decent signings so far but still need a good striker as Beto and Barry are not the best.

Fulham
Not sure what we'll get from Fulham this season? losing Marco Silva as well as Wilson, and Raul Jiminez is a big blow.
Arbeloa will need to show why Real Madrid thought he was good enough to manage them.
I think Fulham will struggle this season.

Hull City
Will probably be wrong but anything better than 20th will be a success for them.
Spent £80m so far on a selection of virtually unknown players.

Ipswich Town
Losing Kieran McKenna is a big blow for them, Gary O'Neil is a reasonable manager but not the same level.
Have spent big so far with over £160m used to increase the squad size.
Could give a few teams problems but will do well to stay up.

Leeds
Looked pretty good last season, and getting Harry Wilson on a free is a bargain.
New goalie Trafford also looking a great buy.
Fancy them to do well this season.

Liverpool
After last seasons big spending failure I expect them to do better this season.
Isak looked good for Sweden if the WC, and maybe some of last seasons under performers will be better. Still need to sort out the defence.
Iraola has impressed with Bournemouth but can he do it with Liverpool.

Manchester City
Big changes this season, I think Maresca was a good choice to replace Guardiola but they looked all over the place against Arsenal.
Losing experienced players like Silva, Ake, Akanji, Stones will weaken them.
Rodri out injured and maybe moving on will not help.
But they've got Haaland so never write them off.

Manchester United
Carrick did well after taking over last season, but they still rely on Fernandes to perform. Mbuemo and Cunha were great signings last season but still think they are a bit short to compete for the big prizes.

Newcastle
Eddie Howe giving up on them says a lot, losing Gordon, Guimaraes and Tonali will weaken them badly. Plus new manager Matthias Jaissle is an unknown quantity.
None of last seasons expensive panic buys Wissa, Woltemade and Elanga really worked and they've spent another £150m on 5 players most won't have heard of this summer.
Mid table at best.

Nottingham Forest
How many managers this season? I thought Pereira did a good job for them at the end of last season keeping them up but he's now gone. Glasner did wonders at Palace but will he get time with this owner.
Anderson will be missed but they have a good squad and should be safe.

Sunderland
Over achieved last season and have European football this season as a reward.
Did bring in a lot of players last season and have shipped out quite a few of them this season. Just a couple of free transfers in this summer.
Shocked me last season but can't see them doing it again.

Tottenham
Three big signings plus a couple of freebies, Romero gone which is not a bad thing. I was surprised they parted with Spence who was a stand out for England.
If Maddison, Kudus and Kulusevski can get fit they have a decent team.
Should improve on the last two seasons but can't see them challenging for honours.


So Prediction Time

Arsenal must be favourites, Man City might challenge if they get their act together.
European spots any from Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Leeds

Relegation candidates
Hull, Coventry, Fulham, Crystal Palace, Ipswich, Sunderland

Obviously my predictions are not always the best 😆

Managerial Merry-Go-Round.

The Premier League managerial merry-go-round.

Crazy to think that Mikel Arteta is the longest serving manager in the top four divisions.
Six years in the Arsenal job, but it seems to have paid off with them winning last year.
Next best is Unai Emery and Daniel Farke 3 years and only 9 in the job for more than a year.

Current Premier League Managers (subject to change)

Arsenal            Mikel Arteta
Aston Villa        Unai Emery
Bournemouth        Marco Rose    (Replacing Andoni Iraola)
Brentford        Keith Andrews
Brighton        Fabian Hürzeler
Chelsea            Xabi Alonso    (Replacing Calum McFarlane)
Coventry        Frank Lampard
Crystal Palace        Pierre Sage    (Replacing Oliver Glasner)
Everton            David Moyes
Fulham            Álvaro Arbeloa    (Replacing Marco Silva)
Hull            Sergej Jakirović
Ipswich            Gary O'Neil    (Replacing Kieran McKenna)
Leeds            Daniel Farke
Liverpool        Andoni Iraola    (Replacing Arne Slot)
Man City        Enzo Maresca    (Replacing Pep Guardiola)
Man United        Michael Carrick
Newcastle        Matthias Jaissle  (Replacing Eddie Howe)
Nottingham Forest    Oliver Glasner    (Replacing Vítor Pereira)
Sunderland        Regis Le Bris
Tottenham        Roberto De Zerbi
 
So nine clubs with new managers this season, Iraola and Glasner swapping one for another.
Surprises were Forest getting rid of another manager Pereira who had done a good job keeping them up, and replacing him with Glasner who was doing well at Palace.
Also Ipswich with McKenna leaving after getting them promoted?

World Cup 2026

 

 

Well that's the World Cup over for another 4 years.

Spain totally outplaying the cheating Argies, only surprise was it took till extra time to score a winner.
The most one sided World Cup final I can remember.

England and France playing out one of the best games of the tournament for the 3rd place, don't think anyone expected that.

Overall a lot better than expected, I thought it might be half empty stadiums due to the exorbitant prices for match tickets, travel, food and drink etc. But obviously there are a lot of rich people in the world.

Not a fan of the Americanisation of it, turning the game into 4 quarters for added advert breaks, the lame 30 minute half time show in the final.
The FIFA, Infantino, Trump, Argentina sideshow was annoying.
But most of the stadiums were brilliant especially Dallas and Atlanta.

The Mexico v England game was incredible, the atmosphere and obviously the result made things memorable.

Cape Verde the shock team, played brilliantly when most expected them to go out with a whimper. Norway showing they are more than just Erling Haaland.
France were looking like winners until they met Spain who just make the game look simple with excellent ball control and passing.
England still a long way short of being World Champions, some great moments but lacked ideas in many of the games.

TV coverage was pretty good, I think BBC win it due to not having adverts or whiny Gary Neville.
So my TV Awards are (in my opinion)
Presenters - (Best) Gabby Logan, Mark Chapman (Worst) Mark Pougash, Kelly Cates
Pundits - (Best) Duncan Ferguson, Jobi McAnuff (Worst) Benni McCarthy, Wayne Rooney
Commentators - Not a lot of difference, Guy Mowbray kept giving the wrong names to players.
Co-Commentators - (Best) Alan Shearer, Andros Townsend (Worst) Lee Dixon, Martin Keown
Reporter - (Best) Kelly Somers (Worst) Adam Richman

The next World Cup in 2030 is being played in 6 countries

Mostly Spain, Portugal and Morocco with single games in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay supposedly to celebrate the centenery of the World Cup.

Being cynical it might be because FIFA rules about hosting  mean that with the 2034 in Saudi (AFC) and the 2030 games covering EUFA, CAF and CONMEBOL it would leave only the OFC and CONCACAF nations to bid for the 2038 edition.

Meaning as Australia is now classed as an Asian country it's more likely to be America again?

R.I.P Kevin Keegan

R.I.P Kevin Keegan
I don't think I really appreciated him until I saw him live playing for Southampton in the early 80's.
He never stopped running and was outjumping players like Alvin Martin and Billy Bonds, even though we won 4-2 I came away thinking it was one of the best individual performances I had seen.

A star player for Liverpool in a double act with John Toshack, went off to Hamburg and twice won European footballer of the year.
Later went to Southampton and Newcastle, and then managed Newcastle, Fulham, Man City and England.
Always a shame that both he and Trevor Brooking were injured in the 1982 World Cup, with both getting just 30 minutes of action in a 0-0 draw with Spain, meaning England went home despite being unbeaten.

A great character who will be missed.

World Cup 2026 (Part 8) Final and 3rd Place

The final two games of World Cup 2026

France and England both blowing out in the Semi Finals meet on Saturday for the meaningless Bronze medal match.

Maybe a chance for Mbappe, Kane and Bellingham to catch Messi for the Golden Boot, but possibly a couple of reserve teams to play it out.

Sunday is the World Cup Final Argentina vs Spain

Spain have quietly got there without looking anywhere near as good as they did in the 2024 Euros, but are really hard to beat.

Argentina have done just enough to get through the last four rounds, but even the most unbiased fan would say it must have been with FIFA's help, so many fouls by their players going unpunished when everyone else was getting red's and yellow's for less.

 

Hopefully Spain put an end to it, but you never know?

 

France v England

Spain v Argentina

England

Got that empty feeling I seem to get every couple of years.
Every tournament I start out hoping England do well, then they get through to the latter stages and hopes start to rise.
After France's non performance on Tuesday, I started to dream of an England win.
An ageing Argentina team who had scraped through the last couple of games, followed by Spain which if we were at our best was a possible?
But once again we blew it.

Tuchel went from hero to zero after 70 minutes, could not understand why he took Gordon off for a defender when he has pace to burn and would have given us and out ball if Argentina started to dominate play.
Then it got worse with Rice and James taken off for more defenders leaving six at the back inviting pressure.
Obviously the game ended up being played in our half with nobody to take the game to Argentina, Kane was knackered, Bellingham couldn't be everywhere and the inevitable happened.

Overall a few great moments, but never looked like World Champions.
The Mexico win was the highlight, the second half against Croatia was good, did just enough in the other games
Bellingham, Spence, Kane, Anderson, Gordon and maybe Stones come out of it with credit.
Saka, Rice and James were all playing with injuries so not at their best.
Watkins got less than ten minutes, Toney got about three, Mainoo didn't get any, and no idea why Challobah was called up to be a bench warmer?

I think things will get awkward for Tuchel from now on, looked like the master tactician when we defended a lead with ten men against Mexico, but trying the same tactics in this game when we still had eleven on the pitch and could have brought on some fire power (Watkins, Rashord, Saka) to take the game to Argentina just seemed like a coach with limited ideas.

I guess I'll go through it all again in 2028 ?

World Cup 2026 (Part 7) Semi Finals

World Cup Semi-finals on Tuesday and Wednesday.

France through in a low key game against Morocco.
Spain having a harder game against Belgium with a late winner by supersub Merino.
England making us all sweat in the heat of Miami against Norway.
Kept Haaland quiet but had to rely on Bellingham's two great strikes to see us through in extra time.
Argentina also scraping through in extra time against the ten men of Switzerland, after Embolo's two dumb yellow cards. Great winner by Alvarez but less than impressive overall and again aided by some more dubious officiating.

I think England on a good day should be able to beat Argentina, although injuries and fatigue and FIFA's love of Argentina could go against us.
Rice and Saka nowhere near their best, Kane looked shattered against Norway but hopefully 3 days rest will see them recovered.
France still looking the favourites, although Spain who haven't really been in top gear will make it tough.

France v Spain
England v Argentina

World Cup 2026 (Part 6) Quarter Finals

The World Cup winds down as we get to the Quarter Finals starting Thursday at 9pm.
France survive Paraguay's dirty tricks to take on Africa's remaining team Morocco.
Spain haven't really been firing yet but haven't conceded any goals go up against the Trump inspired Belgians.
England who were excellent against Mexico meet Norway who have Haaland so not a certainty.
Argentina with a ref assisted win over Egypt, meet Switzerland who scraped through a dull 0-0 over Colombia to win on Penalties.

France v Morocco
Spain v Belgium
Norway v England
Argentina v Switzerland

England vs Mexico

Well that was the most enjoyable and also most stressful England game in many years.
Although I expected (or just hoped) England would win, the various factors involved were arguing against it. High altitude, 90,000 passionate Mexican fans with only a few thousand rich England fans, the fact Mexico had only lost twice in 89 previous games at the Azteca.
Also that England hadn't really clicked in the first four games.

Rice picking up a booking in the first minute didn't bode well, but after that it was a proper performance with Bellingham again the stand out.
Kane, Gordon, Pickford all having top games, and the late subs after the sending off all playing blinders even though having a ten man defence with no one in the Mexican half was nerve wracking for the last 30 minutes.

Quansah had been playing well before the sending off, but I assume King Charles will be on the phone to Infantino to get the red card suspended (as that's the new rule?).

Just got to deal with Haaland on Saturday now  😟

World Cup 2026 (Part 5) Last 16

Round of 16 time, games running from tonight till Tuesday.

Most of the big hitters still in it, only real shock was Germany losing to Paraguay on penalties!!, 

near shock was Argentina scraping through against Cape Verde.
Netherlands going out was a shame, but unluckily drawn against the higher rated Moroccans. 

Will miss their colourful fans.
Belgium somehow coming back from 2-0 down with minutes to go after being totally outplayed to beat Senegal.
Croatia robbed of a last minute equaliser against Portugal because the English VAR ref decided to use the cricket style 'Snicko' to rule the ball had brushed the Croatian players hair to prove offside, although when it hit the Portugal player on the back it didn't move?
England less than impressive again, two late goals by Kane getting them through against Congo. 

Mexico away looks like a tall order but have to hope.
The logic of calling up Challobah to replace one of the injury prone right backs could cost Tuchel, I'm sure Kyle Walker would have happily jumped on a plane?

Paraguay v France
Canada v Morocco
Brazil v Norway
Mexico v England
Portugal v Spain
United States v Belgium
Argentina v Egypt
Switzerland v Colombia

Think I've blown my effort to beat the AI and the Football "expert" on the predictions, got level after the England game but fell apart in the final 8 games. 😒
(88 Games Played) - BBC-AI 74, Sutton 72, Lee 64

Transfer News

Mateus Fernandes

August 2024 Sporting Lisbon to Southampton - £13 million - Got relegated
August 2025 Southampton to West Ham - £38 million - Got relegated
July 2026 West Ham to Tottenham - £85 million - ?

Really hoping he gets his hat-trick  😁

World Cup 2026 (Part 4) Last 32

A first ever Last 32 round in the World Cup
Matches start Sunday 28th June and finish Saturday 4th July.

African teams getting 9 of the 10 into the next round, Cape Verde the shock but 3 draws enough.

Europe getting 13 of 16 through, Turkey unlucky despite beating hosts USA.
Scotland unlucky to have been drawn in a group with the 6th and 7th ranked teams in the world, so no embarrassment this time. Czechs only managing a draw in their group, a worrying serious looking injury to Soucek is a concern from a West Ham point of view.

Only one South American team going out Uruguay, with Bielsa probably into retirement after that.

So far Asian teams struggled with 7 of 9 out already, Australia who aren't asian plus Japan the only ones through. Unluckiest was Iran (which the hosts will be pleased about), despite all the aggro of having to be flown in and out of the US on the day of the match they ended up unbeaten.
Only a toe nail offside decision in their last game denying them a win, then the crazy injury time draw between Algeria and Austria where both teams were playing keep ball for the agreed draw for 20 minutes before Mahrez scored in the 4th minute of 5 added. Extra time added to allow Austria an equaliser keeping all happy.

Host nations all had pretty easy groups, only Canada had a top 20 rated team (19th ranked Switzerand) who they lost to. America had one hard game against underperforming Turkey which they lost.
Mexico looking good on home soil, if they beat Ecuador in the next round they could play England in Mexico city.

England who have looked impressive for 45 minutes of their 3 games doing enough, Bellingham stepping up to live up to his hype. Kane taking the chances in 2 of the 3 games.
Best players have been Anderson, Bellingham, Rice and Kane. Rashford OK but a bit predictable, Saka not fit and most others looking tired. Hopefully things wil improve.
Next up is Dr Congo, with the fullback duo of Wan-Bissaka and Arthur Masuaku.

Last 32 matches - Final  score not including penalties for predictions.

Current Scores after 72 games
Me 53, Chris Sutton 58, BBC-AI 57

South Africa v Canada
Brazil v Japan
Germany v Paraguay
Netherlands v Morocco
Ivory Coast v Norway
France v Sweden
Mexico v Ecuador
England v DR Congo
Belgium v Senegal
United States v Bosnia Herzegovina
Spain v Austria
Portugal v Croatia
Switzerland v Algeria
Australia v Egypt
Argentina v Cape Verde
Colombia v Ghana

Nostradamus

 No One ?

World Cup 2026 (Part 3)

Final group games

Many teams already through, and a lot of teams already out.

Bosnia Herzogovina v Qatar
Switzerland v Canada
Morocco v Haiti
Scotland v Brazil
Czech Rep v Mexico
South Africa v South Korea
Curacao v Ivory Coast
Ecuador v Germany
Japan v Sweden
Tunisia v Netherlands
Paraguay v Australia
Turkey v USA
Norway v France
Senegal v Iraq
Cape Verde v Saudi Arabia
Uruguay v Spain
Egypt v Iran
New Zealand v Belgium
Croatia v Ghana
Panama v England
Colombia v Portugal
DR Congo v Uzbekistan
Algeria v Austria
Jordan v Argentina

World Cup 2026 (Part 2)

The second set of fixtures start on Thursday (Thursday 18th June to Wednesday 24th June).
Good starts for Germany, Sweden, France, Argentina, USA and some others.
A few of the bigger names will need a result like Brazil and Spain.

Czech Rep v South Africa
Switzerland v Bosnia Herzogovina
Canada  v Qatar
Mexico  v South Korea
USA v Australia
Scotland v Morocco
Brazil v Haiti
Turkey v Paraguay
Netherlands v Sweden
Germany v Ivory Coast
Ecuador v Curacao
Tunisia v Japan
Spain v Saudi Arabia
Belgium v Iran
Uruguay v Cape Verde
New Zealand v Egypt
Argentina v Austria
France v Iraq
Norway v Senegal
Jordan v Algeria
Portugal v Uzbekistan
England v Ghana
Panama v Croatia
Colombia v DR Congo

Just me versus BBC-AI and Chris Sutton in the predictions, I got 3 points in the first game but rubbish in the next 19 ... long way to go 😀

World Cup Week One

Not too bad so far (posted before England play) 🤞

A lot of the games have been near full houses, but a few half empty. 

The indoor stadiums do look good, especially Dallas.

Not heard of any major trouble so far from the US law who have been keeping in the background up till now once people and players have managed to get into the country, but it's early.

.

The big name players making an impact yesterday, Messi, Haaland, Mbappe and apart from Spain being held by Cape Verde no real shocks.

The Dutch, Japanese and Scottish fans have probably been a good advert for FIFA to gloss over the lack of fans of certain countries.

Not sure how many of these fans can stay on if their teams get through, as I guess a lot wanted to experience a World Cup for the first time and felt it was worth the expense to see at least one game, but with most teams having to travel to multiple states and countries meaning more flights and hotels it would rule out a lot?

 

This AI video did amuse me 😁

 

World Cup 2026 (Part 1)

Predictions Time    🌎   🏆   ⚽   🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿   🇲🇽   🇨🇦   🇺🇸

If anyone wants to join in, usual rules
3 points for correct score, 1 point for correct result.
90 (or 120) minute rule for knockout games, penalties count as a draw

Assuming it all goes ahead it will be 104 games, so I'll just keep a running score for the next 6 weeks.

Part 1 - First games for each country (Thursday 11th June - Thursday 18th June)

Mexico v South Africa
South Korea v Czech Rep
Canada v Bosnia Herzegovina
USA v Paraguay
Qatar v Switzerland
Brazil v Morocco
Haiti v Scotland
Australia v Turkey
Germany v Curacao
Netherlands v Japan
Ivory Coast v Ecuador
Sweden v Tunisia
Spain v Cape Verde
Belgium v Egypt
Saudi Arabia v Uruguay
Iran v New Zealand
France v Senegal
Iraq v Norway
Argentina v Algeria
Austria v Jordan
Portugal v DR Congo
England v Croatia
Ghana v Panama
Uzbekistan v Colombia

Footy News

Well that's the end of that little era.

David Sullivan stood down due to accusations of abuse, he was a porn baron so not really a total shock.

Although Panorama have a history of making stuff up so we shall see.

Lady Brady left in April and David Gold sadly died three years ago.

Not sure where this leaves West Ham? I guess Daniel Kretinsky might buy Sullivan out, or Gold's daughter Vanessa might have a say.

Hopefully we won't get taken over by some dodgy foreign asset stripper or hedge fund.

Southend have appointed Keiron Dyer as the new manager after the shock sacking of Kevin Maher, wish him well but hope the treatment room is up to scratch 😁

Enzo Maresca who is the likely to be the new Man City manager, has hit a stumbling block.

It seems he wasn't sacked by Chelsea he just left, meaning Chelsea want a compensation fee?

World Cup stuff - some of the Iran staff are not being allowed into the US where they play all their games, their team has to fly in and out of the US on the same day they play.

One of FIFA's own referees has been denied access, plus several other players from other countries also having Visa problems.

 

Maybe they should move it all to a more open country like North Korea 😁