Premier Predictions (Week 25)

Straight back in with another set, here are Saturday and Sundays games.
14 weeks to go, so everyone has a chance to catch Longy :)

QPR v Norwich
Arsenal v Stoke
Everton v Aston Villa
Newcastle v Chelsea
Reading v Sunderland
West Ham v Swansea
Wigan v Southampton
Fulham v Man Utd

West Brom v Tottenham
Man City v Liverpool

The Cup

What a great days footie :)
Just 7 Premier league teams left, 7 Championship, 3 Division 1 and Luton from the conference.

F.A Cup 5th Round Draw
Arsenal v Blackburn
Huddersfield or Leicester v Wigan
Luton v Millwall
Man City v Leeds
Man Utd v Reading
Middlesbrough v Brentford or Chelsea
MK Dons v Barnsley
Oldham v Everton

Oldham have the chance to do a scouse double.
Luton's reward is the chance to have their seats ripped out again by Millwall :)
If Chelsea can scrape past Brentford they get a trip to Smoggyland.
The two Manc teams and Arsenal should go through, Wigan and Everton have tough ties.

Cup Dilemmas

This weekends Cup games are giving me problems, I've just sat through the Leeds v Tottenham game wondering why I was cheering on the Leeds goals?
I need Bale and Defoe to keep scoring me points in Fantasy football so in the back of my mind I was hoping for a draw at least, but then the thought of taking the piss out of the Spuds fans at work seemed more important :) but it's really hard to cheer Leeds when they have 3 of the most obnoxious people in football, Wanker Warnock, Michael Brown and Spit the Dog involved.

Same problem in the game I'm watching now I'd love Oldham to do Liverpool although very unlikely but I need super cheat Suarez to keep scoring me FF points.


Chelsea managed to grab a draw with Brentford with Torres actually scoring (surely Rafa should have started with Ba) and should have had a penalty near the end, but on the other hand Chelsea keeper Turnbull should have been off after 2 bookings (no idea why he didn't get one for picking up Terry's crap backpass?).

Laughs all round yesterday as Harry's QPR went 4 down at home to the MK Dons :)
I like Norwich but couldn't believe Chris Hughton picked an under strength team and didn't take Luton seriously, so not much sympathy for them.
Arsenal, Man City, Reading, Wigan, Everton and Man Utd all did enough and had their top players available on the bench if it went wrong, Fulham were crap and lucky that RVP didn't come off the bench as it could have been double figures.
Congrats to Luton, Leeds, Millwall!! and MK Dons for showing that the Premier league isn't half as good as people like to make out.

Premier Predictions (Week 24)

No Premier league games this weekend but a full fixture list next week.

Tuesday
Aston Villa v Newcastle
QPR v Man City
Stoke v Wigan
Sunderland v Swansea

Wednesday
Arsenal v Liverpool
Everton v West Brom
Norwich v Tottenham
Fulham v West Ham
Man Utd v Southampton
Reading v Chelsea

Hazard Warning

Hazard kicks the ball boy, Torres would've missed him, Cole would've shot him, Ramires would have broken his leg and Terry would have shagged his mother :)

Saints Shock

Right up there with Chris Hughton's sacking at Newcastle a couple of years ago, I really couldn't see this one coming.
Nigel Adkins sacking today seems very strange? the guy has just led Southampton to two straight promotions and although starting this season badly seems to have stabilised the team who look to have enough about them to survive this season.
They are unbeaten in their last 5 league games and have only lost 2 of the last 12, so it makes you wonder if their is another reason for his sacking?
It seems Argentinian Mauricio Pochettino was approached a few weeks back so it's not a knee jerk reaction to dropping easy points at Stamford bridge (sorry lads) :)

Premier Predictions (Week 23)

Still one to go in week 22 but here are the next lot as Longy has already sewn that one up :)
Again it's an extended week with games on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and the extra game on Wednesday which will hopefully see fat Sam grabbing Wenger by the throat and telling him to stay away from Diame :)


Liverpool v Norwich
Man City v Fulham
Newcastle v Reading
Swansea v Stoke
West Ham v QPR
Wigan v Sunderland
West Brom v Aston Villa
Chelsea v Arsenal
Tottenham v Man Utd
Southampton v Everton
Arsenal v West Ham

Premier Predictions (Week 22)

Back to league action this weekend :)
8 games on Saturday plus 2 on Sunday, also there is a bonus Chelsea game on Wednesday the re-arranged game which was postponed when Chelsea went off to Japan.
The QPR Spuds game was going to be played Monday but has been pulled forward as QPR have a cup replay on Tuesday.

QPR v Tottenham
Aston Villa v Southampton
Everton v Swansea
Fulham v Wigan
Norwich v Newcastle
Reading v West Brom
Stoke v Chelsea
Sunderland v West Ham

Man Utd v Liverpool
Arsenal v Man City

Chelsea v Southampton

Hopefully I will find your posts amongst the tons of spam I'm getting at the moment,
this is why I do the moderation thing :)
If you really want a high interest loan you already know where to go :)

So Close

Two goals for James Colins, two assists from Joe Cole and a pretty decent performance.
Only a moment of brilliance from RVP denied us :(

The game started badly for us and it looked like Man U would add to Cleverly's opener but we slowly worked our way back into the game.
Young Danny Potts had an excellent game, forgotten man Diarra looked comfortable in midfield and Carlton Cole is taking his chance well and looked lively all game.
Joe Cole had a good second debut, he still doesn't look fit but both crosses for Collins showed his class.

Another New Face

Looks like we've signed Wellington Pereira do Nascimento (Wellington Paulista) on loan from Brazilian club Cruzeiro for the rest of the season. Sounds like bad news for Chamakh as he faces more competition for a place. Although his record at Cruzeiro seems reasonable 29 goals in 54 games, that is over 4 years which makes you think he might be a bit injury prone? Not holding my breath that we've unearthed a superstar .. we shall see :)

Soccer Saturday

Matt Le Tiss was a player I loved watching, but not close up :)
Merson not looking too bad but this picture was probably taken before his lifestyle took it's toll.
Phil Thompson just looks like a big girls blouse :)
Charlie Nicholas at the tail end of his Bono's mullet days.

January Madness

Like most Hammer fans I love Joe Cole to death but I'm still not sure we should have re-signed him.
He's 31 now and the injuries are coming thick and fast so will he be fit enough to compete for a place?
I can't see him getting a central role as Nolan and Noble have that sewn up with Diame if he stays and the returning Jack Collison.
The left wing should be occupied by Jarvis if he can start reproducing his Wolves form, leaving only a right wing position.
I thought Beny was on a season long loan but he's gone back to the Chelsea reserves leaving Vaz Te who is finding his form again after his injury.
Marouane Chamakh came to England with a good reputation but failed to live up to it in his early games for Arsenal so dropped down the pecking order, the only time I've seen him this season was when he missed a penalty against Bradford.
He might turn out to be a good signing if he gets game time and will probably need to take his chance early on while Carroll is injured and Maiga is off to Africa.
Sean Maguire looks a promising youngster who if he settles in England and is brought through properly looks like he could go a long way (or at least get a decent transfer fee).

The rest - Mercenary Demba Ba has gone to Chelsea which is good business for them as he's cost just £7m and they got £12m for Sturridge who has looked really disappointing over the last year.
QPR have probably confirmed relegation by signing Tel Ben Haim :)
Tottenham have pre-signed German scouser Lewis Holtby but he won't play till next season.
West Brom's Graham Dorrans has been made available and I know we tried to sign him a while back. Several other low profile transfers so far and a host of rumours.
The one that all made us laugh today was the story that Wesley Sneijder was considering joining QPR!! even dodgy Harry laughed at that one :)

Anyway let's hope Joe can silence all the doubts with a winning performance against Man U tomorrow :)

Happy New Year

A Happy New Year to all :)
No World cup or European championship this year so it's just the club sides to worry about for the rest of the season.
West Ham looking reasonably safe to stay in the Premier league needing only 4-5 wins to stay up (hopefully), Saturday will tell if we're going to have a cup run this season as the ties can't get any harder. Looking at my pre-season predictions (1st Man Utd, 2nd Man City, 3rd Chelsea, 4th Arsenal) I won't be far out, except I always write of Tottenham who could crash the party?
Relegation - I tipped West Brom, QPR and Southampton? looks like I underestimated West Brom big time unless they suffer a West Ham like crash after Christmas :)
QPR look doomed unless dodgy Harry can pull out his biggest miracle, Southampton are playing better but still look like a Championship side. I still think Reading might come good, and Wigan and Villa are totally unpredictable, if Demba Ba leaves Newcastle could get dragged into the drop zone.
Champions league - Only Man U and Arsenal left, and I don't think either are strong enough to go all the way although they might cause of few upsets.