2014 And All That

Not a bad year for footie, England going well in the Euro 2016 qualifiers, my own team West Ham looking almost safe already :)
The Premier league had a good ending to the 2013/4 season with 3 teams still in with a shout with a few weeks left, although City had the bottle to see it out, this season is looking like it's down to a 2 horse race already, Chelsea should have enough to win although Mourinho is having to resort to mind games earlier than I expected :)
Luis Suarez was the best entertainment on the pitch and oddly I miss him? the game needs characters.
The Brazil World Cup was one of the best ever, if you forget about England's underwhelming performance I enjoyed the majority of it. Germany were worthy winners and the 7-1 victory over Brazil was one of the games all time greatest results.
Hopefully in the rest of this season the Premier league will tighten up a bit with the likes of Man U, Arsenal and maybe even West Ham!! still challenging in May.
Tha FA Cup starts this weekend and I'm hoping for a few shocks along the way.

Personally the new year is going to start at the bottom (the only way is up?), made redundant today and now my dodgy shyster of an employer has declared himself insolvent meaning I won't be getting any redundancy pay or the money he owes me :(  so looks like I'm going to be doing some reading on legal matters.
Hopefully I'll get something sorted before I run out of money and have to start making cutbacks on essentials like Internet, phones, food etc
Happy New Year all :)

Predictions comp still open for tomorrow on the previous post, good luck all.

Premier Predictions (Week 17-18-19-20)

Merry Christmas to all :)

Here we go with a bumper Christmas edition of the predictions competition :)

Each set of games is separate, so you can either post all of them at once or do them individually, don't worry I will keep track (as long as the comment comes through).

Week 17 - Games played 20th-22nd December

Man City v C Palace
Aston Villa v Man Utd
Hull v Swansea
QPR v West Brom
Southampton v Everton
Tottenham v Burnley
West Ham v Leicester
Newcastle v Sunderland
Liverpool v Arsenal
Stoke v Chelsea
---------------------------

Week 18 - Games played 26th December

Chelsea v West Ham
Burnley v Liverpool
C Palace v Southampton
Everton v Stoke
Leicester v Tottenham
Man Utd v Newcastle
Sunderland v Hull
Swansea v Aston Villa
West Brom v Man City
Arsenal v QPR
---------------------------

Week 19 - Games played 28th-29th December

Tottenham v Man Utd
Southampton v Chelsea
Aston Villa v Sunderland
Hull v Leicester
Man City v Burnley
QPR v C Palace
Stoke v West Brom
West Ham v Arsenal
Newcastle v Everton
Liverpool v Swansea
---------------------------

Week 20 - Games played 1st January 2015

Stoke v Man Utd
Aston Villa v C Palace
Hull v Everton
Liverpool v Leicester
Man City v Sunderland
Newcastle v Burnley
QPR v Swansea
Southampton v Arsenal
West Ham v West Brom
Tottenham v Chelsea
---------------------------

The week 21 games are not till 10th January, after the elongated FA Cup weekend. So the next post will be then.

Good Luck All, and have a great Christmas :)

Headlines

I've been clearing out my e-mails from work due to my imminent redundancy :(
I get the feed from BBC Football, and these are the only ones I have bothered saving because I liked the headlines :)

Well Mourinho is always good for a quote :)

Blind Men

I thought Arsene Wenger had trademarked the "I did not see it" line.
A bad weekend so far for players after the fallon D'floor award and Ashley Young hasn't played yet!!
Chelsea led the way with at least 3 less than impressive dives resulting in 2 bookings and Chris Foy not seeing Gary Cahill's effort which should have given him at least a second yellow, especially after his red card tackle earlier had been dealt with leniantly?
Jose Mourinho says "my players did not dive" while wearing a blindfold :)

Classiest dive of the day was West Brom's Pocognoli which was a Suarez / Hazard style full legs in the air dramatic fall, trouble was he was yards away from the supposed tackler :)
Best result for the divers was Adam Johnson's "I've been shot" style fall to gain Sunderland a penalty :(
Let's see if today's games will bring some more Oscar winners?

Premier Predictions (Week 16)

Some good games this weekend, and with the exception of the Chelsea game all could go either way :)
3 days worth again, 7 Saturday, 2 Sunday and one Monday.

Burnley v Southampton
Chelsea v Hull
C Palace v Stoke
Leicester v Man City
Sunderland v West Ham
West Brom v Aston Villa
Arsenal v Newcastle
Man Utd v Liverpool
Swansea v Tottenham
Everton v QPR

Good luck all :)

Coming soon :
Week 17 - Games played 20th-22nd December
Week 18 - Games played 26th December
Week 19 - Games played 28th-29th December
Week 20 - Games played 1st January 2015

Premier Predictions (Week 15)

Hot on the heels of the midweek games here are the fixtures for this weekends games.
Games over 3 days with 7 on Saturday, 2 Sunday and Man U's visit to the St Mary's Friends Provident New Dell Stadium on Monday.

Newcastle v Chelsea
Hull v West Brom
Liverpool v Sunderland
QPR v Burnley
Stoke v Arsenal
Tottenham v C Palace
Man City v Everton
West Ham v Swansea
Aston Villa v Leicester
Southampton v Man Utd

Good luck all :)

Full table - Week 14

Premier Predictions (Week 14)

I know week 13 isn't over yet but I thought I should get these in quick.
6 games on Tuesday and another 4 on Wednesday (will post nezt weekends fixtures on Tuesday).
Can Sunderland follow up today's shock with another shut out against City?

Burnley v Newcastle
Leicester v Liverpool
Man Utd v Stoke
Swansea v QPR
C Palace v Aston Villa
West Brom v West Ham

Arsenal v Southampton
Chelsea v Tottenham
Everton v Hull
Sunderland v Man City

Premier Predictions (Week 13)

Week 13 Unlucky for some (probably me).
Just 2 days this week with 8 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday.
Who would of thought the big game on Saturday would be West Ham v Newcastle :)
Sunday's big match sees Man City going to surprise team Southampton.

West Brom v Arsenal
Burnley v Aston Villa
Liverpool v Stoke
Man Utd v Hull
QPR v Leicester
Swansea v C Palace
West Ham v Newcastle
Sunderland v Chelsea

Southampton v Man City
Tottenham v Everton

Fantasy Football

Probably time for an update on the Fantasy Leagues.

TFF - NBTF - 573rd
1 Ryan - Morris Maple Leafs 553
2 Andrew - Tinkerman Fore 541
3 Andrew - Tiki-Taka-Tree 534
4 Ryan - T-Boy NEFI    529
5 Shane - Lewies Lions    528
6 Shane - Lozzies Mozzies 516
7 Allan - Brainpharts    511
8 Ryan - Ryan's Rovers    509
9 Lee - Chip Shop Boys    507
10 Richard - Another Fantasy Team 499


FPL - Nothing Better Than Football
1 Gary - Unreal Madrid 556
2 Paul - Wildcard United 517
3 Lee - Play To Win 457
4 Longy - CFCLongy 437
5 Martin - Baher 401

Still having a pretty rubbish season myself, except for one team which is lying 2nd out of about 300,000 teams overall in the TFF Golden boot league :)

I've been playing the Telegraph weekender competition, but it all went to pot last night when the website wouldn't let me make my changes for last nights game :(
Got this reply today from the Telegraph (they obviously don't read what they write) :)
"As you are aware, there were some issue some technical issues with the Make Transfers page for the Weekender competition yesterday evening. We would like to offer our apologies for this technical issue and hope that it does not drastically affect your overall enjoyment of the game" .... I reckon they have issues :)

Premier Predictions (Week 12)

Oops! Thursday already, caught out by more Internationals.
Hopefully we've now got a few months of uninterrupted league action :)

Games over 3 days with 7 Saturday, 2 Sunday and 1 Monday.
Villa v Southampton is the game on Monday, on form that should be an easy away win but these things don't always happen :) In 11 games Villa have only scored 5 goals, and Southampton have only let in 5.

Chelsea v West Brom
Everton v West Ham
Leicester v Sunderland
Man City v Swansea
Newcastle v QPR
Stoke v Burnley
Arsenal v Man Utd

C Palace v Liverpool
Hull v Tottenham

Aston Villa v Southampton

Good luck all :)

Here's the complete predictions table so far if any of you wants to know exactly how you are doing :)

Premier Predictions (Week 11)

Week 11, last set of games before yet another international break.
Star game is the early kick off on Saturday with Chelsea off to Anfield where Gerrard will probably be checking his studs after last years disaster.
Hopefully the Hammers will continue Villa's bad run :)

6 games Saturday with the rest on Sunday.

Liverpool v Chelsea
Burnley v Hull
Man Utd v C Palace
Southampton v Leicester
West Ham v Aston Villa
QPR v Man City

Sunderland v Everton
Tottenham v Stoke
West Brom v Newcastle
Swansea v Arsenal

Good luck all :)

Premier Predictions (Week 10)

Ten More games for you, 7 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday and 1 on Monday.
The Mancs derby is probably the biggest game of the week, but a few other good looking games could go either way.

Newcastle v Liverpool
Arsenal v Burnley
Chelsea v QPR
Everton v Swansea
Hull v Southampton
Leicester v West Brom
Stoke v West Ham

Man City v Man Utd
Aston Villa v Tottenham

C Palace v Sunderland

Good Luck All :)

Quick 2

Another "better post this while it lasts" moment :)

Currently lying 4th out of about 300,000 players in the Telegraph Golden Boot league, and 1st in the Twitter league of 2,918.
I've had a few moments of glory in these competitions in the past, but I usually fade and die before the cash prizes are ready.

Awkward thing with this team is that it's my leading team in the works league (which is number one in the list of priorities) so I don't want to mess about with it too much chasing this prize :(

Other than this I'm having a rubbish season in both TFF and FPL, so I need to concentrate harder :)

Premier Predictions (Week 9)

Week 9 already and another 3 day week, 6 games on Saturday, 3 on Sunday and a trip to Loftus road on Monday for Sky sports viewers and possibly dodgy Harry :)
Pick of the games is Man U v Chelsea, Chelsea might not have any strikers fit but Man U don't defend too well so it should be a good game :)
West Ham will hope City have had a bad trip back from Moscow, but I think the days of being stuck in a snowbound airport for days have long gone :(

West Ham v Man City
Liverpool v Hull
Southampton v Stoke
Sunderland v Arsenal
West Brom v C Palace
Swansea v Leicester
Burnley v Everton
Tottenham v Newcastle
Man Utd v Chelsea
QPR v Aston Villa


Good luck all :)

Getting Shirty

I watched the Stoke v Swansea game on Sunday which featured a couple more debatable penalties, and anyone who has been watching football as long as me knew exactly how both managers would see the incidents.
Gary Monk's version was refreshingly honest, apart from not seeing Rangel's hand on Moses which will no doubt get him into all sorts of trouble, as honesty is not looked on kindly by the FA.
Mark Hughes is becoming the new Neil Warnock (even though we've still got one), his version of the first penalty was that despite Shawcross trying to pull Bony's shirt off then pulling him down, that this happens half a dozen times every game and shouldn't be a foul? but if one of his players gets lightly touched and throws himself to the floor it's a penalty all day long?
Monk will probably get a fine for his comments but Hughes won't even be called up for his interpretation of the laws of the game.
Although if Chico Florist still played for Swansea I would have less sympathy :)

Something I've been thinking about for years would be the introduction of Velcro shirts with detachable sleeves, fronts and backs, so that when the dodgy defender grabs the attackers shirt it comes off in their hand leaving even the blindest referees in no doubt what had been occuring.
Although they would then probably book the players for taking their shirts off? :)

Quick

I will post this picture quickly before it changes, so that I can look back at the end of the season and dream of what might have been :)
Being a West Ham fan you have to take these small moments of excitement when you get them.
Much as I hope that we can stay around the top places, experience brings a sense of reality knowing that the big guns will overwhelm us and a top ten finish is what we should really be aiming for.
After the poor start with 2 defeats in the first 3 games you felt it was going to be another season of struggle, but it seems that this year's new faces have all hit the ground running and improved us beyond recognition.
If Nolan hadn't picked up his injury after the Tottenham defeat would Downing have been moved into the centre? this has turned out to be a revelation and the fact that Fat Sam has actually given game time to his new signings when in previous seasons they usually end up as bench warmers has been a pleasant surprise.
Sakho and Valencia have the pace to trouble any defence and hopefully Andy Carroll will be given longer to get over all his injury problems because at the moment we really don't need him.
Of course we play Man City next week which will be a true test of how far we have improved, a point would be great, a win would see me jumping around a bit :) but I'd just settle for us competing with the likes of City and hopefully making Upton park a place where visiting teams knew they were going to get a game.

Thanks

Thanks everyone, 100,000 Page Views in 4 years and 4 months.
Must have put something worth looking at here :)
I must apologise for a lack of content recently, but at least the predictions competitions keeps me coming back every week, so stay tuned.

Premier Predictions (Week 8)

This International break seems to be going on forever. But it's back to normality for the next 4 weeks.
Games over 3 days again, 7 Saturday, 2 Sunday and 1 Monday.

Man City v Tottenham
Arsenal v Hull
Burnley v West Ham
C Palace v Chelsea
Everton v Aston Villa
Newcastle v Leicester
Southampton v Sunderland
QPR v Liverpool
Stoke v Swansea
West Brom v Man Utd

Good luck all :)

Premier Predictions (Week 7)

Wow!! doesn't time fly, Wednesday already, so slightly late here's the week 7 fixtures, the games are spread over 2 days this weekend 6 on Saturday and 4 on Sunday.
Top game of the week is Sunday's Chelsea v Arsenal, will Chelsea bang 6 past them again? especially as Arsenal have lost most of their midfield even before taking on the Turks tonight, could be more if Costa can manage 2 games in the week.

Hull v C Palace
Leicester v Burnley
Liverpool v West Brom
Sunderland v Stoke
Swansea v Newcastle
Aston Villa v Man City

Man Utd v Everton
Chelsea v Arsenal
Tottenham v Southampton
West Ham v QPR

Good luck all, especially Bio, Gobby and Paul who are all looking for their first win of this season :)

Premier Predictions (Week 6)

Week 6 already, this week the fixtures are back to 3 days,
8 on Saturday and 1 each on Sunday and Monday.

A few biggies this week with West Ham going to the backfiring reds, the North London derby and the Stanley Park North vs South battle, plus Will Villa do a Mourinho and park the bus? :)

Liverpool v Everton
Chelsea v Aston Villa
C Palace v Leicester
Hull v Man City
Man Utd v West Ham
Southampton v QPR
Sunderland v Swansea
Arsenal v Tottenham
West Brom v Burnley
Stoke v Newcastle

Good luck all :)

Happy Days

West Ham 3 Liverpool 1

Always great to see the Hammers win.
But any win over the Scouses is always extra special for me :)
Lots of Liverpool supporting relatives and friends who love to give, but just can't handle receiving :)

Fantasy Footie Etc

An overdue update on the blog leagues :)
Four weeks played so far and the RFC boys are looking good in the Telegraph game.
Paul and Longy have started well in the FPL game.
And I'm having a nightmare in both games :(

TFF - NBTF (40 Teams) - Overall Position - 1424
1 Richard - RR6 193
2 Richard - RR5 187
3 Andrew - Tinkerman Fore 185
4 Ryan - T-boy NEFI 184
5 Richard - Another fantasy Team 183
6 Andrew - Tiki-Taka-Tree 182
7 Lee - Chip Shop Boys 177
8 Rob - Bob's The Daddy 173
9 Shane - lewies lions 173
10 Ryan - Ryan's Rovers 171

FPL - Nothing Better Than Football (5 Teams) - Week 2 Start
1 Paul - Wildcard United 118
2 Longy - CFCLongy 116
2 Gary - Unreal Madrid 116
4 Martin - Baher 108
5 Lee - Play To Win 84

The NBTF Predictions league has started well with a record 8 players, Newcomer Dave leads, and 4 of us have yet to get off the mark (including me) :(
Just checked my position in FISO goals and found I won week 3, but I forgot to post last week so have dropped to 52nd :(
Personally I'm not confident of an improvement this week, the Telegraph site wouldn't let me make changes earlier and I missed the deadline in the FPL game to tweek my team :(

Premier Predictions (Week 5)

Here we go again, 6 games on Saturday, 4 on Sunday.
A few big games this week with City v Chelsea on Sunday, Arsenal going to form team Villa and the Hammers hoping to upset the scouses :)

QPR v Stoke
Aston Villa v Arsenal
Burnley v Sunderland
Newcastle v Hull
Swansea v Southampton
West Ham v Liverpool

Leicester v Man Utd
Tottenham v West Brom
Everton v C Palace
Man City v Chelsea

Premier Predictions (Week 4)

Sorry chaps nearly forgot, Internationals getting in the way :)
Great win for England though :)
8 games on Saturday, with 1 each on Sunday and Monday.

Arsenal v Man City
Chelsea v Swansea
C Palace v Burnley
Southampton v Newcastle
Stoke v Leicester
Sunderland v Tottenham
West Brom v Everton
Liverpool v Aston Villa
Man Utd v QPR
Hull v West Ham

Good luck all :)

Premier Predictions (Week 3)

Last set of fixtures before our first "international break" of the season.
7 games on Saturday and 3 more on Sunday.

Burnley v Man Utd
Man City v Stoke
Newcastle v C Palace
QPR v Sunderland
Swansea v West Brom
West Ham v Southampton
Everton v Chelsea

Aston Villa v Hull
Tottenham v Liverpool
Leicester v Arsenal

9 points has been enough to win the first 2 weeks, so hopefully we can all start hitting double figures :)
Good luck all.

Fantasy Football

Thanks to all those who joined the TFF version :)
40 Teams in this year so far.

Here's the top 10 after week 1

Good starts by Ryan and Rick, I'm hoping at least one of my teams stays in contention :)

Apologies to Longy after I made an error on the FPL version, meaning we only start scoring in week 2, but as there is only 3 of us it shouldn't matter too much :)

Premier Predictions (Week 2)

Here we go with week number 2,
games over 3 days again with the first biggy of the year on Monday with Liverpool going to Man City.

Aston Villa v Newcastle
Chelsea v Leicester
C Palace v West Ham
Southampton v West Brom
Swansea v Burnley
Everton v Arsenal
Hull v Stoke
Tottenham v QPR
Sunderland v Man Utd
Man City v Liverpool

Nearly There

The new Premier league season starts today, and another 9 months of footy action :)
In my opinion it's going to go much like last season, the title contenders in a league of their own, a small handful of teams who should be safe and might get a Europa league place, and the rest who will all be trying to stay up.
Man City and Chelsea look the most likely to finish as Champions with Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd fighting for the Champions league places, Everton, Tottenham and maybe Newcastle expecting a top ten finish and everyone else hoping to stay clear of the bottom 3.
Obvious choices for the bottom 3 would be Burnley, QPR and post-Pulis Palace but who knows, West ham have signed some reasonable players but will Fat Sam actually play them? 3 new strikers + Cole and Carroll (when and if he's fit) fighting for the dubious honour of playing up front alone with no support, but he might have a change of tactics??

Still chance to join the fantasy leagues (see link), thanks to all those that have joined the TFF one, but the FPL one only has 2 at the moment (me and my son, and he'll probably lose interest after a week or so) so that's not going that well.
Prediction comp open all season, hopefully those that have entered this week will see it out :)

So here we go again :)

Premier Predictions (Week 1)

Ta Da!! Here we go again, Premier prediction time. Week 1 of about 38?

All readers welcome (anyone new, just let me know your name or alias and the team you support so I can keep track of your score in the super duper league table on the right).

Usual rules, I post the weeks fixtures, you post your Predictions in comments - just copy/paste the fixtures and add your score :)
3 Points for a correct score, 1 point for a correct result (Home, away, draw), 0 points if totally wrong or if the game is postponed.

The league table will be decided on -
1st Outright weekly wins,
2nd Shared wins,
3rd Total points scored.

This weeks games - 7 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday and 1 on Monday

Man Utd v Swansea
Leicester v Everton
QPR v Hull
Stoke v Aston Villa
West Brom v Sunderland
West Ham v Tottenham
Arsenal v C Palace
Liverpool v Southampton
Newcastle v Man City
Burnley v Chelsea

.. and good luck to all who take part :)

Summer Transfers 2014

This will be far from a finished list, as the transfer window doesn't close until the 1st September.
I will update it every couple of days.

Here's the transfer news so far (up to 29/09/14), lots of movement including some big fees mostly paid to Southampton.
Fees paid are a bit of a mystery this year with lots of * undisclosed fees (probably to hide them from UEFA and the tax man).
The big 5 have been the biggest spenders although most of their deals have been public. Angel Di Maria's £59.7m is the largest so far pushing Man Utd in front of Liverpool on the overall spending.

Most players in - Hull 12, Leicester 11, Liverpool 11, Swansea 10, West Brom 10
Most players out - Chelsea 37, Tottenham 25, Liverpool 24, C Palace 22, Man Utd 22, Southampton 22
Most Money Paid * - Man Utd £150m, Liverpool £116.8m, Chelsea £90.9m, Arsenal £77m, Southampton £57.9m, Man City £51.5m
Most Money in * - Southampton £96.5m, Chelsea £77.5m, Liverpool £75m, Man Utd £26.5m, Man City £24m, Tottenham £18m
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arsenal

In: 9 (£77m)
Alexis Sánchez, Calum Chambers, Mathieu Debuchy, David Ospina, Elias Chatzitheodoridis, Hugo Keto, Ben Sheaf, Georgios Spanoudakis, Danny Welbeck

Out: 16 (£17.5m)
Thomas Vermaelen, Johan Djourou, Thomas Eisfeld, Zak Ansah, Lukasz Fabianski, Zachari Fagan, Bacary Sagna, Chuks Aneke, Wellington Silva (Loan), Benik Afobe (Loan), Carl Jenkinson (Loan), Nicklas Bendtner, Daniel Boateng, Chu-Young Park, Leander Siemann, Jon Toral (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aston Villa

In: 7 (£0m)
Joe Cole, Tom Leggett, Isaac Nehemie, Philippe Senderos, Kieran Richardson, Aly Cissokho, Tom Cleverley (Loan)

Out: 19 (£0.25m)
Jordan Bowery, Marc Albrighton, Nicklas Helenius (Loan), Yacouba Sylla (Loan), Jed Steer (Loan), Nathan Delfouneso, Antonio Luna (Loan), Samir Carruthers, Daniel Johnson (Loan), Aidan Grant, Andras Stieber, Aleksander Tonev (Loan), Janoi Donacien (Loan), Joe Bennett (Loan), Gary Gardner (Loan), Karim El Ahmadi, Michael Drennan (Loan), Chris Herd (Loan), Callum Robinson (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Burnley

In: 8 (£4.5m)
Lukas Jutkiewicz, Marvin Sordell, Michael Kightly, Matt Gilks, Steven Reid, Matt Taylor, Michael Keane (Loan), Nathaniel Chalobah (Loan), George Boyd

Out: 15 (£0m)
David Edgar, Joseph Mills, Junior Stanislas, Chris Baird, Kyle Brownhill, Alex Coleman, Luke Conlan, Jack Errington, Micah Evans, Luke Gallagher, Nick Liversedge, Archie Love, Brian Stock, Keith Treacy, Luke O'Neill (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chelsea

In: 6 (£90.9m)
Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas, Filipe Luis, Mario Pasalic, Didier Drogba, Loic Remy

Out: 37 (£77.5m)
David Luiz, Romelu Lukaku, Demba Ba, Patrick van Aanholt, Ashley Cole, Sam Hutchinson, Frank Lampard, Tomas Kalas (Loan), Wallace (Loan), Thorgan Hazard (Loan), Bertrand Traore (Loan), Lucas Piazon (Loan), Cristián Cuevas (Loan), Mario Pasalic (Loan), Oriol Romeu (Loan), John Swift (Loan), Gael Kakuta (Loan), Ryan Bertrand (Loan), Kenneth Omeruo (Loan), Billy Clifford, Samuel Eto'o, Henrique Hilario, Milan Lalkovic, Adam Nditi, Daniel Pappoe, Jhon Pírez, Mark Schwarzer, Christian Atsu (Loan), Victor Moses (Loan), Josh McEachran (Loan), Marko Marin (Loan), George Saville, Fernando Torres (Loan), Marco van Ginkel (Loan), Patrick Bamford (Loan), Nathaniel Chalobah (Loan), Jamal Blackman (Loan),
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crystal Palace

In: 8 (£7.9m)
Fraizer Campbell, Chris Kettings, Brede Hangeland, Martin Kelly, Wilfried Zaha (Loan), James McArthur, Zeki Fryers, Andrew Johnson

Out: 22 (£1.4m)
Jose Campana, Neil Alexander, Kagisho Dikgacoi, Dean Moxey, Aaron Wilbraham, Jonathan Parr, Ross Fitzsimons, Osman Sow, Alex Wynter (Loan), Kwesi Appiah (Loan), Jack Hunt (Loan), Lewis Price (Loan), Stephen Dobbie (Loan), Danny Gabbidon, Ibra Sekajja, Quade Taylor, Derek Tieku, Tom King, Alistair Gordon, Jonny Williams (Loan), Jerome Binnom Williams (Loan), Owen Garvan (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Everton

In: 7 (£33m)
Romelu Lukaku, Gareth Barry, Brendan Galloway, Muhamed Besic, Christian Atsu (Loan), Samuel Eto'o, David Henen (Loan)

Out: 8 (£0m)
Magaye Gueye, John Lundstram (Loan), Matthew Kennedy (Loan), Mason Springthorpe, Ibou Touray, Apostolos Vellios, Hallam Hope (Loan), Shane Duffy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hull City

In: 12 (£33.9m)
Jake Livermore, Robert Snodgrass, Andrew Robertson, Harry Maguire, Tom Ince, Karim Rossi, Michael Dawson, Hatem Ben Arfa (Loan), Mohamed Diame, Gaston Ramirez (Loan), Abel Hernandez, Brian Lenihan

Out: 15 (£15m)
Shane Long, Matty Fryatt, Paul McElroy, Conor Henderson, Cameron Stewart, Jack Barlow, Mark Oxley (Loan), Conor Townsend (Loan), Joe Dudgeon (Loan), Nick Proschwitz, Abdoulaye Faye, Robert Koren, Paul Dudgeon, Eldin Jakupovic, George Boyd
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leicester City

In: 11 (£10m)
Leonardo Ulloa, Matthew Upson, Marc Albrighton, Jack Barmby, Louis Rowley, Ben Hamer, Esteban Cambiasso, Kris Scott, Tom Lawrence, Nick Powell (Loan), Danny Simpson

Out: 21 (£0m)
Lloyd Dyer, George Taft, Zak Whitbread, Neil Danns, Ben Frempah, Paul Gallagher (Loan), Martyn Waghorn, Sean St Ledger, Kieran Kennedy, Adam Dawson, Jak McCourt, Marcel Barrington, Jacob Blyth, Michael Cain, Harry Panayiotou, James Pearson, Alie Sesay, Adam Smith, Marko Futacs, Conrad Logan (Loan), Ryan Watson (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Liverpool

In: 11 (£116.8m)
Adam Lallana, Lazar Markovic, Dejan Lovren, Alberto Moreno, Divock Origi, Emre Can, Rickie Lambert, Lawrence Vigouroux, Kevin Stewart, Javier Manquillo (Loan), Mario Balotelli

Out: 24 (£75m)
Luis Suarez, Divock Origi (Loan), Villyan Bijev, Jakub Sokolik, Luis Alberto (Loan), Iago Aspas (Loan), Andre Wisdom (Loan), Conor Coady, Pepe Reina, Brad Smith (Loan), Yalany Baio, Yusuf Mersin, Craig Roddan, Stephen Sama, Martin Kelly, Michael Ngoo, Joao Carlos Teixeira (Loan), Tiago Ilori (Loan), Jack Robinson, Jordon Ibe (Loan), Daniel Agger, Krisztian Adorjan, Sebastian Coates (Loan), Oussama Assaidi (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manchester City

In: 7 (£51.5m)
Eliaquim Mangala, Fernando, Willy Caballero, Bacary Sagna, Bruno Zuculini, Frank Lampard (Loan), Bruno Zuculini

Out: 20 (£24m)
Javi Garcia, Jack Rodwell, Gareth Barry, Costel Pantilimon, Joleon Lescott, Alex Henshall, Ellis Plummer, Marcos Lopes (Loan), Reece Wabara, Thomas Agyiri, Kieran Kennedy, George Swan, Alex Tchuimeni-Nimely, Greg Leigh (Loan), Jason Denayer (Loan), Devante Cole (Loan),Emyr Huws, Micah Richards (Loan), Alvaro Negredo (Loan), John Guidetti (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manchester United

In: 7 (£150m)
Luke Shaw, Ander Herrera, Vanja Milinkovic, Marcos Rojo, Angel Di Maria, Daley Blind, Radamel Falcao

Out: 22 (£26.5m)
Alexander Buttner, Patrice Evra, Bebe, Jack Barmby, Feredrico Macheda, Nemanja Vidic, Louis Rowley, Rio Ferdinand, Vanja Milinkovic (Loan), Sam Byrne, Ryan Giggs, Jack Rudge, Angelo Henriquez (Loan), Nani (Loan), Wilfried Zaha (Loan), Danny Welbeck, Tom Lawrence, Nick Powell (Loan), Michael Keane (Loan), Javier Hernandez (Loan), Tom Cleverley (Loan), Shinji Kagawa
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newcastle United

In: 9 (£30.8m)
Rémy Cabella, Emmanuel Riviere, Siem de Jong, Daryl Janmaat, Ayoze Perez, Jack Colback, Facundo Ferreyra (Loan), Jamaal Lascelles, Karl Darlow

Out: 18 (£12m)
Mathieu Debuchy, James Tavernier, Dan Gosling, Jonathan Mitchell, Conor Newton, Romain Amalfitano, Sylvain Marveaux (Loan), Jamaal Lascelles (Loan), Karl Darlow (Loan), Adam Campbell (Loan), Shola Ameobi, Steven Logan, Brandon Miele, Jonathan Mitchell, Michael Richardson, Freddie Woodman (Loan), Hatem Ben Arfa (Loan), Mapou Yanga Mbiwa (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Queens Park Rangers

In: 9 (£28.5m)
Steven Caulker, Jordan Mutch, Mauricio Isla (Loan), Rio Ferdinand, Leroy Fer, Jack Robinson, Alex McCarthy, Niko Kranjcar (Loan), Sandro

Out: 19 (£10.5m)
Yossi Benayoun, Tom Hitchcock, Aaron Hughes, Esteban Granero, Gary O'Neil, Mo Shariff, Angelo Balanta, Hogan Ephraim, Andrew Johnson, Stéphane Mbia, Luke Young, Joe Lumley (Loan), Julio Cesar, Jack Robinson (Loan), Dylan Carreiro, Danny Simpson, Andrew Johnson, Loic Remy, Michael Petrasso (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Southampton

In: 9 (£57.9m)
Dusan Tadic, Fraser Forster, Graziano Pelle, Ryan Bertrand (Loan), Saphir Taider (Loan), Florin Gardos, Shane Long, Sadio Mane, Toby Alderweireld (Loan)

Out: 22 (£96.5m)
Luke Shaw,  Adam Lallana,  Dejan Lovren, Calum Chambers, Rickie Lambert, Dani Osvaldo (Loan), Tom Leggett, Isaac Nehemie, Danny Fox, Andy Robinson, Lee Barnard, Matt Young, Jonathan Forte, Jordan Turnbull (Loan), Joe Curtis, Guily Do Prado, Andreas Sony, Billy Sharp, Artur Boruc (Loan), Jack Stephens (Loan), Jos Hooiveld (Loan), Gaston Ramirez (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stoke City

In: 7 (£3m)
Bojan Krkic, Dionatan Teixeira, Mame Biram Diouf, Phil Bardsley, Steve Sidwell, Victor Moses (Loan), Oussama Assaidi (Loan)

Out: 15 (£0m)
Michael Kightly, Jordan Keane, Ed Sanders, Karim Rossi, James Alabi (Loan), Juan Agudelo, Lucas Dawson, Matthew Etherington, Kevin Gomez-Nieto, Ben Heneghan, Jordan Richardson, Jamie Ness (Loan), Cameron Jerome, Ryan Shotton (Loan), Brek Shea (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunderland

In: 9  (£10m)
Jack Rodwell, Patrick van Aanholt, Jordi Gómez, Billy Jones, Costel Pantilimon, Santiago Vergini (Loan), Will Buckley, Sebastian Coates (Loan), Ricardo Alvarez (Loan)

Out: 19 (£2.1m)
Ignacio Scocco, Phil Bardsley, Jack Colback, Craig Gardner,  Billy Knott, John Egan,  Kieren Westwood, Louis Laing, Reece Noble, Jordan Pickford (Loan)El-Hadji Ba (Loan), Carlos Cuéllar, Andrea Dossena, Jordan Laidler, Alejandro Rodriguez Gorrin, Oscar Ustari, David Vaughan, Jordan Watson, Scott Harrison (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Swansea City

In: 10 (£5.5m)
Jefferson Montero, Marvin Emnes, Stephen Kingsley, Lukasz Fabianski, Bafétimbi Gomis, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Federico Fernandez, James Demetriou, Modu Barrow, Giancarlo Gallifuoco

Out: 16 (£15.7m)
Ben Davies, Michel Vorm, Gwion Edwards, Alejandro Pozuelo, Thomas Atyeo, Daniel Alfei (Loan), Michu (Loan), Chico Flores, Leroy Lita, Jernade Meade, David Ngog, Darnel Situ, Jose Canas, Alex Bray (Loan), Kris Scott, Alan Tate (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tottenham Hotspur

In: 6 (£19m)
Ben Davies, Michel Vorm, Eric Dier, DeAndre Yedlin, Federico Fazio, Benjamin Stambouli

Out: 25 (£18m)
Jake Livermore, Heurelho Gomes, Lawrence Vigouroux, Kevin Stewart, Darren McQueen, Gylfi Sigurdsson , Grant Hall (Loan) , Alex Pritchard (Loan), Kenny McEvoy (Loan), Iago Falque, Shaquile Coulthirst (Loan), Jordan Archer (Loan), Giancarlo Gallifuoco, Cameron Lancaster, Roman Michael-Percil, Jonathan Miles, DeAndre Yedlin (Loan), Michael Dawson, Ryan Fredericks (Loan), Giancarlo Gallifuoco, Sandro, Jonathan Obika, Cameron Lancaster, Lewis Holtby (Loan), Zeki Fryers
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
West Bromwich Albion

In: 10 (£11.5m)
Brown Ideye, Sebastien Pocognoli, Craig Gardner, Joleon Lescott, Chris Baird, Andre Wisdom (Loan), Cristian Gamboa, Jason Davidson, Georgios Samaras, Sebastian Blanco

Out: 10 (£2m)
George Thorne, Billy Jones, Liam Ridgewell, Steven Reid, Cameron Gayle, Donervon Daniels (Loan), Scott Allan, Zoltan Gera, Diego Lugano, Nicolas Anelka
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
West Ham United

In: 9 (£22.75m)
Enner Valencia, Aaron Cresswell, Cheikhou Kouyate, Mauro Zarate, Diego Poyet, Carl Jenkinson (Loan), Diafra Sakho, Morgan Amalfitano, Alex Song (Loan)

Out: 16 (£3.5m)
Ben Sheaf, Joe Cole, Matt Taylor, Stephen Henderson, Robert Girdlestone, Raphael Spiegel (Loan), George Moncur (Loan), Jack Collison, Alou Diarra, Callum Driver, George McCartney, Jordan Spence, Ravel Morrison (Loan), Sean Maguire (Loan), Matthias Fanimo (Loan), Mohamed Diame--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fantasy Football 2014/15

Although this didn't really take off last year, I'll give it another go :)
I've set up leagues for Nothing Better Than Football "NBTF"
in the Premier league game and the Telegraph game.
If you would like to join either, here are the details -

Fantasy Premier League 2014/15
http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb.html
League name: Nothing Better Than Football
Code to join this league: 5969-597595

The Premier league runs it's own game "Fantasy Premier League" and it is free to play.
You choose a squad of 15 players in your budget, then pick a starting XI for each game, transfers are available during the season - 1 is free, anymore cost you points, wildcards are available twice a season to let you ship out several players at once if half your squad get sold to Real Madrid in January.
You can only have one team each, but you can put it in multiple leagues.
(I've updated this due to cock up on my part (oops) starts in week 2 now)
-----------

Telegraph Fantasy Football 2014/15
http://fantasyfootball.telegraph.co.uk/
League name: NBTF
PIN: 8072532

The Telegraph game tends to be the most popular amongst Fantasy football managers as you can tinker away all season with 30 transfers allowed and make changes to your team right up till the first kick-off of the day. You can have as many teams as you like, the first team is free but if you want more you can upgrade by paying a fee, the more teams you have the cheaper it is.
Many different cash prizes if your good enough.
(if you decide to join, I'll limit it to 5 teams per person max

The Premier league game is open to everyone worldwide (as there are no cash prizes), sadly the Telegraph game is UK residents only :(

World Wide Webb

This should be a job even he can't get wrong?

Pick any from this list to explain the latest diabolical reffing decision.

He's Blind
He's F***ing useless
He's a Liverpool fan
He's a Chelsea fan
The lino gave it
The 4th Official gave it
He was looking at something else
He doesn't speak the language
She's a woman

New Season

Greetings all :)
The new Premier season is only 10 days away and it's time to get fired up after the short break.
Of course the new season actually started during the World cup so there hasn't really been a summer break, Celtic are already out of the Champions league along with several other British teams.
Hull will play their second Europa league game tonight hoping to at least make it to the regular season and get a few Sunday kick offs.

The lower leagues kick off tomorrow night with Blackburn v Cardiff, and the rest start on Saturday.
Interesting that the footie authorities have come out big against betting by footballers but allow the leagues to be sponsored by Skybet?
My local side Southend open with a glamour trip to Accrington Stanley (who are they?) at least all the new signings will get a chance to meet each other :)

On Sunday the first big game takes place with the Charity Shield game between Arsenal and Man City, although it's now known as the Ronald McDonald Community Shield (fries with that?) not sure if the money goes to charity anymore? probably not.

Predictions competition will be back in the next few days, plus an invite to join the NBTF Fantasy football leagues for anyone who's interested.
I'm currently compiling a list of the Premier league in's and out's to see who's been splashing the cash and to see if certain teams still have enough players left?
.. quick joke - The Premier league have announced they will be using vanishing spray this season after a successful trial at Southampton football club :)

World Cup Predictions (Part 6) SF+3rd+F

4 More games to go, here's the semi final line up.

Brazil v Germany
Argentina v Holland

3rd Place play off - Brazil v Holland
Final - Germany v Argentina

Post when you like before kick off's :)
* updated

Update - The Final Table :)

World Cup Predictions (Part 5) QF

Quarter Finals start Friday :)
These look harder to predict than the last round :(
Germany France has a bit of history and assuming France drop Giroud could be a tight match.
The in form team Colombia face the stuttering home team, if Neymar is fit and the ref plays ball Brazil might get through?
Argentina were lucky to get through against the dull Swiss team and I expect a similar game against the Belgians, who still don't know their best first XI.
The Nether Nether Hollandaise Dutch should have enough to finally beat the over performing Costa Rican's but you nether know :)

France v Germany
Brazil v Colombia
Argentina v Belgium
Netherlands v Costa Rica

Good luck all :)

Continental

Africa - 5 teams, 2 into 2nd round, 0-2 into Q/F
Asia 4 teams, 0 into 2nd round
Central/North America - 4 teams, 3 into 2nd round, 0-3 into Q/F
Europe - 13 teams, 6 into 2nd round, 0-6 into Q/F
South America - 6 teams, 5 into 2nd round, 2/3 into Q/F, 1/2 into S/F

If the favoured teams get through the semi finals should be
Brazil v Germany, Argentina v Holland with an all South American final?
Although a Greece v Algeria final is still possible, but I'm guessing the quality of players like Messi and Neymar and the dodgy refereeing at this tournament makes that very unlikely:)

World Cup Predictions (Part 4)

Still close in the table (and those still playing are doing better than the BBC man).
Here we go with the Second round, or Round of 16, or Eighth finals whatever it's called?
Four of the five South American teams meet on Saturday and no European team is guaranteed a quarter final space, so hopefully some good games to come :)

Brazil v Chile
Colombia v Uruguay
Netherlands v Mexico
Costa Rica v Greece
France v Nigeria
Germany v Algeria
Argentina v Switzerland
Belgium v USA

Good luck all :)

England v Costa Rica

A more typical England performance today, some good chances missed, a lot of misplaced passes and nobody looking comfortable with the ball at their feet.
Sturridge should have got a penalty but missed several good chances, Shaw and Lallana looked good and most of the others did OK.
Smalling was lucky he didn't have to face a top striker so came out unscathed, Jones had a safe game, Barkley was a bit of a disappointment, Lampard showed why he should think of retiring, Wilshere still doesn't look fit, and Milner was anonymous as usual.
Sterling, Rooney and Slippy came on late but we managed to hang on.

My Ratings - Foster 6, Jones 6, Shaw 7, Smalling 5, Cahill 6, Milner 4, Lampard 5, Barkley 5, Lallana 6, Sturridge 7. Subs - Sterling 4, Rooney 5, Gerrard 2

All the headlines will be about Mr Bitey's latest Italian meal, and he should get a long ban or at least not be allowed to play without a muzzle.

A bit disappointed with Chiellini who looks like an old style Italian defender, who you would have expected to solve the Suarez problem by removing his front teeth with his fist?

World Cup Predictions (Part 3)

For those still playing here's the 3rd matches in the group stages which start on Monday.
Maybe teams like England and Spain will go out with a bang or a whimper?
The last 16 matches kick off next Saturday and we will know the teams on Thursday night so I'll post that one then.
I've added the Beeb's resident predictor to the table so it would be great if we could all beat him :)
Maybe one of us will then get a big contract to spout drivel every week and post their predictions to the nation, although I suppose we'd have to pretend we used to play for Liverpool :(

Enough drivel, here's the matches

Australia v Spain
Netherlands v Chile
Cameroon v Brazil
Croatia v Mexico
Costa Rica v England
Italy v Uruguay
Greece v Ivory Coast
Japan v Colombia
Bosnia-Herzegovina v Iran
Nigeria v Argentina
Ecuador v France
Honduras v Switzerland
Portugal v Ghana
USA v Germany
Algeria v Russia
South Korea v Belgium

Shattered Dreams

The thing that comes to mind after the defeat last night is that we all pretend to want skillful and attacking football, but at the end of the day there is only one thing that matters ... winning.
If we had managed just 2 shots on target like Uruguay last night and been totally outplayed for 90 minutes but ended up winning these 2 games, the press, pundits and public would all have criticised our playing style but in 20, 30, 40 years time we would look back and say "what a great year it was" if we managed to get to the semi's or Final.

In 66 we narrowly beat France and Mexico and drew with the Uruguayans in the group stage, had one goal victories against the 10 men of Argentina and Portugal in the semi's and required extra time and 2 dodgy goals in the final to win (if the crowd were on the pitch the game should have been stopped), but we all bang on about that great team till this day.

In 90 we scraped draws against Ireland and Holland and beat the mighty Egyptians 1-0 to get through the group, needed a last minute winner to beat Belgium after being outplayed, scraped through against Cameroon with 2 penalties then lost to Germany.
But I admit to saying what a great competition that was.

In 82 we played some fine football winning all 3 group games and holding the Germans and Spanish in the 2nd group and going out of the tournament without losing a game despite missing our 2 best players (Keegan and Brooking) for all but the last half hour. But nobody ever brings that year up because we came home early.

Even if we had bored our way to 2 goalless draws this time, the World cup would still be alive for me and I would be watching every match, but with us virtually out the thought of sitting through Honduras v Ecuador and Nigeria v Bosnia has lost all the appeal and I'll be avoiding the box for the majority of games from now on :(

England v Uruguay

Bollocks!!
We played reasonably well again, but the same result :(
Suarez took his chances and we didn't, Rooney played well and was unlucky not to have grabbed more than his one goal, but star turns from the first game Sterling and Sturridge were well shackled.
Gerrard played better than the first game but spoiled it with the assist for Suarez's 2nd goal, Cahill was impressive at the back but Jagielka looked shaky.
It might have been different if the Uruguayan ref had sent off Godin in the first half as he should have done but despite not getting anything from the officials we should have been able to get a draw at least.
We're not out yet but it will need a miracle to stay in now :(

My Ratings - Hart 5, Johnson 7, Baines 6, Jagielka 4, Cahill 8, Gerrard 6, Henderson 5, Wellbeck 5, Sterling 5, Rooney 8, Sturridge 7. Subs - Barkley 4, Lallana 5, Lambert 0

England v Italy

Mixed emotions from that one? absolutely gutted we lost but it was probably one of the best England performances in years, there was hardly any of the usual long balls to nobody, and the usual going backwards every time we get in a good position.
Hopefully the "no fear" attitude will continue in the next match which is now a must win game.
Also hoping Gerrard puts country before club by taking out Suarez with one of his trademark leg breaking challenges :)

My Ratings - Hart 5, Johnson 5, Baines 5, Jagielka 6, Cahill 7, Gerrard 4, Henderson 6, Wellbeck 7, Sterling 8, Rooney 5, Sturridge 8. Subs - Barkley 6, Wilshere 4, Lallana 7

World Cup Predictions (Part 2)

Second matches start on Tuesday with the Brazil v Mexico game, not sure if the extra Brazilian Refereeinho will be playing :)

Brazil v Mexico
Australia v Netherlands
Spain v Chile
Cameroon v Croatia
Colombia v Ivory Coast
Uruguay v England
Japan v Greece
Italy v Costa Rica
Switzerland v France
Honduras v Ecuador
Argentina v Iran
Germany v Ghana
Nigeria v Bosnia-Herzegovina
Belgium v Russia
South Korea v Algeria
USA v Portugal

World Cup So Far

The World Cup has got off to a mixed start, the opening ceremony was a bit naff with the walking broccoli and the stage malfunction the bright spot of the Pitbull and Lopez song which was barely audible.
Brazil made a nightmare start with the own goal but went on to win thanks to a dodgy keeper and a even dodgier referee, Fred's dive wasn't even a good dive but the Japanese official fell for it.
I don't think Cameroon have the big money to buy a ref but he seemed to hate the Mexicans disallowing 2 good goals in the first half and allowing 2 red card tackles from Cameroon to go unpunished while only booking a Mexican after the Cameroon player ran into him.
Luckily the Mexicans finally scored one he couldn't rule out.

The tournament took a real upturn with the Spain Holland game, things didn't look good when Sneijder missed a sitter and Diego Costa bought a penalty for Spain to give them the lead, but Van Persie's stunning header brought them back level, the rain started falling in the second half and Arjen Robben tore the Spanish apart. 5-1 didn't flatter Holland who should have scored even more.
Ramos is one of the world's great full backs but was out of his depth at centre back and Casillias looks a bit past it now and should step down. Torres came on and managed to miss a chance that was easier to score which will be familiar to Chelsea fans :)
Chile looked capable of running up a cricket score at the start but Australia came back well and were a bit unlucky to lose.

World Cup Predictions (Part 1)

The World Cup has sneaked up on me and there is only a day to go!!
So a bit late with this year's World Cup predictions competition.

Usual predictions rules - 3 Points for a correct score, 1 Point for a correct result.
Overall winner will be decided on the total points at the end of the competition (64 Games).

I've thought long and hard about the knockout stages and had to come up with some different rules to avoid confusion later.
Predict a winner and points awarded after either 90 or 120 minutes, but if anyone predicts a draw in the later stages they must pick a winner on penalties to have a chance of points.
Example - if I say "Brazil 1 England 1, England on pens" and the game ends 1-1 and Brazil win on pens I get nothing, if England win on pens I'd get 3 points, if the game ended up 0-0 and England won on pens I would get 1 point, no points if you don't pick a penalty winner.
Hopefully that makes sense :)

Also hoping a few of you will join in, plenty of time to catch up if you miss a few. 

Here's a list of the first round of games in the 2014 tournament.
Will post the rest a few days before they are played.

Brazil v Croatia
Mexico v Cameroon
Spain v Netherlands
Chile v Australia
Colombia v Greece
Uruguay v Costa Rica
England v Italy
Ivory Coast v Japan
Switzerland v Ecuador
France v Honduras
Argentina v Bosnia-Herzegovina
Germany v Portugal
Iran v Nigeria
Ghana v USA
Belgium v Algeria
Russia v South Korea

Good luck all :)

Commercial Break

I do like the big budget commercials being put out by the likes of Nike and Adidas before the World Cup, mainly due to the fact that one of my sons works as an editor for the company that puts the footage together and delivers up the finished product we see on the box.
I have pointed out to him that Ibrahimovic and Ribery won't be in the finals, and that Tim Howard is not the first name you think of when picking the greatest keeper but Nike call the shots :)

Sadly this is my current favourite which is one of the few he didn't have a hand in :)

England Songs

I've just endured a couple of hours of this year's England World Cup songs. and it's been hard work this time :(
A small handful of tunes you might listen to twice and the rest the usual big pile of shite.
None of them are a patch on the Rik Mayall tune, but these are probably worth a listen.
Was gonna post the best 20, but I could only bring myself to list these 8.
Still got a few hundred to listen to so might have missed some gems?

Madfish - England
1 Eye - England
Macarooney - Do The Macarooney
Skatoons - The World Cups Waiting For You 2014
Dion Dublin And The Establishment - Winner In You
World Cup Buster - We'll Do It Again (....It's For Charity)
Roy Chubby Brown And Journey South - Hopes Of A Thousand Men
Neil Brophy Band - Football Rock And Roll

Cheesiest one, a bit catchy :)

World Cup 2014

The World Cup starts in about 72 hours, so probably time I posted something :)

So standby for a flood of useless info, opinions and crummy footie songs.
If anyone is interested I'll post a predictions competition (with complicated rules) to cover the whole tournament.

I'm really starting to look forward to it, England have a mainly young team who might freeze on the big ocassion, or might just play without fear and shock us all :)
As the tournament is in South America most people will rightly expect one of the big teams from that continent to win, and it's hard to see past Brazil and Argentina with only Spain and Germany to give them trouble from Europe.
Personally I think anyone is beatable, Brazil have the home support and will probably get favourable refereeing but they have failed to show they are a class above anyone. Argentina obviously have a collection of world class players but also a few weak links. Spain are nearing the end of their golden generation, the Germans have lost a couple of top stars and might have to rely on a few oldies to get them through.
Portugal, Belgium and Switzerland all seem a bit overrated as do Uruguay, so I reckon England could do well (hopefully).

Anyway here's a Footie song :)
Sad to hear about Rik Mayall's unexpected death today, RIP Rik :(
He did this England song in 2010 and it's not too bad.

It's Zamora

The Championship play off Final.

I have to admit I wasn't that bothered who won as I'm not really a fan of either.
I suppose I was slightly on the side of QPR just down to them having a few ex-Hammers like Bobby Zamora and Rob Green who I think did a great job for us, plus Morrison and O'Neil.
On the other hand I don't have much sympathy for Joey Barton and Harry Redknapp who seemed to be taking another team into financial meltdown like he did with Pompey.

Derby probably deserved to win after dominating the match especially after O'Neil's last ditch foul earned him a red card, but it was the fairytale end with Bobby Z's last minute goal sending QPR back for a season in the Prem.

Request

2012-3 Predictions winner Biopunk requested a picture of DiMatteo and Lampard playing together as his prize, I failed miserably to find one. So a year on and we reached this compromise of Jose kicking Rafa out of Stamford bridge ... hope you like it :)

Thought you might also like this video I found recently :)

Upton Park Hotseat

If the rumours are to be believed one of these people will be West Ham manager next season.

Ronald Koeman looks like the interesting one, it's rumoured he wants to try his hand in the Premier league and West Ham might be a good fit.
The rest in my opinion are no great improvement on Fat Sam, Benitez and Moyes would want big wages and lots of available money which we don't have.
Poyet and McClaren are decent managers but neither would inspire a big improvement.

My prediction (don't put your money on it) is that there won't be a change, although the Koeman one does interest me :)

Fantasy Football

The season is over so here are the final standings.
Thanks to the few who joined in the NBTF leagues, hopefully get a few more next season?

Fantasy Premier League 2013/14
Thanks to Paul for getting me into this competition this year, hadn't really given this one a go before.
The work league ended up pretty interesting with me scraping a one point victory courtesy of my nearest challenger using an extra transfer in the last week (costing him 4 points).
The NBTF league was sadly just me and Longy.

FPL (NBTF - 2 Teams)
1 Lee - Cockney Rejects 2350 (Overall 31,697, Transfers 38)
2 Longy - Longy's Longshots 2097 (Overall 654,535, Transfers 30)

FPL (Works League - 17 Teams)
1 Lee 2350 (Overall 31,697, Transfers 38)
2 Steve 2349 (Overall 32,270, Transfers 34)
3 Paul 2329 (Overall 48,595, Transfers 47)
4 Richard 2230 (Overall 212,909, Transfers 59)
5 Hamish 2168 (Overall 392,677, Transfers 36)

--------------------------------------------------
Ultimate FPL (NBTF League - 1 Team)
Nobody else joined up so just me :(
A good new game which was free this year, but might be a pay game next season.

1 Lee's Team 954
(Overall 677th, England 302nd, West Ham 12th, FISO 20th)

 --------------------------------------------------
Telegraph Fantasy Football 2013/14
A competition I've been playing since the 2000/01 season.
Usually do well in Works leagues (9 wins in 11 goes) but nationally not so good I've managed to win about £200 but have never been near the bigger prizes.
This season has been a bad one, briefly hit 2nd spot early in the season but ended up with all my teams outside the top 2000 which is the worst ever.

Congratulations to John for winning the first NBTF league :)

TFF (NBTF - 8 Teams)
1 John - Runcorn Reds 1875
2 Neil - Part Vole 1759
3 Lee - Mad Eyed Screamers 1697
4 Lee - Nutty Boys 1686
5 John - Hard Luck Story 1567
(League 3,028th)

TFF (Works League - 27 Teams, 5 Team Max)
1 Lee - Two Tone Town 1779
2 Lee - Life On Mars Bars 1768
3 Lee - Krypton Supermen 1763
4 Lee - Headless Chickens 1716
5 Shane - Laurens Loafers 1678
(League 2,085th)

TFF (Lee League - 20 Teams)
1 Village Idiots 1841
2 UK Subs 1835
3 Zero Tolerance 1820
4 Two Tone Town 1779
5 Life On Mars Bars 1768
(League - 387th)

World Cup Squad

The England squad for the World cup has been announced today.

Goalies - Hart, Foster, Forster
Defenders - Baines, Johnson, Cahill, Jagielka, Shaw, Jones, Smalling
Midfielders - Gerrard, Lampard, Lallana, Sterling, Barkley, Wilshere, Henderson, Milner, Oxlade-Chamberlain
Forwards - Rooney , Sturridge, Welbeck, Lambert

On Standby - Ruddy, Flanagan, Stones, Carrick, Cleverley, Carroll, Defoe

Mostly predictable with Ashley Cole being the best known to miss out, Michael Carrick is slightly unlucky as Roy is going with the injury prone Arsenal pair of Wilshere and Chamberlain. Both are great players if they can stay fit but there must be a worry.
Defence is a bit of a concern with Jones and Smalling not showing any form and Johnson having been taken apart by the Germans 4 years ago and now worse. Flanagan and Stones were surely better options to have in the squad?
Good to see Barkley, Sterling and Lambert in but did think Frank Lampard might have got the call last night telling him to book a summer holiday instead.

Premier Predictions Facts

The complete final table

Congratulations Paulo :)

Facts and figures
Most weekly wins - Paulo 6
Most correct scores (3 points) - Paulo 33
Most correct results (3+1 pointers) - Gobshyte 190
Most games predicted - Lee 389
Best Average (points per game predicted) - Paul 0.715
Highest weekly score - Paulo 15

Premier Predictions (Week 38)

Here we go the final week, All games due to kick off at 3pm on Sunday.
A few things still to settle all of them unlikely, Man City need a point for the title so all the scouses will be hoping for a Hammers win :) Liverpool obviously need to win to hang on to 2nd place (or better!!).
Norwich just need an 18-0 win over Arsenal and hope West Brom lose to Stoke ...
Man U could grab a Europa league spot if Tottenham lose to Villa, and they win at Southampton.
.... as I said all unlikely :)

Good luck all for the final time this season :)

Cardiff v Chelsea
Fulham v C Palace
Hull v Everton
Liverpool v Newcastle
Man City v West Ham
Norwich v Arsenal
Southampton v Man Utd
Sunderland v Swansea
Tottenham v Aston Villa
West Brom v Stoke

Site Login

For some reason Google have decided that anyone who logs into Google services (Blogger, YouTube, Picasa etc) will not be able to use their Virgin e-mail addresses soon?
From Monday anyone using a Virgin.net e-mail address will have to set up a new mail account to access their blogs and videos, they are trying to persuade you to use Gmail,
Virgin.com, NTLWorld and Blueyonder addresses will be phased out over the next few weeks :(
I guess Google continue their quest for total control over the internet wanting to ram their adverts down your throat every time you turn your computer on.
I use one of these to login so hopefully I won't suddenly disappear.

Championship

Congratulations to Leicester (102 points) and Burnley who are promoted to the Premier league.
Play-offs will be QPR v Wigan and Derby v Brighton.
Brighton grabbing the last spot with a 92nd minute winner at Forest after Reading failed to beat Burnley.
At the bottom Birmingham got a 93rd minute equaliser at Bolton to send Doncaster down with Barnsley and Yeovil, nail biting stuff for the Brummies :)

Premier Predictions (Week 37)

Just 2 weeks to go and like the Premiership title the prediction competition is still open.
Bumper week with 13 games over 5 days.
3rd place Man City have 2 games including a tough away trip to Everton and a home tie to relegation threatened Villa, 2nd place Chelsea who are now 'concentrating on the league' have what looks like an easy home game to Norwich, but they will be desperate for the points. Leaders Liverpool have an awkward game away to in form Palace and can't afford to slip up.
At the bottom the big game is on Wednesday with Sunderland facing West Brom.

West Ham v Tottenham
Aston Villa v Hull
Man Utd v Sunderland
Newcastle v Cardiff
Stoke v Fulham
Swansea v Southampton
Everton v Man City

Arsenal v West Brom
Chelsea v Norwich
C Palace v Liverpool

Man Utd v Hull
Man City v Aston Villa
Sunderland v West Brom

Good luck all :)

Ups And Downs

The state of play with less than 2 weeks to go.

Premier League
Champions - * Liverpool or Chelsea or Man City
Relegated - * (any 3 from) Cardiff, Fulham, Norwich, Sunderland, Aston Villa, West Brom, West Ham or Hull
--------------------------------------
Championship
Promoted - Leicester, Burnley
Play-offs - * Derby, QPR (+ 2 from) Reading, Wigan, Brighton or Blackburn
Relegated - * Yeovil, Barnsley (+ 1 from) Birmingham, Doncaster, Millwall, Charlton or Blackpool
--------------------------------------
League 1
Promoted - Wolves, Brentford
Play-offs - Preston, L Orient, Rotherham, Peterborough
Relegated - * Shrewsbury, Stevenage, Carlisle (+ 1 from)  Tranmere, Crewe, Notts Co or Colchester
--------------------------------------
League 2
Promoted - Chesterfield, Rochdale, Scunthorpe
Play-offs - Fleetwood, Burton, York, Southend
Relegated - * Torquay (+ 1 from) Wycombe, Northampton or Bristol Rovers
--------------------------------------
Conference
Promoted - Luton
Play-offs - Cambridge, Gateshead, Grimsby, Halifax
Relegated - Hyde, Tamworth, Dartford, Chester

Premier Predictions (Week 36)

3 Weeks to go, 10 games over 3 days again.
Title is still just about open and relegation could still go anyway.

Big game is Sunday's Liverpool v Chelsea clash, things seem to be going for Liverpool at the moment with Silva joining Toure in the treatment room last night and injuries for Terry and Cech in Chelsea's 19th century defensive display at Athletico tonight.

Southampton v Everton
Fulham v Hull
Stoke v Tottenham
Swansea v Aston Villa
West Brom v West Ham
Man Utd v Norwich

Sunderland v Cardiff
Liverpool v Chelsea
C Palace v Man City
Arsenal v Newcastle

Good luck all :)

Moyes Out

Probably about six months too late to save Man U's season, but I still feel a bit sorry for David Moyes.
He probably had a job for life at Everton as they hadn't realised until Martinez arrived that you could borrow all those players to complement your promising youth and established stars.
The real top clubs need a big personality to handle all the crap thrown at them by the media and it looks like Moyes just wasn't up to the task, I've no doubt that if he gets back into management with a championship team or smaller premier team he will be a success again at a club with lower ambitions.
But I guess he won't be too upset for too long with his big payoff cheque in the bank.

Best of the jokes :)

  David Moyes shouldn't worry about getting another job.
After receiving £4 million for being a complete failure, he should be running a bank in no time.

David Moyes has been offered another job already, The Great Britain bobsleigh Team have said they have been looking for years for someone who can push a team downhill at that sort of speed

Following the sacking of Moyes, the police have been called to quell the protests outside Old Trafford. Liverpool, Man City, and Chelsea fans have been all told to go home.

Jurgen Klopp has ruled himself out of the Man Utd job but said his brother Klipity might be interested

David Moyes is going to be leaving Old Trafford with a multi million pound pay off.
Plus the bonuses from Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea.

In a time of crisis it's great to see the Manchester United board, and supporters, get behind their manager.
And all push together. 

Dylan Tombides

So sad to hear the news of the tragic death of Dylan Tombides from cancer today.

Premier Predictions (Week 35)

Back to 10 games this week with games on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Going on some of the recent results it looks like wins for Norwich, Sunderland, West Brom, Hull, Man U, Fulham and maybe even West Ham :)

Tottenham v Fulham
Aston Villa v Southampton
Cardiff v Stoke
Newcastle v Swansea
West Ham v C Palace
Chelsea v Sunderland
Norwich v Liverpool
Hull v Arsenal
Everton v Man Utd
Man City v West Brom

4 weeks to go, good luck all :)

Premier Predictions (Week 34)

Another super bonus week with 11 league games and 2 Cup semi's thrown in over 5 days.

Some important matches with a possible title decider at Anfield, a relegation six pointer at Fulham, and will Wigan and West Ham leave Arsenal's season in ruins?

C Palace v Aston Villa
Fulham v Norwich
Southampton v Cardiff
Stoke v Newcastle
Sunderland v Everton
West Brom v Tottenham
Arsenal v Wigan (FAC)
Liverpool v Man City
Hull v Sheff Utd (FAC)
Swansea v Chelsea
Arsenal v West Ham
Everton v C Palace
Man City v Sunderland

Weeks are running short in this comp so an outright win for anyone could make all the difference.

Good luck all :)

Was It Worth It?

Chris Hughton became the 9th Premier league manager to be dumped this season + 5 were replaced before the season started.
Here's what difference it has made so far.

+5 C Palace - Ian Holloway replaced by Tony Pulis, Then 19th, Now 14th
+3 Stoke - Tony Pulis replaced by Mark Hughes, Then 13th, Now 10th
+2 Fulham - Rene Meulensteen replaced by Felix Magath, Then 20th, Now 18th
+1 Chelsea - Rafa Benitez replaced by Jose Mourinho, Then 3rd, Now 2nd
+1 Everton - David Moyes replaced by Roberto Martinez, Then 6th, Now 5th
+1 Tottenham - Andre Villas Boas replaced by Tim Sherwood, Then 7th, Now 6th
0 Norwich - Chris Hughton, Then 17th, Now 17th
0 Sunderland - Paolo Di Canio replaced by Gus Poyet, Then 20th, Now 20th
0 WBA - Steve Clarke replaced by Pepe Mel, Then 16th, Now 16th
-1 Man City - Roberto Mancini replaced by Manuel Pellegrini, Then 2nd, Now 3rd
-2 Cardiff - Malky Mackay replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Then 17th, Now 19th
-2 Fulham - Martin Jol replaced by Rene Meulensteen. Then 18th, *Then 20th
-3 Swansea - Michael Laudrup replaced by Garry Monk, Then 12th, Now 15th
-6 Man Utd - Sir Alex Ferguson replaced by David Moyes, Then 1st, Now 7th

No change - Liverpool, Arsenal, Southampton, Newcastle, West Ham, Hull, Aston Villa.

Best decision so far is Palace appointing Tony Pulis after Ian Holloway quit early in the season, strangely the next best is Pulis's replacement Mark Hughes.
The rest have been less successful with David Moyes finding it really hard to follow Fergie down in 7th.
Fulham's 2 changes have left them in the same position, as have Sunderland and West Brom's changes.
The 2 Welsh teams haven't gained anything from their sackings.

Premier Predictions (Week 33)

First off an apology, this blog was supposed to have lots of footie related stuff but the only thing I seem to have time for is the predictions at the moment.
Luckily that is the one thing that keeps me coming back every week stopping this blog going the same way as most of my other blogs.
I will try harder :)

On with the matter in hand, here's this weeks selection 7 games on Saturday, 2 on Sunday and the Monday game features Sunderland again.

Man City v Southampton
Aston Villa v Fulham
Cardiff v C Palace
Hull v Swansea
Newcastle v Man Utd
Norwich v West Brom
Chelsea v Stoke
Everton v Arsenal
West Ham v Liverpool
Tottenham v Sunderland

Only 6 weeks left so mathematically anyone can still win, Gobby is in form and could take the lead this week, or will last years champ come flying through from the back of the field?

Good luck all :)

Premier Predictions (Week 32)

Sorry for the delay, midweek games made me forget to post early :)
Saturday, Sunday and Monday games this week.
Big games this week the stuttering Gooners v City, and Monday's relegation scrap (hopefully 3 points for us to climb to near safety).

Man Utd v Aston Villa
C Palace v Chelsea
Southampton v Newcastle
Stoke v Hull
Swansea v Norwich
West Brom v Cardiff
Arsenal v Man City
Fulham v Everton
Liverpool v Tottenham
Sunderland v West Ham

Longy's already posted elsewhere so I'll stick his in the comments, cheers mate :)
Good luck all :)

Moyes

Premier Predictions (Week 31)

Here we go it's super value bonus week with 50% extra free :)
15 games this week with games being played on Saturday, Sunday and then 5 re-arranged games on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Everyone should be aiming to better their best weekly scores of the season.
Best scores so far this season - Paulo 15, Gobshyte 14, Lee 12, Longy 11, Biopunk 10, Paul 10
Top scores of all time (well the last 2 seasons anyway) - 18 by me :) ..... just know someone will beat that now :(

Chelsea v Arsenal
Cardiff v Liverpool
Everton v Swansea
Hull v West Brom
Man City v Fulham
Newcastle v C Palace
Norwich v Sunderland
West Ham v Man Utd

Tottenham v Southampton
Aston Villa v Stoke

Arsenal v Swansea
Man Utd v Man City
Newcastle v Everton

West Ham v Hull
Liverpool v Sunderland

Premier Predictions (Week 30)

A normal 10 game week for a change, 8 Saturday and 2 big grudge matches on Sunday :)

Hull v Man City
Everton v Cardiff
Fulham v Newcastle
Southampton v Norwich
Stoke v West Ham
Sunderland v C Palace
Swansea v West Brom
Aston Villa v Chelsea

Man Utd v Liverpool
Tottenham v Arsenal

... and in other news.
Arsenal played well against the diving deutschlander's but not enough to get through, shame they'd let it slip in the home tie :(

Pardew news
The Fulham players should be safe this week :)
3 game Stadium ban plus 4 more games banned from the touchline.
Maybe the lampshade should be compulsory if he gets back in the technical area :)

Premier Predictions (Week 29)

Five league games postponed this week so the FA Cup Quarter Finals fill the gap :)
6 games on Saturday, 3 on Sunday

Arsenal v Everton (FAC)
West Brom v Man Utd
Cardiff v Fulham
C Palace v Southampton
Norwich v Stoke
Chelsea v Tottenham

Sheff Utd v Charlton (FAC)
Hull v Sunderland (FAC)
Man City v Wigan (FAC)

Swore I wouldn't bother watching England friendlies again, but I'm sitting through this torture one more time.
0-0 at the moment, Sturridge and Sterling doing ok but the rest looking really average :(
Hopefully it will improve in the second half :)

Premier Predictions (Week 28)

Only 8 Premier league games this week due to the League cup final on Sunday, so I'm going to add that one into the mix this week.
Will do the same next week with FA Cup games to make up the numbers :)

So here's this weeks list, 5 games on Saturday and 4 on Sunday .... good luck all :)

Everton v West Ham
Fulham v Chelsea
Hull v Newcastle
Stoke v Arsenal
Southampton v Liverpool

Man City v Sunderland (League Cup)
Aston Villa v Norwich
Swansea v C Palace
Tottenham v Cardiff

Euro 2016

Draw made for Euro 2016

Group A - Holland, Czech Rep, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Iceland, Latvia
Group B - Wales, Belgium, Bosnia Herz, Andorra, Cyprus, Israel
Group C - Spain, Ukraine, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Belarus, Slovakia
Group D - Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Poland, Georgia, Gibraltar
Group E - England, Switzerland, San Marino, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia
Group F - Northern Ireland, Greece, Faroe Islands, Finland, Romania, Hungary
Group G - Russia, Austria, Sweden, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Montenegro
Group H - Italy, Norway, Croatia, Malta, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria
Group I - Portugal, Denmark, Albania, Armenia, Serbia

Pretty dull group for England who really should qualify.
Best group is D with Germany, the Irish, Scots and Gibralter :)

Premier Predictions (Week 27)

Back again, 7 games Saturday and 3 on Sunday.

Chelsea v Everton
Arsenal v Sunderland
Cardiff v Hull
Man City v Stoke
West Brom v Fulham
West Ham v Southampton
C Palace v Man Utd

Liverpool v Swansea
Newcastle v Aston Villa
Norwich v Tottenham

Good luck all :)

F.A Cup

They've just had the draw for the F.A Cup 6th Round?
Despite 2 of the games in the 5th Round having not started and one still being played, add to that one game was postponed. Luckily the 4 games that have been played produced winners so at least there was a chance of us knowing an actual 6th round tie.
One thing that seems really unfair is that they hold the draw while the Sheffield United v Nottingham Forest game is being played, currently Forest lead 1-0 but Sheff U know that if they win they might be at home to Sheff Wednesday in the 6th Round. Considering they are in relegation trouble in the First Division the cup is probably less important at the moment so they might have eased off in the second half but now they have it all to fight for.
Liverpool have the added incentive of knowing they have a home tie against Everton to come if they win, although I reckon Rodgers will be targeting the Cup and should play a strong team today.

6th Round Draw
Arsenal or Liverpool V Everton
Brighton or Hull V Sunderland
Sheff U or Nottm Forest V Sheff Wed or Charlton
Man City V Wigan

The one game we know at the moment is a repeat of last years cup final, so City will have a chance of revenge but Wigan have already shocked a few this season.

More Fantasy Football

The Fantasy Premier League people http://fantasy.premierleague.com/ have just launched a new game for the rest of the season.
Pick 25 players with a budget of £160 million which must include 10 home grown or U-21 players.
Looks like the same scoring as the main game, but obviously you have more players to choose from, having 7 on the bench for matchdays (which comes in handy when games are postponed like this week) and 7 reserves to cover injuries etc.
The biggest advantage of this version is that it looks like you can change your team during a normal match week, so if there are games on Saturday, Sunday and Monday you can change your team 3 times.

I've set up a blog league (code in the pic) so if you fancy playing please join up :)
If you do join up please introduce yourself by commenting here - Name or nickname and team supported will do :)

Tom Finney R.I.P

Sad news that another football legend has died, Sir Tom Finney passed away yesterday at the age of 91.
Tom spent his whole career with Preston North End after World War 2 notching up well over 400 appearances in the days before League cups and European competition bolstered the games played.
He also played 76 times for England scoring 30 goals.

The famous Splash picture taken at Stamford Bridge in the days when a few puddles didn't mean the match was called off :)

Standards

Saturday - Andy Carroll brushes his arm against Chico Florist who falls dramatically holding his face.
Result - Carroll sent off, appeals turned down and Howard Webb comes out with his reputation untarnished.

Sunday - Cristiano Ronaldo brushes his arm against Carlos Gurpegi who falls dramatically holding his face.
Result - Ronaldo sent off, appeal turned down but Ref Miguel Gamez is suspended for a month, banned from officiating Real Madrid games this season and possibly demoted to second tier games in future.?

Premier Predictions (Week 25 + 26)

Double feature this time,
week 25 fixtures - 8 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday,
week 26 games - 4 on Tuesday and 6 on Wednesday next week.
2 tough games for league leaders Arsenal while City and Chelsea should pick up 6 points.
At the bottom there's a bundle of 6 pointers with at least 11 teams still in with a chance of the drop
Week 25
Liverpool v Arsenal
Aston Villa v West Ham
Chelsea v Newcastle
C Palace v West Brom
Norwich v Man City
Southampton v Stoke
Sunderland v Hull
Swansea v Cardiff
Tottenham v Everton
Man Utd v Fulham

Week 26
Cardiff v Aston Villa
Hull v Southampton
West Ham v Norwich
West Brom v Chelsea
Arsenal v Man Utd
Everton v C Palace
Man City v Sunderland
Newcastle v Tottenham
Stoke v Swansea
Fulham v Liverpool

Usual rules just need the predictions before kick offs whenever you want to post :)

Good luck all :)

The Good And The Bad

Good win for the Hammers with Carroll doing what Carroll does and Nolan doing what Nolan does :)
Nolan has been piss poor all season mainly because he was still taking up those positions to feed off Carroll's knock downs without getting his head around the fact Carroll wasn't playing.
The kick in the teeth was Chico Florres conning Howard Webb into sending off Carroll after his standard roll around holding his face act that we've all seen too often :(
I suppose we should have expected it after Fat Sam took the mick out of him when he did it earlier in the season when luckily the ref didn't fall for it.
Hopefully the red card will be overturned and he will be available for the next 3 must win games, even Laudrup looked embarrassed when asked about it.

Thanks to -  http://www.101greatgoals.com

Premier Predictions (Week 24)

Before the dust settles on a great night, it starts again Saturday lunchtime with the North east derby and our 6 pointer, Chelsea and Man City get a couple of days extra rest before the big one.
7 games Saturday, 2 on Sunday, then Monday's clash of the moneymen.

Newcastle v Sunderland
West Ham v Swansea
Cardiff v Norwich
Everton v Aston Villa
Fulham v Southampton
Hull v Tottenham
Stoke v Man Utd
West Brom v Liverpool
Arsenal v C Palace
Man City v Chelsea

Good luck all :)

Premier Predictions (Week 23)

Cup matches this weekend, but the Premier league is back on Tuesday :)
6 matches on Tuesday and 4 on Wednesday.
Including Chelsea v West Ham, so I've gotta get my Chelsea jokes in early as I'll probably be keeping a low profile from about 8 O'clock Wednesday :)

Man Utd v Cardiff
Norwich v Newcastle
Southampton v Arsenal
Swansea v Fulham
C Palace v Hull
Liverpool v Everton

Aston Villa v West Brom
Chelsea v West Ham
Sunderland v Stoke
Tottenham v Man City

Good luck all :)