Premier Predictions (Week 27 + 28)

Decided to to a double bill this time.

Week 27
6 games on Saturday and 2 (+1) on Sunday, due to the League Cup Final we only have 8 Premier league games.
So I've included the Cup Final in this weeks predictions.
For this game I'm using the 90 minute (+ injury time) score only, so if it goes to extra time it's a draw .. all clear :)

Big game this week should have been Man U v Arsenal but that's looking more like a shoot out for the top 4. Big fat Sam's return to Upton Park might be interesting, hopefully we will turn it on against one of the lower teams for a change?

West Ham v Sunderland
Leicester v Norwich
Southampton v Chelsea
Stoke v Aston Villa
Watford v Bournemouth
West Brom v C Palace

 Man Utd v Arsenal
Tottenham v Swansea
(League Cup - 90 Minute Score)
Liverpool v Man City
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Week 28
Midweek Premier league games this week, 5 on Tuesday, 5 on Wednesday.
Liverpool play Man City again and West Ham take on Tottenham owing them one.

Aston Villa v Everton
Bournemouth v Southampton
Leicester v West Brom
Norwich v Chelsea
Sunderland v C Palace

Arsenal v Swansea
Stoke v Newcastle
West Ham v Tottenham
Liverpool v Man City
Man Utd v Watford

Post before kick off's and Good Luck All :)

 p.s. Anyone heard anything of Gobshyte? hasn't posted here since last August, and hasn't updated his blog since last June. Hope he's OK??

F.A Cup 6th Round

The draw for the 6th Round of the F.A Cup (Quarter Finals).

Reading v Crystal Palace
Everton v Chelsea
Hull or Arsenal v Watford
Shrewsbury or Man Utd v West Ham

As a Hammers fan I'm glad that Chelsea play Everton, as I expected us to get drawn away to one of those :)
Shrewsbury away not so bad, unless the under performing ones suddenly start turning it on and a trip to Old Trafford might be harder?

Used to rely on the BBC for football news, but their site has gone to pot recently?
This is their version of the draw??

According to them Chelsea and Palace have 2 chances to get through and Arsenal, Hull ,Shrewsbury, Man Utd don't need to bother playing anymore as they are already out.

F.A Cup Predictions (Part 3)

Cup week again with the 5th Round, 4 games Saturday, 3 on Sunday and one Monday.
3 all Premier ties and a possibility of all Premier Quarter finals (or not).

Arsenal v Hull
Reading v West Brom
Watford v Leeds
Bournemouth v Everton
Blackburn v West Ham
Tottenham v C Palace
Chelsea v Man City
Shrewsbury v Man Utd

Looking like a straight fight between Biopunk and John, the rest of us need near perfect weeks to catch up :(

The Masked Men

Good to see Diego Costa has joined the masked men of Chelsea.
Although with the early season form maybe it was a group of imposters just pretending? :)

R.I.P Ivanov

Sad to hear that my favourite Bulgarian footballer Trifon Ivanov has died of a heart attack at just 50 years old :(
The hairiest, scariest looking player of the last 30 years.
Actually a pretty decent player despite looking like he'd escaped from the set of a werewolf movie.

:(

Scum

Premier Predictions (Week 26)

7 Games on Saturday and 3 on Sunday this week.
The big games are on Sunday this week with the top 4 playing each other.
Leicester will stay top whatever happens, but have the chance to increase the lead?
Vardy vs Mertesacker just isn't a fair contest :)

Sunderland v Man Utd
Bournemouth v Stoke
C Palace v Watford
Everton v West Brom
Norwich v West Ham
Swansea v Southampton
Chelsea v Newcastle

Arsenal v Leicester
Aston Villa v Liverpool
Man City v Tottenham

Good Luck All :)

Rip Off

Not sure why anyone would want to pay money to watch Liverpool :), 
but I must give some rare praise to Liverpool fans after last weeks protest which seems to be raising the right questions about the money grabbing owners of football teams.



Don't think much will change unless everyone says "enough is enough" and boycott complete matches or fans refuse to buy season tickets.
With the amount of money being given to Premier league clubs by the new TV deal the least they could do would be to freeze the prices, or preferably drop them?

I've been to a few lower league games watching Southend where the home teams have large stadiums way too big for the couple of thousand fans who turn up and it's a weird experience.
Much as you try to improve the mood by singing and making noise, it still feels wrong.

If the owners feel that they don't need the real supporters anymore and are only catering for "the prawn sandwich brigade" (as Roy Keane once put it so well), they will be in for a nasty shock down the line.
Good TV entertainment requires a great atmosphere to be generated by the crowd as in "real" fans who will keep cheering even when their team is in the relegation spots and are 2-0 down at home.
I feel TV companies will think twice about coughing up billions to show "soulless" matches played in near silence in half empty stadiums.

Would be nice if British clubs took a leaf out of
Uli Hoeness's book :)
Here (right) he explains why the season ticket price is so low at Bayern Munich.
The likes of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund get full houses of 80,000 every game and yet a season ticket costs less than going to 2 games in this country, but you still get to see some of the best players in the world.