Friday 29 January 2016

Premier Predictions (Week 24 + 25)

F.A Cup still going on but the Premier league is back on Tuesday.
Midweek has 8 games on Tuesday and 2 on Wednesday.
Next weekend 7 Games on Saturday, 2 on Sunday and one Monday.
Next Saturday's early kick off sees the top 2 going head to head.

Week 24 - Tue 02/02 + Wed 03/02

Arsenal v Southampton
Leicester v Liverpool
Norwich v Tottenham
Sunderland v Man City
West Ham v Aston Villa
C Palace v Bournemouth
Man Utd v Stoke
West Brom v Swansea

Everton v Newcastle
Watford v Chelsea
---------------------------

Week 25 - Sat 06/02 - Mon 08/02

Man City v Leicester
Aston Villa v Norwich
Liverpool v Sunderland
Newcastle v West Brom
Stoke v Everton
Swansea v C Palace
Tottenham v Watford

Bournemouth v Arsenal
Chelsea v Man Utd

Southampton v West Ham

Good Luck All :)

*EDIT* - The Southampton v West Ham game has been moved to Saturday evening, because West Ham play Liverpool in the Cup on Tuesday.

Tuesday 26 January 2016

F.A Cup Predictions (Part 2)

Here we go, the second set of FA Cup fixtures being played Friday 29th to Sunday 31st.

Same Rules - 3 points for a correct score, 1 point for a correct result.
Scores after 90 minutes only (not including extra time and penalties)
Not going to include replays only first matches.
Round 4 x 16 games - Fixtures 33-48 of 63.

Derby v Man Utd

Colchester v Tottenham
Arsenal v Burnley
Bury v Hull
C Palace v Stoke
Bolton v Leeds
Reading v Walsall
Portsmouth v Bournemouth
Nottm Forest v Watford
Oxford U v Blackburn
Shrewsbury v Sheff Wed
West Brom v Peterborough
Aston Villa v Man City
Liverpool v West Ham

Carlisle v Everton
MK Dons v Chelsea

Current Scores - Biopunk 28, John 26, Lee 22, Paulo 20, Longy 17

Good Luck All

Predictions And Fantasy Football Update

Current Predictions League full table


Selected Fantasy Football Leagues


FPL - Gary still leads, but the gap is getting smaller

TFF -
Blog League - Ryan still leads the way, but I'm catching up :)
My League - Shame they changed the rules this season, as I would be sitting 5th overall.
Rick's - After about 14 years of playing this I finally hit top spot for the first time.

Thursday 21 January 2016

Transfer Rumours

Daniel Sturridge to West Ham for £18m ??
When he's fit I rate him as the best striker in the Premiership, trouble is ... he's never fit.
After paying them £15m for one injury prone striker, would we be willing to blow the January budget on a player who most likely would be very lucky to play 10 games before the end of the season?
With the money available in the Premier league and possible European competition, maybe this deal isn't a totally made up story like most "exclusives", but I really can't see it happening.

Wednesday 20 January 2016

Premier Predictions (Week 23)

8 Games on Saturday, 2 on Sunday.
Norwich have been spending some money this week although I think Naismith is injured, so Liverpool will be happy.
West Ham will hope for a double over City, we have beaten them twice in the last 3 meetings but depends which version of City turn up.
Arsenal v Chelsea is usually interesting, although no Mourinho means it will be about the game. Ref is Clattenburg so he should be equally bad for both teams :)

Norwich v Liverpool
C Palace v Tottenham
Leicester v Stoke
Man Utd v Southampton
Sunderland v Bournemouth
Watford v Newcastle
West Brom v Aston Villa
West Ham v Man City

Everton v Swansea
Arsenal v Chelsea

Tuesday 19 January 2016

The Season So Far

Nothing predictable so far this season, nobody has put together a run that looks like claiming the title.
I tipped Arsenal at the start, but they are only top because nearly all the other teams are having a bad season. Arsenal seem to be coming through their usual injury crisis without too much damage so it's possible?
Man city look the most likely to challenge, but without Kompany they look far from safe at the back, Aguerro is the quality striker in the league but he is looking injury prone. If he stays fit I expect City to finish top but without him City look weak.
Leicester are doing brilliant but you have to worry if they suffer from a few key injuries, but whatever happens they should still finish top 10 which is an achievement.
Man Utd are still a work in progress, but the current 5th place is probably better than their play deserves.
Tottenham look like they will have their best Premier league season, can't pick many faults with their current crop of players.
West Ham and Stoke are possibly over achieving but both should be safe for a top 10 finish.
Crystal Palace are on a sticky patch at the moment and really need a good striker, really don't think Adebeyor fits that bill?
Everton should be doing better, but their defence is really letting them down.
Liverpool will no doubt blow another fortune to try and improve an average squad, but without injury prone Sturridge they haven't improved at all this season.
Chelsea are having a nightmare season, but they should get into the top half by the end but I can't see them challenging for a top 4 position.

At the bottom Aston Villa need a miracle, but I think any of about 8 teams could drop into the relegation spots with them.
I fancy Newcastle and Bournemouth to survive, but teams like West Brom and Watford could get dragged in?

Friday 8 January 2016

Premier Predictions (Weeks 21 + 22)

Just to confuse everyone? here are the next 2 weeks worth of Premier League fixtures.
Midweek games starting Tuesday, and next weekend's from Saturday the 16th.

Week 21 - Tue 21st / Wed 22nd
Aston Villa v C Palace
Bournemouth v West Ham
Newcastle v Man Utd

Chelsea v West Brom
Man City v Everton
Southampton v Watford
Stoke v Norwich
Swansea v Sunderland
Liverpool v Arsenal
Tottenham v Leicester
-------------------------------------
Week 22 - Sat 16th / Sun 17th / Mon 18th
Tottenham v Sunderland
Bournemouth v Norwich
Chelsea v Everton
Man City v C Palace
Newcastle v West Ham
Southampton v West Brom
Aston Villa v Leicester

Liverpool v Man Utd
Stoke v Arsenal

Swansea v Watford
-------------------------------------
Can never figure out in this modern world of technology, where everything can be done in an instant, why it now takes at least 10 days to organise a Cup replay?

Monday 4 January 2016

F.A Cup Predictions

Don't know if anyone wants to join in on this?
Going to run a separate FA Cup predictions competition this season.

Rules - 3 points for a correct score, 1 point for a correct result.
Scores after 90 minutes only (not including extra time and penalties) to avoid complaints.
Not going to include replays only first matches - Round 3 x 32 games, Round 4 x 16 games etc.
So a total of 63 games, Winner will be whoever scores the most at the end .. simple :)

First Set - (Copy and Paste)

Exeter v Liverpool
Wycombe v Aston Villa
Arsenal v Sunderland
Birmingham v Bournemouth
Brentford v Walsall
Bury v Bradford
Colchester v Charlton
Doncaster v Stoke
Eastleigh v Bolton
Everton v Dagenham
Hartlepool v Derby
Huddersfield v Reading
Hull v Brighton
Ipswich v Portsmouth
Leeds v Rotherham
Middlesbrough v Burnley
Newport v Blackburn
Northampton v MK Dons
Norwich v Man City
Nottm Forest v QPR
Peterborough v Preston
Sheff Wed v Fulham
Southampton v C Palace
Watford v Newcastle
West Brom v Bristol C
West Ham v Wolves
Man Utd v Sheff Utd
Oxford U v Swansea
Carlisle v Yeovil
Chelsea v Scunthorpe
Tottenham v Leicester
Cardiff v Shrewsbury

Fantasy Football Update

Current Predictions League full table






Selected Fantasy Football Leagues





FPL - Gary still leads, but the rest of us are closing in.

TFF -
Blog League - Ryan and Rob still lead the way with Leslie up to 3rd.
My League - Shame they changed the rules this season, as it should be sitting 12th overall.
Rick's - John and Rob leading, but I'm still in contention.
FISO - No.1 League, pleased to have made the top 5 in this one.
FFUK - No.2 League, again having a good run in this one.
Currently sitting 4th in the Twitter League and leading 4 other leagues, so hopefully if I can keep it up I might win a few more medals, and possibly some money?

Been sensible with transfers so far, mainly only swapping injured players so plently left for the 2nd half of the season. Main dangers are someone going goal crazy in the Cup, and Chelsea's return to form as I've avoided most of the Chelsea players.



January Transfers

January Transfer window shut, time to put up the list of who has spent what in the Premier League.
Most deals this window have been loan deals, and most of the money spent has been spent by clubs desperate to stay up and grab a slice of next season's TV money.
Only 3 clubs failed to sign anyone, Tottenham and Man Utd already have huge squads so didn't really need anyone, Aston Villa seem to have sent the message that they have given up and manager Remi Garde sounds like he'll be off soon?

Money spent - £170m
Money received - £66m
Biggest spenders - Newcastle £26.39m, Norwich £24.07m, Watford £21.46m
Biggest Sellers - Chelsea £19.88m, Tottenham £11.22m, Swansea £11.2m
Biggest Profit - Chelsea £16.66m, Tottenham £11.22m, Swansea £4.55m
Biggest defecit - Newcastle £26.16m, Watford £20.06m, Stoke £16.98m
Most players in - Norwich 8, Bournemouth 5, Sunderland 5, Watford 5
Most players out - Chelsea 11, Man Utd 10, Everton 9


Biggest deals In

Giannelli Imbula [Porto - Stoke] £16.98m
Oumar Niasse [Lokomotiv Moscow - Everton] £12.53m
Jonjo Shelvey [Swansea - Newcastle] £11.2m
Andros Townsend [Tottenham - Newcastle] £10.99m
Benik Afobe [Wolves - Bournemouth] 9.31m
Timm Klose [Wolfsburg - Norwich] £8.4m
Wahbi Khazri [Bordeaux - Sunderland] £8.26m
Steven Naismith [Everton - Norwich] £7.7m
Abdoulaye Doucoure [Rennes - Watford] £7.42m
Alberto Paloschi [Chievo - Swansea] £6.65m
Lewis Grabban [Norwich - Bournemouth] £6.55m
Nordin Amrabat [Malaga - Watford] £5.88m
Marko Grujic [Red Star Belgrade - Liverpool] £5.1m
Daniel Amartey [Copenhagen - Leicester] £4.62m
Mohamed Elneny [Basel - Arsenal] £4.62m
Lamine Kone [Lorient - Sunderland] £4.55m
Henri Saivet [Bordeaux - Newcastle United] £4.2m
Adalberto PeΓ±aranda [Granada - Watford] £4m
Mario Suarez [Fiorentina - Watford] £3.71m
Demarai Gray [Birmingham - Leicester] £3.7m
Charlie Austin [QPR - Southampton] £3.64m
Sam Byram [Leeds - West Ham] £3.36m
Matt Miazga [New York Red Bulls - Chelsea] £3.22m

Biggest deals Out

Ramires [Chelsea - Jiangsu Suning] £19.6m

Final Thought


Saturday 2 January 2016

Expert?

It always makes me smile when I read the headline "Mark Lawrenson BBC Football Expert"?

As our Prediction competition proves none of us are experts, but we don't get paid licence payers money to do it. So far this season he's excelling with Leicester, Watford and West Ham in the bottom 4 according to him.
Predictably he has a top 4 of Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea which might have been a good tip if you had chosen all the scores before the season started, but he chooses them by the week.




Happy New Year

Happy New Year 2016 to all :)

Hopefully a good year coming up with a really open Premier League which could go to any of a number of teams.
Euro 2016 in France coming up in June where hopefully England, Northern Ireland, Wales and the Republic can all do a decent job? something to look forward too.
West Ham will play out the final games at the Boleyn Ground, Upton Park before moving over to Stratford, and West Ham are one of a number of teams who might make Euro competition next season?

Anyway a great start to the year :)