The Big Match(es)

The Big One: Fulham 1 Aston Villa 0
Congratulations to Fulham getting back into the Premier league after 4 years away.
Villa used to be one of my favourite teams, but I can't cheer for any team managed by Steve Bruce so was hoping Fulham took their deserved 3rd place.
Nervous end after the sending off but held on.
Shahid Khan is going to have to put his hand in his pocket to buy some players as Fulham had 6 loanees in their squad today, but he has big pockets as he plans to buy Wembley Stadium for about a Billion.

Euro League Final: Real Madrid 3 Liverpool 1
Great start from Liverpool who looked the most likely to score, until Ramos did a job on Salah forcing him off with a dislocated shoulder after dragging him to the floor with Salah's arm locked.
The first goal was a complete fluke, clever by Benzema but disastrous by Karius.
Liverpool equalised with a terrific Mane goal from Lovren's towering header, but then Gareth Bale came on for Isco and a couple of minutes later scored one of the best goals you'll ever see.
Then Bale hit a shot from about 30 yards straight at Karius who fluffed it into the net.
Real probably deserved the win but it might have been different if Salah hadn't been injured, or maybe if Simon Mignolet had played?

I reckon Joe Hart should get himself to Anfield, Karius made even calamity Joe look good :)

England Songs

Every four years (if we qualify) we get a ton of dodgy World Cup records, now and again there might be a decent one? Heard a few and they aren't the best :(
This one is the best so far, it's actually a Charity record to build a school in Nepal which explains the video.

New Manager

They have announced today that Manuel Pellegrini will be the new West Ham boss.

Can't deny he is experienced and a winner, so seems a bit of a coup to get him here especially as I've read he took a big pay cut from his last job in China.
Hopefully he feels he has something to prove?

Got to wish him well having to deal with Sullivan and Old Lady Brady who keep sticking their nose in when it's not needed.
He's going to have to work on a much tighter budget than his last English job, but the records say he has achieved that in the past.
Wasn't someone I was considering, I thought we would waste most of the summer trying to get the Fat Spanish waiter, who would then turn us down just before next season started leaving us to make a panic appointment at the death.
So he has 3 months to try and recruit quality bargain buys and get rid of the chaff.
Worrying that he liked Joe Hart during his time at City, but hopefully we won't go back there.

Good Luck Manuel ... you'll need it :)

Footy News

Sadly former England full back Ray Wilson died at the age of 1983.
A member of the 1966 England World Cup team, R.I.P :(

Also former West Ham youth and Aston Villa player Jlloyd Samuel died in a car accident at just 37 years of age, R.I.P :(

The managerial casualties are stacking up.
David Moyes - West Ham (Contract not renewed)
Sam Allardyce - Everton (Sacked)
Carlos Carvalhal - Swansea (Contract not renewed)
Paul Lambert - Stoke (Left Club)
Arsene Wenger - Arsenal (Left Club)
 + Any of the following could be going as well for various reasons? Antonio Conte (Chelsea),  Mauricio Pochettino (Tottenham), Claude Puel (Leicester), Rafael Benitez (Newcastle), Javi Gracia (Watford).

F.A Cup Predictions

Chelsea win the Cup, decent game with Hazard starring.
Man Utd probably had more of the game but apart from Pogba's miss they never really looked loke scoring.
England Watch: Just 6 English players on view (5 in the England squad), Rasford, Jones and Lingard had games to forget, Young defended well but can't cross the ball, and only Cahill comes out with any credit.

Anyway Congratulations to Longy for winning the 63 game prediction competition :)

Final Table

So here is a virtual Cup for Longy :)

England World Cup Squad

Checked through all the "expert" pages about likely players to make the England World Cup Squad, and came up with this list of names.
We really shouldn't get our hopes up about making the next round as it doesn't look that good whoever goes.

Goalkeepers:
Jordan Pickford, Jack Butland, Joe Hart, Alex McCarthy, Tom Heaton, Angus Gunn, Fraser Forster, Nick Pope, Ben Foster (Retired)

Foster and Pope are the only ones in form, but I can't see either making the squad?

Defenders:
Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier, Ryan Bertrand, Danny Rose, Eric Dier, John Stones, Phil Jones, Harry Maguire, Aaron Cresswell, Alfie Mawson, Ben Gibson, Chris Smalling, James Tarkowski, Luke Shaw, Michael Keane, Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Nathaniel Clyne, Joe Gomez (Injured), Kieran Gibbs, Phil Jagielka, Callum Chambers, Ben Mee (Injured), Ryan Sessegnon, Lewis Dunk, Trent Alexander Arnold, Jamaal Lascelles, Ben Chilwell

Hard to pick any that have had a really great season, maybe Walker, Maguire and Alexander Arnold. The rest have had injuries and been off form or are just too inexperienced.

Midfielders:
Jordan Henderson, Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain (Injured), Dele Alli, Raheem Sterling, Jesse Lingard, Fabian Delph, Ashley Young, Adam Lallana, Andros Townsend, Danny Drinkwater, Harry Winks (Injured), Jack Cork, Jake Livermore, James Ward Prowse, Theo Walcott, Lewis Cook, Michail Antonio (Injured), Nathan Redmond, Ross Barkley, Ruben Loftus Cheek, Nathaniel Chalobah (Injured), James Milner (Retired), Tom Cleverley, Jonjo Shelvey, Wilfred Zaha (Plays For Ivory Coast), Phil Foden, Jadon Sancho

Raheem Sterling is having a great season, Dele Alli is getting back to form, Lingard, Shelvey and Young have been playing well. The rest have been in and out.

Forwards:
Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Marcus Rashford, Danny Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge, Dominic Solanke, Jermain Defoe, Tammy Abraham, Wayne Rooney, Charlie Austin, Peter Crouch, Glenn Murray, Andy Carroll, Dominic Calvert Lewin, Rhian Brewster

Kane not quite back to form, Vardy looks good, Rashford deserves a squad place but then we are struggling.

Squad of 35 to be announced tomorrow.

Prediction Facts 2017-18

2017/2018 Predictions League - All The Facts and Figures.

Most Wins: Paul 10, Lee 8, Paulo 7
Most Predictions: Lee & Paulo 386, Paul & Lawro & Lawro's Guest 384
Most Correct Scores (3 Pointers): Lawro 51, Paulo 43, Paul 37
Most Correct Results (3+1 Pointers): Lee & Lawro 196, Paul & Paulo 190
Most Points: Lawro 298, Paulo 276, Lee 268
Highest Week Score: Paulo 16, Paulo (Twice) & Lee 14
Lowest Score In A Full Week: Longy 1, Biopunk 2 (3 Times), Lawro's Guest 2 (Twice), Lee & Longy & Paul 2 (Once Each)
Best Points Per Game: Lawro's Extra Guest 0.82, Lawro 0.776, Paulo 0.715
Most Predictions Of 0 to 3 Goals: Lawro 379, Paul 358, Lee 334
Most Predictions Of 4 Or More Goals: Lawro's Guest 97, Biopunk 76, Paulo 57
Most Predictions Of A Single Score: Lawro (2-0) 181, Paul (2-0) 116, Biopunk (2-1) 114
Most Predicted Scores: (2-0) 766, (2-1) 578, (1-0) 498
Highest Scoring Correct Prediction: Paulo (5-0), Loads of 4 Goal Correct Scores.

Did I forget Anything?

Final Premier League Prediction Table

The Table If The Guests (Lawro, Lawro's Guests, The Model) Were Included?

Congratulations to Paul, Here is Your Virtual Trophy :)

Fantasy Football

The final table for the "Nothing Better Than Football" FPL League is as follows.

At least I won something :)
Managed 5 wins this season with this one, Rick's Footy Challenge, The Last Leg and 2 of the 3 open Classic leagues I entered (lost the other by 3 points) :(

Keep trying to get more people to enter but only 6 this season.

Telegraph Fantasy Football has another week to run, so will put the final table up after the Cup Final, I think Rick has his revenge by winning that one.

Premier Predictions (Week 38)

Sadly it's the last week of the season :(
Not much left to play for, Tottenham and Liverpool are chasing 3rd, Chelsea need to win and pray Liverpool lose to grab 4th.
Swansea need to gain 10 goals on Southampton to stay up, not totally impossible as they play Stoke who are already relegated and fighting amongst themselves, while the Saints play Man City who just might give someone a real hammering? very unlikely though :)

Burnley v Bournemouth
Crystal Palace v WBA
Huddersfield v Arsenal
Liverpool v Brighton
Man Utd v Watford
Newcastle v Chelsea
Southampton v Man City
Swansea v Stoke
Tottenham v Leicester
West Ham v Everton

Just for Cup completion (not included in week score) the F.A Cup Final next week.
(90 Minute Score only)
Chelsea v Man Utd

Good Luck All :)

World Cup Predictions coming soon, or hopefully see you in August :)

Premier Predictions (Week 37)

Here we go with a "mega" week of football, sorry it's late just realised it starts on Friday night?

* Thinking out loud time*
Just watched two cracking Euro Cup games this week where defending seems to be "a dying art", should be a great final with a ton of goals (or 0-0 and pens?).
Raises the question?? "if Tottenham and Chelsea overhaul Liverpool for the top 4, and Liverpool win the "Champions" League final, and Arsenal win the Europa league, who qualifies for the Champions league next season" ???

Anyway on to this week :)
Games spread over 7 days!! - 1 Friday, 6 Saturday, 3 Sunday, 0 Monday, 1 Tuesday, 4 Wednesday, 1 Thursday.
Still loads to play for with realistically 7 teams still in danger of the drop, West Brom need a miracle, Stoke need 2 wins to have any chance, if Southampton pull off a win at Everton it's "squeaky bum time" for Swansea, Huddersfield, Brighton and sadly West Ham :(
Making next weeks Swans v Saints game a huge match.

At the top Sunday's Chelsea v Liverpool match could be vital with Chelsea still having an outside chance of making the top 4, unlikely as Liverpool play Brighton at home on the last day needing just a point .. probably.
Tottenham have it in their own hands to finish 3rd with 3 "easy" games.

 - - -
Brighton v Man Utd
- - -
Stoke v Crystal Palace
Bournemouth v Swansea
Leicester v West Ham
Watford v Newcastle
WBA v Tottenham
Everton v Southampton
- - -
Man City v Huddersfield
Arsenal v Burnley
Chelsea v Liverpool
- - -
Swansea v Southampton
- - -
Chelsea v Huddersfield
Leicester v Arsenal
Man City v Brighton
Tottenham v Newcastle
- - -
West Ham v Man Utd

As for the predictions competition, we are just going through the motions :(
Still with 16 games this week there is a chance for a record score?
Good Luck All :)

Phew!!!! :)