Premier Predictions (Weeks 18 and 19)

Merry Christmas Everybody  🎄  🎅  🔔  🍷  🍺  🎄

Here's a double Christmas post as all these are played in the week after Christmas, and you might have other things on your mind :)

Things looking good for Liverpool with 3 easy games coming up (although I hope West Ham can pull off a shock?).
Man City would normally have 3 easy games coming up, but that was then.
Shame Russell Martin has gone, hope they play the same way this week.
No doubt a few shock results coming up.

========================================
Week 18 (Thursday 26th and Friday 27th)
8 games Thursday, 2 games Friday

Man City v Everton
Bournemouth v Crystal Palace
Chelsea v Fulham
Newcastle v Aston Villa
Nottm Forest v Tottenham
Southampton v West Ham
Wolves v Man Utd
Liverpool v Leicester
*
Brighton v Brentford
Arsenal v Ipswich

========================================
Week 19 (Sunday 29th to Wednesday 1st January)
6 games Sunday, 3 games Monday, and one game on Wednesday for some reason?

Leicester v Man City
Crystal Palace v Southampton
Everton v Nottm Forest
Fulham v Bournemouth
Tottenham v Wolves
West Ham v Liverpool
*
Aston Villa v Brighton
Ipswich v Chelsea
Man Utd v Newcastle
*
Brentford v Arsenal

========================================

Good Luck All   😀

Premier Predictions (Week 17)

5 Games Saturday, 5 Games on Sunday
Before the Christmas rush.

A lot of fixtures which could go either way?
Fulham probably the only safe bet.
West Ham did manage a win over Brighton last season for the first time in many years, but not feeling confident.
Man City's woes to continue?
Brentford's impressive home form against shock team Forest.
Crystal Palace's return to form against Arsenal.
Liverpool going to Tottenham who are totally unpredictable.
Chelsea against the 11 man defence?

Aston Villa v Man City
Brentford v Nottm Forest
Ipswich v Newcastle
West Ham v Brighton
Crystal Palace v Arsenal

Everton v Chelsea
Fulham v Southampton
Leicester v Wolves
Man Utd v Bournemouth
Tottenham v Liverpool

Good Luck All  😀

Premier Predictions (Week 16)

Week 16
5 Games on Saturday, 4 on Sunday, 1 on Monday

Top 5 all at home, all should expect a win?
Manchester derby might be interesting given City's current form.

Chelsea on form, Brentford rubbish away but they have won their last 3 games at the Bridge?
Big game at the bottom between Wolves and Ipswich.
Southampton have a chance of some points at home to Tottenham.

West Ham play Monday again, 

Bournemouth should be favourites but the Hammers have won 4 and drawn 3 of the last 7 meetings.

Also we have a great Monday night record with 12 wins in 15 in the 2020's

Arsenal v Everton
Liverpool v Fulham
Newcastle v Leicester
Wolves v Ipswich
Nottm Forest v Aston Villa
*
Brighton v Crystal Palace
Man City v Man Utd
Chelsea v Brentford
Southampton v Tottenham
*
Bournemouth v West Ham

Good Luck All  😀

Premier Predictions (Week 15)

Week 15 on us already
5 Games on Saturday, 4 on Sunday, 1 on Monday

Lunch time kick off for the Mersey derby, shock win for Everton in the week but Liverpool a bit tougher than Wolves.
Man City face bogey team Palace which might halt their mini revival.
Arsenal go to unpredictable Fulham on Sunday.
Form team Chelsea head to Tottenham, who's form is a mystery.
Monday it's the sack race? we usually beat them with 4 wins in a row under Moyes and a 10-0 goal difference, but that was then. 🙄

Everton v Liverpool
Aston Villa v Southampton
Brentford v Newcastle
Crystal Palace v Man City
Man Utd v Nottm Forest
*
Fulham v Arsenal
Ipswich v Bournemouth
Leicester v Brighton
Tottenham v Chelsea
*
West Ham v Wolves


Good Luck All  😀

Premier Predictions (Week 13 + 14)

Busy few weeks coming up with some teams facing 7 matches before Christmas, with Premier League, Europe and Carabao Cup.

So here's two game weeks at once, weeks 13 and 14.

Week 13 - kicks off on Friday night at 8:00 pm  (that's 12 midday for Biopunk)
One game Friday, 5 games on Saturday and 4 on Sunday.

South coast derby to start, in form Brighton home to self harming Southampton.
Arsenal over their hiccup have a chance to cut the gap, but hoping they don't  😜
Some big games on Sunday, usually you would be thinking Man City could cause Liverpool problems, but not at the moment.
Chelsea v Villa both teams in Europe this week, both think they are top 4 teams.
Dyche v Amorim will be a good clash of styles  🙄

Brighton v Southampton
*
Brentford v Leicester
Crystal Palace v Newcastle
Nottm Forest v Ipswich
Wolves v Bournemouth
West Ham v Arsenal
*
Chelsea v Aston Villa
Man Utd v Everton
Tottenham v Fulham
Liverpool v Man City

====================================================

Week 14 - kicks off on Tuesday night at 7:30 pm
2 games Tuesday, 6 games on Wednesday and 2 on Thursday.

Ipswich v Crystal Palace
Leicester v West Ham
*
Everton v Wolves
Man City v Nottm Forest
Newcastle v Liverpool
Southampton v Chelsea
Arsenal v Man Utd
Aston Villa v Brentford
*
Fulham v Brighton
Bournemouth v Tottenham

Good Luck All  😀

Premier Predictions (Week 12)

Back again, 7 games on Saturday, 2 on Sunday and one on Monday.
Top v bottom on Sunday, Man City going for 5 losses on the trot??
4th v 5th at the Emirates.

Leicester v Chelsea
Arsenal v Nottm Forest
Aston Villa v Crystal Palace
Bournemouth v Brighton
Everton v Brentford
Fulham v Wolves
Man City v Tottenham
*
Southampton v Liverpool
Ipswich v Man Utd
Newcastle v West Ham

Good Luck All  😀

Break Time

No proper footie for nearly two weeks, so time to reflect.
Usually fall asleep during these pointless England games, but they turned in one of the best performances I had seen in many years.
No Palmer, Saka, Foden or Kane (at the start), but the replacements were really good.
Curtis Jones' previous call ups were mainly because he was a bit part Liverpool player, but this season he actually deserved it and was probably man of the match. 

Pickford showing he's still far and away our best keeper was a close second.
Madueke, I get the feeling he wants to show off his skills and tries to beat everyone single handed at Chelsea, but played the team game last night and was really good.
Let's hope they don't blow it against Ireland.

Referee Coote paying the price for giving a penalty for West Ham, especially against Man Utd with the release of the blackmail tapes.

West Ham, Lopetegui needing to do something fast as we've been awful this season.
I called him the Spanish Moyes when he took over, but I don't think he's that good. So called 'experts' said we'd had a good transfer window? Apart from AWB, Rodriguez (on a free) and maybe Summerville when he plays the rest have not really been an improvement, and letting JWP go on loan to a rival was crazy.
Just finding it hard to like him, his press conferences and interviews are as dull as ditchwater without the humour of some of our previous managers even when they had been doing badly, thinking of Allardyce, Bilic and Moyes.
Would love Mourinho, might not play better but the interviews would be great. 😁

Anyway here's the early predictions full details.
I think I need to go back to gut instinct, instead of analysing likely results?

 

Premier Predictions (Week 11)

Week 11 the last one before yet another International week. 😠
6 games on Saturday, 4 on Sunday
No early games so it's a 3pm kick off, but the Liverpool Villa game is late on Saturday.

Mixed week in Europe with Rodri-less Man City getting hammered by Sporting for a 3rd straight defeat, even Haaland having a nightmare. Going to Brighton not ideal for them.
Liverpool the form team take on Villa, who's drop in form has coincided with Mings coming back (did well last season when he didn't play). 🤔
Arsenal with just one point from last 3 PL games and a defeat in Europe go to Chelsea.
Posting this before Chelsea play Noah's Ark FC, but they are another in-form team.
West Ham meet Everton, our away record is better over them. Will need a massive improvement to avoid another home loss.
Apart from Liverpool and maybe Tottenham expect some tight games.

Brentford v Bournemouth
Crystal Palace v Fulham
West Ham v Everton
Wolves v Southampton
Brighton v Man City
Liverpool v Aston Villa
*
Man Utd v Leicester
Nottm Forest v Newcastle
Tottenham v Ipswich
Chelsea v Arsenal

Good Luck All  😀

Premier Predictions (Week 10)

Week 10 so already over a quarter of the way through the season.
7 games on Saturday, 2 on Sunday and a West London derby on Monday.
Top 5 all have reasonably tough games.
Bottom 6 all play each other

Newcastle v Arsenal
Bournemouth v Man City
Ipswich v Leicester
Liverpool v Brighton
Nottm Forest v West Ham
Southampton v Everton
Wolves v Crystal Palace
*
Tottenham v Aston Villa
Man Utd v Chelsea
*
Fulham v Brentford

Good Luck All  😀

Premier Predictions (Week 09)

Early start this week with a Friday night Midlands derby kicking off at 8pm
Followed by 5 games on Saturday then 4 games on Sunday.
Top game will be Arsenal v Liverpool if Arsenal have any players left, a good week to face the Gooners as they could be missing most of their defence as well as Saka and Odegaard.
How will West Ham's dodgy defence cope against Man Utd's dodgy defence?
A few teams with Euro ties this week also have Carabao cup next week.

Leicester v Nottm Forest
*
Aston Villa v Bournemouth
Brentford v Ipswich
Brighton v Wolves
Man City v Southampton
Everton v Fulham
*
Chelsea v Newcastle
Crystal Palace v Tottenham
West Ham v Man Utd
Arsenal v Liverpool

Good Luck All  😀

Things I Miss

To prove I'm an old git living in the past  😁
Things I miss from my glory days of watching football.

Weekend League matches all played together at 3pm on a Saturday.
Knowing at the start of the season when your team was playing.
Never playing on a Thursday.
Paying at the turnstile on the day.
Terraces, Singing and swaying with the crowd, or being able to move to a better position.
Shirts without advertising on the front.
Cup Replays.
Muddy pitches.
Players wearing 1-11
Cheap coach travel to all away games.
Train ticket, match entrance, a programme, Pint and a burger before kick off and still have change from a fiver.
Friday night games at Southend, due to market on Saturday. Leaving Saturday free for West Ham.

Premier Predictions (Week 08)

The Prem is back 😉
7 games on Saturday, 2 on Sunday, 1 on Monday
Another London derby for West Ham to start, Top 4 clash on Sunday.
Bottom club Wolves take on Man City, Arsenal go to Bournemouth.

Thomas Tuchel the new England manager, did well and unlucky to be fired at Chelsea, Not so good at PSG and Bayern Munich.
Not an inspiring choice but for those saying we should have an English manager there wasn't much to choose from, only Howe, Dyche and O'Neil in the Premier league, Carsley who doesn't seem to want the job, or currently unemployed Potter, Allardyce or Redknapp and that's about it.

Tottenham v West Ham
Fulham v Aston Villa
Ipswich v Everton
Man Utd v Brentford
Newcastle v Brighton
Southampton v Leicester
Bournemouth v Arsenal
*
Wolves v Man City
Liverpool v Chelsea
*
Nottm Forest v Crystal Palace

Good Luck All  😀

England

England's 2-8-0 formation not really working, Carsley's job interview not going well.
Greece 2-1 winners + 3 Disallowed goals and a brilliant goal saving clearance by Colwill.
Totally deserved win.

?? Solanke 2 England Caps

Vitesse - 25 goals
Liverpool - 0 goals - 1 England cap
Bournemouth - 72 goals
Tottenham - 2 goals - 1 England cap

Proving my old point of if pull on a shirt for Liverpool, Tottenham, Man Utd or Chelsea you will get a call up, all others have to be exceptional for any other team?

 

Also RIP George Baldock 😢

Premier Predictions (Week 07)

7 Games on Saturday, 3 on Sunday before yet another International week.

Quite a few tough to call games this week 😕
Arsenal should beat Southampton unless Ramsdale has a blinder.
Liverpool should beat Palace, although they did lose at home to them last time.
Fulham on the up might give Man City a game?
West Ham who knows? Ipswich 4 straight draws.
Villa on a high, Man Utd in the dumps. Should be a home banker but football doesn't work like that 🙄

Crystal Palace v Liverpool
Arsenal v Southampton
Brentford v Wolves
Leicester v Bournemouth
Man City v Fulham
West Ham v Ipswich
Everton v Newcastle
*
Aston Villa v Man Utd
Chelsea v Nottm Forest
Brighton v Tottenham

Good Luck All  😀

Premier Predictions (Week 06)

This week it's 7 games on Saturday, 2 on Sunday and 1 on Monday.

Man City possibly vulnerable this season with Rodri and KDB injured?
Arsenal looking most likely at the moment, Liverpool's front line on form.
Chelsea also looking good as the new manager seems to be sticking to a settled team, rather than trying to keep everybody happy.
West Ham? despite what so called "experts" said about our transfers, my personal view is that I wasn't impressed with the new manager or most of the signings, Summerville good and maybe Kilman but the rest? £20m for Luis Guilherme who can't even get in the U21 squad, £27m for Fullkrug when Duran was available? Hope they prove me wrong.

Anyway after this weekend it's another full week of Euro fixtures coming up.

Newcastle v Man City
Arsenal v Leicester
Brentford v West Ham
Chelsea v Brighton
Everton v Crystal Palace
Nottm Forest v Fulham
Wolves v Liverpool
*
Ipswich v Aston Villa
Man Utd v Tottenham
*
Bournemouth v Southampton

Good Luck All  😀


Hopefully Biopunk's posts will show up? need everyone here to stop Paul  😆

Spam

The stupid thing with Google's spam filter is it blocks posts from regulars

while letting through actual spam 😠

... and a football related moan.

Why don't people like fun in football anymore?

Haaland bouncing the ball of Gabriel's big head was the funniest thing I've seen on the pitch in ages, but nearly all the pundits, commentators etc were all "offended" and want him booked, banned?

Premier Predictions (Week 05)

Week 5
13 teams played Euro and League cup games this week, and 10 play midweek games next week. 

So expect lots of excuses. 🙄
This week 8 games on Saturday, 2 on Sunday.
Obviously the big game is West Ham v Chelsea lunchtime Saturday, plus the title decider is on Sunday.
2 big relegation 6 pointers on Saturday with Everton and Southampton hoping for a first point.

West Ham v Chelsea
Aston Villa v Wolves
Fulham v Newcastle
Leicester v Everton
Liverpool v Bournemouth
Southampton v Ipswich
Tottenham v Brentford
Crystal Palace v Man Utd
*
Brighton v Nottm Forest
Man City v Arsenal

Good Luck All  😀

Premier Predictions (Week 04)

Back from the Internationals, Arteta probably glad that's finished.
8 games on Saturday, 2 on Sunday ahead of a packed week of Euro and Caribou games.

Man City and Liverpool on maximum points, both at home.
Everton and Southampton on zero points but might get something this week?
North London derby on Sunday, Arsenal missing a few players so might be a shock?

Southampton v Man Utd
Brighton v Ipswich
Crystal Palace v Leicester
Fulham v West Ham
Liverpool v Nottm Forest
Man City v Brentford
Aston Villa v Everton
Bournemouth v Chelsea
*
Tottenham v Arsenal
Wolves v Newcastle

Good Luck All  😀

Summer Transfers 2024

Time for my annual pet project, where the Premier league cash was splashed this summer.
Still a few transfer windows open around the world for transfers out, and many players still needing to find a home as free agents.

Spending down slightly, but still over £2 billion changing hands.
As usual Chelsea were the big spenders, Brighton made a big profit last year but blew all that and more this season.
Ipswich taking a big chance bringing in 16 players for £127m. Southampton signing nearly 3 teams worth of players?
Amazingly 6 teams made a profit and Liverpool and Man City spent very little by their standards.
3 of the 4 biggest fees were paid by foreign teams.

The Chart:
(Info based on the best sources I could find, includes squad and youth players).

Total Spend - £2,280,870,000
Most Players In - Southampton 29, Everton 17, Aston Villa, Ipswich, Nottm Forest 16
Most Players Out - Chelsea 45, Arsenal 38, Brighton 36
Most Money Paid - Chelsea £287.4m, Brighton £201.9m, Man Utd £195.5m
Most Money Received - Man City £197.95m, Chelsea £187.95m, Aston Villa £152.6m
Largest Profit - Man City £174.85m, Wolves £31.1m, Crystal Palace £29.9m
Largest Defecit - Brighton £151.4m, Ipswich £125.42m, Chelsea £99.45m

Largest Fees Paid (Over £40m)

Julian Alvarez [Man City - Atletico Madrid] £81.5m **
Dominic Solanke [Bournemouth - Tottenham] £65m    
Moussa Diaby [Aston Villa - Al Ittihad] £60m **
Michael Olise [Crystal Palace - Bayern Munich] £60m **
Pedro Neto [Wolves - Chelsea] £54m    
Joao Felix [Atletico Madrid - Chelsea] £52m    
Leny Yoro [Lille - Man Utd] £52m    
Amadou Onana [Everton - Aston Villa] £50m    
Manuel Ugarte [Paris SG - Man Utd] £50m    
Joao Palhinha [Fulham - Bayern Munich] £46.5m **
Riccardo Calafiori [Bologna - Arsenal] £45m    
Ian Maatsen [Chelsea - Aston Villa] £44m    
Matthijs de Ligt [Bayern Munich - Man Utd] £42.9m    
Douglas Luiz [Aston Villa - Juventus] £42.35m **
Archie Gray [Leeds - Tottenham] £41.2m
Evanilson [Porto - Bournemouth] £40.2m

Premier Predictions (Week 03)

After last weeks high scoring affair, let's see if we can do it again?
7 Games on Saturday, 3 On Sunday
International break coming up after this (yawn) 🥱

2 of the Top 3 to start, see how good Brighton really are?
West Ham take on City, Hammers 2 wins in 3 without looking any better than last season, while City and Haaland have hit the ground running.
Liverpool go to Man Utd on Sunday, always interesting even though it's not the big game it once was.

Arsenal v Brighton
Brentford v Southampton
Everton v Bournemouth
Ipswich v Fulham
Leicester v Aston Villa
Nottm Forest v Wolves
West Ham v Man City
*
Chelsea v Crystal Palace
Newcastle v Tottenham
Man Utd v Liverpool

Good Luck All  😀