A general football catch-up

Hi scorers

This week has gone really quickly for me. I'm not quite sure what's happened to the time, it feels like the sort of time I'd be having a look at how I did at the prediction games last week and the results over last weekend and yet now it's Thursday night, which is normally very late for me to start thinking about the weekend's games. So I thought I'd go for a vague title.

 

I didn't do too well at the predictions this week. Of the 10 games, I only got one perfect score (Reading 2-2 Newcastle), should have done better with that. I also only got 4 of the right results which isn't that good. I probably made a mistake going too much on my vision and not enough on the quality of the teams with the Norwich-Liverpool result, my prediction for the canaries to win was maybe slightly influenced by my desire for Hughton to do well. I thought Norwich would keep it tight early on to frustrate Liverpool and then guess what happened? Suarez scored after about two minutes. Having said that, not many people expected Spurs to win at Old Trafford and most went for a draw rather than an away win in QPR v West Ham so I could perhaps consider myself a little unfortunate in those ones. Also, if you want to have a go against me for the predictions game feel free to tweet me @_thescore and we could set up a little predictions tournament or something.

 

As a starter for ten, here's my prediction on Saturday's early kick-off...

 

Man City vs. Sunderland

 

I watched most of the City-Dortmund game on Wednesday night and thought Man City looked poor- they had a combination of Joe Hart and a very lucky penalty decision to thank for a point and to arguably still be in the group. Having had a bit of a think about this, my prediction is that Man City will come out fighting in this match. They need a reaction from that poor display, Mancini is a good motivator so I'm going to say they'll maybe score a couple of goals in the opening 15 minutes or so and end up annihilating Sunderland. The Black Cats will have been pleased to get their first win against Wigan in the bag last week, this being the first of three tough games coming up, and I'd back them to get into the top ten with Fletcher's goals but they will be facing a driven Manchester City team out to prove a point on Saturday. I'll go for a 4-0 home win, Tevez to get at least one of the goals.

 

 

 

Chelsea vs. Norwich

 

This is a bit of a no-brainer for me. I can't see anything other than an emphatic Chelsea win and once they get their first goal it'll only be a question of 'how many?' The only hope in this match for Norwich is if there's an awful lot of complacency in the Chelsea camp and they think that they only have to turn up to win, because Hughton does create a real work ethic within teams but realistically speaking they just aren't in the sort of form you need to face Chelsea. I think provided they're winning at half time, because of the creativity and pace in that team we can see a flurry of goals from di Matteo's men in the second half and maybe a Torres hattrick. I'm gonna say 6-0. Sorry, Chris!

 

 

 

Swansea vs. Reading

 

This is a big game for both clubs in terms of the direction of their respective seasons. For Swansea, this is about steadying the ship. They were extroadinary in their first two games, but because of that in recent matches they've played like the football equivalent of a complacent baby penguin. I never thought I would ever use that analogy for a football team, but after their amazing first couple of results, they haven't been as good and thought they could go to places like Aston Villa, Stoke and fly (i.e. win comfortably) and they haven't been competent enough- they've jumped off the cliff, floated for a few seconds and then landed on their arse. I think I'll leave the baby penguin analogies from now on.

For Reading, I'm not going to read too much into their position in the table as they've opened with some tricky games and have played one less than everyone else. I'll back them to get a point in this one, but my judgement on them will really begin to be shaped when they play some of the other teams floating around the scene of the relegation battle- though to get a point against Newcastle last week shows they can at least compete at this level.

1-1 is my score prediction.

 

 

 

West Brom vs. QPR

 

It's been a dream start to the season for Steve Clark's new team. As a Birmingham City fan, I actually quite like West Brom and would probably support them if we went into liquidation or something, but because we're struggling in the Championship, I'm not sure how I feel about Baggies doing so well. I feel a bit like the jealous sister of a woman who's starring in a West End musical- happy for them, but privately seething with bitterness and jealousy wishing it us.

This is a crunch game for Mark Hughes. It's good to see Fernandes giving him a vote of confidence after the West Ham match, most foreign chairmen these days just don't give managers enough time. All the same, they need to pick up the points sooner or later but the momentum is definately with the Baggies and things seem to be rolling for them so I'll say they'll score a late goal and win this 1-0. Which would be great, I'd be delighted for them! Bastards.

 

 

Wigan vs. Everton

 

I think Everton will be another team over the course of the season to make the race for fourth place an interesting one- there could be quite a few teams in it. Whenever they play, I always find time to wax lyrical about how much I like them and admire David Moyes, but the other thing that struck me was so many of their top players, Baines and Fellaini particularly, wouldn't look out of place at some of the top European clubs, but Moyes seems to keep them grounded and sells the select few egos who grow out of themselves at Everton.

Wigan: not really sure how much to judge them this year because I'd be confident in saying there are three worse teams than them in this division, and they are team who tends to do well at the back end of the season but they would have liked to have got at least a point from the games against Fulham and Sunderland and I still don't think they'll avoid a fourth successive Prem defeat against the Toffees. 2-0 Everton.

 

 

West Ham vs. Arsenal

 

This is a tricky one to call. The obvious choice would be to go with Arsenal, because of the attacking quality in their team and I tend to make myself an unwritten rule where if I'm not sure, go with a win for the most reputable team- more often than not I'll be right. But the Gunners took a massive step back in terms of the title race last week against Chelsea where they conceded two sloppy goals from set plays, when I thought they had sorted out their defensive problems with Steve Bould being made assistant manager.

Also nudging West Ham up a notch is that they are a physical side which Arsenal might struggle with, it's a derby game and the Hammers are already off the back of a win at QPR on Monday, sitting actually two points above Arsenal in the table- albeit  arguably having played slightly easier games.

I guess all of these factors seem to negotiate themselves into a draw, I'm going to break my own rule with this one and say West Ham can earn a point as I think they might score first.

1 apiece.

 

Southampton vs. Fulham

 

There's certainly goals in this Southampton team- I mean that only as a half-compliment because it's the case at each end! I wouldn't have blamed Adkins for, in a way, writing off the game at Everton last week because no-one could expect them to get anything there- and they didn't. If they can just take the momentum and confidence from their win over Villa two weeks ago for this match, you can see them giving Fulham a tough afternoon.

In many ways, Fulham's season is still in the process of being shaped. They've won all the matches I expected them to win, and lost all the matches I thought they would lose. Importantly, they've got a really good home record so even if they lose this one I can still see a top-10 finish for them. I don't think they will lose this though, Berbatov and Petric's eastern-European-themed strike partnership will continue to blossom and earn them a 2-2 draw on Sunday.

 

 

Liverpool vs. Stoke

 

Judging mainly by the manner of their 5-2 win at Norwich, I get a sense that Liverpool are about to hit their peak this season. I'm glad Brendan Rodgers has been given the time and support he needs to get that kind of result and I'm sure the confidence, particularly amongst some of their younger players, will grow.

Stoke won't lie down and die against Liverpool like Norwich did defensively, but won't be quite as tough to break down if they are playing away from home and on a bigger pitch. If Liverpool have scored their goal by half time I'd be pretty confident they'll go on to win this.

2-0 to the Reds.

 

 

Tottenham vs. Aston Villa

 

Tottenham's situation isn't dissimilar to Liverpool's in many respects; they've brought a new manager in over the summer to replace one who was popular amongst the fans, he has a particular playing philosophy that he wants his new players to adhere to, they'd started the season with a few disappointing results causing some fans to call for the new manager's sacking, but he is starting to turn things around with a big win last weekend. To go to Old Trafford and win was a fantastic result for Tottenham and I'm sure they'll- like Liverpool- go on a run of wins now.

As for Villa, I don't think there's a rift within the squad, Darren Bent naturally will have been disappointed not to start against West Brom on Sunday but he reacted in the right way; by getting an important goal and I'm sure he'll start this weekend. I don't think he'll score this time though, 2-0 Spurs.

 

 

 

Newcastle vs. Man United

 

Newcastle have started their season in a similar way to Fulham; they've not set the world alight but they've not exactly been disappointing either- their season is, in many ways, still in the process of being shaped. You'd have to say that's maybe quite a good thing, considering it might take time for them to get used to the system of playing on Thursdays and Sundays and getting the squad rotation right.

Whilst Ferguson started his first choice strikers in Romania on Tuesday night, they'll have had 5 days to prepare for this game (compared to Newcastle's 3) so I doubt they'll suffer from the 'continental hangover' effect. Rooney and RVP look promising together but I do think Sir Alex should have brought in more defensive cover over the summer, not sure why he was scouting Lewandowski on Wednesday night as well- he probably has enough forwards.

For this game, Demba Ba is in a rich vein form for Newcastle so you'd fancy them to get past this United defence and midfield struggling for pace a bit. However, I'm going to say United will just about outscore Newcastle in a 3-2 away win.

 

 

Hopefully it'll be a good Match of the Day night on Saturday dispite there only being 6 games, I'm going to watch the Blues play Huddersfield- Lee Clark against his old club. It's a must-win game for us if we want to start pushing to get into the top half of the table and into the play-offs. Huddersfield have started quite well so it'll be tough, but I'm going to back us to win 2-1 and hopefully we can go on a bit of a run once we've got Gomis and Fahey back to full fitness in midfield. Come on Blues!

 

Gabriel