Weekend review- 28/10/12

It's been an important weekend for the teams in the Premiership that rounds off October, and I think we are now into the nitty-gritty of the season. Most of the teams who are where they are in the league, will be where they are pretty much for the remainder of the season. I think teams like QPR, for example, can no longer have the excuse of players still settling in and it's time for the big buys to deliver.

Let's delve into the games...

Aston Villa 1-1 Norwich
I said: 0-1, +0pts
Del said: 1-0, +0pts
Rami said: 2-0, +0pts

None of us got this result right- it was a game that saw both teams get a point, that neither will be roundly happy with. Villa needed to take this opportunity to get a win with the likes of Man United, Man City and Arsenal coming up in November, and a narrow distance between themselves and the relegation zone. What's more to their fans frustration, was that they had the lead until 10 minutes from time, when Turner cancelled out Benteke's first half strike. Norwich might feel they could have struck while the iron was hot after the equaliser, they did have a numerical advantage and Grant Holt had a couple of chances to give the Canaries all three points, which wouldn't have been an unfair reflection on the game as a whole.

 

Arsenal 1-0 QPR

I said: 3-1, +1pt

Del said: 3-0, +1pt

Rami said: 3-1, +1pt

It was a sweetened end to an otherwise sour week from Arsenal's point of view. From what I saw, they put in one of their worst performances since the 8-2 defeat at Old Trafford last season when they lost 1-0 at Norwich on Saturday, and failed to correct that in a poor performance against German high-flyers Schalke on Wednesday night. To their credit, they kept pushing 10-man QPR for a goal late into the second half, and got the rewards their persistance probably deserved when Arteta bundled the ball over the line, albeit mainly due to M'Bia's sending off a few minutes earlier. It was important for the Gunners to get this win and put an end to the losing cycle, before another uneviable trip to Old Trafford.

 

Reading 3-3 Fulham

I said: 1-1, +1pt

Del said: 2-1, +0pts

Rami said: 1-1, +1pt

I wouldn't like to be the rib cage of a fan who was watching this match! What a dramatic game... the spiritedness of their performance to get back into this twice tells me there is still hope for Reading, because I'd have otherwise thought Fulham would have had enough experience to close the game out. I've got a feeling Reading can still stay up due to their ability to score goals, and with QPR and Norwich up next for them their first win seems imminent. As for Fulham, Berbatov is continuing to do the business and their solid home form will be key to them stabilising themselves in the top 10.

 

Stoke 0-0 Sunderland

I said: 1-1, +1pt

Del said: 0-2, +0pts

Rami said: 2-1, +0pts

Whenever two draw specialists meet you can normally bet that there won't be many goals, and that it'll be... a draw. When I watched this on Match of the Day, I'll admit to having been in that drifting zone between being awake and being asleep when you convince yourself that you'll lie down, face away from the TV and just listen. And the next thing you know you wake up and it's the signing zone. Let's be honest... neither of these teams are in serious danger of getting relegated but neither of them are ever likely to get into Europe, so you'll forgive me if I don't really comment on this one.

 

Wigan 2-1 West Ham

I said: 2-1, +3pts

Del said: 1-1, +0pts

Rami said: 1-1, +0pts

My first perfect score of the week, and it was an important win for Roberto Martinez's team. The psychological outlook from both teams worked in Wigan's favour, as the Latics came out and played some lovely stuff at times, scored a couple of cracking goals and played with a lot of confidence, whereas I think I was right about West Ham- they've had such a strong start they maybe took their foot off the pedal in this one, which they could kind of afford to, though Allardyce won't exactly condone it. Di Santo and Kone particularly seem to be developing a real understanding up front, and I think they're a partnership to watch out for.

 

Man City 1-0 Swansea

I said: 3-0, +1pt

Del said: 3-0, +1pt

Rami said: 2-1, +1pt

Well, it was a Manchester City win, but not quite in the manner that I was expecting. I thought there would be a massive reaction from the team after the Ajax result, and they would come out, annihilate Swansea to show their allegiance to the manager and deny all reports of a rift within the squad. But it wasn't like that, Swansea had over 50% of the possession and City did look rusty at times, the Tevez goal being more of a single moment of magic that won it for them.

 

Everton 2-2 Liverpool

I said: 0-0, +1pt

Del said: 2-1, +0pts

Rami said: 2-2, +3pts

Well done to Rami, who called this spot on. My psychological analysis was that both teams would be, privately, a little bit daunted by each other, creating a climate and environment of fear, hence my goalless draw prediction. But I couldn't have been more wrong. Liverpool came quickly out of the starting blocks to race to a 2-0 lead inside 20 minutes, but Everton showed a fair bit of character to get back on level terms before the break. In the second half, it could have swung either way and it swung... neither way, Liverpool coming closest to win it when Suarez scored in stoppage time but the goal was ruled out for offside. The result has seen Everton lose their Champions League place to Tottenham, and Liverpool now need another win to regather their momentum.

 

Newcastle 2-1 West Brom

I said: 2-0, +1pt

Del said: 1-2, +0pts

Rami said: 2-1, +3pts

Well called again, Rami, a late Papiss Cisse winner saw Newcastle record a 2-1 win and climb into the top half of the table. To be fair to West Brom, to have over 50% of the possession at Newcastle and lose to an injury-time goal shows that they are capable of competing near, if not in, the top half of the table. With Southampton and Wigan coming up for them, maybe my prediction for the end of their honeymoon period was a little hasty. As for Newcastle, they are only slight outsiders for the 5th spot and another crack in the Europa League because of Arsenal, Tottenham and Everton all being there, so I think they will be in a similar situation to Fulham come April time, i.e. nowhere to really go.

 

Southampton 1-2 Tottenham

I said: 2-1, +0pts

Del said: 0-2, +1pt

Rami said: 1-2, +3pts

On reflection, I was probably being a little too visionary with my prediction for this one. I thought, with Spurs being knocked back a peg by losing to Chelsea last week and playing in Maribor on Thursday night, with Southampton having a decent home record and a bit of a minor rivalry between these teams, I did think it was a potential banana-skin for Tottenham. Generally though, the way you win points on this game is to go with the bigger teams. Spurs have now laid their hand on the 4th place, amid pressure from Arsenal and Everton, but Southampton have got a few winnable games coming up so I won't rule them out yet, provided they can become more solid at the back.

 

Chelsea 2-3 Man Utd

I said: 3-0, +0pts

Del said: 2-3, +3pts

Rami said: 2-2, +0pts

In this match, almost everything seemed to swing in Manchester United's favour. They scored two early goals, the first one a little fortuitously coming off the post and then off David Luiz's backside. Van Persie then scored with a typically deadly finish from Valencia's cross. As the first half went on though, Chelsea grew into it and there were a few goalmouth scrambles that saw the ball trickle wide of the post, Chelsea's Mata halved the deficit just before half-time with a Ronaldo-esc swerving free-kick. The Blues then came out of the blocks early in the second half and a bit of persistance from the influential Mata kept the ball in play, to set up a cross to come in for Ramires to head home and level things up. At that point, United's defence looked drained and had it not been for Brandislav Ivanovic's red card with 25-odd minutes to go, I'm pretty sure Chelsea would have won the game. Ferguson, sensing opportunity, boldly brought on Hernandez for Cleverley in search of a winner, just before Di Matteo's team were then reduced to nine men when Torres was sent off for a dive, and a second yellow. United then drove forward in typical fashion to try and score the winning goal, and Fergie's supersub paid off, Hernandez flicking in Rafael's cross to give Manchester United all three points and move within one point off Chelsea at the top of the table. Well done to Del for getting this scoreline spot on.

 

So, for the prediction game, let's have a look at who called it, and who ballsed it:

 

Me

Correct results- 6

Perfect scorelines- 1, Wigan 2-1 West Ham

Points- 9

 

Del

Correct results- 3

Perfect scorelines- 1, Chelsea 2-3 Man Utd

Points- 6

 

Rami

Correct results- 3

Perfect scorelines- 3, Everton 2-2 Liverpool, Newcastle 2-1 West Brom &

Southampton 1-2 Tottenham

Points- 12

 

So there you have it. Rami is this week's prediction Champion! Congratulations to him, thanks to those who took part, if you yourself want a go at this predictions game, either find me on Facebook or tweet me: https://twitter.com/_thescore

 

Have a good week.