Weekend Review - 28 Feb 2010

Manchester United vs Aston Villa

"At this rate Rooney is scoring, he could easily take over Ronaldo's scoring record of 42 goals 2 seasons ago."

-Gary, 28 Feb 2010

At this rate Rooney is scoring, he could easily take over Ronaldo's scoring record of 42 goals 2 seasons ago. And Rooney isnt striking with his feet, but with his head. The last 5 goals that he scored, including the match against AC Milan, were all headers.

The Carling Cup Final against Aston Villa was overshadowed by an unfortunate news from Portsmouth. They have been the first club since the incorporation of Premier League in 1992 to enter administration. Not only this summer they have to sell all the players, they have to find a buyer to avoid another administration in the Championship. And the worst case could be if they couldnt find a buyer, Portsmouth Football Club could be history forever. I believe that they are in a worse scenerio than Leeds United. There are other clubs on the brink of extintion too, especially the likes of Crystal Palace. I couldnt think of a summer that is going to be full of transfer activties, sports news and the coming World Cup. Normally football clubs only do business after the World Cup. So the relegation left 2 spots, who is the next 2 teams?

Aston Villa is appearing their first final since 2000. They are also doing well in the league where they are unbeaten in 12 games and hold the least goals conceded in the current campaign. I think they could give Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Man City a run of their money for the conveted 4th spot.

Man Utd Team News: All 3 goalies are in contention for the starting line up as all have played throughout the competition. Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs, Owen Hargreaves and John O'Shea are out.

Aston Villa Team News: Nigel Reo-Coker is the only absentee for the Final.

Odds and Analysis: Man Utd is giving 0.75 handicap. A tough fight to call. Since this final has no bearing with the recent League results, but i still think that Aston Villa could hold Man Utd to a draw and decide by penalties.

Disclaimer: This review is entirely on my own views and opinion. I didn’t point a gun at you to ask you to follow. If you want to bet on this game, do so at your own risk. Pls bet within limits. Good luck.

Fixture Focus - Spurs (28 Feb 10)

Tottenham Hotspur vs Everton FC

Spurs will be hosting the Toffees, who were high from their successive defeats of both Chelsea and Manchester United in the league, in this Sunday's early kick-off. Our boys are on a high, too, after the 4-0 victory over Bolton to secure a place in the FA Cup quarter finals.

With 11 games remaining, any slip-up at this stage would be detrimental to our aim for the coveted 4th spot in the league, especially so with other 4th spot wannabes Manchester City and Aston Villa, as well as the "original top 4 team" Liverpool, come chasing up the table.

However, statistics wise, for the past 3 seasons Everton's visits to the Lane had been bad for us, with them handing down defeats to our boys.

With a virus outbreak happening at the club, we might be without regulars Palacios and Corluka as they are down with it. Good thing is, the club is taking steps to prevent further infections and we do hope that everything will turn out well. Pavlyuchenko may have another start in the game after his performance against Bolton during the midweek.

So, can we break Everton's run? Can we break our jinx?

On Sunday we will know.

COYS!!!!

EPL Prediction League Match Weekend 27-28 February 2010

EPL45: SAT 27/2 Chelsea vs Manchester City at 8:40pm SIN/HKT

EPL46: SUN 28/2 Sunderland vs Fulham at 10:55pm SIN/HKT

GAME ON!

Scoring System
3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)
1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry
Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty
Submissions after kick-off will not be admissible. (Disqualification)

Blogger/Blogspot Blackout
This Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to the personal blog of Voxeros at http://jaywalk.blog-city.com. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Fixture Focus - Spurs (24 Feb 10)

Tottenham Hotspur vs Bolton Wanderers FC

(FA Cup 5th Round Replay)

Yes, as many people were saying, if it was not for the missed penalty, we would not have been dealing with extra games outside of the scheduled ones, especially since we are still chasing for the 4th spot. But Spurs always have a knack at a replay.

This time we brought the fight against Bolton Wanderers back to our home turf. Likely starters would be the same as the team against Wigan, minus King. A big question would be which of the 3 strikers (Defoe, Crouch and Pavlyuchenko) would start first, since the Russian had made an impressive entry in the Wigan game.

As for Bolton, Kevin Davies (which I would name him as the official "bogeyman in a Bolton jersey" for Spurs) may be starting, but the Trotters aren't sitting pretty at the league table, and Owen Coyle had already voiced his priority of survival over cup.

And should we beat Bolton, we would be heading to another bogey ground in the 6th round - Craven Cottage, 10 days later.

But we would still march on, bogeyman or bogey ground.

COYS!!!!!

Results - Games 20 - 21 Feb 2010 EPL Prediction League 2009/2010

I think I am really going through a funk as nothing I try to increase my guessing chances ever work!

A solitary point for me to finish yet another miserable weekend.

Congrats to ihawk98, cool402& weimeng for their 6-point haul. ihawk98 stretches his lead at the top to a whopping 7 points while weimeng notch another one on the Marksmen Board.

Well done, guys!

Housekeeping Notes:

All of this season's tables will be kept in Flickr's photoset. Click Here.


EPL Prediction League "Perfect Score" Hall Of Fame
Perfect Score = 2 correct-score predictions in a single weekend and hence the award of the full 10 points.

1) ianrush (22 - 23 Aug 2009)
2) ihawk98 (22 - 23 Aug 2009)
3) edwinsng (22 - 23 Aug 2009)
4) delay (16 - 17 Jan 2010)

Marksmen Board (Number of Exact Predictions)
7 Games - ihawk98
6 Games - delay, KingMeng
5 Games - ianrush, Voxeros, Bedokian, Everton
3 Games - limyengchuan, edwinsng, weimeng
2 Games - necroastr, Siren, redherring
1 Game - PMG, cool402


Scoring System
3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)
1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry
Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty
No points for submission after kick-off. (Disqualification)

Blogspot Blackout
The EPL Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to my personal blog at http://jaywalk.blog-city.com. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Prediction League Past Winners

Copa America 2004 - WeiMeng
EPL 2004/2005 - Friday13
EPL 2005/2006 - ianrush
World Cup 2006 - EdwinSng
EPL 2006/2007 - Voxeros
EPL 2007/2008 - Cool402
Euro 2008 - Voxeros
EPL 2008/2009 - Everton

As usual:

1) If you have spotted a mistake, please let me know where and what so that I can amend them accordingly.
2) Please check your scores for accuracy as soon as possible before I update the table during the next round of scores. Once the table has been updated, the old table will be overwritten.
3) In case you are still seeing the old table even if I have announced a new update, please refresh your browser to reload the table.

Midweek Review - 23 Feb 2010

Manchester United vs West Ham United

"Now we know the value and experience of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic."

-Gary, 23 Feb 2010

Did anyone see this coming? This unexpected loss is Everton's first win against Man Utd in 5 years.

The main suspects were not Owen and Berbatov, but Jonny Evans and Wes Brown. Now we know the value and experience of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic.

Not only do we lose ground on Chelsea, we also let Arsenal catch up and now it look like a 3 horse race.

Even if we win against West Ham, we will still be 2nd place. And we have one eye on the coming month end Carling Cup Final against Aston Villa. By that time, we have to see how the remaining 3 months will decide the Premier League champions.

Man Utd Team News: Nani is suspended. Ryan Giggs, Owen Hargreaves and John O'Shea are out.

West Ham Team News: Kieron Dyer, Herita Ilunga, Fabio Daprela, Daniel Gabbidon, Benedict McCarthy, Zavon Hines, Calum Davenport, Luis Boa Morte are out.

Odds and Analysis: Man Utd is giving 1.75 handicap. Take Man Utd for the win.

Disclaimer: This review is entirely on my own views and opinion. I didn’t point a gun at you to ask you to follow. If you want to bet on this game, do so at your own risk. Pls bet within limits. Good luck.

Fixture Focus – Spurs (21 February 2010)

  Wigan Athletic vs Tottenham Hotspur

We all remember the last time these 2 clubs met this season.  Wigan will have revenge on their minds to restore some pride after the 9 – 1 mauling at the Lane.  Spurs will want to get back to winning ways after dropping unnecessary points against Wolves the last time out.

Spurs have been looking for goals in the recent games and we sorely miss ‘azza (Lennon) who is still recovering from injury.  While Bentley has been in good form, he does not inspire fear in opposing wingbacks like Lennon can.  King could be available again but ‘arry will have to decide whether to play him today or against Bolton in midweek.

The pitch at the DW stadium has drawn tremendous criticism as rugby league is also played there.  This is highly disruptive to the free flowing passing game that Spurs would like to play.  Do not be surprise if we resort to the long ball lobs to Peter Crouch for most of the game.

This match is as tricky as the pitch and I am keeping my fingers cross that we will get a result.  It will be good for the fans and the team to regain some confidence that we have sorely miss the last couple of weeks.

COYS!

Weekend Review - 20 Feb 2010

Everton vs Manchester United

"By all accounts, the match was an unconvincing win."

-Gary, 20 Feb 2010

By all accounts, the match was an unconvincing win. We were so nervous in the first half that Ronaldinho striked in the 3rd minute. Paul Scholes's strike was a fluke. I really hope Man Utd doesnt relied on Wayne Rooney too much like Cristiano Ronaldo. Once injured or suspended, ho say liao.

Second leg will be interestingly enough to see whether Milan will score back, even more special if Beckham score on his first return in Old Trafford. The reason on whether Milan will score is because Man Utd doesnt lose at home in European ties by more than 1 goal. Even if Milan does score, it will take the game to extra time.

Coming back to domestic football, we have an early kickoff in Goodison Park. If we win, we will take over Chelsea at the top for a couple of hours. Everton did poorly in the first half of the season, where they even once touted as a relegation battler. But they have been silently creeping up the table with some resilence performance.

Everton Team News: Marouane Fellaini, Joseph Yobo, Tony Hibbert, Phil Jagielka are out.

Man Utd Team News: Ryan Giggs, Owen Hargreaves, John O'Shea and Nemanja Vidic are out.

Odds and Analysis: Man Utd is giving 0.75 handicap. Take Man Utd for the win.

Disclaimer: This review is entirely on my own views and opinion. I didn’t point a gun at you to ask you to follow. If you want to bet on this game, do so at your own risk. Pls bet within limits. Good luck.

EPL Prediction League Match Weekend 20-21 February 2010

EPL43: SAT 20/2 Portsmouth vs Stoke at 1:25am (21 Feb) SIN/HKT

EPL44: SUN 21/2 Manchester City vs Liverpool at 10:55pm SIN/HKT

GAME ON!

Scoring System
3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)
1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry
Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty
Submissions after kick-off will not be admissible. (Disqualification)

Blogger/Blogspot Blackout
This Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to the personal blog of Voxeros at http://jaywalk.blog-city.com. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Midweek Review - 16 Feb 2010

AC Milan vs Manchester United

"First and foremost, wishing all readers a Happy Lunar New Year."

-Gary, 16 Feb 2010

First and foremost, wishing all readers a Happy Lunar New Year.

The match against Aston Villa, i would take it as a point earned rather than 2 point lost. Another good reason for that is Chelsea lose to Everton and we close the gap to 2 points now.

We have a week to prepare for the 2nd round Champions League match against AC Milan as we are out of FA Cup. Good thing to have that in such a way, we are undistracted.

We will be seeing David Beckham playing against Man Utd for the first time since moving to Real Madrid in 2003. He has since moved to LA Galaxy and currently in AC Milan on loan. I think the return leg in Old Trafford is an emotional one for David Beckham, and it will be also an interesting tie to see.

AC Milan Team News: A full team to choose from.

Man Utd Team News: Nemenja Vidic, Ryan Giggs, John O'Shea and Owen Hargreaves are out. Rio Ferdinand is back from suspension.

Odds and Analysis: Level ball handicap. No punt for me. I foresee a draw.

Disclaimer: This review is entirely on my own views and opinion. I didn’t point a gun at you to ask you to follow. If you want to bet on this game, do so at your own risk. Pls bet within limits. Good luck.

Fixture Focus - Spurs (14 Feb 10)

Bolton Wanderers FC vs Tottenham Hotspur
(FA Cup 5th Round)

First, I would like to wish you all a Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year, and Happy Valentine's Day!

This Sunday, Spurs will be travelling up to the Reebok Stadium for an early kickoff against the Trotters for a place in the next stage of the FA Cup, and 1 step closer to the oldest silverware in the world, as well as a place in next season's Europa.

After a disastrous week where there was a draw (against Villa) and a loss (against Wolves), and not to mention falling down to 6th place in the league, this FA Cup fixture would definitely boost the morale of our boys.

The starting line-up would most likely be the same as the one against Aston Villa last weekend, since Kaboul is cup-tied. Defoe will definitely start after news of Redknapp's pep talk.

So, let us march on!

COYS!!!!!

Fixture Focus – Spurs (10 February 2010)

Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Tottenham Hotspur

Last weekend’s match with Aston Villa ended in a frustrating draw for Spurs but a new week brings a fresh challenge and that’s where the team is focused on right now. 

First up is the EPL match against Wolves and with the 1-0 loss to them at White Hart Lane in December fresh in our minds, nothing less than 3 points will do tonight.  This is even more critical now that Manchester City has leapfrogged us in league position after their win at Bolton last night.

Wolves will be without four players for Wednesday’s match as David Edwards, Andy Keogh and Michael Kightly are all ruled out with ankle injuries, while Stefan Maierhofer is also sidelined.   They have not won a match since their win at Burnley and have lost to Man City, Wigan, Liverpool and Birmingham.  

Spurs have kept clean sheets in 5 league games since that loss to Wolves but we have not been able to slice and dice up the opponents without the speedy Lennon creating havoc on the wings.  Pavlyuchenko should be back in the squad while Ledley King will be rested ahead of the weekend’s FA Cup match against Bolton.  An Eidur Gudjohnsen sighting should be on the cards as well as Redknapp will try to keep the squad fresh for the FA Cup clash, yet knowing that a win tonight is crucial if we want to keep pace with the Top 4 teams.

COYS!

Midweek Review - 10 Feb 2010

Aston Villa vs Manchester United

"A potential banana-skin match."

-Gary, 10 Feb 2010

I think Portsmouth match is the most number of own goals ever scored. Another record that Portsmouth will not want to associate with.

Now we are entering the second half of the season where the top teams hit 2nd gear to lead further away from the rest of the pack or to consolidate the position for Champions League football.

As such the match against Aston Villa could be a potential banana-skin where we could either lose ground against Chelsea or keep pace with Chelsea. Aston Villa also does not want to lose ground to Tottenham, Man City and a resurgent Liverpool.

Aston Villa Team News: Stephen Warnock and Nigel Reo-coker are out.

Man Utd Team News: Nemanja Vidic, John O'Shea and Owen Hargreaves are out. Rio Ferdinand is suspended.

Odds and Analysis: Man Utd is giving 0.5 handicap. A potential banana-skin match.

Disclaimer: This review is entirely on my own views and opinion. I didn’t point a gun at you to ask you to follow. If you want to bet on this game, do so at your own risk. Pls bet within limits. Good luck.

No Prediction Matches for Weekend 13-14 February 2010

 

There will not be EPL matches for prediction this coming weekend as the FA Cup 5th round ties are on.  Predictions will resume after Chinese New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!

Results - Games 06 - 07 Feb 2010 EPL Prediction League 2009/2010

What a disastrous outcome for me as my gamble to go against favourites Chelsea backfired. And to think I was going to spring the Bookie Trap!

Anyway, title chase for Arsenal is officially over while Liverpool has secured another season in the Premiership next season by crossing the 40-point magic number threshold last week.

Congrats to ihawk98 for staying at the top of the leaderboard by a solitary point. Congrats also to Everton & KingMeng who chalked up yet another notch in the Marksmen Board.

Cheers.

Housekeeping Notes:

All of this season's tables will be kept in Flickr's photoset. Click Here.


EPL Prediction League "Perfect Score" Hall Of Fame
Perfect Score = 2 correct-score predictions in a single weekend and hence the award of the full 10 points.

1) ianrush (22 - 23 Aug 2009)
2) ihawk98 (22 - 23 Aug 2009)
3) edwinsng (22 - 23 Aug 2009)
4) delay (16 - 17 Jan 2010)

Marksmen Board (Number of Exact Predictions)
7 Games - ihawk98
6 Games - delay, KingMeng
5 Games - ianrush, Voxeros, Bedokian, Everton
3 Games - limyengchuan, edwinsng
2 Games - necroastr, Siren, redherring, weimeng
1 Game - PMG, cool402


Scoring System
3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)
1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry
Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty
No points for submission after kick-off. (Disqualification)

Blogspot Blackout
The EPL Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to my personal blog at http://jaywalk.blog-city.com. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Prediction League Past Winners

Copa America 2004 - WeiMeng
EPL 2004/2005 - Friday13
EPL 2005/2006 - ianrush
World Cup 2006 - EdwinSng
EPL 2006/2007 - Voxeros
EPL 2007/2008 - Cool402
Euro 2008 - Voxeros
EPL 2008/2009 - Everton

As usual:

1) If you have spotted a mistake, please let me know where and what so that I can amend them accordingly.
2) Please check your scores for accuracy as soon as possible before I update the table during the next round of scores. Once the table has been updated, the old table will be overwritten.
3) In case you are still seeing the old table even if I have announced a new update, please refresh your browser to reload the table.

Weekend Review - 6 Feb 2010

Manchester United vs Portsmouth

"And what a better way to start this review on a note on Portsmouth's style of musical chair."

-Gary, 6 Feb 2010

A quick review as i totally forgotten about it. And what a better way to start this review on a note on Portsmouth's style of musical chair. Portsmouth is literally on a free fall and could be worse than Leeds United if not for the timely intervention of Balram Chainrai. He is currently the 4th owner that have change ownership in a season at Portsmouth. The ex-owners like Sulaiman Al-Fahim and Ali Al-Faraj, both didnt bring in investment to the club to ensure growth and progress. Instead, they nearly make the club disappear into thin air. Same as the owners, not even a single appearance in any of the matches involve Portsmouth. This coming summer doesnt look bright for Portsmouth as all the players could be looking for a new club.

Man Utd Team News: Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Owen Hargreaves and John O'shea are out.

Portsmouth Team News: Tommy Smith, Papa Bouba Diop, Michael Brown and Hermann Hreidarsson are out.

Odds and Analysis: Man Utd is giving 2.25 handicap. Take Man Utd.

Disclaimer: This review is entirely on my own views and opinion. I didn’t point a gun at you to ask you to follow. If you want to bet on this game, do so at your own risk. Pls bet within limits. Good luck.

Fixture Focus - Spurs (6 Feb 10)

Tottenham Hotspur vs Aston Villa FC

Spurs will be hosting Aston Villa at White Hart Lane for a late kick-off this Saturday. The last time these two met, it ended in a draw at Villa Park.

With the race for 4th spot heating up between us, as well as Manchester City and "catching-up" Liverpool, this game could be viewed as crucial for both sides. For one, if Aston Villa won this game, they would leapfrog us by 1 point with same number of games played.

This would be the first league game since the closing of the January transfer window, and no prizes for guessing who will start. Harry Redknapp will likely field the same team that defeated Leeds during the midweek FA Cup replay, with a possibility that Assou-Ekotto might start. For Villa, it seems that they have a full squad up, only missing Reo Coker.

There is no turning back now, in this quest for 4th place. Let us finish the fight!

COYS!!!!!

Fixture Focus - Spurs (3 Feb 10)

Leeds United AFC vs Tottenham Hotspur
(FA Cup 4th Round Replay)

First and foremost, some team news - O'Hara, Hutton and Keane (yes, Keane!) were out on loan (and we should jolly well know players who are on loan may never come back), and we had signed Kaboul back, though we could not get Bergovic, both formerly from Portsmouth.

And now, back to the game.

League One Leeds had kicked current Premier League champions Manchester United out of the FA Cup in the 3rd round, and they had miraculously (or rather because of our folly) scored a late equaliser at the Lane. Now the right for the advancement to 5th round will be determined at Elland Road.

Even we had won Fulham during last midweek, we seemed to have fallen back to the same old "injury time goal against us" syndrome against Birmingham over the last weekend. With this and the loan transfers, I foresee we may have some morale problems in the coming days.

Though we welcome back Kaboul, he cannot play for us (cup-tied). With Gudjohnsen not fit for a while and Pavlyuchenko injured, our front is now left with Crouch and Defoe. With Lennon, King and Assou-Ekotto out, Harry Redknapp might be bringing in some youngsters from our reserves to fill up the gaps.

This is our last chance of getting a silverware this season, and also a form of backdoor ticket to Europe next season.

COYS!!!!!

EPL Prediction League Match Weekend 6-7 February 2010

EPL41: SAT 6/2 Tottenham Hotspur vs Aston Villa at 1:25am (7 Feb) SIN/HKT

EPL42: SUN 7/2 Chelsea vs Arsenal at 11:55pm SIN/HKT

GAME ON!

Scoring System
3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)
1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry
Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty
Submissions after kick-off will not be admissible. (Disqualification)

Blogger/Blogspot Blackout
This Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to the personal blog of Voxeros at http://jaywalk.blog-city.com. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Results - Games 30 - 31 Jan 2010 EPL Prediction League 2009/2010

That's two Perfect-10 misses in as many weeks for ihawk98!

Still, two consecutive 9-point hauls are good enough for him to snatch the lead and 2 points clear.

ihawk98 also lead the Marksmen Board with 7 correct games thus far.

Well done!

In other news, it was a satisfying victory as I watched the Arsenal-ManUtd game at The Liz, home ground of the Arsenal SG Supporters' Club and was ready to run for my life at the final whistle. Fortunately, the fans there were a nice and gracious bunch which explains my survivor and blogging as we speak.

Haha.


http://www.plurk.com/p/3l8rmf

Housekeeping Notes:

All of this season's tables will be kept in Flickr's photoset. Click Here.


EPL Prediction League "Perfect Score" Hall Of Fame
Perfect Score = 2 correct-score predictions in a single weekend and hence the award of the full 10 points.

1) ianrush (22 - 23 Aug 2009)
2) ihawk98 (22 - 23 Aug 2009)
3) edwinsng (22 - 23 Aug 2009)
4) delay (16 - 17 Jan 2010)

Marksmen Board (Number of Exact Predictions)
7 Games - ihawk98
6 Games - delay
5 Games - ianrush, KingMeng, Voxeros, Bedokian
4 Games - Everton
3 Games - limyengchuan, edwinsng
2 Games - necroastr, Siren, redherring, weimeng
1 Game - PMG, cool402


Scoring System
3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)
1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry
Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty
No points for submission after kick-off. (Disqualification)

Blogspot Blackout
The EPL Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to my personal blog at http://jaywalk.blog-city.com. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Prediction League Past Winners

Copa America 2004 - WeiMeng
EPL 2004/2005 - Friday13
EPL 2005/2006 - ianrush
World Cup 2006 - EdwinSng
EPL 2006/2007 - Voxeros
EPL 2007/2008 - Cool402
Euro 2008 - Voxeros
EPL 2008/2009 - Everton

As usual:

1) If you have spotted a mistake, please let me know where and what so that I can amend them accordingly.
2) Please check your scores for accuracy as soon as possible before I update the table during the next round of scores. Once the table has been updated, the old table will be overwritten.
3) In case you are still seeing the old table even if I have announced a new update, please refresh your browser to reload the table.

COYG!!!

***Disclaimer: This was on my blog because I know my readers won't get offended. Posting it here is by request, so if you are offended... Well, sod off***

First up, no disrespect to Man Utd players and fans. They brought a good game and won the points. But it doesn't change the fact that I quite despise the Mancs.

Surely all football fans are somewhat masochistic. The pain we allow the club and players to inflict upon us week after week - the anticipation, the results, etc. - is unfathomable for the non-fans. Yes my friends, I say again, IT IS NOT JUST A GAME.

So the big Sunday night fixture went 3-1 in Manchester United's favour. Were we necessarily two goals worse when it came to performance? As hard as it is to admit, the answer is yes.

Bright and spirited as we were in the first half, we continued to thump at the mouth of goal without purpose and clinical finishing. It was pretty much the equivalent of a cocktease - they showed a lot, but didn't put out.

The frustrating thing after every match is this, we always come off like a team without sufficient quality to go up against the big boys. And this is so far from the truth.

Let's have a quick look at the match-up (and for the sake of readability, we'll just look at the starting line-up). Now, I know the positional comparison may bring disputes, but I stuck to ESPN's label of players' positions for comparison.

Arsenal
Manuel Almunia, Thomas Vermaelen, William Gallas

Man Utd
Ji-Sung Park, Wayne Rooney, Nani

Are you kidding me? I mean, sure, Rooney is a fugly little powerhouse but Kim Chi and Diving Tosser? Please.

Almunia's inefficiencies are unfortunately apparent and he's the weak link here. Thomas and Willy however, are defensive stalwarts and their inability to command the rearguard in this game - and several others - is inexcusable because they more than possess the right skills and capabilities.

Arsenal
Gaël Clichy, Bacary Sagna

Man Utd
Paul Scholes, Darren Fletcher

I have to say that Scholes is a brilliant player and quite a legend up north, but Fletcher? Even as a utility player, he's nowhere as impressive as O'Shea. Sagna's power should be able to match up to a veteran like Scholes, although the latter has the advantage when it comes to positioning. On our left however, there is no reason why quick-footed Clichy shouldn't be able to deal with three Fletchers.

Arsenal
Alexandre Song Billong

Man Utd
Michael Carrick

'Nuff said.

Besides, I can't fault Song for anything in this game because he did do well. This comparison is almost insulting.

Arsenal
Cesc Fabregas, Denilson

Man Utd
Patrice Evra, Rafael

Here Man Utd has an excellent leftback and a budding young rightback. Cesc was everywhere and pushing hard. Our captain always does. Rafael did well but Cesc has way more class, technical superiority and quality. Evra didn't need to shut out Denilson. It was a disappointing night for our Brazilian.

Which begs the question - why, oh why, can't our usual midfielders excel in midfield? It's a feat so familiar to fans (the domination of midfield) and yet we were faltering at many points.

Arsenal
Samir Nasri, Andrey Arshavin, Tomas Rosicky

Man Utd
Edwin van der Sar , Jonathan Evans, Wes Brown

Wes Brown is their weak link here. However, look at the potential firepower in our trio of forward players. How can we be so blase in front of goal? We only have ourselves to blame for missing the chances because we (and you out there, if you were honest) know full well that Samir, Andrey and Tomas should not have been that callous.

That said, I can claim with certainty though, that no one else on that field (whatever shirt they were wearing) has as much drive and stamina as our Russian. If only he had put a couple behind...



So I ask you, how is it that a team so well put together can play such disjointed football during such an important fixture? Only AW knows.

When all is said and done, we dropped the points with half a fight. At home. Utterly disappointing I know, but call it ardent or masochistic, I will still stand proud as a Goonerette come the morning light.

THE ARSENAL!