EPL Football, Week 5 Saturday´s Reviews & Predictions

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Week 5. 17th, October 2020

Every week I will be providing you all with my personal opinions on the next matches along with my predicted results. These opinions can change dramatically the closer we get to kick-off, but its a great place to start.

If you don´t agree with my predictions or you have heard news which may change my opinion then please let me know in the comments section, I'm always willing to listen to other people’s opinions and predictions to improve the potential return on my accumulators. 

*I urge you to only treat this as my personal opinion and never as a guaranteed way to win money through gambling. Please gamble responsibly if you choose to and only gamble with money you can afford to lose..

Everton12:30Liverpool

TEAM NEWS

Everton are monitoring the fitness of Lucas Digne, who suffered a minor knee injury on international duty.

Seamus Coleman, Allan, and Andre Gomes all returned to training this week and are under consideration but Mason Holgate continues to be absent. 

Liverpool remain without goalkeeper Alisson so Adrian will again deputise.
Sadio Mane and Thiago Alcantara are set to return after self-isolating because of positive coronavirus tests, while Joel Matip is back in training.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

• ·         Liverpool are on a club-record run of 22 unbeaten matches in all competitions versus Everton (W11, D11).

  ·         Seven of the past eight league derbies at Goodison Park have ended in draws. Liverpool won the other match.

  ·         The last three derbies hosted by Everton have finished goalless.

  ·         Everton are without a home league goal against their Merseyside neighbors in six hours and 45 minutes.

Everton

·         This is the first Merseyside league derby with Everton starting top of the table since September 1989.

·         Everton are looking to win their opening five league games for the first time since 1938-39. They beat reigning top-flight champions Arsenal in their fifth match that season.

·         A league-high 13 goals have been scored in just two games at Goodison Park this term.

·         Dominic Calvert-Lewin has scored nine goals in six appearances for Everton in all competitions this season.

·         No player in Europe's elite five divisions has scored more.

·         Teams managed by Carlo Ancelotti have kept a clean sheet in five of their six competitive home matches against Liverpool (W4, D1, L1).

Liverpool

·         Liverpool have lost four of their past eight away league games, as many as in their previous 46 away fixtures.

·         The Reds could suffer consecutive league defeats for the first time since September 2015.

·         Liverpool have conceded 23 goals since June's Premier League resumption. Only Crystal Palace (25) and Brighton (24) have let in more over this period.

·         Mohamed Salah has scored 99 goals in 158 games for Liverpool in all competitions and is looking to become the 17th player to reach a century of goals for the club.

·         Klopp is unbeaten in his 11 Merseyside derbies as Liverpool manager in all competitions (W7, D4).

Prediction

I don't think I have ever seen so much anticipation for a Merseyside derby in my 40years of watching. True Everton have got off to an absolute flyer this year whereas the previously unbeatable Liverpool have stumbled at the block in what Klopp has called a useful defeat.

I believe that on occasions like this it's easy to overthink the outcome so I´m going to draw from these clubs' long history and predict the most common outcome for a derby.

My Prediction 1-1

Chelsea15:00Southampton

TEAM NEWS

Chelsea will be sweating over their two summer signings Mendy (thigh) and Chilwell (foot) both picked up whilst away on international duty. 

Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech are both available after injury, but will they get a place on the team? In fact, Lampard seems to have the problem that every manager dreams of, good quality players all fighting for a place on the pitch. 

Southampton by contrast are going to have to do some rearranging, with Stuart Armstrong testing positive for Covid it looks like Theo Walcott could take his place having arrived on deadline day.

Ings is fit and Nathan Redmond looks set to start his first game of the season.

Prediction

I've got a feeling there will be goals involved in this one. 
Although Southampton have been tight at the back in their last couple of games and Chelsea were relieved to keep a clean sheet in there last, after the three they let in against West Brom.
Both sides have the firepower and the keepers to make this one tasty 

My Prediction 3-1

Manchester City17:30Arsenal

TEAM NEWS

Arsenal could hand a debut to deadline day purchase Thomas Partey, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had a slight injury last week but was pictured in training this week, so could fixture.

 Kieran Tierney, has had to self-isolate after coming into close contact with a COVID-positive teammate on international duty.

Man City will be missing the usual suspects from this season: Gabriel Jesus, Sergio Aguero, and Oleksandr Zinchenko with possible additions of Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne who will be fitting to be fit all the way to the whistle. 

Prediction

This is another great game this weekend, we really are spoilt. Arsenal have had a good start and will be hard for City to breakdown, but going forward I don´t feel Arsenal have enough options to stretch the City defense.

My Prediction 2-0

Newcastle United20:00Manchester United

TEAM NEWS

Newcastle's Jamal Lewis is fit despite missing Northern Ireland's last game.

Manchester United are without the suspended Anthony Martial, while Harry Maguire is doubtful after suffering a minor injury on England duty or he’s being rested?.

Edinson Cavani is in quarantine after his move to England and is unavailable.

Fellow deadline-day signing Alex Telles is in contention for his debut, while Donny van de Beek could start his first Premier League game since joining from Ajax.

Prediction

Newcastle are playing well and will make life very tough for United. Even thou ManU have been shipping goals left right and center they have been free-flowing at the other end.

As the story has been since the start of the season I believe we are going to see plenty of goals.

My Prediction 2-3

Prediction overview

SATURDAY	Result	Prediction
Everton v Liverpool	2-2	1-1
Chelsea v Southampton	3-3	3-1
Man City v Arsenal	1-0	2-0
Newcastle v Man Utd	1-4	2-3

 

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10 Football Players with Superstitions, rituals, and curses

 

Superstitions, rituals, and curses seem to go hand in hand with football its managers, players, and fans.

Some players feel that they need a helping hand to maintain or enhance their form or maybe they just need something to blame when results just don´t go their way. 

Either way, these relatively sane people do some pretty strange things to stay on the right side of the footballing gods.

1.

One of the most superstitious football players has to be John Terry, former Chelsea Captin who is reported (The Mirror) to have over 50 rituals he must do before he starts a match. 

In his own words: 

“I started off with a couple of superstitions and because we did so well, kept winning and winning, I ended up with about 50 of them. Then it was a case of remembering them for every game!”

• Playing the same Usher CD in his car when driving to home matches.
• Having to park in the same parking spot. 
• Tieing the tapes around his match-day socks three times. 
• Cutting the tubular grip for his shin-pads the same size every game.
• Urinate in the same urinal before home games 

In 2004 Terry Lost his lucky shin pads at the Camp Nou Barcelona, after having staff search the massive 100K seater stadium he had to leave without them:

“Those shin-pads had got me to where I was in the game – and I’d lost them, I really felt terrible because they were a big part of my routine." He said

“Before the (2004 Carling Cup) final I was having a go at the kitman even though it wasn’t his fault. I was thinking: ‘f***ing hell, I’ve had those shin-pads for so long and now this is it, all over. Lampsy (Frank Lampard) gave me a pair of his and luckily we won, so they’ve stuck with me. Now they have become my lucky ones.”

2.

Pele is the most famous and recognizable football player in history who is regarded by a lot of people as the greatest of all time, scoring 757 goals in 812 professional matches for club and country. 

However, it seems that with great footballing skills comes a great deal of superstitions. 

Pele like a lot of footballers had the (normal) superstitions such as touching the pitch with his hand before he went on to play or double-tapping his boots before he left the dressing room, but the biggest story is the legend of the given away shirt.

When Pele was playing for Santos he had a very unexpected dip in form, he tried to recall what he had done differently to attributed this, and all he could come up with was that in the last game he had scored in he gave away his shirt to a supporter. He immediately instructed a friend to track down and the shirt and retrieve it. 

The friend managed to find the supporter but the shirt was lost, instead of telling this to Pele he decided to present him with another shirt he had worn previously and tell him it was the real one.

Pele´s form quickly returned and the rest is history.

3.

The Curse of Birmingham City FC (I know its not a player)

Birmingham city was founded in 1875 and moved to there new home St Andrews in 1906 however, according to legend in order to build on the land the Director of Birmingham City Harry Morris had to evict a band of gypsies who cursed the club.

Over the years various managers have embraced the legend and tried to lift the curse such as the 1980´s manager Ron Saunders who tried to exercise the curse by painting crucifixes on the floodlight and painting the bottom of the player's boots red. 

Barry Fry, manager between 1993-96 went to the extreme and very wired length of urinating on the corner posts before every game after being advised by a psychic to do so.

More recently local businessman John Baines was brought in to reupholster the seats in the dugout, being a diehard Bluenose, and knowing of the curse he got a local priest to sprinkle holy water on the fabric. Amazingly Birmingham won the next three matches but they're now thinking the curse may have returned again. 

4.

Kolo Toure, whilst playing for Arsenal would always insist on being the last player out onto the pitch believing this to be lucky. This spectacularly backfired in 1998 when Arsenal played Roma in the champions league last 16. 

At half time Toure´s teammate William Gallas was receiving treatment for an injury he sustained in the first half and wasn´t ready to take the field when the second half resumed. 

Tour refused to go out for the second half with the rest of his teammates insisting that he would go out after Gallas, the second half resumed without both of them.

Toure, after much persuasion finally made his way out and ran onto the pitch, only to be booked by the ref for coming on the pitch without permission.

To Toure´s relife Arsenal went on to win the game 1-0. 

5.

Gary Lineker, Football legend, sports pundit, and advert funny guy has openly admitted to some bizarre superstitions.

In the warm-up before any match, he would never practice shooting at goal just in case he used up his good shots for the day. 

If he hadn´t scored a goal by half time he would change his kit, and if he hadn´t scored a goal for a couple of games he would get a hair cut. 

6.

Laurent Blanc in the 1998 World cup made the headlines for kissing the top of Fabian Barthez´s bald head before the start of every match.

Even thou he was suspended for the final he still performed the ritual in the dressing room.

7.

Johan Cruyff the Dutch magician had his own quirks which made him stand out such as slapping the belly of his goalkeeper Gert Bals when he played for Dutch team Ajax and before kickoff spitting his gum out over the halfway line into the opponents half.

On one occasion it is reported that he forgot his gum thus breaking the ritual, Ajax lost that game 4-1 and unfortunately for Cruyff, it was in the 1969 cup final against AC Milan.

Needless to say, he never forgot it again.

8.

As we can see from the picture above Kevin Keegan struggled to keep his shirt on and there where several occasions where he was seen getting dressed in the tunnel just before taking to the pitch. 

This is because of his superstition, he always had to be the last player in the team to put his shirt on a ritual that was sometimes exploited by some of his teammates who would hold-off putting their own shirts on till the last minute.

9.

Phil Jones, Manchester United believes his socks play a big part in the luck he will get. 

For home games, he always puts his left sock on first and away games the right.

Makes me wonder what would happen at a neutral ground? 

10.

David Beckham has a self-confessed obsessive disorder and it is reported that Manchester United, Real Madrid, Milan, and LA star has to ensure that his fridge back home is in perfect order with nothing out of place before leaving for a match. 

If you have a story about a football legend then please share below in the comments.

 

Week 4. 3rd & 4th October. 2020

Every week I provide you all with my personal opinions on the next week's matches along with my predicted results. These opinions can change dramatically the closer we get to kick-off, but its a great place to start.

I then publish my review of all the games as well as the results and evaluations of my predictions.

If you don´t agree with my predictions or you have heard news which may change my opinion then please let me know in the comments section, I'm always willing to listen to other peoples opinions and predictions to improve the potential return on my accumulators. 

*I urge you to only treat this as my personal opinion and never as a guaranteed way to win money through gambling. Please gamble responsibly if you choose to and only gamble with money you can afford to lose.

Saturday 3rd October

                 Chelsea 12:30 Crystal Palace

The definition of one way traffic, with Crystal Palace unable to register a single shot on target. 
Chelsea boss Frank Lampard introduced both summer signings Chilwell and Mendy for there first home start of the season but whereas Mendy had little to do, Ben Chilwell was involved in almost every piece of the action on the field. Scoring at the back post in the 50th minute before turning provider with a wonderful cross in the 66th minute to set up Kurt Zouma, two quick succession penalties neatly taken eventually by Jourginho, and the game was wrapped up.
Crystal Palace were playing well and defending stoutly for the first 50min but when the first goal went in the flood gates opened. Looking forward it's hard to see how Zaha will score goals if the service he receives doesn't improve.

Prediction 2-0.         Result 4-0

                   Everton 15:00 Brighton

I picked this as the match of the day and it didn´t disappoint, both teams have been scoring freely with quick flowing football.

Everton are top of the table with 4 out of 4 wins, and now have a swagger and air of invincibility that comes with it, My only concern for Everton is at the back especially with Pickford the keeper. Pickfords decision making has left some pundits questioning his ability, I don't see it this way, he's a young lad who still has a lot to develop and I believe he will regain his mojo and prove his doubters wrong.

Brighton I have to say have had a rough start to the Prem when you look at there fixtures and from there first two games against Chelsea and ManU I think they deserved to get something out of it, but in this one, they were clearly beaten.

Prediction 3-1       Result 4-2

                 Leeds 17:30 Man City

Really enjoy the way Leeds play the game, but I believed that Man City would come out all guns blazing for this game after their heavy defeat to Leicester City last week. And for the first half, they did, but a level headed Leeds back four and some good old fashioned luck stood in their way. 

Fair play to Leeds for keeping their heads and getting back into the game in the second half, it showed character that I wouldn´t have previously associated with them.

I imagine Leeds fans are very pleased with there start to the year, whereas City fans must be wondering what's gone wrong, I suppose the only comfort Leeds fans can take from this result is that Leicester, Liverpool, and Man U dropped points also.

Prediction 0-2       Result 1-1

                 Newcastle 20:00 Burnley

Newcastle are off to a good start this term whereas Burnley can't buy a win at the moment.

Pope will learn from this game and get stronger I'm sure, He really did have a bad day at the office making schoolboy errors, but the damage was already done as Burnley struggled to find an answer for the pace and skill of Newcastle's Saint-Maximin, Couple that with the lethal form of 20mil signing Wilson who now has 4 goals in 4 and the writing really was on the wall.

Prediction 2-0         Result 3-1

Sunday 4th October

             Leicester City 12:00 West Ham

Right now, no one wants to play West Ham, and although David Moyes is absent with Corona, they seem to be doing just fine without him. This like a few other results this weekend is one I got massively wrong.

Yes, Leicester were missing a couple of key players but that is no excuse. West Ham are simply playing beyond expectations. 

Great game and deserved points to the Hammers.

Prediction 2-1          Result 0-3

         Southampton 12:00 West Brom

Football is a strange game! West Brom, 3-0 up against Chelsea last week, and this week they are well beaten by a team that has struggled to find the back of the net.

In fairness I wasn't to excited about this game, Southampton got the job done and fair play to them.

West Brom will have to get their act together if they want to compete at this level of competition for another season.

Prediction 1-1         Result 2-0

                Arsenal 14:00 Sheffield

Not the best performance from Arsenal, but you can't argue with 4wins from 4 games.

Sheffield at times looked like they could get a point out of this fixture and maybe if new signing Brewster had been available to play they might have. 

In the end, Arsenal deserved the win but will have to play with more conviction if they are to beat City nest match

Prediction 3-0         Result 2-1

                   Wolves 14:00 Fulham

If you´re looking for the highlights of this game, it will be a very short video. Neto´s goal was really the one stand out moment. 

Fulham have now lost all 4 games to start the season and unless something divine happens I can't see where their first point is going to come from.

Wolves have a lot of rebuilding to do this season after cashing in on a few players, but I feel they are in safe hands and will come on strong as the season progresses.

Prediction 2-0     Result 1-0

              Man United 16:30 Tottenham

Well, I don't know where to start? Don't think anyone in the world predicted this result.

United got off to an amazing start with a penalty in the first 30seconds, then it was just one mistake after another and Tottenham were celebrating Christmas early.

It feels like going through every goal would take me longer to write than the game itself.

Hats off to Jose´s men, they deserved the win especially after playing 5 games in 11 days everyone must now start to consider them as title contenders.

United's back 4 are once again under scrutiny, but I stand by my comment I made in my last blog, that the Midfield has to sort itself out, decide who is going to track back and who is going to attack.

Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: "It's very embarrassing, it hurt all the players. It hurts me as the manager. It's my worst day ever.

"I'll hold my hands up, I'm responsible for this. I've lost 5-0 with United and we've lost 6-1. We've lost big results before and always bounced back.

"I promise we'll do everything we can to turn this around. We know how good they can be but today all our mistakes came almost like Christmas everything at once and if you make too many mistakes against a good team and you'll be punished."

Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho: "To win 6-1 against Manchester United at Old Trafford is an honor for all of us, considering the dimension of Manchester United and Old Trafford.

"The pleasure is not the 6-1, the pleasure is the performance and three points which we really need after losing points at home against Newcastle.

"The target, the objective is every match we go to win. I told the players in the last couple of days 1000 times a good result at Old Trafford is to win.

"Of course if you draw it's not a bad result but that's the kind of mentality we must get. It was a great performance, a great result. We have seven points, so our position in the table is so-so."

Prediction 1-2    Result 1-6

                  Aston Vill 19:15 Liverpool

Well I never, I mean, who would have thought it?

So where to start? It is the first time Liverpool have conceded seven goals since 1963 and is only their fourth Premier League defeat since 3 January 2019. Villa, who escaped relegation on the final day of last season, overtake them in the table with their best start since 1962.

A 39min Hatrick from Villas 28mil club-record signing Watkins started it all off with Liverpool defending way to high up the field. 

At 2-0 was thinking Liverpool would pull it back and my confidence was proved right for a moment when Sala slotted home on 33min only for Watkins again to complete his hattrick on 39min.

This is when Liverpool collapsed, lacking the kind of belief and ambition we have all become accustomed to over the last few years.

Villa who are now up to 2nd in the league deserve all the applause and I'm sure this game will go down in Villa folk law for many years to come.

Liverpool will hope this is just a minor blip, a slip, a lapse of concentration? All I know is that Klopp needs to get on top of this quick as the reds have been leaking goals since the re-start of last season. 

Prediction 0-3     Result 7-2

Overall, I actually made a little money on my bets this week, despite the fact that some of the results I thought were a given backed fire.

If you don´t agree with my predictions or you have heard news which may change my opinion then please let me know in the comments section, I'm always willing to listen to other peoples opinions and predictions to improve the potential return on my accumulators. 

*I urge you to only treat this as my personal opinion and never as a guaranteed way to win money through gambling. Please gamble responsibly if you choose to and only gamble with money you can afford to lose.