EPL Game Week 16

If you look at the World Cup Groups drawn recently, two groups immediately caught your eye. France who struggled to qualify yet did so magnificently leaving the Ukraine in agony has the easiest group. 

Next England already devoid of a golden generation and looking ordinary got the worse luck. Uruguay was the previous World Cup semi-finalist and boast two of the world's finest strikers in Edison Cavani and Luis Suarez. Italy was the last World Cup's runners-up. The other team is Costa Rica. If you look at it this way, then England would be out. Their only advantage now is that they are low key and not expected to do much anyway and some still think that Roy Hodgson was a poor choice as manager.

If I were Roy, I will take the opportunity to blood in more youngsters. Bring in the likes of Seamus Coleman and Ross Barkley of Everton. They will benefit greatly for future England teams. Players are these are of lesser known quality and can surprise. I watch these pair in the EPL and they have been confident and fearless, aggressive and competitive. England play Italy first then Uruguay and finally Costa Rica. It will surely be Steven Gerrard's swansong and it must be Rooney's peak and probably last or second last chance to fulfil his potential. More on World Cup build up later.

 The coming weeks from 14-29 December will be interesting. Top of table clashes commenced with City v Arsenal, Tottenham v Liverpool this week followed by Arsenal v Chelsea, Man City v Liverpool and then Chelsea v Liverpool. It will be a test of Arsenal's belief if they still remain top and a stretch for Liverpool as they faced three tough tests all in a row with Steven Gerrard injured and a thin squad.

Now for those who missed, here are the top goals from last week's EPL: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=470087193100256

Man City v Arsenal - Without doubt, a defining game that can make the season for both teams! City's last 5 matches were WWWDW while the Gunner's WWWWD. Their previous 5 meetings were one draw and two wins a piece. The fact is that both City and Arsenal were the only teams that have beaten Bayern Munich and away at that. City beat  Bayern with a most unlikely candidate - James Milner who scored one and made two. City scored lots of goal at home but have been conceding goals too and Arsenal boast the best defensive record this season. It will be an intriguing match not to be missed. It should be a close game and there will be goals. I say draw. 2-2. 
Cardiff v WBA - Both teams are going off the pace somewhat. Cardiff's sequence were LDLDL and WBA's were DDLLL. Cardiff has home advantage but they haven't scored in 3 matches. It has draw written all over it. 1-1.

Chelsea v Palace - Chelsea played a mid-week European match and won 1-0 but they do have a much deeper squad. However, they are leaking goals - 6 (3 a piece) in their last 2 matches against teams like Sunderland and Stoke. Mourinho ought to be worried and their form reads WLWWL and losing to Stoke 3-2 is a big deal. Meanwhile Palace are on the up trend with a DWLWW sequence bit scored only 4 goals in 5 matches. This will be held at Stamford Bridge and if Chelsea dare to loose this one, they had better say bye bye to their title hopes. 2-0.


Everton v Fulham - Everton are the most improved team this season. If you saw their away match against Arsenal you would be impressed as they took the match to the Gunners and attacked them and even came back to pull level. Their undefeated sequence were DDWWD including a famous win at Old Trafford. Fulham surprised with a 2-0 win over Villa after having not won for such a long time with a record of LLLLW and they have an inferior record against Everton. Everton to win. 2-0.

Newcastle v Southampton - Alan Pardew has been doing somethings right. The Magpies (WWWLW) were flying with the only blip at Swansea when they crumbled 0-3. They are on a high after defeating Man Utd 1-0 at Old Trafford. The Saints themselves have been a revelation but were on a trail of defeats (WLLLD) before a solid performance against Man City (1-1), watch this gaol by Osvaldo: 

I say both are equal so a draw is on the cards. 1-1.
West Ham v Sunderland - The Hammers are in danger zone and their form is not good (LLWLL) while Sunderland's revival under Gus Poyet was shortlived but they do have a superior record against West Ham but the Hammers are playing at Upton Park. SUnderladn did not do too badly considering their recent lossed were 1-2 to Tottenham and 3-4 to Chelsea. Draw. 1-1.

Hull v Stoke - Hull surprised Liverpool 3-1 and Stoke shocked Chelsea 3-2 recently. Their record against one another were equal. This will not be a meek encounter. Assaidi on loan from Liverpool scored a great goal last week. Can he get onto the score sheet again? Watch: (Stoke v Chelsea (Assaidi goal):
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=640258872683374&set=vb.266828596693072&type=2&theater
I see a draw. 2-2.

Villa v Man Utd. - There was a court hearing in London where a boy was always beaten by his parents so the court awarded custody of the child to an aunt but the boy protested because the aunt has been beating him too. Finallt, after deliberation, the court awarded custody of the boy to Manchester United. According to the boy, Man Utd are not capable of beating anyone. But they just got one over Shakhtar Donetsk albeit a narrow one. Villa was improving with a WDDW but got shocked 2-0 at Fulham. Utd are low on confidence and will be on tenterhook as they really cannot afford to loose any more. Now it seems that everybody can win or take points off them even at the Theatre of Dreams. They have lost their aura of invincibility. Their only hope lies in history as in their last 5 meetings, Villa were beaten in all the matches. Utd to win. 1-2.
Norwich v Swansea - After that thrashing by Liverpool, the Canaries woke up to realise "I thot I thot I thaw a pussy cat" and went on to beat WBA 2-0 away. Impressive. Swansea could not beat Hull at home and have a poorer record against Norwich having not beaten them in four attempts with a draw and 3 losses but their matches were always high scoring with 4-7 goals. Home win. 3-2.


Tottenham v Liverpool - This will be interesting as both sides need to show what they are really made of. They have almost identical records the last 5 times they plaed each other and both have 3 wins, a draw and a loss in all competition. Tottenham scored 8 goals and conceded 10 while Liverpool scored 17 and conceded 8. (Watch: Liverpool v West Ham):


Tottenham hosted Anzhi in mid-week while Liverpool rested and Suarez is still red hot. If AVB sticks to his conservative game as he likely would then it could be an away win for Liverpool but there will be no Gerrard. 1-2.

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