EPL 2015/16 - Game Week 10

The English Premier League is not the best league in the world but it is the toughest and most exciting! Singaporeans are not the worse people in the world but they are the best complaint king in the world. If you could ever predict three perfect scores out of ten matches you are a genius but nobody praise or thank you for that but that is life. For most people, the last time you got any praises could have been in primary school or kindergarten where the teachers draw or paste a star on your work. 

There are methods in my predictions and at times madness in the methods for who would dare to stake their reputation in doing so. If I say 1-1 and it turned out 2-2, it is still a good prediction for at least it is a draw. Ditto if I predicted 2-1 ans it came out 4-2. At least I got the right team winning. Well, at least I got the Southampton/Leicester game perfect for 2-2 and it was close for some other matches. Now, for game week 10:

Leicester City v Crystal Palace - King Power! They are the comeback kings! I am really going to buy a Leicester jersey. There is this fearlessness in the way they play and in Jamie Vardy, they have an irresistible striker who turned Roy of the Rovers into reality. He never stopped running, shoots with his left and right foot and goes in with his head. He was even called up to the England squad. He was in non-leagues just not long ago. Any team would want Vardy now. Every time you see Mahrez plays, you wonder why he is not a bigger star. Of course there are others. This is what you want to see in a soccer team no matter the results. It is the size of the fight in the dog and not the size of the dog in the fight! This is why we even watch soccer. The Foxes are at home now to an equally impressive Crystal Palace who uncharacteristically let in two late goals (88th and 90th min) at Selhurst Park to West Ham (1-3).

With Leicester in good fighting form and Palace dropping a notch it would be a home win here? Not so simple as Leicester won only once in five outings against the same side. Palace are a team that could get a result away from home and have won both times when they last visited the Foxes. Palace's last 12 away games were either wins or losses, no draws (9 wins/3 losses). I am banking on the fact that last week's come back high would certainly have boosted the confidence of the home side while Palace may still be smarting from the Hammers' shock. Leicester were not intimidated by the bigger Southampton players last week. Claudio Ranieri must pick Mahrez to open up the Palace defence and Vardy will create havoc. Palace is good but Leicester is better this time. Leicester will score and they have scored at least two goals in their last 5 matches. For the love of soccer, I believe Leicester will win. 2-1.

Aston Villa v Swansea - Villa and Tim Sherwood is in trouble again. Now they do not have Benteke to help them and on a losing streak. To make things worse, they have only won once in eight meetings with Swansea. Fortunately, they are meeting the Swans who after a good start have gone flat. Last week's defeat to Stoke will have an effect on them and only secured two points in their last five matches and seemed low on confidence. Villa have to make use of their home advantage to turn things around. I feel they will both cancel each other out. Draw. 1-1.

Stoke v Watford - Stoke are surely climbing their way up again. They have remained undefeated for awhile and chalked up three win in a row including two away wins. Impressive. The Hornets's results suffered a dip having not won for the last three matches. They are difficult to breakdown but Arsenal hit them for three and they will need their super scorer Odian Igahlo to strike but Mark Hughes have now won 50% of Stoke's home matches (21/42). The good news is that are unbeaten by Stoke in their previous five head to head meetings and kept clean sheets in all but those were in the old days. Stoke should win this by a narrow margin but I will pick a draw. 1-1.

Norwich v WBA - The Canaries are a team most people do not dislike. They are a decent team. The team is capable of scoring a goal or two every match but they have just been shell-shocked and sucker-punched by the Magpies last week. History is also against the home side who lost 4 of their last 5 clashes to the Baggies. WBA will be encouraged by their 1-0 win over Sunderland but Norwich should just remember that in the League Cup in September, they have trounced WBA 3-0. Last week's 2-6 loss to Newcastle will either dampen them or see them bounce back. In their last 5 clashes, Norwich lead 3-2 and scored 10-3 against WBA. Home win. 1-0.

West Ham v Chelsea - In 18 London derbies in the premier league, the Hammers have won only once against Chelsea (D3 and L14). This is the magnitude of their challange of their challenge against history. In their last 5 face to face, Chelsea won all but drew one with West Ham not registering only one goal. This time it is different because West Ham have been very good while this is the weakest Chelsea now even as they have just beaten Villa (2-0) with the help of an own goal. Bilic is shrewd enough to know where to hammer another nail (no pun intended) into Mourinho's coffin. Last week I told about how good Dimitri Payet is for the home team and he proved it again. I am predicting a West Ham win because my boss supports West Ham and he may be reading it plus the Blues are singing the blues because they seemed to lack desire. 2-1.

Arsenal v Everton  - This could be a cracking game. Arsenal played Bayern Munich in mid-week at the Emirates. They did not need to travel but it was a difficult match no doubt and how many of you were counting on the Gunners to win this one? And win they did by 2-0. Arsene Wenger has now become the only man who had beaten Pep Guardiola's teams - Barcelona and Bayern Munich. 3-0 against Man Utd and 2-0 over Bayern. If this are not inspirational, what are? 

I was surprised by Everton's soft spine last week when they crumbled like biscuits at Goodison Park against the Red Devils. Everton made United looked good. If they play the same way, they will get a spanking from the Gunners. Arsenal plundered 3 goals each in their last two matches. Arsenal have a superior historical record over Everton especially at the Emirates and is highly likely to continue to dominate on the results of this pairing. The Gunner lost only once to Everton in 16  meetings. Home win by 2-0.

Sunderland v Newcastle - Sam Allardyce inherited a squad that has to fight to the wire to stay alive and this was what the Black Cats have been doing for a few seasons now. After ably holding West Ham 2-2 they were edged out 1-0 away at the Hawthorns. The Magpies were in equally bad shape but look at what they did to the Canaries. Sunderland's only encouragement comes from the fact that they have won the last five derby between them. The main question is can Newcastle repeat the awesome performance? At the beginning when I saw Georgino Wijnaldum played I have written that he was impressive. The four goals he took to wiped out Norwich last week were superlative. Newcastle must be feeling very high now and soaring. It is like you see a team playing differently and confidently after they scored a goal. Sunderland won't be easy but Newcastle has belief now with momentum and if they play like in their 6-2 win over Norwich. Away win. 1-2.

Manchester United v Manchester City - Undoubtedly the biggest match and derby for the weekend. I am still not impressed with Manchester United. Credit for the win but it was Everton who made them look good and better than they really were. Wayne Rooney has scored again and in both squad, no player has scored more derby goals than Rooney (11 goals). Noisy neighbour City have won six of their last eight derbies. In the last five head to head, City won four and United 1. City have been rampant in the last two weeks having beaten Newcastle 6-1 then Bournemouth 5-1. United need a special performance to win otherwise they could hold them to a draw. Even Paul Scholes lamented over United's performance. But my  inclination is that City will ace this one. 1-2.

Bournemouth v Tottenham - A unique encounter for both sides as this is only the second time they are meeting the last being in 1957 before many of us were born. Bournemouth have not won for three matches finding life tougher now while Tottenham have lost only once this season which means Pochettino has made them more difficult to beat. Maybe that is why Harry Kane has not been as prolific. Bournemouth can score and have scored in every match except their opening two ties. Tottenham have also scored in every match except for three matches. Before that Liverpool match, Spurs was the team that ran the most. There will be goals. Kane has to score and so too Lamela. I noticed Spurs have not been wildly abundant in their play and are more disciplined so I pick an away win for Spurs. 1-2.

Liverpool v Southampton - In the last two seasons, the Reds have enjoyed three straight wins in a row over the Saints and have scored seven goals and conceded only one. Southampton broke their winless away streak of ten games when they had Chelsea beaten 3-1 earlier. Southampton have strongly and surely make their way back to 8th position but conceding two goals in the second half to Leicester after having led 2-0 isn't encouraging at all. Liverpool showed at the beginning of their play against Spurs what to expect from Klopp. They ran 116km. They were the top runners that week and so too James Milner was the number one runner. Milner holds the record run with a whopping 13.56 km covered when he played for Man City v Stoke. Harry Kane was closest with 13.2 v Swansea. 

Liverpool played Rubin Kazan on Friday but could not win. Adam Lallana was their best player and Coutinho need to raise his game to get Liverpool firing. Klopp has been using available resources and giving each a fair run before deciding what he needed to change. It won't be easy as he needs to change the organisation and the attitude. The immediate concern for him is that Liverpool took 35 shots against Rubin Kazan but could only score once. That is a sure sign of lacking in confidence. The defence remained suspect as they could not keep a clean sheet. While Liverpool have not lost for sometime, they also could not win. This is Klopp's first home league game at Anfield. He has drawn two matches. This could be a third draw? He did not field Sturridge against Rubin and Sturridge may have been reserve for this match then Liverpool's chances would increase for a win. For all their busy effervescent running, Liverpool lack the final finishing touch. 2-1.