www.Go To The Mountain - Musings of a Potential Guru

Covid has reared it ugly head once again. Many players have lately tested positive and many clubs were affected which led to games being postponed. Now more players, clubs and fixtures have been affected due to postponement of the matches. This Saturday alone, one one game will continue out of five. So far, no information about which clubs (only a few named maybe those where there were too many to field a decent team) and which players were affected. Only Liverpool have named Virgil Van Dijk, Curtis Jones and Fabinho to have tested positive, being isolated and awaiting test results. This means that during this busy period of crunch time EPL games before and after Christmas to the new year, it has become increasingly difficult to predict which games won't be affected, who will be playing let alone which team will win or the score line. So I will take a break like a good soldier who will be off duty till the dust settles. Still, do enjoy whatever there is left of the soccer games ava

When I predicted that West Ham could do a Liverpool to Chelsea, I took into consideration that the Blues have been very good defensively and hardly concede a goal so I went for a draw instead and very few people believe me. Not only did the Hammers not lose, they won and scored three times to clinch a win despite going behind twice! Well played and they have beaten Manchester United, City, Tottenham, Liverpool and Chelsea! The Hammers will go places. Newcastle have not won in 14 matches and I said they would beat Burnley and get their first win and it finally happened. A first win for Eddie Howe and the Magpies!  The prediction for a 1-1 draw between Southampton and Brighton was also spot on. Liverpool could have won by more at the Molineux but as I have mentioned Wolves played so well and were nearly impossible to break down and at the end the Reds won by the narrowest 1-0 thanks to their talismanic striker Divock Origi who broke the deadlock in the 94th minute. Origi is so important

I have to skip Game Week 14 played so soon after the weekend and at ungodly hours which means I do not get to watch. While I was watching Game Week 13, it was hard to watch in a few matches let alone play because of the heavy snow so much so that the Burnley v Spurs match had to be postponed.  Game Week 15 West Ham v Chelsea - West Ham missed the opportunity with City missing a few key players. Manuel Lanzini's goal was a thing of beauty but scan consolation but they did compete well. The Hammers are having a little slump having lost twice and drew once in their last three games.  Chelsea dominated United but have nothing to show for at the end. I thought Antonio Rudiger was quite outstanding but the usually excellent keeper Eduoard Mendy has a poor game. However, they were lucky to have stole three points at Watford as the Hornets dominated them with more shots and chances and higher xG. Both sides are tough to break down and unless Chelsea continue their trend of winning when not

Everything has happened in Game Week 12. Chelsea are looking good to be champions. It is just so hard to score against them. After 12 games, they have conceded only 4 goals and they totally controlled the game against Leicester. The new managers all looked to have improved their teams. The Steven Gerrard effect seemed to have worked for Aston Villa with two late goals to get only their first win after five straight losses. Burnley and Crystal Palace plus Newcastle and Brentford served out a treat with exciting draws. With new manager Eddie Howe at the helm though missing due to being tested positive for Covid, the Magpies showed some spirit to come back twice to get a point but remained the only team without a win and anchored right at the bottom now. Dean Smith only just sacked by Villa gave Norwich a win , only their second win of the season against a Southampton side undefeated in five. Not so new but still relatively new manager Claudio Ranieri not only won but thrashed Manchester

Bottoms up! We shall discuss from the bottom, up. Norwich City finally got their first win! That Brentford we saw earlier have now lost four matches in a row. Aston Villa have outdone Brentford with 5 straight losses as Southampton remained undefeated in four games (3 wins and a draw). Crystal Palace achieved two wins and drew four times. Burnley surprised all with a battling 1-1 draw at Chelsea. Newcastle equalised at Brighton to steal a point. Leeds for the first time this season played like the team of last season and dominated Leicester but could only get a draw. Everton played to a stalemate at Goodison Park against Spurs. Hard work ahead for Conte. Arsenal remained unbeaten for the 10th time with a 1-0 win over Watford. Liverpool crash-landed 2-3 to West Ham who fought for a fine win. I wonder what David Moyes could have done at Manchester United had he been given the same support and money in his time there and to think what Moyes has achieved with much lesser resources at West

Some unfathomable stuffs have happened. What a week of soccer from Game Week 10! After a pathetic start, Arsenal are roaring and are now level with Manchester United on points. Thanks to Aaron Ramsdale's many saves including a out of the world save that many will talk about years from now! Burnley finally won a match. Liverpool went to sleep at Anfield. Crystal Palace made the biggest headline dumping champions City at their own ground at the Etihad!!! Nuno Espirito Santo's days at Spurs may be numbered as they fared worse than Manchester United who bounced back with an important 3-0 win. Norwich continued to be bottom with no end in sight as Raphinha scored a beauty. Finally, West Ham are really so good they are level on point with City! Chelsea are firm favourites to win the title with yet another win. Even without Lukaku and Werner, defender Reece James struck not once but twice with scorching shots. They had beaten Brentford with the slimmest margin even when they were outp

Humiliation of the greatest order! Only a couple of weeks ago I wrote about Newcastle United's famous 5-0 win over Manchester United but this was worse when Liverpool humiliated their biggest rival - the famous Manchester United in their own backyard at Old Trafford, the Theatre of Dreams. Four goals down by half-time and the game was already over with fans seen leaving in droves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLxmuh6wCVY ( Man U v Liverpool) Paul Pogba was sent in to help stem the tide but he saw red after a bad and dangerous tackle that saw Naby Keita who is in a rich vein of form stretchered out. There was nothing else to play for as the Red Devils sat back with a man less. Six yellow and one red and the endurance of a second half which will feel like ten hours before they can hide and knowing that they will be paying the high wages of the famous Cristiano Ronaldo who cut a sad lost and forlorn figure. He should have been red carded instead of seeing yellow for his petulance.