The highlight games for this weekend’s action are LEEDS versus CHELSEA and MANCHESTER UNITED versus LIVERPOOL. Our feature columnist, John Newsome previews these as well as all game week 3 matches with his unique and insightful commentary. You can view all previous analysis from John’s regular column here: English Premier League Predictions For Saturday.
Please note all prices quoted below were correct at the time of publication
Game Week-3
Saturday 20th
TOTTENHAM v WOLVES
12.30 in England
BT Sport
Tottenham featured in possibly the fixture of the weekend against Chelsea on Sunday, where a feisty London/Antonio Conte Derby eventually ended with both teams gaining a point from a draw by a 2-2 score.
The Archbishop was happy.
Chelsea scored 1st to take a lead into the break.
Antonio noticed a few tactical manoeuvres that Thomas Tuchel was employing which limited Spurs’ usually free-flowing football, so introduced Richarlison after 57-minutes which changed the flow of proceedings and within 10-minutes of the ex-Toffee being on the pitch, Tottenham equalised through a Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg strike.
When Pierre-Emile scored, it kicked off on the touchline with both sets of dugouts getting their handbags out.
Chelsea were unhappy with a couple of decisions leading up to the goal but after the dreaded VAR checked a few things, the goal stood and the handbags were put away (temporarily!)
Thomas’s Blue Engines restored their lead and with time running out, it looked that Tottenham would suffer another defeat at Stamford Bridge, however, that man Harry Kane got his head onto a corner and equalised in the 96th minute.
Within seconds of the goal, the on-field referee, Anthony Taylor blew the final whistle which prompted both dugouts to get the handbags out once again.
Anthony had no hesitation in producing a Red Card for Antonio Conte and Thomas Tuchel, who had been shown a Yellow Card in the previous incident.
In truth, it’s nice to see challenges on the pitch being allowed to continue instead of players rolling around feigning injury.
The referees appear to be more lenient this season and are trying to keep the game flowing, plus it’s good to see passion on the sidelines from both dugouts.
There was an incident in the Sky Sports studio afterwards that has ridiculously sparked a ‘supposed’ sexism row.
The Scottish legend that is Graeme Souness commented that it was a ‘Man’s game’ once again which sparked the usual online ‘outrage’ when someone says something about ‘men’ and ‘women’!
Whilst folk out there want to compare Women’s football to Mens, it simply isn’t the same game.
Graeme Souness was correct, Chelsea v Tottenham at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, was a ‘man’s game’
Sky Sports, BT Sport, the BBC or ITV can play the game as much as they want and have a woman pundit on their shows to tick boxes.
Since the England Lionesses won the Euro’22, there appears to be a gear change in how Women’s and Men’s football should be perceived.
A respected Sky Sports presenter called Vicky Gomersall interviewed Harry Maguire recently and asked whether the England Men’s team were ‘jealous’ of the Women’s team and tried implying that Harry and the rest of the England Boys, had to win the World Cup in Qatar, to match the Womens Euro’22 victory.
That just doesn’t make sense.
The Three Lions are not the Three Lionesses and play a completely different sport.
Gareth Southgate’s England Mens Team have reached the Semi-Final of the 2018 Men’s World Cup and the Final of the Men’s Euro’20, narrowly missing out in both tournaments.
The Women’s team did brilliantly and no one wants to decry the achievement, however, to constantly use the win as a stick to beat the Men’s Game, will polarise the Men’s and Women’s game more and give the keyboard warriors added ammunition to offer up sexism drivel.
The ex-England Lioness, Eni Aluko put on Twitter (Gutter!),
‘Awkward Turtles, Graeme Souness talking about ‘it’s a man’s game again!’ Sat next to an England Centurion Karen Carney, two weeks after the Lionesses end a 56-year wait and win the European championship.
Come on, it’s not okay.’
Eni has the right to comment but can someone tell the Legal Expert that Graeme was commenting on a Man’s Game in a Man’s League in England that was watched by a majority of Men compared to Women?
The majority of Men also supported the Three Lionesses at Wembley a couple of weeks ago.
This is the same Eni Aluko that criticised the Government ‘Furlough’ Scheme that was introduced when the Coronavirus pandemic ripped through the World, with Miss Aluko stating,
‘As expected, the same people baffled about what returning to work means are crystal clear and tweeting with joy with the extension of furlough to October.
Furlough is needed but has perpetuated a culture of do-nothing entitlement.’
Adding,
‘Well, unfortunately, death is a daily occurrence in all parts of the World, before this crisis (Coronavirus).
When people were dying in other parts of the World, before this crisis.
Did you stop working?
Probably not.’
Cheers Eni!
People didn’t ‘choose’ to stop working, it was taken out of their hands to save lives and ease the burden on the NHS.
Watching Graeme Souness and listening to the great man’s views is far more appealing than watching women run around pretending that ‘their football’ is the same as ‘Men’s football’
It’s like comparing jam to cheese, both serve a purpose but are completely different toast toppings!
Chelsea v Tottenham was a great spectacle, witnessed by both women and men all around the World, with all loving the passion shown by both teams and despite the supposed ‘outrage’ from the keyboard bullies in their Mum (or Dad!) bedroom, if John Newsome is not mistaken, it was a ‘Man’s Game!’
Both the teams on show on Sunday have 4-points from the opening 2 fixtures and both sets of the faithful, whilst leaving Stamford Bridge were heard singing,
‘It could be worse, we could be Manchester United followers!’
Wolves gained their first point of this new campaign following a draw against Fulham by a 0-0 score.
Bruno Lage’s Gold and Blacks are struggling to score at the moment with the loss of Raul Jimenez who will be out for a few weeks.
In truth, the Lage Louts could easily have witnessed a defeat at Molineux when Fulham were awarded a penalty in the 80th minute that was saved by Jose Sa.
A Loss and a Draw from Game Weeks 1 and 2.
It’s early days yet but there are still a couple of weeks of the Transfer Window to go so maybe Bruno should be into the hierarchy for a few bob to purchase a Striker.
It was rumoured that whilst exiting the ground both sets of fans, in unison, commented,
‘It could be worse, we could be Manchester United followers!’
When Wolves visited the Chas and Dave Memorial Stadium in February, Bruno Lage’s Gold and Blacks got a surprise victory by a 2-0 away day scoreline.
Raul Jimenez and Leander Dendoncker scored the Wolves’ goals, both before the half-time cup of tea to give the Lage Louts a great day out in the Capital.
Betfred offer Tottenham at Odds On 4/11, the draw at 9/2 and 8/1 for Wolves to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 5/1 that Son Heung-Min Scores First and 23/20 that Tottenham Win To Nil.
Home Win 3-0 Get 8/1 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!
CRYSTAL PALACE v ASTON VILLA
15.00
Crystal Palace were outplayed for the opening 30-mins minutes against Liverpool at Anfield on Monday Night Football but somehow didn’t concede a goal.
That resilience paid off when Wilfried Zaha was put clear from a pass by Eberechi Eze and superbly converted past Alisson to give Patrick Vieira’s Eagles a surprise lead at the break.
In the 2nd-half, Joachim Andersen got involved in a set-to with Darwin Nunez that ended up with the Uruguayan sticking his head on the chin of the Danish Defender.
The referee had no alternative other than to send Darwin off but did issue a Yellow Card to Joachim for his part in the incident.
Within minutes of the sending-off, the 10-man of Liverpool equalised and although a man light, were the more dominant team for the remaining 30-minutes.
That said, Crystal Palace held firm and gained a point from a draw by a 1-1 away day score.
Patrick’s Eagles have their 1st-point of the campaign from the 2-opening fixtures and their 1st point against Liverpool in 11 meetings between the two teams.
Aston Villa got their 1st-victory of the new campaign in the early Saturday afternoon kickoff against Everton, with Stevie G getting the better of his old mate Frank Lampard as Villa inflicted a defeat on the Toffees by a 2-1 score.
Ollie Watkins was recalled to the starting eleven after being on the bench in last week’s visit to Bournemouth but it was Ollie’s strike partner, Danny Ings that opened the scoring after half an hour with a superb strike that gave Jordan Pickford no chance.
Emiliano Buendia replaced Phillipe Coutinho after 60-minutes which turned out to be an inspired substitution by Mr Gerrard with Emiliano adding a 2nd goal with 5-minutes remaining.
Although the home team had a 2-goal advantage going into the final stages of the game, the watching Villains had a nervy few minutes when Everton pulled a goal back 2-minutes after Mr Buendia’s strike.
Luckily for the faithful, the Toffee goal was just a consolation and Aston Villa held on for the victory, giving Steven Gerrard the midfield manager bragging rights over his mate Frank Lampard.
One-Win and one-Loss so far which isn’t too bad of a start for the Midlands Claret and Blues.
With the fans murmuring on the way out of Villa Park and Anfield.
‘It could be worse, we could be Manchester United followers!’
Stevie G’s Claret and Blues gained the away day victory last season at Selhurst Park, with Villa inflicting a defeat on Patrick’s Eagle’s by a 2-1 scoreline.
In a Battle of the Midfield Maestros where Mr Vieira and Mr Gerrard had to suppress the urge to kick each other on the sidelines, Matt Targett and John McGinn scored the Villa goals, one in each half to give the away fans a great day out in South London.
Marc Guehi scored a very late consolation goal for the home team.
Betfred offer Crystal Palace at 6/4, the draw at 23/10 and 2/1 for Aston Villa to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 7/5 that Wilfried Zaha Scores Anytime and 8/5 that Ollie Watkins Scores Anytime.
Draw 1-1- Get 5/1 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!
EVERTON v NOTTINGHAM FOREST
15.00 in England
Frank Lampard’s Everton are now 2-from-2 in the Defeats column following Saturday’s early afternoon fixture at Villa Park.
Mr Lampard faced his old England Midfield mate, Stevie G but it was the ex-Liverpool enforcer that gained the victory by a narrow 2-1 scoreline.
Everton had conceded 2-goals, 1 in each half before the ex-Toffee, Lucas Digne helped his old side out scoring an own-goal late on.
Lucas scored an own-goal in last season’s fixture between the two but at that time Mr Digne was playing for Everton.
There are not many players who score an own goal in the same fixture between two teams, one for each club.
Lucas even had a cheeky smile following the goal.
Unfortunately, for the travelling Toffees, Aston Villa held on for the victory that leaves Frank Lampard’s Everton with the same points as Manchester United.
There are rumours that Brighton’s Neal Maupay is on his way up to Merseyside (although Nottingham Forest may hijack that deal) as well as Watford’s Emmanuel Dennis and Marseille’s Bamba Dieng.
Like most of the teams, Frank will want some more signings in before the Transfer Window slams shut.
The Toffee faithful were all downbeat leaving the Midlands on the M6 but despite having the same Eurovision Nil-Points, agreed,
‘It could be worse, we could be Manchester United followers!’
Nottingham Forest certainly had luck on their side on Sunday in the fixture against West Ham at the City Ground.
In the first Premier League game at the iconic ground since Prince’s famously titled tune, (1999), Steve Cooper’s Tricky Trees got the victory against David Moyes Hammers Boys by a 1-0 scoreline.
The new Tree, Taiwo Awoniyi, was credited with Forest’s 1st-Premier League goal since the return to the Promised Land.
Credited because the lad didn’t have much input into the strike with the ball deflecting off his knee past the Hammers stopper.
Despite West Ham hitting the woodwork twice and having a penalty saved by the excellent Dean Henderson, Nottingham Forest held on for a famous victory.
There must have been a certain legend upstairs, keeping a beady eye on his former club and offering up a bit of Devine intervention.
Respect Old Big ‘ead!’
That’s a Win and a Loss for the new boys who were certainly ‘Partying like it’s 1999’ on Sunday afternoon in West Bridgford, Nottingham and were heard singing in the local pubs,
‘It could be worse, we could be Manchester United followers!’
Come on, sing along!
It’s been 23-years since Nottingham Forest last visited Goodison Park for a league fixture, or for that matter any fixture.
It’s hoped the Bus Driver knows the way!
January 1999 to be exact when Walter Smith’s Everton team hosted Ron Atkinson’s Forest team.
The lineups put out that day were,
Everton-
Thomas Myhre, Richard Dunne, David Unsworth, Marco Materazzi, Michael Ball, Tony Grant, Don Hutchison, John Oster, Mitch Ward, Nick Barmby and Danny Cadamarteri.
Substitutes-
Ibrahima Bakayoko for Danny Cadamateri 46th-minute
Olivier Dacourt for Tony Grant 62nd-minute
Michael Branch for Mitch Ward 62nd-minute
Nottingham Forest-
Dave Beasant, Stale Stensaas, Jon-Olav Hjelde, John Harkes, Alan Rogers, Scot Gemmill, Andy Johnson, Carlton Palmer, Steve Stone, Jean-Claude Darcheville and Pierre Van Hooijdonk.
Substitutes-
Craig Armstrong for Stale Stensaas 81st-minute
Chris Bart-Williams for Jean-Claude Darcheville 86th-minute
Hugo Porfirio for Alan Rogers 90th-minute
The enigmatic Pierre Van Hooijdonk scored the solitary winning goal for Mr Atkinson’s Tricky Trees, in a rare victory over the season that ultimately resulted in relegation from the Top Flight, never to return until 2022.
If one remembers from that ill-feted season, Forest were promoted back to the Premier League at the end of the 1997/98 Championship campaign, swapping places with Barnsley FC, who had just enjoyed their one-season wonder in the Top Flight.
Dave Bassett started the campaign but was sacked just after the turn of the year when the hierarchy brought in Ron Atkinson who had one game in charge before the trip to Goodison Park.
In Ron’s debut fixture against Arsenal at the City Ground, the flamboyant manager went to the wrong dugout and had to be kindly informed that his team were the ones on the other side.
Ron did look a bit confused looking around at the Arsenal team, seeing Emmanuel Petit, Nicolas Anelka, Dennis Bergkamp and Ray Parlour, thinking,
‘How comes this Forest team are struggling?’
In Mr Atkinson’s 2nd fixture, the New Manager Bounce certainly worked with a Champagne-inspired victory against Everton, which was only the 3rd win of the season and the first in 20-games.
Unfortunately for Big Ron and his Tricky Trees, there was only 1-victory in the following 12-games and although Ron Atkinson oversaw wins in the final 3-Premier League fixtures, Forest were already relegated and Big Ron, Champagne and Cigar in hand, was down the concrete.
If one looks at the Everton lineup there’s a player that appears nonchalantly under the radar, him being Marco Materazzi.
Up until 1998, Marco had a fairly insignificant career, playing as a toughened Centre-Back for teams in the lower leagues of the Italian pyramid.
Teams such as Messina, Marsala and Perugia had the Defender in their dressing rooms before Walter Smith took a chance on Marco and brought him to Merseyside.
It was just a 1-season sabbatical in England before heading back to Italy where the lads’ career took off, spending 10 years at Inter Milan that included 41-Italy appearances culminating in a World Cup Winners medal achieved in the infamous Final against France in 2006.
Marco Materazzi scored the Italian goal after 19-minutes, in the Final in Berlin, equalising an earlier Zinedine Zidane opener.
With no further goals, the game went into 30-minutes of Extra-Time, where Marco and Zi-Zou would be the headline makers again.
In the 110th minute, Marco got involved in an altercation with France’s legendary Captain, Mr Zidane, which resulted in Zinedine head-butting Mr Materazzi.
An instant Red Card for the Frenchman who never played again.
The Final went to a penalty shootout following a draw by a 1-1 score, where Marco also converted one of Italy’s 5-spot-kicks to give the Italian’s the 2006 Word Cup.
When Marco was asked after the game, if Zinedine’s head-butt had hurt, the Big Italian replied, in broken English,
‘It was a-nothing, a-comparo to Duncan a-Ferguson no?’
Betfred offer Everton at slight Odds On 10/11, the draw at 13/5 and 10/3 for Nottingham Forest to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 4/1 that Conor Coady Scores Anytime and 9/2 that Nottingham Forest Score in Both Halves.
Away Win 1-2- Get 12/1 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!
FULHAM v BRENTFORD
15.00 in England
The West London Derby.
Fulham had a glorious chance to get a victory against Wolves at Molineux on Saturday, in the glorious Midlands Sunshine.
After a goalless 80-minutes, the away team were awarded a penalty, the 2nd of the season following last week’s spot-kick against Liverpool.
Aleksandar Mitrovic converted against Jurgen’s Reds but couldn’t against Wolves with the Serbian’s tame penalty being saved by the ‘keeper.
That was the most that both teams could muster with the game finishing in a draw by a 0-0 score.
It’s 2-points from 2-draws for Marco Silva’s Cottagers.
Brentford surprised everyone by comfortably getting a victory against Manchester United in the late Saturday afternoon kickoff.
It’s fair to say that United didn’t help themselves and gifted Brentford’s first 2-goals, however, Thomas’s Bees still had to put in the necessary performance to gain the result.
Josh Dasilva, who scored in the opener at the King Power Stadium against Leicester last week, hit a speculative shot towards the United goal that David De Gea would normally throw his cap on.
Fortunately for Josh, David must have had the Sun in his eyes and let the shot through his hands and into the net.
Eight minutes later, following some superb pressure by the Brentford players, Mathias Jensen scored to double the lead.
Ben Mee then tamely headed home to add number 3 and despite defending a Manchester United attack, Brian Mbeumo scored a superb counter-attacking goal to give the Bees the lead at the break.
With no further goals in the 2nd-half (there wasn’t any need!) Brentford gained the remarkable victory by a stunning 4-0 score.
It really was a superb performance by Thomas Frank and his set of Bees that sent Gary Neville apoplectic.
When a result of this magnitude is registered it’s usually a debate as to why are Manchester United getting all the headlines and Brentford none of the praise.
The reason is, although the Bees should be afforded the credit that is deserved, United really were so poor and yes, Mr Frank’s game-plan worked, however, it wasn’t much of a plan after Brighton had already set the tone the previous week.
That’s a Win and a Draw in the opening 2-fixtures for Brentford.
Both the Lage Louts and the Cottage faithful were both in agreement later Saturday night.
‘It could be worse, we could be Manchester United followers!’
Brentford earned a great victory against Fulham when Thomas’s Bees last visited Craven Cottage.
It was during the delayed Coronavirus affected 2019/2020 Championship campaign that the away team inflicted defeat on Scott Parker’s Cottagers by a 2-0 scoreline.
After a goalless 1st-half, Said Benrahme and Emiliano Marcondes scored the Brentford goals to get all 3-points.
That was Game Week-38 out of 46-Championship fixtures that saw both teams finish in the playoffs, both with 81-points from the 46-played.
Both came through their Semi-Final playoff, 2-legged, England v Wales affair, with Fulham getting a victory against Cardiff and Brentford inflicting defeat on Swansea.
In the Final at an empty Wembley, it was Scott Parker’s Boys that got the victory against Thomas Frank’s Bees by a 2-1 scoreline, sending Fulham to the Promised Land.
A year later, Thomas and Scott swapped places, with Brentford gaining promotion and Fulham being relegated back to the Championship.
Scott has left Craven Cottage, so it’s Marco Silva that will welcome Mr Frank.
Betfred offer Fulham at 29/20, the draw at 5/2 and 2/1 for Brentford to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 7/5 that Aleksandar Mitrovic Scores Anytime and 8/5 that Ivan Toney Scores Anytime.
Away Win 1-2- Get 9/1 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!
LEICESTER v SOUTHAMPTON
15.00
Leicester have competed in 2-fixtures now that have produced 10 goals in total.
In last week’s opener, Brendan’s Wonderfuls gained a point from a draw by a 2-2 score.
Added to those 4-goals, were 6-more on Saturday in the fixture against Arsenal at the Emirates.
Mikel Arteta’s Young Guns took a 2-goal to nil lead at the break before an Arsenal own-goal early in the 2nd-half halved the deficit.
Unfortunately for the travelling Foxes, the 2-goal advantage was quickly restored.
James Maddison, who is a transfer target for Arsenal, scored in the 74th minute but again, Arsenal restored the 2-goal advantage, scoring a 4th a minute after James’s strike.
Despite a great effort by Brendan’s Foxes, it was still a defeat by a 4-2 scoreline.
Meaning 4 goals were scored and 6-conceded in the opening 2 fixtures.
It’s fair to say that there will be goals on show when Leicester are playing.
The same could be said about Southampton, following Saturday’s draw against Leeds United by a 2-2 score.
Wreck-It’s Saints had already suffered an opening day defeat against Tottenham by a 4-1 score, so both Leicester and Southampton have played in games that have produced the most goals, either for or against.
After a goalless 1st-half at St Mary’s on Saturday, Leeds United scored straight from the restart with a 2nd added on 60-minutes.
Jelly Man Joe Aribo scored for Southampton after 72-minutes and Kyle Walker-Peters equalising with 10-minutes remaining.
After last week’s disaster at the Chas and Dave Memorial Stadium and trailing by 2-goals to nil with only half-hour remaining, to then come away with a point should be commended and gives Ralph Hasenhuttl something to build on.
The Saints faithful and the Marching On Together crew, were all in agreement when leaving St Mary’s,
‘It could be worse, we could be Manchester United followers!’
It’s not that long ago that the Saints travelled North to the King Power Stadium.
In the final fixture of last season, Wreck-It Ralph’s Southampton suffered an on-the-beach defeat by a 4-1 scoreline.
The strange thing about that was it was goalless at half-time.
James Maddison, Jamie Vardy and an Ayoze Perez double were the Foxes’ goal scorers.
James Ward-Prowse with the Southampton consolation.
It is fair to say that Mr Hasenhuttl and his Sorry Saints had one flip-flop on the beach.
Betfred offer Leicester at slight Odds On 5/6, the draw at 3/1 and 16/5 for Southampton to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 4/1 that Jamie Vardy Scores First and 7/2 that there are Over 4.5 Goals.
Home Win 3-2- Get 18/1 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!
***Premier League Team of the Week***
GOALKEEPER- Dean Henderson- Nottingham Forest
RIGHT-BACK- Reece James- Chelsea
CENTRE-BACK- Dan Burn- Newcastle
CENTRE-BACK- Joachim Andersen- Crystal Palace
LEFT-BACK- Rico Henry- Brentford
MIDFIELDER- Mathias Jensen- Brentford
MIDFIELDER- Josh Dasilva- Brentford
MIDFIELDER- Kevin De Bruyne- Man City
FORWARD- Wilfried Zaha- Crystal Palace
FORWARD- Brian Mbeumo- Brentford
FORWARD- Gabriel Jesus- Man City
STAR MAN- Gabriel Jesus- Man City
BOURNEMOUTH v ARSENAL
17.30 in England
Sky Sports
Bournemouth suffered a defeat away at the Etihad on Saturday, with Pep’s High Flying Blues getting the home victory by a 4-0 scoreline.
After trailing by 3 goals to nil at the break, Jefferson Lerma was credited with an own goal meaning a loss for Scott Parker’s Cherries.
That result needs to be put to bed quickly as most will suffer a defeat at the home of the Champions with Scott regrouping his players for this visit of Arsenal.
A victory and a defeat from the opening 2-fixtures in the return to the Premier League for Bournemouth.
As the Bournemouth fans left the Etihad, there was a chorus of,
‘It could be worse, we could be Manchester United followers!’
Arsenal have a 100% record from the opening 2-games following Saturday’s victory against Leicester by a 4-2 score.
The strange anomaly in that is there are only 2-teams that have got a 100% record, with Man City being the other to have recorded back-to-back wins over the opening 2-games.
That statistic in itself shows just how competitive the English Premier League is.
After Gabriel Jesus had scored twice to give Mikel’s Young Guns a comfortable lead at the break, William Saliba was credited with an own-goal to reduce the advantage.
Granit Xhaka added a 3rd straight after William’s indiscretion but again Leicester reduced the deficit before Gabriel Martinelli scored the 4th late on to give Arsenal all 3-points and take the Gunners joint top of the Premier League with the same 6-points as Man City.
The Gooners last headed South to the Vitality to watch their idols on Boxing Day 2019, just before the Coronavirus situation affected the World and before anyone knew what Furlough meant.
Eddie Howe’s Cherries gained a point from a draw by a 1-1 score against Mikel Arteta’s Old Guns.
Dan Gosling scored the Bournemouth goal in the 1st-half with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang equalising for the away-team midway through the 2nd-half, to give both teams a share of the points.
Betfred offer Bournemouth at 15/2, the draw at 19/5 and Odds On 2/5 for Arsenal to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 3/1 that Kieffer Moore Scores Anytime and 3/1 that Gabriel Jesus Scores First.
Away Win 1-3- Get 10/1 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!
Sunday 21st
LEEDS UNITED v CHELSEA
14.00 in England
Sky Sports
‘Leeds, Leeds are falling apart again, Leeds, Leeds are falling apart again.’
The Joy Division tune is back following Saturday’s fixture against Southampton at St Mary’s, where the Marching On Together crew ventured South, not sure if a passport was needed to enter Southampton, to watch their White Idols grab a draw from the jaws of victory.
After a goalless 1st-half, the West Yorkshire puddings had seen Rodrigo score a double soon after the restart to give the away team a comfortable advantage with half-hour remaining.
Unfortunately for Jesse’s Whites, the bad dog walker was on show at St Mary’s with Leeds United unable to hold onto the lead, conceding 2-Southampton goals to ultimately draw the game by a 2-2 scoreline, when a victory should have been forthcoming.
A certain Archbishop was happy though!
The Marching On Together crew, still not sure whether to show the passport at the Southampton border returned up the road to West Yorkshire, all scratching their heads at what had just happened and all clubbing together to buy a 4-pack of Skol and a packet of Haribo’s Tang-fastics.
The Whites were all in agreement though as one of the puddings rummaged around in the bag of Haribo’s trying to find a jelly ring to give to his prospective fiancé,
‘It could be worse, we could be Manchester United followers!’
Thomas’s Blue Engines played out a superb 90-minutes at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon, against the fierce London rivals, Tottenham.
Chelsea have been unbeaten at the Bridge against their fierce neighbours since April 2018.
Kalidou Koulibaly scored after 19-minutes to give the home team a lead at half-time.
KK’s goal was cancelled out by Tottenham after the break before Reece James reinstated the lead.
It looked for all purpose that Thomas Tuchel was going to register a victory against Antonio Conte, however, there was still time for late drama in the London Sun.
Unfortunately for the watching faithful, Spurs equalised in the 96th minute to give both teams a share of the points from a draw by a 2-2 score.
That’s the Archbishop’s favourite scoreline for both of today’s teams over Game Week-2.
Whilst the fans of both London clubs were watching Thomas and Tony and the two sets of dugouts get their handbags dirty, they were both in agreement,
‘It could be worse, we could be Manchester United followers!’
Chelsea got the victory at Elland Rd back in May, inflicting a defeat on Leeds United by a 3-0 scoreline.
Mason Mount opened the scoring after 4-minutes before Dan James saw Red. 20-minutes later, receiving a straight Red Card for a challenge on Mateo Kovacic.
Christian Pulisic added Number-2 just after the break with Romelu Lukaku rounding off the scoring with time running out.
Betfred offer Leeds United at 5/1, the draw at 10/3 and Odds On 4/7 for Chelsea to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 3/1 that Jorginho Scores Anytime and 17/10 that Chelsea Win To Nil.
Away Win 0-2- Get 13/2 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!
WEST HAM v BRIGHTON
14.00 in England
West Ham could consider themselves extremely unlucky following Sunday’s game against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.
Said Benrahme had a goal ruled out by the dreaded VAR, following Michail Antonio thinking he was a Linebacker for the Miami Bubbles.
Pablo Fornals saw a free-kick strike the post before Said hit the woodwork too.
Jesse Lingard hit a tame speculative shot towards the goal that ricocheted into Taiwo Awoniyi’s knee and went into the net, leaving David Moyes Boys trailing at the break.
When the Forest Defender thought he was Kobe Bryant, handling the ball in the area, West Ham were awarded a penalty, after intervention from the Var and the chance to get back on level terms.
Unfortunately, for the travelling Bubbles and the ones watching in the beer gardens in London and surrounding areas, Declan Rice had his tame kick easily saved.
What was a minor issue was, although the dreaded VAR were correct in overturning the Said Benrahme goal and then eventually informing the on-field referee to award the penalty.
These incidents were clear to see in real-time, so it begs the question, are the on-field referees starting to ignore incidents in live play, in the hope that the Stockley Park gang will re-referee the decision?
That could become an issue if folk want a new issue in their lives, however, if the correct decision is eventually made without too much time wasted, then is it really an issue?
It’s 2-losses in succession now for the Hammers but as the Bubbles embarked the Rattler for the train ride home, they all started chanting,
‘It could be worse, we could be Manchester United followers!’
Brighton played out a goalless draw against Newcastle on Saturday, with both happy to gain a point in the Sunshine of the Amex.
Graham Potter’s Seagulls are not averse to a goalless draw so it can be no surprise if the vidi-printer at quart-to-5 of a Saturday throws up,
‘Brighton 0 Whoever 0’
There’s talk that Neil Maupay, who hasn’t featured this season, is on his way out of the Amex with Everton and Nottingham Forest interested in the French Striker who will command a fee of around £15 Million.
That’s a win and a draw, 4-points for Graham’s Wizards and as the Seagulls were flying around nicking chips off the punters, the locals could be heard squawking,
‘It could be worse, we could be Manchester United followers!’
Tomas Soucek scored after 5-minutes when West Ham last hosted Brighton at the beginning of December last season.
The Seagulls left it late to burst the Bubble with Neal Maupay equalising in the 89th minute to give both teams a share of the points from a draw by a 1-1 score.
Betfred offer West Ham at 5/4, the draw at 5/2 and 23/10 for Brighton to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 3/1 that Gianluca Scamacca Scores Anytime and slight Odds On 10/11 that there are Under 2.5 Goals.
Draw 1-1- Get 11/2 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!
NEWCASTLE v MAN CITY
16.30 in England
Sky Sports
Eddie and the Magpies host Pep’s High Flying Blues in Sunday’s late afternoon fixture.
Both teams are unbeaten following the opening 2-fixtures, however, Newcastle drew against Brighton on Saturday following an opening day victory.
The Toon Army headed the long journey down to the Amex but witnessed a goalless draw against the other birds, in the South Coast Sunshine.
As the Black and White faithful were flying back up the road following their day out, they were heard singing,
‘It could be worse, we could be Manchester United followers!’
Man City are now 2-from-2 in the Win column following Saturday’s demolition of Bournemouth at the Etihad by a 4-0 scoreline.
Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden, with the 1st-half goals to give the Sunshiiiine Citizens a great half-time drink.
Bournemouth’s Jefferson Lerma turned past his own goalkeeper midway through the 2nd-half to gift City a 4th and an easy victory against Scott Parker’s Cherries.
It’s Pep 1 and Pep 2 that sit at the summit of the Premier League table with Man City and Arsenal the only teams that have a 100% record from the opening 2-fixtures.
As the Citizens were enjoying a pint in the boozer, after the game, all wearing Bucket Hats, Kagools and Adidas Gazelles, the conversation went something like,
‘Ay man, look at that Sky Digical, those mob from over the road are losing 4-0 against Brentford,’
‘Yeah man, the Numpty Neighbours are going to be relegated, buzzing man!’
Eddie Howe was in the infancy of his tenure at St James Park when Pep Guardiola brought his Premier League Champions elect in December 2021.
Goals from Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo, Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling gave Pep’s High Flying Blues an easy away day victory by a 4-0 scoreline.
Betfred offer Newcastle at 8/1, the draw at 9/2 and Odds On 4/11 for Man City to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 9/2 that Erling Haaland Scores First and Evens 1/1 that Man City Score in Both Halves.
Away Win 0-2- Get 6/1 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!
Monday 22nd
MANCHESTER UNITED v LIVERPOOL
20.00 in England
Sky Sports
‘Quand on n’a plus rien en soi,
Quand on n’a plus de refuge.
Quand on ne peut plus fuir,
Quand on ne sais on courrir
Noir comme la Nuit,
Oui, noir comme mon ame
Noir comme les Eaux,
Dans lesquels Je sombre’
Those words translated into English read,
‘When you no longer have anything in yourself,
When you no longer have a refuge.
When we can no longer run away,
When we can’t run
Black as the night,
Yes, black as my soul,
Black as the waters,
Into which I sink’
Some people might surprisingly question what is happening at Old Trafford and the historic club that is Manchester United.
However, regular readers will know that John Newsome has documented relentlessly over the past few years, the failings at United.
Granted, this EveryTip contributor maybe hasn’t realised the full extent of the problem but no one on this planet or Fullers can say that John Newsome hasn’t warned the Red Devil faithful as to some of the issues.
John has given Erik Ten Hag and United the benefit of the doubt over the Game Week-1 and 2 fixtures, foolishly based on the fact that Manchester United couldn’t possibly get any worse than last season.
That benefit of the doubt has officially come to an end.
This Game Week-3 fixture could require an Abacus to record the Liverpool goals.
Firstly, if Manchester United ask a person to become their manager, then 99% of individuals would say yes, (apart from Zinedine Zidane!)
It’s no surprise that Erik Ten Hag accepted the poison chalice.
The surprise comes in the fact that Erik has gone into Old Trafford and has not changed anything.
Harry Maguire is the Manchester United Captain!
Whilst it would be extremely easy to pick faults with Harry (and it would!) look at it from a different perspective.
One of the biggest football clubs in the World and surrounding areas asks a person to be the Club Captain.
No one would turn that down and Harry in his Yorkshire droll, simply says,
‘Cause I would love to be the Captain of Manchester United!’
However, the Sheffield lad just continues being the slow, clueless, Centre-Half that has been wearing the Number-5 shirt for the past few seasons.
There’s never any animation, no screaming at players like Steve Bruce or Roy Keane would do and there is no change in style when the game is slipping away.
Against Brentford in the late Saturday afternoon kickoff, well one might as well get this out of the way.
Manchester United suffered a humiliating defeat by a 4-0 scoreline.
Two defeats in a row, at the start of a season which is the worst in 100 years.
There’s the added extra of this being the 7th-away defeat in succession.
The first goal was a mistake by David De Gea, not a problem as such, it happens and David has saved Manchester United on numerous previous occasions.
However, once that mistake was made, Harry Maguire just carried on as if nothing had happened.
Mr Maguire should have grabbed hold of his teammates and kindly informed them that there would be no more mistakes.
Keep the ball away from David for a while to regroup and calm the situation.
For every goal-kick, lump it long until at least half-time and inform the front boys of Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford to ‘get some running done!’
That’s not what happened, within 8-minutes of the 1st goal from Mr De Gea’s mistake, the back-line of United tried dilly-dallying around taking a goal-kick short, messing around that led to a Brentford 2nd.
That’s not good captaincy from Harry Maguire.
If John Newsome’s teammates had done that in his Sunday morning football days, the Centre-Half would firstly receive abuse from his pals and secondly, be hauled off by the manager.
This is just the basics of football and should not be happening in the Premier League and should not be happening by the Captain of Manchester United and the supposed first-pick England Centre-Back.
All the opposition has to do against Manchester United is wait for the team sheet to be handed in and when players such as Harry, Luke Shaw, Cristiano Ronaldo and of course Fred, are present in the starting eleven, rub their hands in glee.
The narrative continues that United won’t win anything with Fred and Scott McTominay.
Harry Maguire hasn’t won anything at Manchester United either, yet there is no doubt that Mr Maguire will be in the starting lineup for this visit from Jurgen’s Reds.
Conor Coady has just been snapped up by Frank Lampard at Everton.
Double C would be a better fit at Old Trafford than Captain Maguire.
Erik Ten Hag dropped Scott but kept Fred in the team, then when the scoreline was 4-0 in favour of the Bees, replaced Fred with Scott.
An analogy similar would be, when the Remote Control for the telly has 2-batteries, one is a dud and struggling to change channels and another dud battery is put in place of the first dud one, which still prevents the changing of the channel.
The Red Devil faithful, all watching the Saturday afternoon horror show on TV, were desperate to change the channel at half-time and watch the dreadful Steven Mulhern show, ‘In for a Penny’ but could only find another dud battery.
There’s been a lot mentioned regarding Lisandro Martinez and the fact that the Argentinian Centre-Half is only 5 foot 9 inches.
This is really an easy stick to beat the player with Manchester United being so poor.
The fact that Lisandro is a little un isn’t the reason United have lost the opening 2-fixtures, however, is something that needs addressing.
Obviously, no one can add inches onto the lad, what’s meant by ‘addressing’ is Lisandro Martinez should not be the Manchester United Centre-Back when there is Raphael Varane, Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailley in the building.
Diogo Dalot hasn’t worked, so it’s time for Aaron Wan-Bissaka to return, with Tyrell Malacia given a chance in front of Luke Shaw.
It wouldn’t be much of a loss to give Harry Maguire a rest and bring Rafael and Eric in.
Lisandro Martinez could then be used as the holding Midfielder, sitting in front of the Back-Line, in place of the enigmatic Fred.
Regards the other 5-players, Cristiano Ronaldo is not the answer and it’s no secret to the regular readers of this EveryTip column that the legend should be moved on.
Marcus Rashford should be spoken to and injected with some confidence.
The lad is playing like an out-of-work lamp-lighter waiting for gas to return.
Marcus’s demeanour isn’t right but there is talent somewhere in there so the reason why there’s not a performance should be investigated.
Maybe Eileen Drury needs a call.
Jadon Sancho is in Cristiano’s shadow, as is Bruno Fernandes.
As for Christian Eriksen, the Dane is too similar to Bruno, so was Mr Eriksen needed?
The above might not work but neither is the current system and John Newsome isn’t the manager of Manchester United, Erik Five Hag is!
The Dutchman was warned by this EveryTip column as to what would happen if he continued with Fred and Scott and didn’t move Cristiano Ronaldo on.
It appears that the warning is not being heeded.
To add to that, John Newsome is not a Manchester United fan and has no dog in the fight, it’s just sad to see that a club that was sculpted into such beautiful Champions by Sir Alex Ferguson are now becoming a laughing stock.
One of John’s good friends, (even though the Ray of Hope labelled John boring!) has an old boy who is in his 80s and catches 2-buzzes (that’s buses but the locals refer to the Big Red things as Buzzes!) to Old Trafford to watch his idols.
These are the faithful that John Newsome feels for and no doubt Mr Hope Senior remembers the 1973/74 season where Manchester United, who were ‘too good to go down’, ‘went down’, relegated to Division 2, or the Championship in today’s money.
If Erik Ten Hag doesn’t quickly address the problem, Manchester United could be relegated again.
‘No chance’ folk will wail, United won’t be relegated, they are ‘too good to go down’.
That’s what was wailed in 1974.
The current situation at Old Trafford isn’t new, it’s a continuation of a problem that has been ongoing since Sir Alex left.
A problem that John Newsome has highlighted over the past few years and no one who has read this weekly column can say they have not been warned.
Whether folk agree with John is for others to worry about.
This EveryTip column knows what the problem has been yet the egos of these men who think they know better, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and now Erik Ten Hag is restricting United’s progression.
John might be boring but Manchester United falling behind the leading pack each week and now finding themselves at the foot of the Premier League table, is boring too when it doesn’t need to be, if Erik The Red, at least started to change things, not continue as the others have done.
The ex-Manchester United player and now Sky Sports pundit, Gary Neville had a heated debate with Jamie Redknapp following the game against Brentford, once again, wheeling out the ‘it’s the owner’s fault’ rhetoric.
Unfortunately, although John Newsome is s big admirer of Mr Neville, this time the pundit was wrong and actually made himself look a bit silly.
Jamie Redknapp was right!
It’s an easy narrative to use, with the Glazer family, who own Manchester United, never being the most popular since taking over the club in the 2000s.
Whilst that argument will continue until the club is sold and that will only happen once The Glazer’s start haemorrhaging money, it doesn’t stack up.
The Glazer’s started purchasing Manchester United in 2003, with an initial acquisition of shares, that were added to over the next few years, when finally the family gained 100% control of Manchester United.
Sir Alex Ferguson worked with and had success whilst the Glazers sat in the background in Tampa, Florida and allowed Fergie and David Gill to oversee things.
When Sir Alex retired in 2013, it was he who had a big input into the decision to appoint David Moyes.
David came in and immediately got rid of Mike Phelan and Rene Meulensteen, the 2-coaches that had been instrumental in the Premier League title victory in 2012/13.
Therein lies the rub.
The Glazers backed David Moyes and offered up money (almost £70 Million) to purchase Juan Mata, Marouane Fellaini and a youngster called Saidy Janko,
Marouane and Saidy arrived at Old Trafford on Transfer Deadline Day in September 2013.
Whilst most will remember Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini, not many will know Saidy Janko, who made just 1-appearance for Manchester United, playing the first 45-minutes of the disastrous League Cup game against Milton Keynes that United suffered (another) humiliating defeat by a 4-0 scoreline.
John Newsome remembers the Gambian International, as Saidy came on loan to Oakwell and scored in a memorable game at Molineux for Barnsley back in 2016.
The Widster, Matty and John headed South for the midweek Championship fixture that saw the Super Reds, under the guidance of Paul Heckinbottom gain a victory against Walter Zenga’s Wolves team by a 4-0 away day score.
Saidy Janko scored the 3rd of the 4 to give the faithful a brilliant night out in the Midlands.
The lad didn’t last much longer in Barnsley and moved on soon after the Molineux moment.
All the best Saidy.
To add to that, Conor Coady and Matt Doherty, both established Premier League players now, were part of Walter’s Gold and Blacks that night.
Back to Manchester United, Louis Van Gaal was backed by the Glazer’s, with the Dutch legend signing Angel Di Maria, Anthony Martial, Ander Herrera, Luke Shaw, Morgan Schneiderlin, Memphis Depay, Marcos Rojo, Matteo Darmian. Daley Blind, Bastien Schweinsteiger and Radamal Falcau.
The G Family forked out in the region of £350 Million in transfer fees for those few, on top of the wages that were commanded.
Manchester United won the FA Cup in May 2016 but failed to make the Top Four which ultimately cost Louis his job at Old Trafford.
Jose Mourinho arrived a few days later, in 2016, with the Glazer’s supplying another £370 Million to purchase Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba, Diogo Dalot, Victor Lindelof, Romelu Lukaku, Nemanja Matic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Eric Bailley and Alexis Sanchez and won the Carabao Cup and the Europa League in 2017 as well as getting to the Final of the FA Cup a year later.
Like a slot on the iconic BBC programme, A Question Of Sport,
What happened next?
Jose purchased Fred in the Summer of 2018 and paid the princely sum of £53 Million for the enigmatic Brazilian.
From that signing, just over 4-years ago, added to the fact that Dracula partnered the Brazilian with Scott McTominay, Manchester United have not won anything, despite being in several Major Semi-Finals and Finals such as the FA Cup Final of 2018 and the Europa League Final of 2021.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was backed by the Glazer’s to the point of bringing in Cristiano Ronaldo after spending £73 Million on Jadon Sancho.
Was CR7 needed?
That was after Bruno Fernandes, Edinson Cavani, Amad Diallo, Donny Van De Beek, Dan James, Rafael Varane, Harry Maguire, Alex Telles, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Odion Ighalo were brought in under Ole’s watch.
Another £275 Million was spent on players that a different manager wanted.
If those good at Math add up the spending, it equates to over £1 Billion just in Transfer Fees alone, with wages on top.
Can anyone say that the owners haven’t backed the managers?
This is money spent post-the Sir Alex Ferguson era.
Mr Ferguson also spent a few of the Dollars under the control of the Glazer Family.
John Newsome has been told on numerous occasions that it’s too easy to blame Fred and Scott, to which John replies,
‘Is it?’
Over 4 years, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ralph Rangnick and now Erik Ten Hag have continued to use Fred and Scott McTominay as their go-to Midfielders when there is simply no evidence to suggest that the pair are the answer.
Why haven’t any respected sources mentioned this?
In the post-match punditry following the defeat against Brighton, Roy Keane commented,
‘Fred and McTominay-not good enough, they won’t get Manchester United competing at the top!’
Those words were verbatim from the legendary Roy.
What a lot of people are missing, is the fact that it’s not Fred and Scott’s fault that United are in this position, it’s the fact that the 4-Managers have used the pair as their go-to Midfielders, instead of investing in other players such as Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg or Yves Bissouma, who have both ended up at Tottenham.
Even maybe having a cheeky enquiry regarding N’Golo Kante, who is in his final year at Chelsea.
Moises Caciedo, who is currently at Brighton and was head and shoulders above any Manchester United player at Old Trafford last week, should be looked at.
Why are Brighton signing these players whilst United enquire about Marko Arnautovic or Alvaro Morata?
The Frenkie De Jong saga continues, even to the point that Chelsea might hi-jack the move, however, Manchester United should just offer an ultimatum, sign now or the deal is off.
The same goes for Adrien Rabiot.
There are players out there that would walk to Manchester if given the opportunity,
Mr Ten Hag, please look at the problems and address them.
This EveryTip column has provided enough information for you, it’s time to act.
What did Albert Einstein say?
‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.’
Another quote by the great man is,
‘A man should look for what is and not for what he thinks should be.’
Paul Weller says,
‘Quand on n’a plus rien en soi,
Quand on n’a plus de refuge.
Quand on ne peut plus fuir,
Quand on ne sais on courrir
Noir comme la Nuit,
Oui, noir comme mon ame
Noir comme les Eaux,
Dans lesquels Je sombre’
‘When you no longer have anything in yourself,
When you no longer have a refuge.
When we can no longer run away,
When we can’t run
Black as the night,
Yes, black as my soul,
Black as the waters,
Into which I sink’
After 25-minutes of the Monday Night Football at Anfield, the faithful were all scratching their heads as to why Liverpool hadn’t scored against Crystal Palace.
If it was a Boxing match, the referee would have stopped the contest, with Jurgen’s Reds being so dominant.
There was a 75% possession stat in favour of the home team who had registered 10-shots, however, the problem there was only 1 of the 10 was on target.
Unfortunately, for the Anfield Rappers, as is the way of football and the Premier League, the possession stat counted for nothing when Liverpool conceded a Palace goal just after the half-hour mark, completely against the run of play.
Jurgen Klopp started Darwin Nunez in place of Roberto Firmino, as suggested by John Newsome last week.
The Uruguayan was played down the middle by the boss and was busy but didn’t muster up much of a threat.
Then in a moment of madness, Darwin decided to head-butt Joachim Andersen and although the dreaded VAR are on show at all the games, the girls and boys weren’t needed with the on-field referee Paul Tierney, seeing the incident himself and showing the straight Red Card to Mr Nunez.
Darwin was provoked a little bit by Joachim, who received a Yellow Card for his part in the incident but the boy should have stood tall and resisted the urge to stick his head on the Defender’s chin.
Within 5-minutes of losing Darwin Nunez, the 10-man Liverpool got back on level terms through a superb individual strike by Luis Diaz.
Liverpool were then like one of the 3-Little Piggy’s, huffing and puffing for the remainder of the game but couldn’t blow down the Eagles defence and came away with a point from a draw by a 1-1 score.
What the Red Card does mean is Darwin will now miss the next 3-Premier League fixtures which include this game at Old Trafford that will irk Jurgen Klopp but could be a blessing for the United boys.
In reality, this could easily be an early relegation battle with Liverpool only having 2-points from the opening 2-fixtures and are already 4-points adrift of Man City and Arsenal in the race for the title.
There’s a long way to go yet, 36 fixtures but it is an early dent in Liverpool’s quest to win a 2nd-Premier League gong.
The Anfield Rappers were heard whilst departing Anfield,
‘It could be worse, we could be Manchester United followers!’
The Red Devils, sat at home, watching the Gogglebox, quickly countered that by blurting,
‘It could be worse, we could be Liverpool followers!’
If one remembers, when Liverpool last visited Old Trafford, Mo Salah ran riot scoring a superb hat-trick.
Naby Keita and Diogo Jota had already scored before the Egyptian King took control, giving Jurgen’s Reds the superb away day victory over Ole’s Trollies by a 5-0 score.
The anomaly in that scoreline was Mo’s 3rd and Liverpool’s 5th was scored in the 50th minute, meaning the Anfield Rappers had a good 40-minutes to add to the scoreline.
Paul Pogba was a substitute, introduced by Ole at half-time, however, the Old Lady only lasted 15-minutes before frustration got the better of Paul and was sent off following a straight Red Card.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer didn’t last much longer at Old Trafford and was down the concrete 3-games later.
Fred and Scott both started against Liverpool that fateful Sunday afternoon in October last year.
Betfred offer Manchester United at 6/1, the draw at 15/4 and Odds On 2/5 for Liverpool to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer Evens 1/1 that Mo Salah Scores Anytime and 6/5 that there are Over 3.5 Goals.
Away Win 0-4- Get 20/1 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!
Game Week-3 (1997/98)
Sunday 24th August 1997
BARNSLEY v CHELSEA
Oakwell
16.00 in England
Sky Sports
The Premier League honeymoon period for newly promoted Barnsley was about to come to an end when Ruud Gullit, brought his star-studded Chelsea team to Oakwell for a Sunday afternoon clash live on Sky Sports.
Barnsley
David Watson, Nicky Eaden, Adie Moses, Arjan De Zeew, Darren Bernard, Eric Tinkler, Martin Bullock, Darren Sheridan, Neil Redfearn, John Hendrie and Paul Wilkinson.
Substitutes-
Clint Marcelle for Darren Sheridan 46th-minute
Georgi Hristov for Paul Wilkinson 46th-minute
Andy Liddell for John Hendrie 60th-minute
Chelsea
Ed De Goey, Frank Sinclair, Steve Clarke, Andy Myers, Graham Le Saux, Roberto Di Matteo, Dan Petrescu, Gustavo Poyet, Dennis Wise, Gianfranco Zola and Gianluca Vialli.
Substitutes-
Tore Andre Flo for Gianfranco Zola 55th-minute
Mark Nicholls for Gustavo Poyet 70th-minute
Danny Granville for Dan Petrescu 72nd-minute
John Newsome only had 1-true Uncle, John’s mum had 1-brother, also called John but sadly, Uncle John died a couple of months before Barnsley’s debut Premier League season, aged 57.
At the wake, this EveryTip contributor agreed to meet the cousin Kevin at the Morning Star pub near Oakwell on the first available occasion, which just happened to be this fixture against Chelsea.
The Morning Star is only a short walk down to the ground so the boys met up, reminisced about old Johnny Boy, about the stories of drinking sessions, fishing and dodging going down the pit, which was the go-to occupation of Barnsley folk of that era.
John Wall would go to the East Dene Club at 11.00 AM, consume 10 pints of the beer on offer, go home at 3.00 PM, have some lunch then bed until 6, back in the Club at 7.00 PM, another 10 pints and home just after 11.00 PM (those were the pub opening hours back in the day, 11-3 and 7-11).
Uncle John loved fishing and often took Kevin down to the local river, however, fishing wasn’t something John Newsome ever got involved with.
Johnny Boy Wall was a Reds fan too and was around to see the promotion campaign to the Premier League, so although had passed away before the first fixture, knew that his beloved Barnsley FC were going to play in the Promised Land.
After consuming numerous pints, John Newsome and Kevin sauntered down to the ground with the thought of an easy victory against Chelsea.
As Rodney would say,
‘Ruud Gullit? No problem!’
It was a lovely hazy alcohol-infused dream that lasted until kickoff on that Sunday afternoon.
Twenty Four minutes into the fixture at Oakwell, Danny Wilson’s Red and White Army had managed to shut out the Ruud’s Blues until Dan Petrescu scored the opener in the 25th minute.
Here we go!
Gus Poyet made it 2-0 before it was the Gianluca Vialli show, with the Italian Superstar scoring his 1st and Chelsea’s 3rd just before the half-time cup of tea.
Gianluca added number 4, in the 57th minute, number 5 and the hat-trick goal in the 65th minute then just to compound the dominance by both himself and the Blues, Mr Vialli scored his 4th and Chelsea’s 6th in the 82nd minute to record a devastating victory against the Super Reds by a 6-0 Sky Sports scoreline.
Ouch!
Welcome to the Premier League.
The strange thing about that result was although it was a hammering by the Londoners, most of the Barnsley faithful weren’t too bothered and John Newsome just enjoyed the whole afternoon experience of a few pints with his cousin Kevin, a reminisce about a great Uncle, who although died young, enjoyed his life and had a loving caring family and watching some World Class players at Oakwell taking on little old Barnsley.
The Scottish Pub League continues to throw up a few surprises, with Celtic getting a victory against Ross County (who?) by a 3-1 away day score and Rangers inflicting defeat over Kilmarnock (who?) by a 2-0 scoreline in Game Week-2.
Game Week-3 saw Rangers get the victory against St Johnstone (who?) by a 4-0 scoreline and Celtic inflict a defeat on Kilmarnock (who?) by a 5-0 score.
So the status quo at the summit of the SPL remains the same, with both of the Glasgow teams having 9-points, from 3 fixtures completed.
As stated, that was a surprise.
Rangers did defy the Odds in the Qualifying Round of the Champions League.
After suffering a defeat against the Belgium Pub League Champions, Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, which does sound like a nice Belgium Beer, in the 1st-leg by a 2-0 score, Giovanni Van Bronckhorst’s Teddy Bears, overturned the deficit getting a superb victory at Ibrox in the return leg by a 3-0 score.
The 3-2 aggregate result over the 2-legs, sets up a final Qualifying Round against PSV Eindhoven, with the opener being at Ibrox on Tuesday and the away leg in the Netherlands on the 24th of August.
The winner over the 2-legs will qualify for the Group Stages of this season’s Champions League.
That would be exciting for most of Scotland and surrounding areas, with the current Pub League Champions, Celtic already in the Group Stage, the 1st-time since the 2018/19 campaign and the 1st-time not having to Qualify since 2008/09.
There was a certain OzScot who like a few people are loving this nostalgic Barnsley visit down Memory Lane, out dancing in the streets of Melbourne, Blue Tammy adorned, barking out the tune,
‘He’s, Rangers and Barnsley but Andy has decided that Australia is the best place to be!’
Away Win 0-6
Related Reading
Best betting site for accumulators
Bet365 review
Best cash-out betting sites
Best low or no minimum deposit betting sites