The highlight games for this weekend’s action and Monday next week are CHELSEA versus WOLVES and ARSENAL versus LIVERPOOL. Our feature columnist, John Newsome previews these as well as all game week 10 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-10
Saturday 08th
BOURNEMOUTH v LEICESTER
15.00 in England
Bournemouth remain unbeaten under the caretaker boss Gary O’Neil following Saturday’s goalless draw against Brentford at the Vitality.
There was an incident in the final seconds that Gary thought should have been a penalty but in truth, there were a lot of straws that the Cherries were clutching at.
In the 4 fixtures since Scott Parker departed there have been 3 draws and a win.
Bournemouth sit 13th in the table with 9 points from 8 fixtures played.
There’s no new news regards the permanent manager position so Gary O’Neil continues and is performing a great interview for the position which is all anyone connected with the Cherries can ask.
The question to be asked on Monday Night Football was, could the real Leicester City please stand up?
The answer was yes!
In a very entertaining fixture at the King Power between the local East Midland rivals, the Foxes got the better of the Tricky Trees, with Leicester inflicting a defeat on Nottingham Forest by a 4-0 score.
A deflected James Maddison goal after 25 minutes gave the home team a lead which was quickly doubled 2 minutes later following a superb strike by Harvey Barnes.
Just before the opener by James, Forest had a clear opportunity to take the lead but hit the post.
Leicester went straight up the pitch and scored.
Mr Maddison then scored a brilliant free-kick from 20 yards, bent around the wall and in off the post.
The goalkeeper had no chance.
Jamie Vardy was back in the starting eleven and despite not scoring, kept the back line of Forest busy for the 60 minutes or so that the Sheffield Superstar was on the pitch.
Patson Daka replaced Jamie and scored a superb back heel flick goal that out-Foxed the Forest ‘keeper.
James Maddison has been overlooked by Gareth Southgate who has stated that England don’t produce enough playmakers.
James is definitely a playmaker Mr Southgate, maybe have a visit to the King Power a bit more before the World Cup starts next month.
The victory eased the pressure on Brendan Rodgers who was under it with regards to his position but for the time being, should be in the job for another couple of weeks at least.
It could be considered that Leicester’s next few fixtures are favourable to hopefully, for the Foxes’ Faithful sake, produce a few more victories.
This fixture against Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Leeds United and Wolves before a visit from Man City.
It’s now Steve Cooper that is worried about his job and could be down the concrete before this column goes to print.
Leicester and Nottingham Forest swap places at the foot of the table with the Foxes now in 19th place with 4 points from the opening 8 fixtures played.
It was July 2020 in the protracted Coronavirus affected season when Leicester last visited the Vitality to take on Bournemouth.
At the time, the Cherries needed a win to try and stave off relegation.
The victory was achieved by a convincing 4-1 scoreline with 2nd-half goals from Junior Stanislas, a double by Dominic Solanke and a Johnny Evans own goal to give Eddie and the Cherries the much-needed points.
Jamie Vardy had scored in the 1st-half to give Brendan’s not-so-Wonderfuls an early lead.
Bournemouth were ultimately relegated that season, with Leicester finishing 5th.
Betfred offer Bournemouth at 23/10, the draw at 13/5 and 5/4 for Leicester to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 7/5 that James Maddison Scores Anytime and Evens 1/1 that there are Under 2.5 Goals.
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CHELSEA v WOLVES
15.00 in England
Chelsea’s Premier League era under Graham Potter got off to a winning start on Saturday.
Graham’s New Blue Wizards gained a victory against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park by a 2-1 away day scoreline.
Patrick Vieira’s side scored first after 7 minutes with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang equalising half an hour later.
That was Mr Aubameyang’s first start in the Premier League since signing from Barcelona in the Summer.
There was a contentious incident just before the Chelsea equaliser that Patrick Vieira wasn’t happy with when Thiago Silva deliberately handled the ball, some would say, twice, that prevented Jordan Ayew from running clean through on goal.
It was a debatable incident that could have resulted in a Red Card but in truth, there was a lot of pitch that Jordan had to navigate so it wasn’t a certainty that a goal was denied.
The dreaded VAR did ask the on-field referee Graham Kavanagh to have a look on the monitor which usually means a change of decision but on this occasion, Graham was happy with the initial Yellow Card and kept Thiago on the pitch.
Conor Gallagher spent last season on loan at Selhurst Park and when introduced by Graham in the 76th minute, it was inevitable that CG would grab the winner, with time virtually up on the clock, Conor hit a speculative shot from 25 yards out that nestled in the back of the net.
A great goal to gain all 3 points for the New Blue Wizards and a winning start in the Premier League for Graham whose reign at Stamford Bridge is slowly taking shape.
That’s back-to-back victories for Chelsea which strangely enough includes the final Premier League game under Thomas Tuchel before the German was down the concrete.
The Blues sit 5th in the table with 13 points from the opening 7 fixtures.
Chelsea take on AC Milan at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday in the 3rd Group game of the Champions League.
Wolves just can’t score at the moment, in the weekend fixture at the London Stadium, Bruno’s Gold and Blacks suffered another defeat, this time by a 2-0 scoreline.
West Ham scored a goal in both halves and despite Mr Lage sending on Diego Costa on the hour mark, the ex-Chelsea star couldn’t make any difference.
Wolves have only scored 3 times this term and conceded 9, the least amount scored by any of the 20 clubs in the division.
The Lage Louts may have to change their names soon as it’s now heavy Odds On that Bruno is down the concrete and that might just happen if Chelsea inflict a heavy defeat today.
There’s even a chance that Mr Lage is gone between the writing of this column and the weekend fixture against Chelsea.
***********BREAKING NEWS************
Wolves have sacked Bruno Lage.
Whilst watching the Manchester Derby it was confirmed that the hierarchy at Wolves have decided to replace Bruno Lage.
Sneaky, to announce the decision when a major Premier League game is on and Man City are destroying United.
It’s understood that Wolves have made contact with the current Sporting Lisbon manager Ruben Amorim, regarding potentially taking over from Bruno.
Mr Amorim is one of the preferred candidates now Mr Lage is dismissed.
Wolves certainly like the Portuguese and so does John Newsome.
The Portuguese wine that is, some lovely ones on offer in Aldi.
Whatever happens, Diego will definitely be up for a fight against his old club.
Wolves sit in the final relegation place with 6 points from the opening 8 fixtures played.
In last season’s affair between these two at Stamford Bridge, Romelu Lukaku scored twice in the 2nd half to give Chelsea a lead.
Wolves’ Trincao pulled a goal back in the 79th minute and with 7 minutes of added time up on the clock, Conor Coady scored an equaliser to gain Bruno’s Gold and Blacks a point from a draw by a 2-2 score and knock the stuffing out of Thomas’s Blue Engines.
Betfred offer Chelsea at Odds On 2/5, the draw at 19/5 and 8/1 for Wolves to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 3/1 that Jorginho Scores Anytime and 21/20 that Chelsea Win To Nil.
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MAN CITY v SOUTHAMPTON
15.00 in England
Man City destroyed the Numpty Neighbours on Sunday with Phil Foden and Erling Haaland both scoring a hat-trick to give Pep’s High Flying Blues the victory over Erik’s Errors by a 6-3 scoreline.
The goals went in as follows,
Man City-
Phil Foden 8th Minute
Erling Haaland 34th Minute
Erling Haaland 37th Minute
Phil Foden 44th Minute
Manchester United-
Antony 56th Minute
Man City-
Erling Haaland 64th Minute
Phil Foden 73rd Minute
Manchester United-
Anthony Martial 84th Minute
Anthony Martial 91st Minute
John Newsome did predict a draw by a 1-1 score based on the fact that Manchester United were performing well, however, after 10 minutes of the fixture at the Etihad, it became quite apparent that there is a massive gap between the two Manchester clubs.
Man City are just too good and following the destruction of the Red Half of the suburb, it leaves Pep’s Blues the only unbeaten team in the Premier League sitting in 2nd place, a point adrift of Arsenal, however, it won’t be too long before Pep 1 is ahead of Pep 2.
Man City host FC Copenhagen on Wednesday in Match-Day-3 of the Champions League.
Southampton are now winless in 3 and have suffered a defeat in 4 of the last 5 Premier League fixtures.
Consider that as opposed to the Wolves’ results in the last 5, 2 draws, a win and 2 losses.
The Wolves manager has now been sacked, so is Ralph Hasenhuttl under pressure or are the Saints faithful still behind their Peaky Blunder character?
Wreck-It Ralph’s boys succumbed to another defeat on Saturday, this time going down by a 2-1 home score against Everton at St Mary’s, thus witnessed by the Saints faithful.
After a goalless 1st-half, it was Southampton that took the lead through a goal from the Jelly Man, Joe Aribo, who is finding that life in the Premier League is a lot different to running out each week for Rangers in the Pub League.
The Toffees then scored 2 quick-fire goals to inflict the defeat on the Saints.
The girls and boys on the Southampton Coast are still behind the next Peaky Blunder but for how long?
Following the defeat against the Toffees, Southampton sit in 16th with 7 points from the 8 fixtures played.
At the Etihad last season, the scorer wasn’t needed with both teams failing to hit the back of the net resulting in a goalless draw.
When the two met later in the campaign at St Mary’s, it was another draw by a 1-1 score, meaning Wreck-It Ralph Hasenhuttl was unbeaten against Pep Guardiola from both fixtures.
Pep’s High Flying Blues did get a convincing victory against the Saints in the Quarter-Final of the FA Cup by a 4-1 scoreline.
Betfred offer Man City at Odds On 1/7, the draw at 17/2 and 20/1 for Southampton to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer Odds On 1/2 that Man City Score in Both Halves and 11/8 that Man City Score More Than 3.5 Goals.
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NEWCASTLE v BRENTFORD
15.00 in England
Newcastle got a great victory against Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday with Eddie’s Magpies inflicting the defeat on Marco’s Cottagers by a 4-1 away day scoreline.
The hosts did give Newcastle an early boost by having a player sent off after 8 minutes, leaving the Magpies with a man advantage for most of the game.
The extra player soon showed with Callum Wilson scoring the opener a couple of minutes after the sending-off.
Miguel Almiron, who was superb throughout the 90 minutes added the 2nd after half an hour with Sean Longstaff scoring just before the half-time cup of tea, to give Newcastle a convincing lead at the break.
Miguel then scored his 2nd and the Magpies’ 4th after the restart with Fulham scoring a late consolation to complete the scoring.
It was a great performance against a team that have been playing well, however, the sending-off played a big part in the proceedings.
Eddie Howe won’t worry too much about that, with the victory lifting Newcastle up to 7th above Fulham on goal difference with both having 11 points from 8 fixtures completed.
Brentford played in one of the two dullest fixtures of Game Week-9, against Bournemouth at the Vitality with both teams failing to find the back of the net.
The point gained from the goalless draw gives Thomas’s Bees 10 points from 8 fixtures and leaves Brentford in 10th place.
Liverpool and Everton also have 10 points.
One might not know that Ivan Toney played for Newcastle as a young footballer making a couple of outings for the Magpies.
Most of the regular readers will know that Mr T had a couple of spells on loan at Oakwell playing for Barnsley but instead of pushing on at Newcastle, Ivan eventually left the Northeast and signed for Peterborough on a permanent basis.
The spell at London Road helped gain Ivan a move to Brentford where the rest, as one says, is history.
The lad will once again be looking forward to playing at the home of the Magpies.
This was a very entertaining 6-goal thriller at St James Park between the two last season, with both gaining a point from a draw by a 3-3 scoreline.
The goals went in as follows,
Newcastle 10 minutes- Jamaal Lascelles
Brentford 11 minutes- Ivan Toney
Brentford 31 minutes- Rico Henry
Newcastle 39 minutes- Joelinton
Half-time cup of tea.
Brentford 61 minutes- (OG) Jamaal Lascelles
Newcastle 75 minutes- Allan Saint-Maximin
Full-time cup of coffee.
Other beverages were available.
Betfred offer Newcastle at slight Odds On 5/6, the draw at 11/4 and 7/2 for Brentford to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 5/1 that Alexander Isak Scores First and 7/5 that Ivan Toney Scores Anytime.
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BRIGHTON v TOTTENHAM
17.30 in England
Sky Sports
It’s fair to say that Brighton stunned Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday with Leandro Trossard scoring 2 early goals to give the Seagulls a lead at the break.
The hierarchy threw in a curveball and brought in Roberto De Zerbi following Graham Potter’s departure and most would understandably have predicted a home win at Anfield.
However, the Brighton players were having none of that and put in a great display that eventually gained a point from a draw by a 3-3 score.
After Leandro’s double Liverpool pulled a goal back before the half-time whistle, then scored twice more to take the lead.
Mr Trossard completed his hat-trick and scored a 3rd to make the scores level.
With no further goals, both shared the points.
The draw wasn’t expected but Mr De Zerbi did say that the infrastructure at the Amex was in place due to the superb work done by Graham Potter so there wasn’t too much to change.
Just a few little tweaks from the Italian and the 4th place that Brighton remain in, with 14 points, could be increased, bearing in mind that the 14 points have come from 7 fixtures, not 8 that most of the teams around have completed.
The Seagulls then had a fight with the Liver Birds over by the Docks, about who was the prettier bird.
Tottenham suffered a defeat in the North London Derby on Saturday with Mikel Arteta’s Young Guns getting the victory over Antonio Conte’s Spurs by a 3-1 scoreline.
With that, it also means that Tottenham lost their unbeaten tag for this season suffering the 1st defeat of the campaign in the Premier League.
It was pointed out in last week’s EveryTip column that the Defence could be the problem this term with Tottenham great going forward but not so good at the back, having now conceded 10 goals from the opening 8 fixtures.
Along with Chelsea, that’s the most conceded by any of the top 5 teams.
Arsenal and Brighton have conceded 8, Man City 9, with Chelsea, in 5th conceding 10.
After Arsenal had taken the lead, Tottenham were awarded a penalty which usually equates to a goal if Harry Kane is taking it.
That’s just what happened with Harry outwitting his England teammate Aaron Ramsdale in the goal, coolly slotting home, hitting the ball down the middle, with a helpless Double A Ron diving out of the way.
Unfortunately, for the Spurs faithful, their Lilywhites idols conceded 2 more in the 2nd-half to ultimately suffer the defeat.
The Defence was not only poor in conceding 3 goals but stupidly Emerson Royal made a horrendous challenge on Gabriel Martinelli when the Arsenal Striker was heading towards his own byline.
There was no need to do anything but Emerson dove in and received a straight Red Card leaving Spurs a man lite for the remaining 30 minutes.
That was when Arsenal were leading by 2 goals to 1, the 10 men then conceded a 3rd, to suffer the defeat that leaves Tottenham in 3rd place in the table with 17 points from 8 fixtures played.
Tottenham face Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany on Tuesday for the Match-Day-3 of the Champions League Group stage.
At the Amex last season, Tottenham got the victory by a 2-0 away day scoreline.
Cristian Romero and Harry Kane with the goals, one in each half.
Betfred offer Brighton at 19/10, the draw at 5/2 and 6/4 for Tottenham to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 6/5 that Son Heung-Min Scores Anytime and 12/5 that there are Over 3.5 Goals.
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***Premier League Team of the Week***
GOALKEEPER- Lukasz Fabianski- West Ham
RIGHT-BACK- Kyle Walker- Man City
CENTRE-BACK- Conor Coady- Everton
CENTRE-BACK- James Tarkowski- Everton
LEFT-BACK- Joao Cancelo- Man City
MIDFIELDER- Sean Longstaff- Newcastle
MIDFIELDER- James Maddison- Leicester
MIDFIELDER- Leandro Trossard- Brighton
FORWARD- Miguel Almiron- Newcastle
FORWARD- Phil Foden- Man City
FORWARD- Erling Haaland- Man City
STAR MEN- Phil and Erling- Man City
Erling did provide 2 Assists for Phil!
Sunday 09th
CRYSTAL PALACE v LEEDS UNITED
14.00 in England
Sky Sports
Crystal Palace could consider themselves unlucky on Saturday succumbing to a defeat against Chelsea by a 2-1 scoreline.
Odsonne Edouard scored early at Selhurst Park to give the Eagle Ultras something to cheer and after 34 minutes Patrick’s Palace were unlucky not to see a Chelsea player sent off.
Thiago Silva grabbed the ball knowing that Jordan Ayew was clean through on goal but somehow the on-field referee, Chris Kavanagh decided that a Yellow Card was sufficient.
Chelsea equalised soon after the incident which didn’t please the Ultras.
Conor Gallagher earned legendary status at Selhurst Park last season following a spell on loan from Chelsea, however, that evaporated when CG scored the winner in the 90th minute to inflict the defeat on Crystal Palace.
The lad didn’t celebrate which is a great testament to himself, some, including the Arsenal legend and Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson, said that was wrong.
Is it?
Why would Conor celebrate a winning goal against the team that have projected the lad to the verge of a trip to Qatar’22 with England?
If Mr Gallagher had not experienced football at Crystal Palace then there’s no chance he would be anywhere near the Three Lions squad.
Paul Merson is entitled to his opinion but would Paul celebrate a winning goal against Arsenal whilst playing for Middlesbrough, Aston Villa, Portsmouth or Walsall?
The answer to that is yes!
Fair play to Paul, whilst playing for Aston Villa against Arsenal at Highbury, the Merse scored first and celebrated, doing a reverse Klinsmann dive.
Arsenal did eventually inflict a defeat on Paul’s Villa by a 3-2 scoreline but old Paul can be true to his word, which is all that anyone can ask.
Be true to yourself, whatever happens in life, just stay true to your own beliefs.
Crystal Palace sit 17th in the table with 6 points from 7 fixtures played.
14 of the 20 have completed 8 games.
‘Leeds, Leeds are boring us all again, Leeds, Leeds are boring us all again.’
John Newsome would like to apologise wholeheartedly regards information about the Leeds United fixture against Aston Villa last Sunday as the lad fell asleep due to the game being so boring.
When awakened, it was noticed that Leeds had gained a point from a draw by a 0-0 scoreline.
The most exciting part of the game was seeing Jesse Marsch and Steven Gerrard argue about who did the most time-wasting.
Luis Sinisterra was shown a 2nd Yellow Card just after the break that followed a 1st-half booking meaning Leeds United played most of the 2nd-half with 10 men.
Even Luis was bored with the game.
A lot of the West Yorkshire puddings had left early and headed to the local B and Q store which is next to Elland Rd and purchased some tins of paint.
On returning home, the Puddings slathered the walls with said paint and sat there for the next couple of hours watching B and Q’s finest dry, as it was more entertaining than watching their White Idols earlier.
Maybe it was because the American Drama Queen, aka Jesse Marsch, was not on the touchline having been banished to the stand following his Red Card against Brentford at the beginning of September.
Leeds United sit in 12th place with 9 points, having played 8 times so far.
The scorer wasn’t troubled at Selhurst Park either last season when Patrick’s Eagles and Jesse’s Whites played out a draw by a 0-0 score.
Betfred offer Crystal Palace at 23/20, the draw at 13/5 and 5/2 for Leeds United to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 4/1 that Wilfried Zaha Scores First and 7/5 that Rodrigo Scores Anytime.
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WEST HAM v FULHAM
14.00 in England
The Good Looking David Moyes was all smiling on Saturday evening following the victory in the late afternoon kickoff against Wolves at the London Stadium by a 2-0 scoreline.
The new boy Gianluca Scamacca scored his 1st Premier League goal midway through the 1st-half to give West Ham a lead at the break.
The Italian, who played for Italy against England in the recent Nations League game, has scored 3 goals in the Europa Conference League but Saturday’s goal against Wolves was the first in the Promised Land.
Jarrod Bowen, who coincidentally was also at the San Siro for the Italy v England fixture, added the Hammers 2nd after the break and with no further goals, West Ham got the victory over Wolves.
The defeat inflicted on the Gold and Blacks led to the departure of Bruno Lage who was last seen jumping in a London Black Cab heading for Thomas Tuchel and Scott Parker’s residence (both are on a bench in Hyde Park reminiscing about Life at Top Peoples Health Farm).
Good Looking David and his Bubbles have jumped up to 15th place in the table with 7 points from the opening 8 games played so far.
West Ham head to Belgium on Thursday to face Anderlecht in the Europa Conference League Group game.
Fulham were stunned on Saturday, suffering an unexpected home defeat against Newcastle by a 4-1 score.
Whilst maybe the defeat wasn’t that unexpected, it was more the manner of the loss after playing so well in the previous games following the return to the Premier League.
Marco Silva’s Cottagers didn’t help themselves when Nathaniel Chalobah was eventually shown a straight Red Card for a horror challenge after just 8 minutes of proceedings at Craven Cottage.
Eventually, as the dreaded VAR had to get involved when the on-field referee Darren England initially produced a Yellow for the challenge.
Barnsley Boy Darren was advised to go over to the monitor to have another look and once this happens it usually results in a change of decision.
The Yellow was upgraded to a Red and Big Nat was on his way for an early bath, leaving Fulham a man lite for the majority of the game.
Newcastle took advantage straight away scoring soon after then added 2 more before the half-time whistle and a 4th in the 2nd-half.
Bobby Decordova-Reid did score a late consolation for the home team but the Magpies held on for the victory.
Fulham slip to 8th with the same 11 points as Newcastle but a slightly inferior goal difference, from 8 fixtures that both have played.
It’s been a couple of years since Fulham have headed the short distance over the Capital to the London Stadium to take on West Ham.
It was back in November 2020 that a Tomas Soucek goal in the 91st minute gave David Moyes Boys the victory over Scott Parker’s Cottagers by a 1-0 scoreline.
Betfred offer West Ham at slight Odds On 4/5, the draw at 3/1 and 18/5 for Fulham to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 8/5 that Declan Rice Scores Anytime and 7/5 that Aleksandar Mitrovic Scores Anytime.
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ARSENAL v LIVERPOOL
16.30 in England
Sky Sports
Arsenal put in a superb performance in the early Saturday afternoon kickoff at the Emirates against the North London rivals Tottenham.
Mikel’s Young Guns inflicted a devastating defeat on Antonio’s Spurs by a 3-1 scoreline to remain at the summit of the Premier League now with 21 points from the opening 8 fixtures completed.
Thomas Partay got the celebration started early on a Saturday afternoon, scoring a brilliant goal with 20 minutes on the clock.
Unfortunately, for the Gooners in attendance, one of the Angels, the Defender Gabriel dove in on Richarlison to concede a penalty.
There wasn’t any need to go to the ground and the Brazilian should have stayed on his feet.
Aaron Ramsdale must have faced a few penalties from Harry Kane but couldn’t thwart his England teammate and conceded an equaliser.
After the break, another of the Angels, Gabriel Jesus took advantage of a bad mistake from Hugo Lloris to tap home and restore Arsenal’s lead.
The 3rd of the Angels, Gabriel Martinelli was then involved in an incident that saw the Tottenham Defender Emerson Royal shown a straight Red Card for scraping the studs down Mr Martinelli’s leg.
Granit Xhaka added the 3rd midway through the 2nd-half and with a man extra, Arsenal comfortably held on for the victory that keeps the Gunners at the summit of the Premier League regardless of whether Man City got a win in their Game Week-9 fixture.
Following Sundays Manchester Derby where City gained all 3 points from a victory against the Numpty Neighbours, Arsenal are still 1-point ahead at the top of the table.
Even though the Gunners are at the summit, it is Man City that are now the only team out of the 20 that remain unbeaten.
Arsenal face Bodo/Glimt on Thursday in the Europa League.
Bodo/Glimt are a football club that play in the Eliteserien, the top division in Norway and not a character from the Lord of the Rings franchise.
Relegation-threatened Liverpool were held to a draw at Anfield on Saturday and in truth were lucky to gain a point from the 3-3 score.
After conceding 2 early goals, Roberto Firmino pulled a goal back for the home team to go in at the break trailing.
Bobby F then added a 2nd to equalise before Brighton scored an own goal to gift Liverpool the lead.
With time running out, the Seagulls scored a 3rd to give both teams a share of the points.
Roberto Firmino’s 2 goals were well taken but it appears the Defence is struggling at the moment.
The relegation-threatened gag at the start of this preview was obviously tongue in cheek from John Newsome, however, Liverpool are not the team of the last few seasons.
Jurgen’s Reds sit in 9th place in the Premier League table with 10 points from 7 fixtures played.
That is 10 points adrift of Man City and 11 away from Arsenal.
Granted, those two have played 8 times but as everyone who reads this column knows, it’s considered better to have the points on the board than games in hand.
Virgil Van Dijk is not the same player and appears to be suffering from a crisis of confidence.
Gareth Southgate and Jurgen Klopp have different opinions regarding Trent Alexander-Arnold with Mr Southgate not choosing the Defender stating that other Right Backs are better.
Obviously, Jurgen doesn’t agree with Gareth, however, has the England Manager got a point?
On Sky Sports Monday Night Football, Gary Neville gave an insightful explanation of the Principles of Full-Back play.
1- In transition, sprint back.
2- In 1 on 1 defending, keep one’s body position low/crouched.
3- The body shape should be open when the ball is on the opposite side of the pitch.
4- Rotate the head when defending the back post and check distances.
Whilst John Newsome wouldn’t want to argue or disagree with the Manchester United legend, the only thing to say is, these are basic principles that are learned as a kid, not after 250 games for Liverpool and England.
These skills should be there as a 10-year-old.
Trent is a class player and will find his own path as a great footballer, however, could just miss out on the Sun of Qatar’22.
If one is venturing over for the World Cup in November, don’t take a coat.
Jordan Henderson has been a class player over the years but maybe, now aged 32, the years are catching up.
That can also be attributed to James Milner, again a superb player but Jimmy M is 37 in January and as was mentioned in last week’s column regarding Cristiano Ronaldo, time waits for no man (or woman!) and age catches up on everyone.
Virgil Van Dijk, Thiago Alcantara and Roberto Firmino are 31 and Mo Salah is now 30.
Mo Salah’s useless twin brother is also 30 and must be taking the place of the Egyptian King as original Mo is nowhere to be seen.
Mr Salah had scored 118 Premier League goals for Liverpool in the last 5 seasons, yet has only added 2 to that tally this term.
Where is the original Mo Salah?
Added to that, is the elephant in the room that not many want to discuss, that being the loss of Sadio Mane.
Mane-Mane has scored 4 goals from 8 games for Bayern Munich this season in the Bundesliga.
Liverpool are just not the same without the Fab Three of Mo, Roberto and Sadio.
As the ex-Reds gaffer, Rafa Benitez would say,
Fact!
Klipperty Klopp needs his once top performers to start performing or the Anfield Rappers will start to become restless and once that happens, no one other than dogs will be able to hear or understand the lively rascals.
Liverpool take part in the Clash of Great Britain against Rangers on Tuesday at Anfield in Match-Day-3 of the Champions League Group stage.
Liverpool got the away day victory by a 2-0 scoreline in last season’s encounter between these two at the Emirates.
After a goalless 1st-half, Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino scored to give Jurgen’s Reds the win over Mikel’s Young Guns.
Betfred offer Arsenal at 6/4, the draw at 11/4 and 17/10 for Liverpool to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer Evens 1/1 that Gabriel Jesus Scores Anytime and 11/5 that Arsenal Score in Both Halves.
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EVERTON v MANCHESTER UNITED
19.00 in England
BT Sport
One has not read that incorrectly, this fixture does indeed kickoff at 19.00 in England on Sunday evening.
The Blue Toffees and Red Devil faithful were both unhappy with the rearranged time that arises due to United’s fixture in the Europa League on Thursday.
As most know there is usually a 12.30 game scheduled on a Saturday that BT Sport show.
This fixture should have been that TV game but with Manchester United playing against Omonia FC in Cyprus on Thursday, it then became a tough ask to see them play again early on Saturday afternoon.
Omonia FC are based in Nicosia and play in the Cypriot First Division.
Both sets of fans were left ‘o-moaning!’
Sorry!
A quick note regards Omonia, most may not have knowledge of the Cypriot Football League, however, the manager of the club is the ex-Celtic boss, Neil Lennon.
Mr Lennon has a couple of English guys playing in his team with the ex-Rangers youngster Brandon Barker over in the Cyprus sun.
Neil has also drafted in his old Green and White Hoops mate, Gary Hooper who played at Celtic Park from 2010 to 2013 achieving 2 Scottish Pub League Titles and was once given the ultimate accolade of being Scunthorpe United’s Greatest Ever Player.
It’s fair to say that Gary has had more clubs than Seve Ballesteros.
‘He’s Celtic, United but Neil has decided that Cyprus is the best place to be!’
Everton recorded back-to-back victories on Saturday, with Frank’s Blues inflicting a defeat against Southampton by a 2-1 scoreline.
After a goalless 1st-half at St Mary’s, the Saints took the lead early in the 2nd-half before Conor Coady and Dwight McNeil scored 2 quick fire goals to give Everton the victory that follows on from the great win against West Ham before the International Break.
Frank Lampard’s Toffees sit in 11th place with the same 10 points as Brentford and the Merseyside rivals Liverpool from 8 fixtures played.
The Red half have only completed 7 games.
A quick note regards Conor Coady, most regular readers of this great EveryTip column will know that John Newsome is a big fan and think that Conor should be in the England Backline in front of Harry Maguire.
To add to that, there is no reason why Conor’s Centre-Back partner at Goodison Park, James Tarkowski can’t be given a chance by Gareth Southgate for England.
The Manchester lad has had a brief sniff of a Three Lions shirt back in 2018 but hasn’t been anywhere near the squad since.
Everton, with Conor and James at the back, are tough to score against, conceding just 7 goals in the 8 fixtures played.
The least amount conceded by any of the 20 Premier League teams.
The problem for Everton is the goals scored column, 7, also being the least scored by any of the Top Eleven but once that is addressed, the Toffee faithful could be looking for the passport with a possible European adventure on the horizon next season.
Regards Conor Coady and the situation at Molineux with the departure of Bruno Lage, it’s strange to understand why Bruno let Conor leave and remember, Mr Coady is only on loan at Goodison Park so could potentially return to Wolves, it’s unlikely but it is a possibility.
Maybe Everton will change that situation in January and take CC on a permanent basis.
Manchester United!
Is everyone ready for this?
Despite offering up a prediction of a draw by a 1-1 score in last week’s column, John Newsome must have had a bang on the head prior to that preview.
Sitting down in front of the 55-inch on Sunday afternoon, anticipating a good performance by Erik’s Reds it soon became apparent that the hopes and dreams of a draw were not going to materialise.
For the first 8 minutes, the game resembled scenes from the Alamo, with Man City rampant that soon produced the inevitable with United conceding the opening goal.
It quickly became, 2, 3 and 4 with the Manchester United players stunned going in for the half-time cup of tea.
Antony did pull a goal back just after the restart and thoughts of a comeback were on, however, those thoughts didn’t stay around for long, with City scoring 5 and 6.
Despite trailing by 6 goals to 1, it wasn’t the end of the scoring, with Anthony Martial, sent on by Erik The Red in place of Marcus Rashford, scoring twice in the final stages of proceedings at the Etihad to leave a final scoreline of 6-3 in favour of the Noisy Neighbours.
Erik Ten Hag did leave Harry Maguire, Cristiano Ronaldo and Fred out of the starting eleven, with Harry injured and CR7 and Fred on the bench.
When trailing by 5 goals to 1, Fred was sent on for the final 20 minutes, however, Cristiano was left on the sidelines with Erik stating that he didn’t send Mr Ronaldo on, out of respect for the Portugal legend.
It’s not sure whether Cristiano had the same sentiment and surely would have wanted to be out there.
It’s been stated in this article previously, regarding the thoughts around Harry, Cristiano and Fred and despite the game at the Etihad on Sunday, those thoughts haven’t changed.
Man City were simply too good against the Numpty Neighbours and one could argue that with the 3, the scoreline could have been different.
However, that said the ‘different’ word could be used to say United would have conceded less or City could have scored more.
Manchester United sit 6th in the table with 12 points going into this fixture at Goodison Park with Everton knowing that a victory would see the Toffees jump above the Red Devils.
At Goodison Park last season, Anthony Gordon scored the solitary winning goal that gave Frank Lampard’s Everton the victory over Ralph Rangnick’s Manchester United by a 1-0 score.
Betfred offer Everton at 3/1, the draw at 11/4 and slight Odds On 19/20 for Manchester United to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 7/5 that Bruno Fernandes Scores Anytime and Evens 1/1 that there are Under 2.5 Goals.
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Monday 10th
NOTTINGHAM FOREST v ASTON VILLA
20.00 in England
Sky Sports
Nottingham Forest are struggling at the moment and by the time this EveryTip column goes to print, Steve Cooper could be joining Bruno Lage at the Job Centre.
Nottingham isn’t that far from Wolverhampton so maybe the two can share an Uber.
Taiwo Awoniyi had a great chance to score after 23 minutes when put clean through on goal by Morgan Gibbs-White, unfortunately for Taiwo, his shot hit the post and went clear.
Two minutes later Leicester scored the opener with a deflected shot off Scott McKenna that went into the net.
Forest conceded two more to go in trailing at the break by 3 goals to nil.
Despite Steve sending on 3 new players at the interval, including the ex-Tottenham Defender Serge Aurier, the Tricky Trees couldn’t break down a much-improved set of Foxes who added a 4th in the 2nd-half, to inflict the devastating defeat by a 4-0 away day scoreline.
Nottingham Forest swapped places with Leicester at the foot of the table with the same 4 points but with a slightly inferior goal difference from the opening 8 games completed.
Aston Villa gained a point from a draw by a 0-0 score on Sunday, away at Elland Rd against Leeds United.
The most exciting bit about the dull-fest in West Yorkshire was the argument between Stevie G and Jesse the Drama Queen.
Both were unhappy with the constant time wasting which produced the least amount of ‘ball in play’ time from the 10 Premier League games over the weekend.
The ball was in play for around 50 minutes out of the 95 that was on offer.
Villa did have a man advantage for most of the 2nd-half following a Leeds United sending-off.
Aston Villa sit in the precarious position of 14th in the table with 8 points from 8 fixtures completed.
This would have been Nottingham Forest’s 3rd Monday Night fixture out of the opening 10 games had the sad passing of our Queen not occurred.
The Tricky Trees were due to take on Leeds United on Monday the 12th, then played last week against Leicester on Monday and now this one.
In fact, out of the 8 games so far, there has only been 3 that have taken place on the traditional Saturday afternoon.
Both these legendary iconic clubs are part of an elite English group that has 5 members, along with Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea, being the only clubs from this country to have won the European Cup or Champions League as now known.
The England representatives have won a total of 14 European Cup/Champions League titles in total, with Liverpool leading the way having 6 triumphs.
Man Utd have 3, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest have 2, while Aston Villa have 1.
What is remarkable about Forest’s victories is the fact that the Tricky Trees have won the European Cup more times than the Top Flight competition, originally the English First Division, now the Premier League.
It’s been almost 4 years since Villa last ventured up the short road to the City Ground and that was a Championship affair.
The Championship fixture that took place on the 13th of March 2019 finished in an away day victory by a 3-1 scoreline.
John McGinn scored twice for Villa after Jack Colback had given Forest an early lead, all before the half-time whistle.
Kortney Hause added a 3rd for the away team giving Dean Smith’s Claret and Blues the victory over Martin O’Neill’s Tricky Trees.
Aston Villa finished 5th in the Championship table and were promoted via the Playoffs.
Nottingham Forest finished in 9th place.
Betfred offer Nottingham Forest at 21/10, the draw at 12/5 and 13/10 for Aston Villa to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer Evens 1/1 that Both Teams Score and slight Odds On 5/6 that there are Under 2.5 Goals.
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Game Week-10 (1997/98)
Saturday 04th October 1997
ARSENAL v BARNSLEY
Highbury
15.00 in England
The first recorded fixture between Arsenal and Barnsley was back on Christmas Eve in 1898, when Arsenal known back then as Woolwich Arsenal took on the Super Reds at Oakwell, the home of Barnsley Football Club since 1888.
Barnsley got the victory by a 2-1 score.
Since that opener, almost 124 years ago, the two great clubs have only met 24 times in all competitions.
With just 6 of those taking place after the Second World War.
There was an FA Cup fixture at Highbury back in February 1987 that John Newsome couldn’t attend, which was annoying, so when the Premier League fixture was arranged for the 4th of October 1997, this EveryTip contributor was on the way down to the Big Smoke.
Having purchased Train Tickets for next to nothing, unlike today’s horrendous prices that can be as much as £100 return, it was a trip to Highbury to see the Super Reds in action.
It was a relief to see that the Rattler companies weren’t on strike.
In the 4-fixtures between these two teams, post-1945 and before the Premier League, Barnsley had suffered defeats in all 4, which included a visit to Oakwell, in October 1995, by a Bruce Rioch-guided set of Gunners who had the legendary Dennis Bergkamp in the starting eleven.
A lot assume Arsene Wenger signed the brilliant Dutchman but it was Bruce who brought Dennis in from Inter Milan in the Summer of 1995, for an Arsenal club record fee of around £7.5 Million.
The legend that scored a goal against Brazil at the World Cup in USA’94 was now playing on a cold Tuesday night in Barnsley.
Mr Bergkamp was a class above and ripped the Reds to pieces, scoring the 2nd in a victory for Arsenal by a 3-0 away day score.
In October 1997, after a couple of hours talking rubbish on the train, the Barnsley girls and boys embarked and found a local boozer for a few pre-match liveners, as is the custom.
Kings Cross Train Station is around 3 miles from Highbury, give or take a stagger so it was a Tube ride to the ground.
The starting eleven put out by Arsene Wenger in October 1997 was,
Arsenal-
David Seaman, Lee Dixon, Tony Adams, Steve Bould, Nigel Worthington, Marc Overmars, Ray Parlour, Emmanuel Petit, Patrick Vieira, Dennis Bergkamp and Ian Wright.
Substitutes-
Nicolas Anelka for Marc Overmars 58th Minute
David Platt for Ray Parlour 58th Minute
Luis Boa Morte for Ian Wright 79th Minute
Danny Wilson’s eleven,
Barnsley-
David Watson, Ales Krizan, Arjan De Zeeuw, Adie Moses, Darren Barnard, Neil Thompson, Neil Redfearn, Darren Sheridan, Eric Tinkler, Andy Liddell and Ashley Ward.
Substitutes-
Martin Bullock for Darren Sheridan 58th Minute
Nicky Eaden for Adie Moses 64th Minute
Georgi Hristov for Andy Liddell 67th Minute
Dennis Bergkamp remembered that he had scored against the Reds a couple of years previously and added 2 more to his tally against Barnsley before the half-time cup of tea.
The not-so Super Reds were poor that Autumn afternoon in North London, that poor, the travelling Oakwell faithful witnessed a rare Ray Parlour goal on the stroke of half-time to give the Gunners a convincing lead at the break.
Ray only scored 32 goals in his glittering 12-year career at Highbury (22 in the Premier League) and John Newsome was witness to one of those notches.
Although, from memory, the Ginger One, did look suspiciously offside when tapping home.
Where’s the dreaded VAR when you need it?
David Platt, who had only been on the hallowed Highbury turf for 5 minutes, added a 4th before Ian Wright rounded off the scoring to give Arsenal the victory by a 5-0 scoreline.
Ian did score a lot more than Ray, 153 more but it was still an honour to witness one of those record-breaking 185 Arsenal goals that stood until Thierry Henry came along.
To add to that, Mr Wright’s finish against Barnsley was the legends 300th career goal and Ian’s final notch at Highbury.
Once again, as a football fanatic, it was great to see such World Class players up close and personal.
Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira won a World Cup Medal less than 12 months later, with Emmanuel scoring one of the French goals in the Final against Brazil, at France’98, helping the tournament hosts to a victory by a 3-0 score.
It wasn’t fair on the Barnsley Midfielders, squaring up against Mr Vieira who was simply a class above that day.
Marc Overmars was an outstanding rapid young Dutch player, just ask Gary Neville.
Nicolas Anelka was 18 at the time and was a precocious talent that went on to be a great player.
Dennis Bergkamp ended up becoming the PFA Players’ Player of the Year by his fellow peers and FWA Footballer of the Year by the football writers.
Those, added to the English grit of David Seaman, Lee Dixon, Steve Bould, Tony Adams, Ray Parlour, Nigel Worthington, David Platt and of course Ian ‘Wright, Wright, Wright’, went on to lift the 1997/98 Premier League title and for John Newsome, 25 years ago, it was a pleasure to travel to the Capital to see the future title winners.
However and there’s always a, however, it was another defeat for Barnsley, the 8th from the opening 10 Premier League fixtures and the 6th in succession, that left Danny Wilson’s Red and Whites with 6 points, now sat rooted to the foot of the Premier League table.
There were 2 wins in those 10 and strangely enough, no draws.
Following the defeat at Highbury, the only thing to do on the way back to the station, was call for a few pints and a bit of harmless banter with the Gooners.
It was a few cans of Hofmeister for the Rattler journey home and despite another away day trip that reaped nothing, the girls and boys all had a decent day out in that there London Town and headed off home for the obligatory Saturday night dance in Japanese Whispers and after failing miserably (once again!) with the opposition, it was a Kay Bab and a taxi ride home.
Following the Game Week-10 affair against Arsenal, there was another International Break back in October 1997 with Danny’s Boys getting the opportunity to regroup and take stock of the season so far.
As for John Newsome, it was a Sunday Morning game of football, a dinner at the Mother’s and an afternoon trying to change (and failing miserably!) the new Youths nappy.
Beautiful.
Home Win 5-0
The status quo at the top of the SPL remained the same following the weekend’s fixtures.
Rangers recorded an away day victory against Hearts (who?) by a 4-0 score with Celtic inflicting a defeat on Motherwell (who?) by a 2-1 scoreline.
The Green and White Hoops remain at the summit of the Pub League on 21 points, with the Teddy Bears in 2nd on 19 points.
Celtic head to Germany to take on RB Leipzig on Wednesday whilst Rangers head the short distance down the West Coast to take on Liverpool at Anfield in an all-British Clash.
The loveable OzScot over in Melbourne will be up early for the game on Merseyside and has been out to the local toy shop, purchasing an Abacus to record all the Liverpool goals.
The lad was then seen in the Braveheart regalia buying the popular Red Bull energy drink and a bottle of Australian finest Vodka to have a cheeky glass in support of Leipzig against Celtic.
It is a bit early in Ozland to start drinking but that’s the Teddy Bears for you.
The Flower of Scotland!
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