The highlight games for the next set of EPL matches are NEWCASTLE versus ARSENAL and TOTTENHAM versus CHELSEA. Our feature columnist, John Newsome previews these and all game week 11 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-11
Saturday 04th
FULHAM v MANCHESTER UNITED
12.30 in England
TNT Sport
Fulham gained a great point from a draw by a 1-1 score against Brighton at the Amex on Sunday.
After conceding a Seagull goal in the 1st half, Joao Palhinha scored a beauty after the break to equalise and with no further goals both teams shared the points.
Fulham sit in a cluster of teams with 12 points from the opening 10 fixtures, however, are in 14th place due to goal difference.
Chelsea, Wolves and Crystal Palace all have 12 points too but sit above the Cottagers.
Whilst Fulham did have a habit of yo-yowing between the Premier League and the Championship, there are a few teams that are worse this time so Marco Silva’s team should be comfortable this season.
Fulham face Ipswich in the Carabao Cup this week away at Portman Rd for a place in the Quarter-Finals of that particular competition.
A Cup Run will do Fulham and the faithful a world of good.
There’s no real point in going over old ground regarding Manchester United as it is becoming pretty boring, stating the same things every week.
The expected predicted defeat against Man City occurred on Sunday with the Noisy Neighbours in Blue gaining the victory at Old Trafford by a 3-0 away day scoreline.
The only disappointment from this EveryTip column was it wasn’t the 4-0 score that John Newsome offered up.
It is always intriguing to see the team sheet put out by Erik Ten Hag to see who is being offered up as lambs to the slaughter.
This time it was Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans chosen as the Manchester United Centre-Backs against the best team in Europe and possibly the World.
Read that again, Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans.
One couldn’t get into the team a couple of months ago and the other is 36 years old at the beginning of January.
Granted age shouldn’t come into play but one wants to put this in perspective.
As Gary Neville often says,
‘This is Manchester United!’
Raphael Varane was on the bench.
It’s unknown whether Raphael was injured but if chosen as a substitute, then should be fit enough to start.
That’s not to say that United would have been any better as Man City were on a different level and would have won regardless.
As with most Sunday Afternoon Football, there is the usual text dialogue between mates as to the outcome of the game.
Once the team sheet was put out, John Newsome’s immediate reaction was,
‘Scraping the barrel if Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans are the Centre-Backs!’
Added to that, Casemiro was missing so Erik included Scott McTominay and everyone who reads this column knows the thoughts of that particular narrative.
It was like a Men’s Team versus a Boy’s Team with Rodri, Bernardo Silva and John Stones dominating Scott, Christian Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes in the Middle.
Bruno Fernandes shouldn’t be the Captain of Manchester United, the boy is embarrassing and it was noted by Gary Neville in the commentary box that Bruno was ‘acting’ shall one just say.
The Portuguese player at one point tried fouling John Stones but the Barnsley Beckenbauer was a step ahead and just fended off Mr Fernandes.
It was pointed out in this column a couple of weeks ago that Bruno shouldn’t be the Captain and should be dropped so this opinion is not just as a reaction to the game against Man City.
It was also mentioned that Erik Ten Bob wouldn’t leave Bruno Fernandes out of the team as he hasn’t got the Cahonas to do so.
Hence, United’s problems will continue.
Casemiro has stated recently that he regrets joining Manchester United!
He will do now he’s seen the situation from the inside.
Some will argue that Erik has been brought in to sort the mess out and was lauded for getting rid of Cristiano Ronaldo and Fred, dropping Harry Maguire and sorting Jadon Sancho out (so to speak).
However, the Dutch lad has just moved problems about, not actually improved things, one in bringing Harry back, another in thinking Scott McTominay is the answer because the lad has a good game for Scotland against Cyprus and Georgia and then constantly being reactive instead of proactive.
Manchester United have gained narrow victories over Burnley, Brentford and Sheffield United plus Nottingham Forest and Wolves in the Premier League as well as progressing in the Carabao Cup against a Crystal Palace ‘2nd-eleven’.
The ‘1st-eleven’ Palace, got the win at Old Trafford in the Premier League a few days later.
Against the better teams such as Tottenham, Arsenal, Brighton and now Man City, United have suffered defeats.
In the Champions League, United have suffered defeats against Bayern Munich and Galatasaray with a victory over Copenhagen.
Surprisingly there haven’t been any drawn games.
Against City on Sunday, Rasmus Hojlund was adjudged to have grabbed Rodri and after the on-field referee Paul Tierney was asked to check the Monitor then the inevitable penalty was given.
The Manchester Stick Thrower, who is more Red than Blue, stated that City always get a soft penalty.
Whilst that may or may not be true, it was the first penalty awarded to Man City at Old Trafford, since April 1992, which was before the Premier League era.
After saving a spot-kick in the midweek Champions League game against Copenhagen, Andre Onana was hoping for another stop, however, this time, it was that man Erling Haaland who stepped up giving Andre no chance.
Erling then scored a 2nd after the break before providing Phil Foden with a simple tap-in, thus inflicting a defeat on United.
Manchester United remain in 8th place with 15 points from the 10 fixtures played.
The team sitting in 14th place, which just happens to be today’s opponents are 3 points adrift with a minus-7 goal difference.
United’s is minus-5, so if Fulham gain a victory by a 3-goal margin, then the Cottagers will leapfrog the Red Devils.
Manchester United take on Newcastle United on Wednesday in the Carabao Cup, which is a repeat of the Final in last year’s competition.
If one remembers, Erik’s Red Devils gained the victory over Eddie’s Magpies by a 2-0 score.
Newcastle will want revenge.
Fulham haven’t gained a victory over Manchester United since 2009, some 17 games, in all competitions.
Fifteen of those were in Premier League fixtures and 2 in the FA Cup.
The Cottagers twice inflicted a defeat
on United back in 2009, both at Craven Cottage, however, one was in the 2008/09 season and the other was in the 2009/10 campaign both under the guidance of the legend who is still going strong, him being Roy Hodgson.
Marco Silva’s Black and Whites faced Erik’s Reds 3 times last season, with Fulham suffering a defeat in all 3 and upsetting Mr Silva immensely in the process.
At Craven Cottage back in November 2022, a very late Alejandro Garnacho strike earned United the victory over Fulham by a 2-1 scoreline.
Christian Eriksen had given the away side an early lead that was cancelled out by the ex-United Winger Dan James, which certainly pleased the lad.
Manchester United got the victory in the fixture at Old Trafford by the same 2-1 score, which was the final fixture of last season.
In between the two league games, United knocked Fulham out of the FA Cup and in the process had Willian, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Marco Silva, all shown Red Cards, with Big Mit’s indiscretion being of particular interest as the Serbian pushed the on-field referee Chris Kavanagh, that resulted in an 8 game suspension.
Betfred offer Fulham at 11/4, the draw at 13/5 and slight Odds On 19/20 for Manchester United to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 3/1 that Bobby Decordover-Reid Scores Anytime and Evens 1/1 that there are Under 2.5 Goals.
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BRENTFORD v WEST HAM
15.00 in England
It may have come as a surprise to see that Brentford gained a victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, however, despite an improvement in the Blues’ displays of late, the Bees had won the previous 2 games at the Bridge and made it 3 in a row following 2nd-half goals from Ethan Pinnock and Bryan Mbeumo, giving the away team the victory by a 2-0 scoreline.
Bryan’s goal was a thing of beauty in the 96th minute with the Chelsea Goalkeeper going up for a corner that was headed clear and set Neal Maupay on his way to run the whole length of the pitch, finally passing to Bryan who tapped into an empty net.
Beautiful.
The win lifts Brentford above Chelsea into 10th place with 13 points, 1 more than the West London rivals from Stamford Bridge.
The following was stated in last week’s EveryTip column regarding West Ham,
‘The Hammers travel to Greece to face Olympiacos on Thursday in the Europa League Group Game, which due to the travelling, could be a factor for this Sunday Afternoon fixture against the Toffees.’
As it turned out the travelling did appear to leave the West Ham players a bit lethargic for Sunday’s game against Everton that ultimately resulted in a defeat by a 1-0 scoreline.
Whilst no one is getting overly concerned about the results at the London Stadium, that is now 3 straight losses in all competitions with the Hammers not registering a victory since the 30th of September.
Obviously, October is an exceptionally scary month for the Bubbles.
West Ham remain in 9th place with 14 points from the opening 10 games.
The Hammers face the Gunners at the London Stadium on Wednesday in the last-16 of the Carabao Cup with a place in the Quarter-Finals up for grabs.
Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa scored in the 1st-half when these two Londoners met at the GTech Stadium last season.
With no further goals, Thomas’s Bees burst David’s Bubbles to gain a victory by a 2-0 scoreline.
In fairness to both teams, the fixture was the penultimate-penultimate (Game Week-36) fixture of the season and both were safe from relegation, with Brentford having one Flip-Flop on the beach and West Ham having one eye on the upcoming Europa Conference League Semi-Final 2nd-leg which came along 3 days later.
Betfred offer Brentford at 21/20, the draw at 13/5 and 12/5 for West Ham to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 7/5 that Bryan Mbeumo Scores Anytime and 7/4 that Either Team Convert a Penalty.
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BURNLEY v CRYSTAL PALACE
15.00 in England
Burnley suffered another defeat on Saturday, this time against Bournemouth at the Vitality.
Charlie Taylor did score first for Burnley, however, the home team equalised to take both teams in level at the break.
The Cherries then scored a 2nd before a controversial moment, again coming from the dreaded VAR that saw a Clarets equaliser ruled out because an armpit was deemed in an offside position.
What was incredulous was the Stockley Park Brigade took, wait for it, five and a half minutes to decide if Jay Rodriguez was offside, even drawing the lines for the offside in the wrong position.
Rumours that a couple of the VAR’s 3-year-old kids were in the booth, drawing the lines with crayons were fiercely denied.
This should not be happening, if it takes five and a half minutes to decide whether some part of the body is offside then it is not clear and obvious.
In the Champions League, the offside decision is done a different way by using what is abbreviated to SAOT ( Semi-Automated Offside Technology) which doesn’t include Humans in drawing lines.
This is a more accurate way and should be introduced in the Premier League.
Vincent Kompany was understandably disappointed with the decision and with no further goals, it was another defeat, the 8th of the 10 games completed, leaving the Clarets in 19th place with 4 points.
More from the VAR a little later.
As for the kids, they were given Sunny Delight and a Bag of Skittles and were last seen running around Stockley Park screaming,
‘Onside! Offside!’
Surprisingly, after being so bad in the Premier League, Burnley are still in the Carabao Cup and faces the Old Gaffer Sean Dyche and Everton on Wednesday at Goodison Park with both teams hoping to progress into the Quarter-Finals of that particular competition.
Jordan Ayew scored a very late goal last Friday Night but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to prevent a loss against Tottenham, as Spurs had already scored twice, one unfortunately converted by Joel Ward, to eventually inflict the defeat by a 2-1 scoreline.
What Jordan’s goal in the 94th minute did do was spoil the Correct Score of 2-0 offered up in this EveryTip column last week.
That’s back-to-back losses for Roy Hodgson’s Eagles, with just 1 victory in the previous 6 Premier League fixtures, leaving Crystal Palace in 13th place with the same 12 points as Fulham, Wolves and Chelsea from 10 games played.
There are a few injuries at Selhurst Park notably Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise so Roy can be excused at the moment.
Both could feature today.
Crystal Palace are out of the Cup so will have a full week to rest and prepare for this fixture.
In the last meeting at Turf Moor, between Sean Dyche’s Clarets and Patrick Vieira’s Eagles back in November 2021, the crowd witnessed a goal fest with both teams gaining a point from a draw by a 3-3 score.
The goals going in as follows,
8′ Christian Benteke-Palace (0-1)
19′ Ben Mee-Burnley (1-1)
27′ Chris Wood-Burnley (2-1)
36′ Christian Benteke-Palace (2-2)
41′ Marc Guehi-Palace (2-3)
Half-time Sausage Roll (Vegan).
49′ Maxwell Cornet-Burnley (3-3)
Full-time Big Mac, Large Fries and Coke.
As one can see, all 6 goals were scored before 50 minutes were up on the clock.
Both teams will come into this game under the guidance of new bosses, with Vincent Kompany welcoming the Old Boy Roy Hodgson.
Betfred offer Burnley at 13/8, the draw at 9/4 and 7/4 for Crystal Palace to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 4/1 that Jordan Ayew Scores First and 16/5 that Crystal Palace Win To Nil.
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EVERTON v BRIGHTON
15.00 in England
After an emotional few days for everyone concerned with Everton, following the sad passing of Chairman Bill Kenwright, the Toffees gained a victory over West Ham at the London Stadium on Sunday.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin with the only goal of the game in the 1st half to give Everton the points from a 1-0 away day scoreline.
Out of the last 6 Premier League games, the pattern has been, Lost, Won, Lost, Won, Lost, Won which suggests that today’s fixture against Brighton will end in a defeat.
Wouldn’t predicting football results be brilliant if that was the ‘science’ involved?
That said, Everton do have a poor record at Goodison Park this term so it’s not out of the question that the sequence continues.
Sean Dyche and Everton face his old club Burnley on Wednesday in the Carabao Cup, with the winners going through to the Quarter-Finals of that particular competition.
An Evan Ferguson goal gave Brighton a lead over Fulham at the Amex on Sunday, however, a 2nd-half equaliser by the away team meant both teams shared the points from a draw by a 1-1 score.
The point gained leaves the Seagulls in 7th with the same 17 as Newcastle but a place below the Magpies on goal difference.
It’s worth mentioning that Brighton don’t play in midweek having been knocked out of the Carabao Cup.
It was just after the New Year celebrations when Brighton last visited Goodison Park to face Everton.
The Seagull faithful were happy, not just in seeing their idols get a convincing victory by a 4-1 scoreline but also in saying hello to the Hubcaps that were left in the City the year before.
Those Scouse Rascals!
Goals from Kaoru Mitoma, Evan Ferguson, Solly March and Pascal Gross gave Brighton the points with Demarai Gray scoring a consolation for Everton, converting a very late penalty.
Betfred offer Everton at 21/10, the draw at 13/5 and 6/5 for Brighton to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 6/5 that Evan Ferguson Scores Anytime and 5/4 that there are Over 3.5 Goals.
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MAN CITY v BOURNEMOUTH
15.00 in England
Man City gained a comfortable and expected victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday, this time by a 3-0 away day score.
After Roadie Rodri was pulled back in the penalty area by Rasmus Hojlund, the on-field referee Paul Tierney was asked to check the pitch-side Monitor by the dreaded VAR and as most now know, once this occurs a penalty is usually awarded.
The VAR was Michael Oliver who is one of the better referees and on most occasions is correct.
Erling Haaland made no mistake in converting the penalty then added his and City’s 2nd just after the interval.
Phil Foden then tapped home to make it 3 and with no further goals, the Blue side of Manchester gained the win over the Red side.
In truth, without the award of the penalty, City were head and shoulders above United with a possession stat of 60%, which produced 21 shots, of which 11 were on target.
Bernardo Silva was superb throughout the 90 minutes and with players such as John Stones, Roadie Rodri, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden and of course Erling Haaland, it was no contest against a poor set of Manchester United players.
Ederson is a better outfield player than most of the United team and was simply class in spraying the ball around, not to mention actually doing the job he’s paid for in preventing the ball from going into the net.
Pep Guardiola has the most Premier League victories at Old Trafford with 5, above Arsene Wenger, Gerard Houllier and Roy Hodgson who all have 3 wins apiece over Manchester United at their home.
Surprisingly, City have the week off having been knocked out of the Carabao Cup in the last round, which although is a disappointment to not be able to complete a Quadruple, won’t upset too many at the Etihad as it’s a rare occurrence for the players to put their feet up for a couple of days.
Man City sit in 3rd place with 24 points, the same as Arsenal with both being 2 adrift of Tottenham at the summit.
Bournemouth, under the guidance of Andoni Iraola, have finally gained a victory in the Premier League.
Antoine Semenya scored midway through the 1st-half to equalise an earlier Burnley goal to take both teams in level at the break.
Philip Billing scored a brilliant 2nd in the 76th minute and with no further goals, the Cherries finally had a win in the record, with a victory over the Clarets by a 2-1 scoreline.
As mentioned earlier, there was a VAR incident that prevented a Burnley equaliser but Andoni won’t worry too much about that and lives to fight another day.
Bournemouth sit in 17th place with 6 points from the 10 games played.
These two teams have met 13 times in this Millennium, with Man City winning all 13 games, 12 in the Premier League and a Carabao Cup tie back in 2020, which unfortunately didn’t have any spectators due to the Coronavirus Situation.
When one says, ‘this Millennium’ it actually means from 2015, as there wasn’t a game in the first 15 years of the 2000s.
What will probably surprise the New Millennium’s is before 2015, the last meeting between Man City and Bournemouth happened in February 1999, however, that wasn’t a Premier League fixture or for that matter, a Championship game.
The fixture between the Cherries and City was a League One tie.
Back then, the English Pyramid had different names.
The Premier League was still the Premier League, as it has been since 1992, however, the Championship, League One and Two were under the banners of the Football League Division One, Two and Three.
Bournemouth and Man City were in the Football League Division Two.
Man City famously won the Play-Off Final at Wembley in May of 1999, coming from 2 goals down in the last minutes to score twice, then winning the penalty shootout, to gain promotion to the Football League Division One, or the Championship.
As mentioned, City are unbeaten against Bournemouth with last season’s encounter at the Vitality ending in a victory by a 4-1 away day scoreline.
Julian Alvarez, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden with the 1st-half goals giving Man City a comfortable lead at the interval.
Chris Mepham was credited with City’s 4th before Jefferson Lerma scored a late consolation for the home team.
Just to add, the aggregate score in the 12 Premier League games is Man City 38 Bournemouth 6.
Betfred offer Man City at Odds On 1/10, the draw at 17/2 and 20/1 for Bournemouth to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 10/1 that John Stones Scores Anytime and 7/4 that there are Over 4.5 Goals.
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***Premier League Team of the Week***
GOALKEEPER- Ederson- Man City
RIGHT-BACK- Pedro Porro- Tottenham
CENTRE-BACK- Ethan Pinnock- Brentford
CENTRE-BACK- James Tarkowski- Everton
LEFT-BACK- Takehiro Tomiyasu- Arsenal
MIDFIELDER- John Stones- Man City
MIDFIELDER- Moussa Diaby- Aston Villa
MIDFIELDER- Bernardo Silva- Man City
FORWARD- Eddie Nketiah- Arsenal
FORWARD- Bryan Mbeumo- Brentford
FORWARD- Darwin Nunez- Liverpool
STAR MAN- Eddie Nketiah- Arsenal
SHEFFIELD UNITED v WOLVES
15.00 in England
Sheffield United suffered another defeat on Saturday, this time against Arsenal at the Emirates by a 5-0 scoreline, as predicted in this EveryTip column last week.
Whilst it was another setback, the Blades simply can’t compete with the likes of Arsenal who are in a different league despite being in the same Premier League.
It was also a Top Flight unwanted record of 9 defeats from the opening 10 games.
At the moment Paul Heckinbottom is still in charge and there was talk that a loss against Arsenal would see the lad get sacked with Sheffield United then bringing in the old boss Chris Wilder.
That hasn’t happened yet but could still be on the horizon if the Blades suffer another defeat today against Wolves.
As for James from Swinton, nowhere near Bramall Lane, the Little Blunt was late back from London as he couldn’t get through the barrier at Kings Cross.
After umpteen attempts, that saw two trains destined for Sheffield set off, an Old Lady came along and helped Jimbo out, stating that the lad was using his Blockbuster Video Card instead of the Rattler ticket.
After thanking the Old Girl, James jumped on the train for the journey home with the helpful woman shaking her head on the opposite platform, thinking to herself,
‘Daft Blunt!’
Haribo are excited as James and the lovely Jade are getting married, with the Jelly Company from Pontefract hopeful that a few bags of their favourite Star Mix will be purchased so that a Wedding Ring can be found.
Sheffield remain at the foot of the Premier League table with just 1 point from the opening 10 games.
Wolves are slowly moving away from the relegation zone, now sitting in 12th place with the same 12 points as Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Fulham, following Saturday’s draw against Newcastle by a 2-2 score.
The Archbishop was happy.
Mario Lemina scored a 1st-half goal sandwiched in between 2 Newcastle strikes to leave the home team trailing at the break.
Newcastle’s 2nd came from a penalty awarded when it appeared Hwang-Hee Chan had fouled Fabian Schar in the area.
The on-field referee, Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot straight away, which to be fair is what should happen but on viewing again, the tackle did look innocuous and was harsh on the Wolves player.
That said, if folk are upset with the dreaded VAR interfering all the time, then the same shouldn’t be up in arms when the Stockley Park girls and boys don’t get involved.
However, there has to be a happy medium.
The excellent Pedro Neto had a superb game and again was different class but unfortunately suffered an injury late on in the game, that does look like the lad will be missing for a few weeks.
Which, is not only a loss for Wolves but also a loss for Man City.
If one is scratching his or her head at that, it refers to City possibly signing Pedro in January.
Hwang-Hee Chan had scored an equaliser before Pedro had to leave the pitch.
Hwang-Hee has scored in the last 6 Premier League games at Molineux, which does include a fixture from last season.
There’s also a goal for his International team South Korea and a goal in the Carabao Cup.
The Wolves hierarchy must be rubbing their hands with glee and in the process of sending a nice Christmas Card and Present to the owners of Bournemouth for sacking Gary O’Neil, as the lad is showing just how much Wolves are benefiting and Bournemouth are not.
The Gold and Blacks are out of the Carabao Cup so both of these teams should be fresh for the Saturday Afternoon outing in Sheffield.
As of earlier with the Everton result pattern, Wolves’ last 5 are Draw, Win, Draw, Win, Draw which does offer up a Win in this fixture at Bramall Lane.
Wolves gained the away day victory over Sheffield United in the last meeting between the two at Bramall Lane.
The fixture just happened to be the opening game of the 2020/21 campaign that took place in September 2020, in an empty stadium due to the Coronavirus Situation.
Goals from Raul Jimenez and Romain Saiss earned Nuno Espírito Santo’s Gold and Blacks the win over Chris Wilder’s Blades by a 2-0 score.
Probably the surprise in that scoreline, is both goals were scored before 7 minutes were up on the clock.
Wolves have won the last 3 games against Sheffield United, 2 in the league and an FA Cup tie, all ‘Winning To Nil’.
Betfred offer Sheffield United at 13/5, the draw at 5/2 and Evens 1/1 for Wolves to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 8/5 that Hwang-Hee Chan Scores Anytime and 12/5 that Wolves Win To Nil.
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NEWCASTLE v ARSENAL
17.30 in England
Sky Sports
What a great game to kick-start the Saturday Night celebrations.
The married folk will be getting ready for The Masked Strictly Sewing Person and the Takeout of Chicken Tikka Masala or House Special from the local shops, with the wife/husband or whoever in this Ever Changing Cosmopolitan World, trying to appease the kids, sneaking a cheeky look at Sky Sports for this mouthwatering late Afternoon spectacular.
Whilst the Singles out there will be preparing for a Night on the Town, splashing the Tweed or the Aramis at half-time knowing that the bus into the lights arrives just after the final whistle, hoping the referee doesn’t add on anything over 7 minutes.
This will be the 5th time that the Toon Army have witnessed their team play at 5.30 PM of a Saturday out of the 11 games.
Newcastle gained a point from a draw by a 2-2 score against Wolves at Molineux last week in the same 17.30 Sky Sports slot.
Callum Wilson scored both goals with Wolves equalising each to share the points.
Callum’s 2nd came via a penalty which could be considered as soft but a point apiece was probably the fairest outcome for the two.
Newcastle sit in 6th place with the same 17 points as Brighton from the opening 10 games.
Eddie’s Magpies face Erik’s Red Devils on Wednesday, in the Carabao Cup with a Quarter-Final slot on offer.
If one remembers, Newcastle knocked out Man City in the previous round.
Arsenal gained the expected victory over Sheffield United last week with the Gunners inflicting a defeat on the Blades by a 5-0 scoreline, as predicted in this EveryTip column.
Eddie Nketiah scored a hat-trick before Fabio Vieira converted a penalty and Takehiro Tomiyasu made it 5.
Although a great result for the watching Gooners, it was against a very poor team, the poorest of the lot so one shouldn’t get carried away.
Mikel’ Young Guns finished the weekend in 2nd place with 24 points, the same as Man City but swap places due purely to scoring more goals as both have a plus+15 swing.
Arsenal gained the away day victory over Newcastle at St James Park back in May, with goals from Martin Odegaard and a Fabian Schar OG giving Mikel’s Young Guns the points by a 2-0 score.
Betfred offer Newcastle at 7/4, the draw at 12/5 and 6/4 for Arsenal to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 7/5 that Callum Wilson Scores Anytime and 2/1 that there are Over 3.5 Goals.
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Sunday 05th
NOTTINGHAM FOREST v ASTON VILLA
14.00 in England
Sky Sports
Nottingham Forest suffered the expected defeat against Liverpool at Anfield with the home team gaining the victory by a 3-0 scoreline.
Forest lost the services of Chris Wood who had scored twice in the previous game but did see Taiwo Awoniyi get 20 minutes at the end following his recent injury.
The loss leaves Nottingham Forest in 16th place with the same 10 points as Everton from the initial 10 games completed.
Aston Villa continued their fine run on Sunday by inflicting a defeat on Luton by a 3-1 scoreline, as predicted in this EveryTip column last week.
Goals from John McGinn, Moussa Diaby and one credited as an own goal were enough to gain the expected home win.
Emiliano Martinez was credited with the Luton goal after a misplaced header from Ezri Konsa hit the crossbar, bounced off the head of Emiliano and rebounded into the net.
Cheers Ezri!
Probably the only surprise in the result was that Ollie Watkins didn’t score.
Villa are now unbeaten in the previous 6 Premier League games with 5 Wins and a Draw, reaping 16 points from a possible 18.
That leaves Unai’s Claret and Blues in 5th place with 22 points from the opening set of fixtures.
Both teams have a week off having been knocked out of the Carabao Cup in previous rounds.
There are 50 miles between these two iconic teams that have both won the European Cup, Nottingham Forest in 1979 and 1980 and Aston Villa in 1982.
Liverpool won it in 1977, 78, 1981 and 84, meaning England were the Kings of European Football for a period of 7 years with Bayern Munich (1983) being the only non-English team to win the Trophy over that time.
At the City Ground last season, almost 12 months ago (10th of October 2022) both shared the points from a draw by a 1-1 score.
Emmanuel Dennis scored the opener for Forest after 15 minutes, with Ashley Young equalising for Villa 7 minutes later.
That was that.
Betfred offer Nottingham Forest at 3/1, the draw at 13/5 and slight Odds On 9/10 for Aston Villa to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 4/1 that Ollie Watkins Scores First and 13/8 that Aston Villa Score in Both Halves.
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LUTON v LIVERPOOL
16.30 in England
Sky Sports
Luton suffered their 7th defeat of the campaign from the opening 10 games on Sunday, this time against Aston Villa at Villa Park by a 3-1 scoreline.
After conceding 2 goals, the unfortunate Hatters Captain Tom Lockyer turned past his own ‘Keeper to gift the hosts a 3rd.
Luton’s goal came via the head of the Villa stopper Emiliano Martinez when a misdirected header from Ezri Konsa hit the crossbar and rebounded onto Emmy’s bonce and into the back of the net.
The defeat leaves Luton in 18th place with 5 points.
All 3 of the newly promoted teams are now in the drop zone.
Liverpool gained the victory over Nottingham Forest at Anfield on Sunday by a 3-0 scoreline as predicted in this EveryTip column last week.
Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez scored in the 1st-half, with Mo Salah getting his obligatory goal late on to give Jurgen’s Reds all 3 points.
There is a disturbing story regarding Luis Diaz whose parents have been kidnapped back in his home country of Columbia.
Without going too deep into that particular situation, it is a common occurrence for a South American country, especially with the perpetrators knowing that the victims have relatives who are well known and have money.
Luis’ Mother has been found but at the moment his Father is still missing so it’s hoped the worrying situation is sorted out pretty soon without any casualties.
Liverpool are looking good and sit 4th in the Premier League table with 23 points from the opening set of fixtures.
There are 4 points between the Top Five, then a gap of 5 points to the 6th placed club which are Newcastle.
All of the Top Five won at the weekend so positions will probably be decided when each plays against the other.
Tottenham have played both Arsenal and Liverpool, gaining 4 points from the two, obviously Arsenal have faced Tottenham plus Man City, accruing 4 points as well, with Man City having only faced Arsenal up to now, suffering a defeat in that game.
Liverpool have played Tottenham, losing that particular tie, plus a victory over Aston Villa, thus 3 points gained.
Villa have only faced Liverpool from the Top Four.
Liverpool face Bournemouth at the Vitality in the midweek Carabao Cup.
The last time Liverpool ventured South to Kenilworth Rd for a league game was back in August 1991.
Unfortunately for the watching Millions (Thousands) in attendance, both teams failed to score, giving each a point from a draw by a 0-0 score.
There have been 3 meetings between the two since the 1991/92 season but all occurred in Cup Competitions, with Liverpool being successful in the 1st and 3rd, with the 2nd ending in a draw, thus bringing up the replay for the 3rd encounter.
Betfred offer Luton at 10/1, the draw at 11/2 and Odds On 2/9 for Liverpool to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 4/1 that Mo Salah Scores Two Plus Goals and slight Odds On 4/5 that there are Under 3.5 Goals.
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Monday 06th
TOTTENHAM v CHELSEA
20.00 in England
Sky Sports
The Mauricio Pochettino Derby.
Mo Po returns to the Chas and Dave Memorial Stadium for the first time since leaving in November 2019.
Tottenham play their 3rd, 8.00 PM kick-off in succession.
One’s wondering if Ange Postecoglou is a Vampire and only comes out at night.
In the last outing over the Capital at Selhurst Park, Tottenham gained the away night victory by a 2-1 scoreline.
A speculative shot come cross by James Maddison ended with the Palace Defender Joel Matip turning past his own Keeper.
Son Heung-Min added a 2nd and with time running out the predicted score of 2-0 was scuppered when Palace pulled a goal back.
There was the inevitable check from the dreaded VAR trying to prevent the goal as it wasn’t clear whether the ball had touched Jordan Ayew’s arm in the build-up to the goal.
The Stockley Park Brigade took close to 4 minutes to decide whether it had or hadn’t touched Jordan’s arm.
Surely that’s not what VAR is meant for, it’s supposed to be set up for clear and obvious errors, if it takes 4 minutes to check a possible handball then it’s not clear and obvious.
Once again to reiterate, the concept of the Video Assistant Referee is a good thing, it’s just the pudding Human Beings that run the VAR that are the problem.
Looking for stuff when there’s nothing there.
If it’s not clear and obvious after 30 seconds, move on.
The victory left Tottenham at the Top of the Table for the weekend, regardless of the other results, as Big Ange’s Spurs, with 26 points, were 5 points ahead of the rest.
Man City and Arsenal reduced that gap back to 2 points following their subsequent victories over Game Week-10.
Depending on the weekend’s results, with this being the final game, Tottenham could have dropped down to 3rd but have the opportunity to jump back to the summit with a win against Chelsea tonight.
A quick note regards the old Tottenham legend Harry Kane and his fortunes in Germany for Bayern Munich.
On Saturday, Bayern played against Darmstadt at the Allianz Arena.
After just 4 minutes of play, Joshua Kimmich was sent off for Bayern.
Seventeen minutes later, Darmstadt were reduced to 10 Men also when Klaus Gjasula was shown a straight Red Card.
In the 41st minute, Matej Maglica was given his marching orders too, leaving the away team with 9 Men for the whole of the 2nd-half.
At half-time, the score was 0-0.
Harry Kane then scored the opening goal in the 51st minute and completed his hat-trick in the 88th minute.
In between, Bayern Munich scored another 6, obviously 1 of them by Harry, giving a final score of 8-0.
Harry’s 2nd was reminiscent of David Beckham’s strike against Wimbledon back in August 1996.
Mr Kane saw the empty net and hit the ball from his own half that sailed over the Darmstadt ‘Keeper into the goal.
Beautiful.
The hat-trick was the second of the journey in Munich and the 12th goal from the opening 9 Bundesliga fixtures.
However, the Germans have a bizarre theory that 3 goals scored in a game is not a hat-trick, as and this is not made up, the Germans don’t call 3 goals a hat-trick unless they are scored in the same half and no other player scores in between.
Yes, it’s not April the 1st, that is true!
Harry’s having none of that and grabbed hold of the Match Ball, commenting to the German reporters,
‘Das ist ein hat-trick!’
It appears the move to Germany has been beneficial for everyone concerned at the Allianz Arena and the Chas and Dave Memorial Stadium.
After an upturn in fortunes for Chelsea who were unbeaten in 3 going into Saturday’s Lunchtime Kick-off against Brentford at Stamford Bridge, a very poor performance saw the home team suffer a defeat by a 2-0 scoreline.
Chelsea had just 2 shots on target in total throughout the 90-odd minutes, both in the 1st-half and despite falling behind on the hour mark, went the whole of the remaining time without troubling the Brentford Goalkeeper.
That will have irked everyone connected with the Blues especially the watching faithful who pay their hard-earned money in good faith to at least hope to see some sort of effort.
It was a poor performance and Mauricio Pochettino needs to make sure an improvement is made otherwise his old mates at Tottenham will get an easy victory.
Chelsea drop below Brentford into 11th place with the same 12 points as Wolves, Crystal Palace and Fulham, all having completed 10 games so far.
Last season’s encounter between Tottenham and Chelsea saw Cristian Stellini in charge of Spurs and Graham Potter still at the Blues helm.
Cristian was on the sidelines due to Antonio Conte having surgery back in Italy.
It was Tottenham who gained the London bragging rights, inflicting a defeat on Chelsea by a 2-0 scoreline.
Oliver Skipp and Harry Kane with the goals, both in the 2nd-half to give Spurs the points.
Betfred offer Tottenham at 23/20, the draw at 13/5 and 11/5 for Chelsea to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 4/1 that Son Heung-Min Scores First and 7/5 that Raheem Sterling Scores Anytime.
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The status quo at the top of the Scottish Premier League remains the same following the weekend’s football, however, Celtic who are the current leaders, were held to a draw away at Hibernian (who?) on Saturday with both teams failing to score.
The Glasgow arch-rivals Rangers did eventually gain a victory over Hearts (who?) on Sunday, ‘eventually’ as the Teddy Bears were losing by a goal to nil going into the 90th minute, however, scored 2 late goals to gain all 3 points, meaning the gap between Celtic and Rangers at the summit of the Pub League is reduced to 5 points.
The loveable OzScot over in Melbourne was ecstatic when the result made its way Down Under and was straight out into the local streets with the Mel Gibson war paint on, dancing and singing,
‘I’m spinning around, move out of my way, Rangers are going to finish second again’
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