The highlight games for this weekend and early next week’s action are CHELSEA versus FULHAM and MANCHESTER UNITED versus LIVERPOOL. Our feature columnist, John Newsome previews these as well as all game-week 34 EPL 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.
SOUTHAMPTON v LEICESTER
Friday 30th April
Sky Sports 20.00 in England
Southampton got the weekend off after taking on Carabao Cup finalist Tottenham the previous midweek. Danny Ings scored on the half-hour mark at the Chas and Dave Memorial Stadium, which gave Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men a lead at the break.
Unfortunately for the Saints, Spurs scored twice in the 2nd-half to inflict the defeat by a 2-1 scoreline. That was after the heartbreaking loss in the Semi-Final of the FA Cup against tonight’s opponent.
Southampton remain 15th in the table, with 36-points, however, from 32-fixtures played, not the 33-most others have completed and whilst not mathematically safe, there doesn’t appear to be any danger of relegation.
Wreck-It Ralph’s Boys remaining fixtures are at St Mary’s against Leicester, Fulham, Leeds United and Crystal Palace, plus away trips to face Liverpool and West Ham.
The Palace fixture is yet to be arranged due to the postponement earlier on in the campaign.
Leicester came from a goal behind on Monday Night Football to inflict a defeat on Crystal Palace by a 2-1 scoreline. Palace scored 1st, through the impressive Wilfried Zaha and went in at the break leading.
Early in the 2nd-half, Timothy Castagne equalised for the Foxes before, Kelechi Iheanacho made it 2-1 with a superb strike to give Brendan’s Wonderful’s the 3rd victory in a row.
With Manchester United dropping points on Sunday, the gap between the two clubs in 2nd and 3rd, closed to 5, with Leicester cementing their place in the Champions League positions.
The Foxes now have 62-points from 33-fixtures, 4-more than Chelsea in 4th and 7-points more than West Ham in 5th, who are probably the only team that can prevent the Foxes from finishing in the Top Four.
Lennon the pooch had mixed emotions on Monday evening, with his master, Rod Stewart, firstly in a good mood from Sunday, when, Celtic’s arch-rivals, Rangers lost in the Scottish Pub Cup.
After a goalless 90-minutes, Rangers scored in the 117th, which would have thought, seal the victory, however, St Johnstone (who?) equalised in the 122nd-minute to take the tie to penalties, which Rangers missed 2 of their 4 kicks, with St Johnstone (who?) converting all 4 of theirs.
So Sir Roderick poured Penny and himself a nice glass of wine, with 2-straws, gave the puppy some doggie treats and settled down to watch the Leicester v Crystal Palace game, with his Eagles shirt on, ‘Stewart’ and ‘76’ on the back.
Roddy Boy was over the moon when Wilfried scored but his joy turned to despair following Leicester’s 2-goals and Lennon was off, knowing that the Palace shirt was heading his way.
Rod, filling up the beautiful Miss Lancaster and his glass, could hear in the distance, the faint bark of, ‘He’s Celtic, United but Brendan has decided that Leicester is the best place to be ‘Woof-Woof!
These two meet in the Premier League, a fortnight after the FA Cup Semi-Final at Wembley, in which Leicester came out victorious by a 1-0 scoreline.
At the King Power Stadium back in mid-January, the Foxes were winners also, with a 1st-half goal from James Maddison and a very late, 95th-minute goal by Harvey Barnes to give the home side the victory by a 2-0 scoreline.
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CRYSTAL PALACE v MAN CITY
Saturday 1st May
BT Sport 12.30 in England
Crystal Palace took the lead against Leicester on Monday Night Football, with Wilfried Zaha scoring after 12-minutes.
Unfortunately for Roy Hodgson’s Eagles, the bad dog walker was on show and Palace couldn’t hold on to the lead, conceding twice in the 2nd-half to ultimately lose the tie at the King Power by a 2-1 scoreline.
The defeat leaves Crystal Palace with 38-points from 33-games played and although not mathematically safe, like the rest of the teams with over 36-points, it would take a miracle of sorts for the Eagles to be relegated.
The two burning questions to ask are, will Wilfried Zaha and Roy Hodgson be at Selhurst Park for the 2021/22 campaign? It looks like Roy’s days are numbered and will part company with Palace once the season is finished when his contract is up.
Favourite to succeed Mr Hodgson, as the manager, is Frank Lampard, so Crystal Palace could be renamed as, ‘Frank Lampard’s Crystal Palace!’
Wilfried, at the age of 28, could be tempted away from Selhurst Park, even venturing overseas to Germany, with Bayern Munich monitoring his situation. Watch this space.
Man City come into this fixture off the back of a Premier League victory against Aston Villa by a 2-1 scoreline, a Carabao Cup victory on Sunday, against Tottenham by a 1-0 score, then a 1st-leg Semi-Final fixture against Paris Saint-Germain in France on Wednesday, that hopefully, will see Pep’s Blues, score a couple of vital away goals as it’s going to be tough to stop Kylian Mbappe and Neymar scoring at the Etihad a week later.
The victory against Villa, came at a cost, with the sending off, of John Stones that saw the Barnsley Boy miss the Carabao Cup and will see the lad absent from this game against Crystal Palace and the following fixture against Chelsea.
What might happen now is, Pep throws John in against PSG, however, whilst the Barnsley Stone will always be backed by this EveryTip contributor, the thought of Mbappe and Neymar running at the Big Yorkshireman, may send shivers down the spine of a few of the watching Citizens.
Villa stunned City last Wednesday night, scoring after 20-seconds but Pep’s High Flyers equalised through Phil Foden, then went in front when Roadie Rhodri scored before John’s indiscretion.
With no further goals after the break, City got the points to take them back to 11-clear of the Numpty Neighbours, who have now reduced the gap to 10-points following Manchester United’s draw against Leeds whilst City were at Wembley. All of the top 7-clubs have now completed 33-fixtures, with 5-remaining.
Man City’s remainders, including this away trip to London, are a trip up to Newcastle then down to Brighton, plus home games against Chelsea and Everton, the Toffees being the final Premier League fixture, with still the opportunity of the Champions League Final on the 29th of May 2021.
A possibility of 8-games to go that will hopefully, for the watching Citizens, both cardboard and real, see Man City win the Premier League title and the Champions League to go with the Carabao Cup.
Although a brilliant triple cup of victories, the Red half of Manchester will refer to it, as a ‘Plastic Treble’ and not like United’s famous 3 from 1998/99.
When Palace made the long trip up North to the Etihad in the cold of January, 2-goals from John Stones, either side of the break, plus an Ilkay Gundogan (tra-la-la-la-lar!) strike and a late goal by Raheem Sterling gave Pep’s Blues the victory by a convincing 4-0 scoreline.
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BRIGHTON v LEEDS UNITED
Saturday 1st
Amazon Prime 15.00 in England
Brighton had the indignity of suffering a defeat on Saturday Night against Sheffield United of all teams. The Blades are rubbish, yet got the victory over the Seagulls by a single 1-0 scoreline, with the goal conceded midway through the 1st-half.
Maybe Harry Potter’s guys are already on the beach, knowing that Brighton are surely safe, yet with 34-points, sitting 17th in the table, the Seagulls could do with a couple or 3-more to confirm safety.
Brighton have 7-points more than the final relegation place, with 5-fixtures remaining, so the defeat against the worst team in the division will smart a bit for the cardboard Seagulls who flew back to the South Coast in disgust following their night out in Sheffield, with a greasy chip butty between their beaks.
If the unthinkable of relegation does materialise, Graham Potter’s Blues can certainly look to the fact that they failed to beat the bottom team, both home and away, with the fixture at the Amex, ending in a draw.
Brighton’s remaining fixtures are at home against Leeds United, West Ham and Man City, with away trips to Molineux, to face Wolves and a final game against Arsenal at the Emirates.
One word, ‘Good luck Brighton!’ Well, 3-words.
Leeds United earned a great point following a goalless draw against Manchester United at Elland Rd on Sunday.
With an 8-goal thriller at Old Trafford before Christmas, it was assumed that there would be goals in the tie in West Yorkshire, however, the game failed to live up to expectations and the White Rose was probably the happier of the 2-flowers.
The point gained gives Marcelo Bielsa’s Boys 47 from 33-fixtures completed, now jumping above Arsenal into 9th-place by a point. With the 0-0 scoreline against the Red Rose, it keeps the Leeds goal difference as zero, 50-scored and 50-conceded.
Imagine Elland Rd next season, with 40,000 fanatical fans, all singing Marching On Together, as Barnsley FC, visit and take away 3-points.
The Seagulls faithful assumed their passports were needed when Brighton travelled the long-distance trip to Elland Rd in January and came away with a victory by a solitary 1-0 scoreline.
Neal Maupay with the winning goal, after 17-minutes of play.
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CHELSEA v FULHAM
Saturday 1st
Sky Sports 17.30 in England
Chelsea got a professional, if not inspiring, victory against West Ham on Saturday evening, by a 1-0 scoreline.
Timo Werner got the solitary winning goal just before the break, to give Thomas’s Blue Engines the slim victory against their London rivals, who did have a man sent off late in the 2nd-half, however, wasn’t really a factor in the result.
That was Timo’s 6th-goal of the campaign and the 1st-goal for the German in 9-Premier League games, as well as not scoring in 5-various cup appearances. Not bad for £50 Million!
The victory for Chelsea, leaves them 4th, in the final Champions League place, with 58-points from 33-fixtures, 4-points adrift of Leicester but does put a 3-point gap between themselves and West Ham.
The Blues head to Spain to play the 1st-leg of the Semi-Final of the top European competition, against Real Madrid, before this visit to Craven Cottage.
The game in Spain, however, isn’t at the famous Bernabeu but actually at the reserve stadium called the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano. The return leg is the week after.
Fulham got the weekend off and come kick-off at Stamford Bridge, it will have been 13-days since the Cottagers last kicked a ball in anger.
Scott’s Boys earned a great point against Arsenal at the Emirates last time out, from a 1-1 scoreline. The draw against the Gunners stopped a 4-game losing streak.
Josh Maja converting a penalty on the hour mark that looked like it had earned Fulham the victory but the referee thought it best to play on until Arsenal equalised, with said equaliser coming in the 97th-minute.
The point really wasn’t enough as with just 27, sitting in the final relegation place, the Cottagers are now 7-points adrift of safety with just 5-games remaining.
Those fixtures being Chelsea, Southampton and Manchester United away, plus Burnley and a final day game against Newcastle at Craven Cottage.
Newcastle are now 9-points ahead of Fulham, with Brighton really being the ones to catch, with 7-points more.
It does appear that the bottom 3, of Sheffield United, West Brom and Fulham are the ones who will be playing Championship football next term.
When Fulham travelled the short distance over West London in January, Mason Mount scored the solitary winning goal, midway through the 2nd-half, to give Frank Lampard a victory by a 1-0 scoreline, in what turned out to be Big Frank’s penultimate game in charge at Stamford Bridge.
Fulham played all of the 2nd-half, a man light, following the straight Red Card shown to Antonee Robinson just before the half-time whistle. Antonee, by the way, is the correct spelling of Mr Robinson’s name.
Frank’s Blues played against Leicester, 3-days later and following a defeat against the Foxes, Mr Lampard was down the concrete a couple of days after, with Thomas Tuchel arriving in London to oversee the remainder of the campaign.
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EVERTON v ASTON VILLA
Saturday 1st
BT Sport 20.00 in England
Everton got a great victory against Arsenal on Friday Night Football by a narrow 1-0 scoreline.
Richarlison’s speculative shot, come cross, come attempted pass to Dominic Calvert-Lewin, somehow made its way into the Arsenal net with a little help from the Gunners German goalkeeper.
The win puts the gap between Everton and Arsenal to 6-points with the Toffees now having 52, plus the added bonus of a game in hand over those around. That extra game coincidentally is the away fixture against today’s opposition due to the dreadful Covid-19 situation.
With 6-fixtures to play, Carlo’s Blues sit 8th in the table, a point behind Tottenham and 2-points adrift of the Merseyside rivals in Red, who both have completed 33-games, so a quick double against the Villa, would see the Toffees jump above both of those clubs, with the distinct possibility of going ahead of Mr Ancelotti’s old Blues, Chelsea, who have 3-points more but like the others, have played a game extra.
Aston Villa came from a goal behind against West Brom on Sunday night, to earn a draw, from a Desmond 2-2 scoreline. Anwar El-Ghazi converted an early penalty before, West Brom scored their awarded spot-kick, to take both teams in level at the break.
The unfortunate Tyrone Mings was credited with an own-goal that looked like it would cost Villa the points, until Keinan Davis, who had come on as a 2nd-half substitute, popped up with the equaliser in the 92nd-minute, to put a massive dent in the Baggies survival hopes.
Aston Villa sit 11th in the table with 45-points from 32-fixtures completed, 7-adrift of tonight’s opponents.
Dean Smith’s Claret and Blues have this away trip to Goodison Park, plus journeys to Crystal Palace and Tottenham, along with home games against Manchester United, Chelsea and the reverse against Everton.
The game at Villa Park back in January was postponed due to a Coronavirus outbreak and still has to be rearranged for a date between now and the end of the season.
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NEWCASTLE v ARSENAL
Sunday 2nd
Sky Sports 14.00 in England
In last week’s column, it was put that Newcastle are safe, it’s official and as pointed out, well technically not official, however, after a great draw against Liverpool on Saturday afternoon, with a last-minute equaliser, again by Joe Willock, it’s nearly officially, official.
Callum Wilson scored what looked like the equaliser in the 92nd-minute but in the lead up to the goal, the ball ricochet onto Big Cal’s arm and the goal was ruled out by the dreaded VAR.
The rule of law states that if the ball touches the arm in the build-up to a goal, the goal should be disallowed. What should happen is the rule, or law should be changed as if that had happened to a defender, would a penalty be awarded?
Luckily for Steve Bruce’s Boys, Joe Willock, with his 3rd goal, in his last 3-outings, all as a 2nd-half substitute, scored the legitimate equaliser in the 94th-minute.
Whilst Joe’s goals against Tottenham, West Ham and Liverpool have earned Newcastle 5-points from 2-draws and a win, Mr Willock won’t score against Arsenal today.
The reason being is the lad is on loan from the Emirates and isn’t allowed to play against his parent club, which will be a big loss to Newcastle.
That great point at Anfield gives the Magpies 36 from 33-fixtures played, now a massive 9-points above the drop-zone, so with just 5-fixtures remaining, it’s official (almost!).
Newcastle also have the added Brucey Bonus of a final fixture against Fulham, if there are disastrous results in the next 4-games, to seal the stay in the Premier League for next season.
Arsenal suffered a defeat by a 1-0 scoreline on Friday Night, with a horrendous error from Bernd Leno to gift Everton the goal.
What looked like a tame cross from Richarlison, Limp Hands Leno, somehow let the ball slip through his fingers into the back of the net, to cost the home side all 3-points.
Arsenal drop to 10th-place, after Leeds United’s draw against Manchester United, with 46-points, from 33-fixtures played.
Mikel Arteta’s men seem to be standing still in the Premier League, looking as if all the eggs are in the Europa League basket.
The Gunners face old boss Unai Emery and Villarreal on Thursday, before the trip up North to St James Park.
The 1st-leg of the Semi-Final takes place in Spain, which could work out in Newcastle’s favour.
The 2nd-leg is the following Thursday at the Emirates that could see a place in the Final against Manchester United if both English clubs are successful in the respective 2-legged Semi’s.
At the Emirates back in January, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored 2-goals, either side of a Bukayo Saka strike, all in the 2nd-half, to give Arsenal the victory by a 3-0 scoreline.
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MANCHESTER UNITED v LIVERPOOL
Sunday 2nd
Sky Sports 16.30 in England
Manchester United played out a drab goalless draw against Leeds United on Sunday, with not much excitement to comment on.
It’s probably even a bit boring to mention that Ole picked Fred, United didn’t create many chances and only had 4-shots on target in the 90-minutes.
John Newsome is even becoming bored of mentioning the same old same old about the Brazilian midfielder, so will leave it for the time being.
The point gained gives Ole’s Trollies 67 from 33-fixtures played, 10-adrift of the Noisy Neighbours but more importantly, 5-more than Leicester in 3rd and a massive 9-above Chelsea in the final Champions League place.
One plus point, if it bores out, is Paul Pogba was rested against Leeds and only afforded 14-minutes at the end, which could mean, the French lad will start against Roma on Thursday, in the 1st-leg of the Semi-Final of the Europa League at Old Trafford.
Whether Paul replaces Fred is up to Ole but OGS will likely stick with Fred and Scott McTominay and drop one of the 3-forwards, maybe Dan James.
As well as sticking with his Europa League goalkeeper of David De Gea and not Dean Henderson.
The predicted starting eleven, for the visit of Roma, is as follows,
David De Gea, Arron Wan-Bissaka, Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, Luke Shaw, Fred, Scott McTominay, Paul Pogba, Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood.
It could see a tight affair but a priority is not to concede an away goal and maybe take a 1-0 lead over to Italy a week later.
It looked for all-purpose that Liverpool would get the victory early Saturday Afternoon when Mo Salah scored after just 3-minutes to give the home side the lead that lasted the full 90.
With time running out and 2 of the additional 4-minutes having been played, it appeared that Jurgen’s Reds had conceded an equaliser but the dreaded VAR ruled out the goal.
The cardboard Scousers thought that was a lucky escape and 3-points in the bag, unfortunately, that wasn’t the case and Newcastle scored a legitimate goal, in the 94th-minute, to give both a share of the points.
Liverpool sit 6th in the Premier League table, with 54-points from 33-outings.
Although currently out of the Champions League places, Jurgen’s Reds are only a point behind West Ham in 5th, so will feel a Europa League place is up for grabs.
That said, the Blue half of Merseyside are on the coattails and lie 2-points adrift but do have an extra fixture to play so would jump above Liverpool if that extra game was a victory.
It’s always pointed out in this column that it is assumed better to have the points on the board than games in hand but the Reds won’t want to be overtaken by the Blues and miss out on a venture into Europe, even if it’s on a Thursday Night.
Along with this trip to Old Trafford, Klipperty Klopp’s boys have to travel to the Hawthorns to face West Brom and Turf Moor to take on Burnley as well as hosting Southampton and a final game at Anfield against Crystal Palace.
On paper it looks like the Toffees remaining 6-fixtures are easier, however, everyone knows that football isn’t played on paper and Liverpool will go all out in their final 5-fixtures to get whatever points they can.
Manchester United gained a point against Liverpool at Anfield, from a goalless draw, which although was a great achievement, everyone was beating Jurgen’s Reds at their iconic home at the time, so United will feel it was a missed opportunity to get the victory.
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TOTTENHAM v SHEFFIELD UNITED
Sunday 2nd
Sky Sports 19.15 in England
Tottenham come into this fixture minus a certain Jose Mourinho who was gone before the victory against Southampton last time out, by a 2-1 scoreline.
A lot has been made about Dracula’s departure, with last week’s column having an interesting take on the Portuguese not so Special One.
Something that was forgotten in the article about Jose, is the fact that 3 of Europe’s current elite players, Kevin De Bruyne, Mo Salah and Romelu Lukaku, were all youngsters under Dracula and all released whilst Mr Mourinho was the Chelsea manager.
Ex-Tottenham player, Ryan Mason has been put in temporary charge by Daniel Levy, meaning both of these two meet, with different managers as to when Tottenham visited Bramall Lane.
Ryan had his footballing career cut short by a horrendous clash of heads, whilst playing for Hull City back in 2017.
Having left his boyhood club Tottenham in the summer of 2016, appearing for Hull in a game against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Mr Mason clashed heads with Gary Cahill, suffering a fractured skull that ended his career, aged just 26. Amazingly Gary Cahill played on in the game.
Now 29, the lad has been given the opportunity to guide his Tottenham team in the remaining 6-fixtures, which included Sunday’s Carabao Cup defeat against Man City.
Although a defeat, Young Ryan matched the legend that is Glen Hoddle, in being both a player and a manager of a Spurs team in a League Cup final.
Hugo Lloris, Eric Dier and Harry Kane all started the 2015 Carabao Cup Final, as did Ryan Mason. Then known as the Capital One Cup.
Another player included in the Tottenham starting eleven against Chelsea in 2015, was Kyle Walker, who played for Man City in Sunday’s Carabao Cup Final.
It’s unlikely Ryan will keep the position but it’s still a tremendous honour for the boy and more than likely, Spurs will appoint a European Coach, with, strangely, Maurizio Sarri’s name being banded about.
Julian Nagelsmann, the current RB Leipzig boss, is on the radar, plus Wolves gaffer, Nuno Espírito Santo, Glasgow Rangers Scouser, Steven Gerrard and Rafa Benitez.
All viable options but surely the Tottenham faithful don’t want another Chelsea cast off and watch the Sarri-Ball every week.
The victory against Southampton gives Spurs 53-points from the 33-fixtures and leaves them 7th in the table, sandwiched between the two Merseyside clubs, with Everton a place and a point lower and Liverpool a place and a point above.
The Toffees with the possible advantage of the three, having only completed 32-games. Sheffield United Won!
That’s the surprise tagline in this week’s preview when the Blades got the victory, against Brighton, on Saturday evening, by a 1-0 scoreline.
Whilst everyone was watching the dreadful BBC 1 programme, ‘I Can See Your Voice’ David McGoldrick was scoring the solitary winning goal in the 1st-half to give Sheffield United the win.
If anyone hasn’t seen the disastrous programme that sees, Paddy ‘living on the fact that he’s Peter Kay’s mate’ McGuiness and there won’t be many that have, it is about several folk who can or can’t sing and a couple of the general public have to guess, whether these people are real singers or rubbish, for a chance to win £10,000.
Yes, this is prime-time Saturday night entertainment and a licence fee is charged for the privilege. The problem is, even the real singers can’t sing!
The result of the Sheffield United game doesn’t really affect things at the bottom of the table, just gives an already relegated Blades team an extra 3-points that puts them on 17 from 33-fixtures.
It also gives the interim boss, Paul Heckinbottom a 1st-victory that may see the Barnsley Boy get the job permanently.
Talking of Barnsley, the Super Reds from Oakwell are confirmed as 1 of the 4 Championship teams to make the playoffs and have the chance to get to the Promised Land for only the 2nd time ever in their history.
James from Swinton, nowhere near Bramall Lane, was over the moon with happiness on Sunday, following his current team’s victory against Brighton and his 1st footballing loves confirmation of a playoff place.
The little Blunt was straight in the beer garden, ordering a fruit Kopparberg, only 2 mind, as it’s common knowledge, the lad is not house trained with his lovely girlfriend not wanting to clean out the fridge again.
Jimbo was on the phone to the Reds Online Shop to order a new Barnsley shirt for the playoffs making sure he has ‘Kingy’ and ‘31’ on the back.
The 31 is for how many pints the lad drinks over a 6-month period. If it was a realistic tally, the number would be 17, not 31!
When Tottenham went up the M1 to have their afternoon out in Yorkshire, Sheffield United lost. Both teams have parted company with their respective managers since the fixture at Bramall Lane in January, with both currently having interim bosses.
Serge Aurier scored the 1st-goal after 5-minutes, with Harry Kane adding a 2nd before the break.
David McGoldrick did pull a goal back to give the cardboard Blunts hope but Tanguy Ndombele immediately restored Dracula’s Spurs, 2-goal advantage, with the game finishing in a victory by a 3-1 scoreline.
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WEST BROM v WOLVES✅
Monday 3rd
Sky Sports 18.00 in England
West Brom’s slim hopes of avoiding relegation were all but dashed on Sunday, following a Desmond 2-2 draw against Aston Villa at Villa Park.
A Matheus Pereira penalty, midway through the 1st-half, cancelled out an earlier Anwar El-Ghazi spot-kick to take both teams in level at the break.
Big Tyrone Mings scored for the Baggies after the restart, which most Eagle-eyed viewers will know, must have been an own-goal, with Mr Mings being a Villa player.
It looked for all purpose, that West Brom would get another vital victory in their attempt to stay up, until a 92nd-minute equaliser, put a massive dent in the survival hopes.
The point gained by Big Sam’s boys, gives them 25, from 33-fixtures played and again, whilst not mathematically impossible, West Brom are now a massive 9-points behind Brighton who are the team to catch.
That basically means, from the remaining 5-fixtures against Wolves, Arsenal, Liverpool, West Ham and Leeds United, the Baggies have to win at least 4 out of the 5 and hope the Seagulls lose 4 out of their 5 that are left.
Even if the improbable happens that West Brom win 3 from 5 and Brighton lose all of their remaining games, the 9-points that would put the teams level on 34, would still not be enough as the Seagulls goal difference is currently minus-6 and the Baggies is a massive minus-34.
So in theory, whilst not confirmed, Sam Allardyce will have a relegated team on his CV, for the first time in his career. Unless Big Sam decides to run away, before the finale, to remove that unwanted record.
After 2-victories against the mighty Fulham and Sheffield United, which gave Nuno’s Gold and Blacks 41-points and virtually confirmed safety, it appears that Wolves were already on the beach, succumbing to a defeat on Sunday against Burnley by a 4-0 scoreline.
Three goals conceded in the 1st-half, with the 4th going in, late on in proceedings.
Virtually, because Fulham with 27-points, in the final relegation place, can achieve 42, with 5-straight wins, so the Molineux outfit are not mathematically safe but will feel that it would be a miracle for the Cottagers to win all 5-remaining fixtures. Whatever happens, West Brom can’t catch Wolves.
Probably the added humiliation to the defeat was the game was shown live on BBC 1, in England and not one of the subscription channels, so a few who don’t pay monthly, got to watch the disastrous performance, who wouldn’t necessarily have seen Wolves for a while.
Nuno’s men have this game against West Brom, plus away trips to the Chas and Dave Memorial Stadium and Goodison Park, on top of home games against Brighton and Manchester United.
At Molineux back in January, West Brom got the Midlands bragging rights with a victory by a narrow 3-2 scoreline.
Matheus Pereira opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 8-minutes, which was then followed by 2-Wolves goals from Fabio Silva and Willy Boly to give Nuno’s men a half-time lead.
Semi Ajayi equalised for the Baggies just after the restart with Matheus adding a 2nd-penalty and the winner for Big Sam’s West Brom, still with a good half-hour remaining.
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BURNLEY v WEST HAM
Monday 3rd
Sky Sports 20.15 in England
Burnley blitzed Wolves on Sunday, live on BBC 1, that the watching millions, who hadn’t seen Sean Dyche’s Clarets, must have thought they were watching Barcelona.
Chris Wood scored a superb 1st-half hat-trick to give Burnley a 3-0 lead at the break, with Ashley Westwood adding a 4th, late on in the game.
Whilst not what’s considered a perfect hat-trick, which is a goal from the left foot, a goal from the right foot and a header, Chris did have 2-with the right foot and a header, for his 1st-half three.
The win gives Sean Dyche’s men, 36-points from 33-fixtures and lifts them to 14th in the table and like most teams around, whilst not mathematically safe, will feel that the returning Turf Moor faithful, will be watching Premier League football next term.
Burnley would have to massively implode in the remaining 5-fixtures, that are against Leicester, West Ham, Fulham, Leeds United, Liverpool and Sheffield United. West Ham succumbed to a defeat against Chelsea, late Saturday Afternoon, by a 1-0 scoreline.
Apart from the loss, probably what would have irked Big David Moyes is that the Blues goal scorer was Timo Werner, who couldn’t hit a barn door before the game.
The added annoyance was the Red Card given to Fabian Balbuena, who, in kicking the ball away, happened to catch the opposing player.
The dreaded, who were watching Celebrity Catchphrase on ITV, thought that they should appear to be following the football at the London Stadium, informed the on-field referee, Chris Kavanagh, to have a look at the incident on the pitch-side monitor.
After seeing countless replays, in super-slow-mo, which immediately makes the incident look a lot worse, Mr Kavanagh, (why always him?) decided that the challenge warranted a straight Red Card and an early bath for Fabian.
It was only the lads 2nd-appearance in 20-Premier League games and his 1st-start in that period, coming in for the suspended Craig Dawson, who missed the game due to his Red Card, the week before. Craig’s wasn’t as a result of a straight Red, so with only a 1-game ban, will be back for this trip up North.
The defeat leaves the Hammers in 5th-place in the table, with 55-points from the 33-outings, now 3-points adrift of Chelsea and a Champions League place.
The plus for David Moyes was Liverpool, didn’t get a victory, that could have seen Jurgen’s Reds, leapfrog the Bubbles and drop West Ham down to 6th. So a Europa League place is still on the cards for a 5th or 6th-placed finish.
The team finishing 7th, go into the newly created Europa Conference League Qualification, which, the scientists from NASA, will have to explain, as that goes way over John Newsome’s head.
The guys at Stockley Park switched back to ITV for the last 10-minutes. Say What You See!
A single Michail Antonio goal after 8-minutes was the difference between the two Claret and Blues back in January at the London Stadium.
Bet 365 offer Burnley at 23/10, the draw at 13/5 and 11/10 for West Ham to come away with all 3-points.
Bet 365 offer 5/1 that Chris Wood Scores First and 5/1 that Burnley Win To Nil.
Home Win 1-0- Get 11/1 on Bet365 + A Massive Sign-Up Offer on Bet365 For New Customers!
Ex-professional footballer known affectionately as The Beast, Jon Parkin continues to offer his input and has kindly given his predictions for Game Week-34.
Jon does a great Podcast with 2 of his mates, called Undr The Cosh, his mates aren’t called that, they are both called Chris Brown, the Podcast is called Undr The Cosh, which is well worth a listen. Undr is spelt that way, purposely.
Southampton 1 v Leicester 2
Crystal Palace 0 v Man City 3
Brighton 0 v Leeds United 2
Chelsea 2 v Fulham 0
Everton 2 v Aston Villa 2
Newcastle 0 v Arsenal 2
Manchester United 1 v Liverpool 1
Tottenham 2 v Sheffield United 0
West Brom 2 v Wolves 1
Burnley 1 v West Ham 3
JP had 3-correct results from the 8-fixtures last time out but significantly, Jon had 1-correct score.
John Newsome had 1-correct result from the 8-games with 0-correct scores.
A quick tally was added up and since Jon started giving his predictions, the Beast has 66-correct results with 15-correct scores from 142-games played.
John Newsome is slightly behind with 62-correct results and 12-correct scores.
Cheers JP!
All to play for
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