The highlight games for the final Premier League action this weekend are LEICESTER versus TOTTENHAM and LIVERPOOL versus CRYSTAL PALACE. Our feature columnist, John Newsome previews these as well as all game-week 38 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.
ARSENAL v BRIGHTON
Sunday 23rd
16.00 in England
Arsenal had 3-shots at the Crystal Palace goal on Wednesday and scored with all 3-attempts to run out winners by a 3-1 scoreline. Nicolas Pepe converted a 1st-half penalty to give the Gunners the lead at the break.
In the 2nd-half, Palace equalised before Arsenal left it late with Gabriel Martinelli and Nicolas, with his 2nd, scoring in the 91st and 95th-minute to give the Gunners the victory. Mikel Arteta’s men remain 9th in the table, with 58-points going into this final fixture against the Seagulls.
However, with Tottenham losing their penultimate game, Arsenal are now just a point adrift of the North London rivals who have 59-points.
Everton also have 59, so it’s not inconceivable to think that Arsenal could go above both, into 7th, with a final-day victory and a defeat for Spurs and the Toffees. Seventh would see entry into the new Europa Conference League.
Brighton came from 2-goals behind to beat the new Premier League Champions by a 3-2 scoreline on Tuesday at the Amex. The Seagulls fell behind in the 2nd-minute, then saw their opponents reduced to 10-men in the 10th-minute, which took Graham Potter’s boys in at the break trailing by a goal to nil.
Early in the 2nd-half Man City extended the lead, scoring again that seemed to kick Brighton into life, with Leandro Trossard, Adam Webster and Dan Burn notching for the Seagulls to give Harry the win over Pep.
There was a confrontation between the 2-managers at the end after Mr Guardiola appeared to be upset with Mr Potter and his apparent over-celebrations. It’s not like Pep has never celebrated a victory, is it? Graham did nothing wrong and should have told the Spanish maestro to ‘do one’
Brighton sit 16th, with 41-points going into this final home fixture against Arsenal and if a victory is achieved, then Graham Potter should celebrate just as enthusiastically in front of Pep 2 as he did against Pep 1 on Tuesday.
At the Amex back in late December, what a night Alexandre Lacazette had, coming on as a 66th-minute substitute and scoring with his 1st-touch, to give Arsenal the away-day victory by a 1-0 scoreline.
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ASTON VILLA v CHELSEA
Sunday 23rd
16.00 in England
Aston Villa came from a goal behind to beat Tottenham at the Chas and Dave Memorial Stadium on Wednesday by a 2-1 scoreline. Spurs took the lead after 8-minutes before scoring an own goal to put Villa level. Ollie Watkins added a 2nd before the break to give Dean Smith’s boys the half-time lead.
With no further goals in the 2nd-half, Villa got the win and the 3-points that gives the Claret and Blues 52 and leaves them 11th in the table, which is where Aston Villa will stay regardless of the result against Chelsea on Sunday.
Wolves, below Dean’s boys, have 45-points so can’t catch Villa and Leeds United above Villa have 56-points and can’t be caught, so an 11th-place finish is all that the Villains can achieve.
Chelsea took a step closer to securing their Champions League place on Tuesday, gaining revenge over their FA Cup conquerors Leicester with a victory by a 2-1 scoreline.
Antonio Rudiger wearing a mask which was nothing to do with COVID-19, scored the 1st, just after the break to give Thomas’s Blue Engines the lead. Timo Werner had 2-goals disallowed by the dreaded VAR, 1 for being a mile offside and 1 for punching the ball into the net.
Whilst not necessarily Maradona-Esq, it was a clear handball that would obviously be chalked off by the Stockley Park mob. That prompted a chorus of, ‘This is no longer football’ to a tune that will no doubt be heard at this weekend’s Eurovision Song Contest.
Whilst the dreaded has been pilloried over the season, it was actually set up to correct instances such as Timo’s handling of the ball, so the Chelsea faithful haven’t really got anything to moan about, however, might be heard on BBC 1 late Saturday evening, with Norway announcing, ‘Nil points!’
The VAR then awarded a penalty to Chelsea that allowed Jorginho the opportunity to do his Hop, Skip and a Jump and coolly slot home, giving Chelsea a 2-0 advantage. The Foxes did pull a goal back but Thomas’s Blues held on for the victory.
Chelsea jumped above Leicester into 3rd, with 67-points, a point more than the Foxes and Liverpool, with this final Premier League fixture remaining to make the Champions League automatically, if the London Blues fail to beat the Manchester Blues in the Final next weekend.
Aston Villa earned a great point from a 1-1 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the fixture, played in between Boxing Day and New Years Day. Olivier Giroud scored for Frank Lampard’s Blues after 34-minutes, with Anwar El-Ghazi equalising just after the break, to give Frank and Dean a post-Christmas point apiece.
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FULHAM v NEWCASTLE
Sunday 23rd
16.00 in England
Fulham gained a point against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Tuesday, with Joe Bryan equalising an earlier United strike to give the Cottagers an extra point to their already-relegated tally.
With 28-points, Scott Parker’s boys have a final fixture against Newcastle to add to that before the departure to the Championship. It’s just a matter as to whether Ronald McDonald boy Scotty will go with them as the lads supposedly being touted for the Tottenham or Crystal Palace vacant managers position.
Aleksandar Mitrovic could also stay in the Premier League if a club are willing to pay about £30 Million for the Serbian striker.
A few of the other players are only on loan at Craven Cottage such as Alphonse Areola, Joachim Andersen, Ruben Loftus-Cheeks, Mario Lemina, Ola Aina, Josh Maja and Ademola Lookman and will be returning to their parent club after this game on Sunday.
At one point a couple of weeks back, this fixture was potentially going to be a final day decider to see who stays in the Premier League.
With subsequent victories for Newcastle, including the latest against Sheffield United on Wednesday by a 1-0 scoreline, the Magpies are safe and will be in the Top Flight next term, regardless of the outcome on Sunday.
Joe Willock, scored his 7th-goal in his loan spell at St James Park from Arsenal to give Steve Bruce the victory over Paul Heckinbottom that leaves Newcastle in 15th-place with 42-points going into this final away-day fixture.
It’s unlikely that Joe will be back in the NorthEast next season as Arsenal definitely could do with the lad in their team and Pep 2 will surely give Mr Willock an opportunity at the Emirates in August. This was a pre-Christmas affair at St James Park, with Matt Ritchie scoring for Fulham just before the half-time whistle.
The eagle-eyed viewers will know that young Matty is a Newcastle player, thus the opening Cottagers goal was an early Christmas present from the Black and Whites. Callum Wilson scored a penalty midway through the 2nd-half to give Big Brucey’s Magpies a point against Scott Parker’s Fulham
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LEEDS UNITED v WEST BROM
Sunday 23rd
16.00 in England
Leeds United got another great victory against Southampton on Tuesday by a 2-0 scoreline, with goals from Patrick Bamford and a 1st-strike by Tyler Roberts. Both goals scored in the 2nd-half to give Marcelo’s Whites the win and leaves Leeds United in 10th-place with 56-points.
Aston Villa sit 11th with 52-points so can’t catch the Elland Rd outfit so the worse Leeds can finish is 10th, which is an amazing achievement for the newly promoted club, not in the Top Flight since 2004.
A 16-year absence that has definitely been a negative for the Premier League and with the return of the fans, the folk, whether players, managers or fans, that have not been around this last 16-years, will get to know the Marching On Together crew next term with a 40,000 plus, packed Elland Rd cheering on Marcelo Bielsa and his boys. Marching On Together!
West Brom took the lead on Wednesday night against West Ham but ultimately suffered another defeat by a 3-1 scoreline. Matheus Pereira opened the scoring, minutes after the Hammers had missed a penalty.
Unfortunately, the Baggies conceded a goal before the break, then 2 in the 2nd-half to succumb to the defeat that leaves West Brom 2nd-bottom of the table with 26-points, suffering 4-defeats from the last 6-fixtures, with the other 2, being draws. Sam Allardyce has decided to leave West Brom and not take charge in the Championship.
The Big Fella was a bit spikey after the game, whilst giving his post-match interview, with the reporters from various broadcasters questioning the decision to leave. Sam Allardyce has never taken a team out of the Premier League and is usually brought in as a Red Adair figure to get a team out of the relegation battle.
Unfortunately, for the first time in his career, that didn’t happen, so the Big Lad may just have lost his magic and ready for a career in the media, which will provide another character to the broadcasting channels. At The Hawthorns back in late December, Leeds United scored 5-away goals to run out convincing winners against West Brom.
Sam Allardyce was taking charge of just his 3rd-game as the Baggies boss against his fellow old-time gaffer, Marcelo Bielsa.
Romain Sawyers scored an own goal in the 9th-minute to start off the scoring, with Ezgjan Alioski, Jack Harrison and Rodrigo adding 3-more to make it 4-0 at the break.
Raphinha scored the 5th-goal, midway through the 2nd-half to give Leeds United the victory by a 5-0 scoreline and Marcelo the Old Age Pensioner bragging rights over Big Sam.
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LEICESTER v TOTTENHAM
Sunday 23rd
16.00 in England
After beating Chelsea on Saturday in the FA Cup Final at Wembley, the Foxes took on Thomas’s Blue Engines again on Tuesday at Stamford Bridge, in a Premier League fixture.
Chelsea gained revenge inflicting a defeat on Leicester by a 2-1 scoreline. After a goalless 1st-half, the London Blues scored twice before Kelechi Iheanacho, who was a substitute and had only just come on, pulled a goal back for Brendan’s FA Cup winners.
Unfortunately, the final whistle arrived before Leicester could equalise, with the defeat leaving the Foxes in 4th, with 66-points, a point behind Chelsea.
Following Liverpool’s subsequent victory on Wednesday against Burnley, Brendan’s not so Wonderful’s drop to 5th, outside of the Champions League places and in danger of once again missing out on a Top Four finish, which is exactly what happened last season.
The simple scenario now for Leicester is, they not only have to beat Tottenham and hope Liverpool lose but if Jurgen’s Reds win on Sunday, the Foxes have to win and outscore Liverpool by 5-goals.
Leicester currently have a plus+20 and Liverpool have a plus+24. Both have scored the same 66-goals, with Leicester having conceded 46 and Liverpool 42.
Rod Stewart was over the moon in his Chelsea shirt with ‘Stewart’ and ‘76’ on the back, which the Scottish Crooner had been wearing since Saturday’s Cup Final.
Sir Roderick was at Stamford Bridge cheering on Chelsea and chatting to Thomas in German after learning a few words.
“Ich heise Roddy und ich bin int Scotland,” said Sir Roderick but the security guard didn’t have a clue what he was on about and threw Rod out.
Lennon the puppy was happy though as he was peppered with doggie treats when Rod returned home and wandered off into his bed barking to the tune of Sir Roderick’s favourite songs, ‘He’s Celtic, United but Brendan has decided that Leicester is the best place to be’
A quick thank you to Rod Stewart, his wife Penny and Lennon the pooch for being good sports throughout the season and providing much-needed entertainment in an ever decreasing circle of life.
Cheers Mr Stewart
Woof-Woof!
The good thing for the Foxes plight in gaining a Champions League spot, is Tottenham are rubbish at the moment, losing on Wednesday, away against Aston Villa by a 2-1 scoreline.
Steven Bergwijn opened the scoring after 8-minutes but then the unfortunate Sergio Reguilon put past his own ‘keeper Hugo Lloris to gift Villa an equaliser.
Spurs then conceded a 2nd before half-time and with no further goals in the 2nd-half succumbed to another defeat.
Tottenham could now be caught by Everton, who have the same 59-points as Ryan Mason’s men and worse still, the North London rivals, who have a point less.
If Arsenal beat Brighton at the Emirates and Spurs lose this game at the King Power, Arsenal will jump above Tottenham at least into 8th and possibly 7th, depending upon Everton’s result against Man City at the Etihad.
This could be Harry Kane’s final appearance in a Tottenham shirt, with the England striker wanting a move away from the Chas and Dave Memorial Stadium, who with the 10,000 watching home fans allowed back in against Aston Villa, all gave Big Harry a clap at the final whistle as if to say goodbye.
There will be takers for Mr Kane, that’s not in doubt, it’s just whether any of the clubs will fork out £150 Million for the lad’s services, which is what Daniel Levy will want.
Harry will be 28, come the start of the new 2021/22 campaign, with 3-years still left on his current contract. However, despite objections regarding selling Mr Kane, Dan the Man will allow the striker to go to the highest bidder.
There’s talk of both the Manchester clubs wanting him and whilst anyone would want Harry Kane, would Big Harry want to move up North.
Chelsea would be an ideal fit, as the Blues have definitely got the £150 Million, need a goal scorer and would mean the Kane family wouldn’t have to move away from London.
A lot have said that Harry wouldn’t go to Chelsea and Spurs wouldn’t sell to their London rivals. The simple answer to that is, Yes, they would and yes, he would! £150 Million and a potential £300,000 a week (a week!) in wages, greases a lot of sticky situations.
Man City, rarely spend £150 Million and are waiting for Erling Haarland, a younger version of Harry Kane, who will cost £150 Million this summer, however, the lad can leave Borussia Dortmund next summer for £75 Million, so City will wait and EH won’t be leaving Germany anytime soon. If given a choice between the 2-Manchester clubs, Harry would surely choose the Blue half, wouldn’t he?
There’s no other club in the Premier League that HK would go to and although could potentially move abroad, with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus all on offer, could the Spanish clubs afford him and will Harry want to leave England, with the opportunity of overtaking Alan Shearer’s Premier League goalscoring record of 260.
Mr Kane has 165-goals at the minute and if he continues to score at least 20-goals a season for the next 5, which is quite conceivable, that would take him above Mr Shearer.
So all in all, CSI Newsome, deduces that Harry Kane will stay in the Premier League and could just possibly be wearing a Chelsea shirt at the start of the new campaign in August. There is also the possibility that the lad will stay at Tottenham, with him receiving a bumper new contract on top of his current deal.
One thing that is for certain, Mrs Kane doesn’t have to worry about putting the heating on in the Winter. Brendan’s Wonderful’s convincingly beat Jose’s Spurs at the Chas and Dave Memorial Stadium back in the pre-Christmas encounter.
Sheffield Superstar Jamie Vardy scored a penalty, 4-minutes into 1st-half injury time, with the unfortunate Toby Alderweireld scoring an own goal on the hour-mark to give the Foxes the victory by a 2-0 away-day scoreline.
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LIVERPOOL v CRYSTAL PALACE
Sunday 23rd
16.00 in England
Liverpool got their 4th-consecutive victory in a row on Wednesday beating Burnley at Turf Moor by a 3-0 scoreline. Roberto Firmino scored just before the break, with Nat Phillips adding a 2nd after the restart.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who had only been on the pitch for 7-minutes scored the 3rd in the 88th-minute to give Jurgen’s Reds the victory, which now leaves Liverpool 4th in the table, above Leicester, with the same 66-points as the Foxes but with a slightly superior goal difference.
Both Liverpool and Leicester have scored 66 but significantly, the Reds have conceded 42, with the Foxes letting in 46. All Jurgen’s Boys have to do, to stay in 4th is win and win by a scoreline that is the same or better than Brendan’s Wonderful’s.
If Liverpool and Leicester both win and Chelsea draw or lose, Thomas’s Blues would fall out of the Top Four. Basically, it’s any 2 from 3 of Chelsea, Liverpool and Leicester that will be in the Champions League.
The scenarios are as follows.
Chelsea beat Aston Villa, Chelsea finish 3rd and are in the Champions League.
Liverpool beat Crystal Palace, Liverpool finish 4th and are in the Champions League.
Leicester beat Tottenham, Leicester finish 5th and are in the Europa League.
That said, if Leicester beat Tottenham by 5-more goals than Liverpool beat Crystal Palace, for example, Leicester 5 Tottenham 0 and Liverpool 1 Crystal Palace 0, the Foxes would go 4th on goals scored. There’s the added extra of the unlikely outcomes of Leicester winning and Liverpool drawing or losing. Whatever happens, it will be a topsy turvy final afternoon of the Premier League.
A further scenario to throw in would be if Chelsea finish 5th but win the Champions League, then all 5 of Man City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Leicester and Chelsea will be in the Top European Competition next season.
Christian Benteke did equalise an earlier Arsenal goal on Wednesday but Palace conceded 2-very late goals in the 91st and 95th-minute to ultimately suffer a defeat by a 3-1 scoreline in front of 7,000 fanatical Eagle Ultras. The defeat leaves Crystal Palace in 13th-place with 44-points going into this final fixture at Anfield.
Roy Hodgson has confirmed that this will be the legendary gaffer’s final fixture after a 45-year managerial career that has seen Mr Hodgson manage 16-clubs in different countries plus overseeing the National teams of Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, Finland and of cause, England.
All the Best for the future Mr Hodgson and enjoy the retirement.
It was a perfect Liverpool storm at Selhurst Park pre-Christmas, with Roy Hodgson kindly giving his old team a nice few presents, informing his Eagles players to roll over and concede 7 (Seven!)
The scoring was as follows,
Goal 1-Takumi Minamino-3-minutes
Goal 2-Sadio Mane-35-minutes
Goal 3-Roberto Firmino-44-minutes
Goal 4-Jordan Henderson-52-minutes
Goal 5- Roberto Firmino-68-minutes
Goal 6- Mo Salah-81-minutes
Goal 7- Mo Salah-84-minutes
0-7 (Seven!)
Mo had only been on the pitch 14-minutes, when he scored his 1st, after coming on as a 2nd-half substitute.
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MAN CITY v EVERTON
Sunday 23rd
16.00 in England
Man City suffered a rare defeat on Tuesday, losing on the South Coast against Brighton by a 3-2 scoreline.
Ilkay Gundogan (tra-la-la-la-lar!) scored after 2-minutes to give City an early lead, however, within 8-minutes of Mr Gundogan’s opener, Joao Cancelo was shown a straight Red Card and ultimately an early bath, leaving Pep’s High Flying Blues with 10-men.
The man less didn’t appear to affect City at first, with Phil Foden scoring a wonder goal just after the break, running with the ball from well inside his own half and placing the ball past the helpless Seagulls ‘keeper. A superb goal!
A quick note on Phil Foden, a couple of weeks back, John Newsome gave his England 26-man squad for the upcoming Euro 2020s. Due to a combination of editing, counting and miscounting and the odd glass of wine, Big Phil was somehow missed from the final 26-men chosen.
This was an obvious error by this EveryTip contributor and Mr Foden will be in Gareth Southgate’s squad and possibly in the starting eleven.
The lad is currently the best England player on show and could just lead the Three Lions to their 1st European Championship Title that would be a fitting end to a dreadful Coronavirus affected season. Is it Coming Home?
After Phil’s goal on Tuesday, Brighton started to take advantage of the man extra and scored 3-times to ultimately inflict the defeat on Man City.
It could be argued that City were still hungover from the Premier League title-winning party but Pep was still unhappy and showed his anger towards Graham Potter’s celebrations.
Whilst John Newsome is a massive fan of Mr Guardiola, Harry Potter had every right to celebrate when his team has just beaten the new 2020/21 Premier League Champions. Pepster should have just taken the loss on the chin.
The starting eleven chosen for the trip to the Amex was potentially the eleven that will start against Chelsea in next weeks Champions League Final.
Ederson, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Ruben Dias, John Stones, Joao Cancelo, Ilkay Gundogan (tra-la-la-la-lar!), Roadie Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, Ferran Torres and Riyad Mahrez.
The possible changes would be Kyle Walker in at Right-Back, with Joao Cancelo, who, although will miss this game against Everton, may be pushed further forward against Chelsea.
Fernandinho in for Rodie Rodri, Gabriel Jesus in for Ferran Torres, with Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden keeping their place and rested against the Toffees.
Kevin De Bruyne would have to be fitted into the starting eleven somehow and may possibly start instead of Fernandinho or Gabriel Jesus.
City remain on 83-points going into the final fixture against Everton.
Everton’s victory against Wolves on Wednesday by a 1-0 scoreline, seems to have gone under the radar with not many people mentioning the win.
Richarlison scored the solitary winning goal just after the break to give Carlo Ancelotti’s Toffees the victory, with the 3-points gained, giving Everton 58, going into the final fixture.
Sitting 8th, there’s no European place on offer, however, a victory today against Pep’s High Flyers and a defeat for Tottenham against Leicester will see the Merseyside Blues in the Europa Conference League.
At Goodison Park in February, rearranged from December, Richarlison cancelled out an earlier Phil Foden goal to take both teams in level at the break.
Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva scored twice in the 2nd-half to give City the comfortable away-day victory by a 3-1 scoreline.
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SHEFFIELD UNITED v BURNLEY
Sunday 23rd
16.00 in England
Sheffield United lost!
The Blades went back to losing ways on Wednesday, following Sunday’s victory against Everton.
The trip to St James Park in front of 10,000 of the Toon Army, resulted in a defeat by a 1-0 scoreline, with the goal conceded 4-minutes into 1st-half injury time.
With no further goals after the break, the watching Blunts, little Jimbo being one of them after finding a 50p for the telly, saw Sheffield United lose again, their 29th-defeat of the season, leaving them rock bottom of the Premier League table with 20-points going into the final fixture. A special thanks to James, who lives in Swinton, which really is nowhere near Bramall Lane.
Over the season the little Blunt has loved his weekly mention and although John Newsome is constantly pulling the small fella’s leg, it’s only out of love and fun, which Jimbo doesn’t mind one bit.
Even though Jim’s second footballing love, Sheffield United have been relegated back to the Championship and won’t see the Premier League anytime soon, the lads still happy that he will get to see his first footballing crush, Barnsley FC next term, as although there’s still the 2nd-leg of the Play-off Semi-Final to go, the Super Reds are trailing 1-0 from the tie at Oakwell and will more than likely, stay in the Championship that will see a Yorkshire Derby next season.
The Dingles v The Blunts, with the Little Blade wearing a half and half shirt. Cheers Jimbo!
Burnley suffered a defeat at Turf Moor against Liverpool on Wednesday by a 3-0 scoreline. After a cagey 1st, 42-minutes, the Clarets conceded just before the break that seemed to knock the stuffing out of Sean Dyche’s men.
Burnley then conceded twice in the 2nd-half to succumb to the defeat that leaves them 17th in the table with 39-points, going into this last remaining game.
There is talk that Sean Dyche could leave Turf Moor and take up residence at Selhurst Park or even the Chas and Dave Memorial Stadium, however, would that be an upward move for the Gingerbread Man?
Tottenham, definitely but that won’t happen Crystal Palace? maybe it would be better to stay at Burnley for the time being until Barcelona come calling.
Sean and Burnley are a good fit for each other and with new owners, the Gravel Voiced one just needs some backing in the transfer market and a few extra quid in his wages and the lad doesn’t need to move anywhere.
At Turf Moor in late December (not 1963 but 2020!) a Ben Mee goal gave Sean’s Clarets the victory by a 1-0 scoreline.
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WEST HAM v SOUTHAMPTON
Sunday 23rd
16.00 in England
West Ham came from a goal behind at The Hawthorns on Wednesday to inflict a defeat on West Brom by a 3-1 scoreline.
Just before the Baggies opening goal, Declan Rice missed a penalty that would have given the Hammers the lead. Tomas Soucek equalised the West Brom goal on the stroke of half-time to take both teams in level at the break.
Angelo Ogbonna and Michail Antonio added the goals in the 2nd-half to give West Ham the victory that keeps alive the possibility of a Europa League place and at worse the entry into the new Europa Conference League.
The Hammers have 62-points, sitting 6th, 3-more than Tottenham but with a far inferior goal difference, so with a defeat and a Spurs victory, Tottenham would jump into 6th-place. West Ham have plus+12 and Tottenham plus+21.
West Ham, at home against Southampton, appear to have the slightly easier final fixture than Tottenham, who have to travel to the King Power to face a Leicester side still fighting for a Champions League place.
Southampton head up to the London Stadium off the back of a defeat against Leeds United on Tuesday, at St Mary’s, losing by a 2-0 scoreline. After a goalless 1st-half, the Saints conceded twice to ultimately lose the game against the West Yorkshire Whites.
The defeat leaves Wreck-It Ralphs men in 14th-place, with 43-points, with the chance to finish as high as 12th, if a victory is achieved against West Ham and both Crystal Palace and Wolves lose their respective games.
When West Ham visited St Mary’s just before New Year’s Eve, both teams were that excited about getting the abysmal year of 2020, out of the way, that neither could muster up a goal, with the game finishing in a drab 0-0 draw.
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WOLVES v MANCHESTER UNITED
Sunday 23rd
16.00 in England
Wolves lost their 2nd-away fixture in a row on Wednesday succumbing to a defeat against Everton, at Goodison Park by a 1-0 scoreline.
After a goalless 1st-half, Carlo’s Toffees came out after the break and started quicker than Nuno’s Gold and Blacks, scoring within 3-minutes of the restart. With no further goals, Wolves suffered the loss that leaves them 12th in the Premier League table with 45-points going into the final game against Manchester United.
Ole’s Trollies have somehow finished 2nd in this season’s Premier League table, confirmed on Tuesday, even though United could only labour to a draw, against already relegated Fulham, at Old Trafford, by a 1-1 scoreline.
Edinson Cavani, who is staying in Manchester for another season, mainly to stave off a relegation battle next term, scored a sublime goal after 15-minutes against the Cottagers.
David De Gea, who was recalled to the Premier League starting lineup after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer read this column last week, hit a long ball downfield that it initially looked as if Bruno Fernandes had flicked on to put Mr Cavani clear.
Edinson looked up, saw the Fulham ‘keeper off his line and hit a superb shot from 35-yards that sailed over the Cottagers stopper into the back of the net. A beautiful goal, that the watching 10,000, United Red Devil’s, allowed for the 1st-time, into Old Trafford, well legally anyway, were privileged to see.
Unfortunately as mentioned on many occasion, Manchester United are not good enough and whilst Ole persists in continually choosing Fred and Scott McTominay, once again the failings were clear to see.
Fulham scored an equaliser midway through the 2nd-half and with no further goals, the game finished in a draw, meaning United would be confirmed as finishing Runners-up to Man City, if Leicester failed to beat Chelsea, later that night.
OGS may feel that he’s no one else but surely that can’t be correct for a team of Manchester United’s standing.
Fulham are already relegated, why does Ole need to start Fred and Scott? Nemanja Matic and Juan Mata could both have had a final swan-song appearance at Old Trafford. Donny Van Der Beek could have had a rare start. There was simply no reason to pick Mr McTominay and Mr Flintstone.
This is the last column before United’s Europa League Final against Villarreal.
If Ole was giving his starting eleven an outing to get them warmed up for the trip to Gdańsk, then be warned if one is a Red, Grey or Zebra Devil, as United won’t win anything with Fred.
Mark these words.
With Leicester subsequently losing against Chelsea on Tuesday evening, Manchester United were confirmed as 2nd, behind the Noisy Neighbours. It probably highlights just how strange the 2020/21 season has materialised that the team that has finished 2nd are definitely not the 2nd-best team in the division.
Liverpool, Chelsea and Leicester are all way better than Ole’s Trollies, yet circumstances, have dictated the Manchester United have somehow finished as Number 2, which is fitting really.
One final note to add is, it is a damning indictment on Ole’s Trollies that the Liverpool goalkeeper, Alisson has scored the same amount of Premier League goals this season as Victor Lindelof, Fred and Donny Van Der Beek and more than Nemanja Matic and Juan Mata.
Manchester United surprisingly gained a home win at Old Trafford in December, with Marcus Rashford leaving it very late to score the solitary winning goal in the 93rd-minute to give Ole’s Wheels the victory by a 1-0 scoreline.
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Ex-professional footballer known affectionately as The Beast, Jon Parkin continues to offer his input and has kindly given his predictions for the final Game Week-38 set of fixtures.
Arsenal 1 v Brighton 0
Aston Villa 0 v Chelsea 2
Fulham 1 v Newcastle 1
Leeds United 2 v West Brom 0
Leicester 2 v Tottenham 2
Liverpool 2 v Crystal Palace 0
Man City 2 v Everton 1
Sheffield United 0 v Burnley 2
West Ham 2 v Southampton 0
Wolves 0 v Manchester United 2
JP had 6-correct results from the 10-midweek fixtures but significantly, Jon had 1-correct score.
John Newsome had 5-correct results from the 10-Penultimate games with 1-correct score.
A quick tally was added up and since Jon started giving his predictions, the Beast has 88-correct results with 21-correct scores from 184-games played.
John Newsome is slightly behind with 81-correct results and 15-correct scores.
John Newsome and EveryTip wish to offer their sincere thanks to Jon, for his input over the last 6-months and hope it continues when the new 2021/22 season starts in August.
Cheers JP!
Keep on keeping on.
One final few words to add, on September the 12th, when the 2020/21 Premier League season started, John Newsome was laid in a hospital bed after just suffering a heart attack.
After contracting Covid-19, whilst in hospital and being extremely ill, then undergoing a Quadruple Bypass operation which included a Mechanical Valve being inserted and a Pacemaker fitted, this EveryTip contributor is still going strong, still sprawncing and has provided a column for every one of the 38-Game Weeks and a Preview and prediction for all of the 380 games that have taken place.
Please feel free to read and share and keep following the EveryTip site as after a well-earned break John Newsome’s column will be back for a few articles about England in the upcoming Euro 2020s and for the start of the new 2021/22 season in August.
All the best and Thank you for taking the time to read in this challenging year everyone has encountered.
John Newsome
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