The Wildcard’s Premier League Predictions - (Mid) Week 21
Last Week: 3/10
Overall: 83/200
Newcastle United vs Manchester United
I wanna say this: I don’t enjoy criticising Louis Van Gaal. I’d much prefer if he did a perfectly competent job and I could write about the players instead. Like Wayne Rooney who has scored in consecutive games for the first time since March. Or Memphis who has played a lot better the last month or so. Or Ander Herrera who brings an energy to this team that nobody else can offer.
(Not a fan of people saying Memphis dived or made a meal of that foul either, because if you’ve ever copped six sprigs to the shin you’ll know that even with shin guards that crap hurts.)
But then Van Gaal comes out on the attack after scraping out a 1-0 win over League One Sheffield United in the FA Cup in a game that makes it ten straight home games without a first half goal for United and in which there wasn’t a shot on target until the final third of that game despite the opposition barely even crossing halfway. David De Gea could have gone up for corners and then walked back and he’d have been in no trouble.
"You have to see also how the opponent is playing. Everybody shall give applause to Sheffield United. They were very organised but it is much more difficult to attack than to defend. Again a clean sheet is also the benefit of our organisation." – LVG
Mate, this is Sheffield United not Barcelona. You shouldn’t need a penalty to break them down for Christ’s sake, and if you do then it had better be an anomaly. Which this isn’t. Throw some bodies forward, man. Get those runs in behind the defence, get other guys running in support rather than sticking rigidly to positions. Try some things, be positive and make mistakes. Get some bloody tempo to these ‘attacks’. Dammit they’re boring.
Still, at least they made it into the next round, unlike Newcastle who lost to Watford. Neither of these teams are much good at scoring goals and unsurprisingly they drew 0-0 earlier in the season.
Wildcard’s Pick: 1-0 to United
Bournemouth vs West Ham United
The reverse leg of this game was one of the more exciting ones this season, with West Ham serving a defensive catastrophe to hand Callum Wilson a hatty in a 4-3 loss. That was in August and Bournemouth would win only other PL game until they doubled up Chelsea and MUFC (and then beat West Brom too) in mid-December.
A massive part of West Ham’s success has been how well they’ve done in the transfer market, with a busy summer providing an almost perfect hit-rate. Bournemouth might be onto something there too, having been ravaged by injuries from the start but the January window has given them the chance to do a couple nice things. Juan Iturbe on loan from Roma can hopefully add some class to their attacking group while Benik Afobe from Wolves (who cost them a fair £10m, so sources claim – a club record) will offer strength and energy up front. He’s a former Arsenal youngster who has taken huge strides in the Championship this season and last – plus at 22 he’s got a long way to go yet. Really excited to see these guys play.
West Ham finally now have pretty much everyone back to fitness. Enough that they can’t moan about it anyway. They’re still one of the best away teams in the league: only Everton, Leicester and Spurs have fewer than WHU’s two away losses. But I seem to recall them tumbling down in the second half of last season and while their squad is significantly stronger now I also don’t think they care all that much if they slide on down to ninth or tenth.
Wildcard’s Pick: 1-1
Aston Villa vs Crystal Palace
Micah Richards deserves a bit of praise here for facing up to the fans demanding a bit of “passion” from the Villans. It’s easy to hide away and mute all the critics when you’re in a run of form as bad as this club is but taking it head on and acknowledging it is at least a positive sign that they’re trying to do something.
Having said that, let’s recap Aston Villa’s season so far:
Wildcard’s Pick: Palace 1-0
Manchester City vs Everton
AHHHAHAHAHAHA! THERE’S A CAT ON THE FIELD!
“I thought he had great style and movement. He’s a young cat who’ll make mistakes. I don’t want to put any pressure on him but he reminds me of Cecil the Lion.” – Robert Martinez
Yeah, but you just know what’s gonna happen. Man City are gonna outbid the Toffees for the speedy, skilful prospect and chuck him in the reserves, maybe send him out on loan a few times before selling him on the cheap in a few years once all the hype has been busted. Like they did with Jack Rodwell or Scott Sinclair. If I were you, kitty cat, I’d be heading to Leicester and seeing what happens there.
Either way, best of luck to the Goodison Cat, here’s hoping he does better than Anfield Cat, which Brad Freidel wanted nothing of. Enjoy the tale:
Update on this story: the cat was later adopted out and then ran away three weeks later. If you’d prefer, you’re welcome to assume that he found another happy home someplace and didn’t get hit by a car or mauled by a dog. And who knows? You may even be right.
- Manchester City at home in the Premier League: 10 games, 8W/0D/2L, GD +17
- Manchester City away in the Premier League: 10 games, 4W/3D/3L, GD +1
Manchester City are playing at home.
Wildcard’s Pick: City 2-0
Stoke City vs Norwich City
Poor Crouchy, he’s barely played all season and he’ll likely be at a Championship club before the end of the month yet he’s copped it on the chin like a champion. There’s a senior player for you. And when he finally got a start in the Cup the other day he responded with a goal.
Presumably the reason he doesn’t play is that he’s far too tall for the New Stoke:
- Peter Crouch: 2.03 m
- Xherdan Shaqiri: 1.69m
- Bojan Krkic: 1.70m
Wildcard’s Pick: Stoke 2-1
Southampton vs Watford
Would you be shocked to learn that Southampton are only seven points clear of relegation? That their 4-0 win over Arsenal is their only victory in their last seven games? That those seven games don’t include the 2-1 loss at home against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup and the 6-1 League Cup annihilation by Liverpool? Worst of all… they’re only one point ahead of Chelsea and will probably fall behind them if they can’t win here.
Wildcard’s Pick: 1-1
Chelsea vs West Bromwich Albion
Things that Chelsea are doing better since Guus Hiddink took over:
- Not losing
- Being somewhat bearable to watch
- Letting Reuben Loftus-Cheek play
- Letting young players play in general
- Keeping the Brazilians happy
- Attacking down the flanks
- Getting Diego Costa the ball in the box
- Getting Diego Costa to score goals
- Getting Diego Costa to act like a human
- Winning tackles in midfield
- Having attackers focus on attacking and not endlessly defending
At this stage it’s difficult to know for sure what to make of Eden Hazard, who Jose always tried cater to a little more than others, but Chelsea are finally getting back to something good.
Wildcard’s Pick: Chelsea 1-0
Swansea City vs Sunderland
Both of these teams were knocked out of the FA Cup on the weekend but there’s a big difference between losing to PL leaders Arsenal (as Sunderland did) and losing to League Two Oxford Town (as Swansea did – process of elimination). I tried to find out how many times a top division team has been knocked out by one three divisions (or more) below them but those kinds of stats are pretty hard to come by short of sitting there with the almanacs ticking boxes and writing lists all day. Frankly, I have other things to do, sorry. Although if someone would happen to have some such information then we’re only a tweet away.
I can tell you, however, that Norwich City were knocked out by non-league Luton Town in the fourth round of the 2012-13 Cup. And that Sutton Town did for Coventry in 1988-89, before losing 8-0 to Norwich in the next round. Also, Hereford beating Newcastle in 1972, that’s a famous one. Ronnie Radford’s winning goal is still replayed to this day, an absolute thunderbastard of a screamer:
Only one non-league team made the third round this season and that was Eastleigh who drew 1-1 with Championship side Bolton… though Bolton are a complete mess and won’t be a Championship side any longer the second that this season ends… actually make that a few weeks before the season ends. So, yeah, Swansea’s loss is about as bad as it gets this year. Guts to them.
And also to Jonjo Shelvey, what the hell dude?
Eh, he’s moving to Newcastle this week anyway. Most likely.
Too soon to call this a relegation six-pointer? It probably is but that doesn’t make these three points on offer any less valuable.
Wildcard’s Pick: 2-1 to the Swans
Liverpool vs Arsenal
With the League Cup semis to worry about as well (so far so good on that front), Liverpool are smack-bang in the middle of a period where they’ll play 10 times in 36 days, so you can excuse Jürgen for running the kiddies out against Exeter. And for recalling a few lads from loan duty (under the perfectly reasonable assumption that playing in the U21s together helps them develop combinations and team identity). Also, given that they snuck away with a draw despite twice falling behind and now get the replay at home – a replay that’s worth potentially a million quid for their league two opponents – you can call that a fair cop. A fair Kop? A fair Klopp? Okay, I’ll stop now.
The next week sees them play at home to Arsenal and then to Manchester United (before Exeter return three days later). These two games are enormous in how the Reds see their season progressing. Win ‘em both and the Champions League is an honest-to-God target, lose ‘em both and there are at least a few cups out there for the winning. They should get back into the Europa League one way or another, either by finishing fifth to seventh or by winning some other trophy. Winning trophies? That’s something Brendan Rodgers never did get to experience…
I’ll add that a few of those young guys are really promising players too. Jerome Sinclair is for sure a name to remember. One problem though, after his Watford fumbles and then conceding this goal, not sure what to think about Adam Bogdan. Forget that he’s 28, he’s a goalie not a centre mid. I guess plenty of great keepers have come back from worse starts than this to be fair.
This is the game of the week, with Arsenal in rare sustained form and Liverpool more rested up than most at this time, plus they’ve made a habit under Klopp of sparking up for the big games. Wins away to Chelsea and Man City, as well as breaking Leicester’s unbeaten run. Speaking of keepers, last time these two played, Petr Cech did this:
That game ended 0-0. This time around both teams are playing with a lot more fluency, although I get the feeling that overloaded midfields are gonna cancel each other out in the end.
Wildcard’s Pick: 1-1
Tottenham Hotspur vs Leicester City
Wait, didn’t we just watch this game?
Yeah, see, we did. Two games in two different comps in the space of a few days, hope the hotel gave the Leicester lads a good deal because they’ll be racking up the tab in London.
Both teams named noticeably weakened teams in that Cup game, you can expect Spurs to make at least six, probably seven changes while the Foxes also rested the likes of Wes Morgan, Marc Albrighton, Dan Drinkwater and Riyad Mahrez. Furthermore, Jamie Vardy will probably be missing again having had a slight operation on that troublesome groin. Troublesome groins. We’ve all been there, mate.
With a bit of luck that’ll mean a game for Shinji Okazaki, who just did this to those poor Spurs defenders. Sucks to be Toby Alderweireld, playing with the reserves there and this is the example he sets? Slipping and sliding like Bambi on ice:
Speaking of clever signings earlier, I’m also cautiously optimistic that 19 year old Demarai Gray has a part to play in Leicester’s season having had a solid debut in that one. Looks like a fella that can play with pace and energy and that’s Leicester City right there.
Wildcard’s Pick: Probs another draw