Premiership Predictions

The big clash of this weekend sees league leaders Chelsea host Manchester United at the soon-to-be-called-something-else-Stamford Bridge but there are plenty of other interesting fixtures too: two clubs who have started well, Spurs and Sunderland will do battle, while Everton and West Ham will both be trying to kick-start their seasons and of course, Liverpool will be looking to bounce back from another disastrous week on Monday evening. So how will it play out? Read on…

Saturday Fixtures; kick-offs 3pm unless stated.
Aston Villa vs. Bolton Wanderers
Aston Villa struggled to impose themselves against an injury hit Everton at Goodison last weekend, and after succumbing to a last gasp goal against West Ham in midweek, Martin O’Neill will desperately want to get his side back to winning ways. Bolton though, will not make it easy for them. Yes, Chelsea rolled them over with consummate ease last time out, but that was a combination of Bolton’s own self-destruction and Chelsea’s brilliance. No, I think this will be a close game, though I still think Villa may sneak it.
Prediction: 2-1.

Exam Tomorrow: Studying Hard (Honest!)

Shame there's not much in my fridge...

I have an exam tomorrow (wish me luck!) which I’ve actually studied reasonably hard for over the past few days (these are the final assessments of my degree after all) and although today has largely been spent perfecting the art of procrastination (see above comic strip) I would have felt incredibly guilty had I spent an hour or so of it thinking deeply and writing in depth about football rather than The Great Gatsby, Allen Ginsberg and the Beats and other stalwarts of American Literature.

As such, there’ll be no post today and it doesn’t look good for tomorrow either. I’ll write my predictions on Saturday morning as usual but next week may be a total write off as I have exams on Wednesday and Friday as well as an interview for a postgrad journalism course to prepare for on Wednesday – busy times. I will try and get something written, but I’m not making any promises: consider it a ‘winter break’. Still, do check back every now and then, and I’ll be back before you know it.

All the best everyone. Now, back to that study…

‘Silly Season’ is here: Who’s for the sack?

Who is the odd one out? And who will go first?

Well everyone, November is upon us which means that that most wonderful time of year when we all revert to the young children inside of us, put up lots of flashing lights and eat and drink far too much is nearly upon us. However, though Christmas may still be fifty days away (doesn’t sound like much does it?), football’s very own silly season is already here. November will be a month that will have a lasting effect on the outcome of this season’s Premier League.

I call this football’s ’silly season’ because for some reason everyone involved in the game places a lot of emphasis on where their club is at Christmas. If you’re bottom of the league at Christmas you’re all but down, whereas if you’re in touch with the leaders, you’re in with a shout for a winner’s medal. This means that if things aren’t going quite to plan by mid-late November, heads will almost certainly role, giving the new man just enough time to rectify things ahead of the Christmas snapshot. So, who will be the first casualty this year?

Premiership Predictions: A Midweek Special

Seeing as I’ve had a busy day actually doing some productive revision for my exam this coming Friday, today I totally neglected to actually get a post written. However, to keep up appearances I did write a quick prediction for this week’s sole midweek Premier League fixture earlier at the behest of a commenter, so I figured I’d post it here for everyone’s perusal. So here we have it, today’s post; short and sweet. I will write something proper tomorrow, promise.

Wednesday Fixture, 7.45pm kick-off.
West Ham United vs. Aston Villa
Both these sides picked up hard-fought draws away from home over the weekend, and though West Ham still lie 19th in the table I sense they’re starting to turn the corner. Last week’s comeback from 2-0 down against Arsenal will have given them confidence and though they themselves surrendered a two goal lead to Sunderland last time out, it was more down to a terrific spirit from the Black Cats than inadequacies of West Ham. Villa settled for a draw against Everton over the weekend and never really got into the game, with the Toffees controlling the game for large periods. However, West Ham are still some way short of their best form and Martin O’Neill will see anything less than a win as a disappointment, and I think Villa’s pace on the counter could be the key in this encounter.
Prediction: 1-2.

Check back tomorrow for a more fulfilling post!

Premiership Predictions

Happy All Hallows Eve to you all as we prepare for another weekend of Premier League action and, in an increasingly rare phenomenon in these modern times, we have nine of the ten matches being played on Saturday this weekend as well as no less than seven traditional Saturday 3pm kick-offs – it makes a nice change I have to say. Arguably the clash of the weekend is the North London Derby between high-flying Arsenal and Spurs first up, but there should be plenty of action before the ghouls come out tonight…

Saturday Fixtures; all kick-offs 3pm unless stated.
Arsenal vs. Tottenham Hotspur (12.45pm)
Arsenal are in imperious form at present, especially at the Emirates Stadium and with the kids beating Arsenal in midweek the senior players will certainly not want to be shown up. Spurs were surprisingly humbled by Stoke last weekend and will still be missing Jermaine Defoe (suspended) and probably Aaron Lennon (injured) which denies them them their two best players so far. A win against an injury-hit Everton in the Carling Cup will have boosted morale, but I think Arsenal will be too strong for them today.
Prediction: 2-1.

One Shot For Profit

There is little more discouraging than those terrible, awful people who seek to make money from football. There are many examples of these villains in the modern game; not least those foreign investors who buy clubs and run them into the ground for personal profit, or the agents who act as malicious middle men providing minimal service at maximal profit, or even those who run the game these days, treating it less as a sport and more as a business, sacrificing the games’ integrity to further fill their pockets.

Of course such acts of greed are commonplace in today’s materialistic society. But these footballing crimes are worst because they take advantage of the sheer obsession of football fans. We are the life and blood of the game, and without us it could not function, nevermind make them money. And they rely on that, safe in the knowledge that we cannot pull away, that we are an easy source of income, that they can rip us off again and again and we cannot, no matter how hard we try, sever our ties with out club, our game.

Below even these executive types of modern football though, are the touts. The ticket scalpers. They buy up tickets for the big games and flog them at an enormous profit, depriving real fans the chance of seeing the game that means so much to them, or at least making them pay far over the odds to do so. It sickens me because these are people like us, fellow fans who are content to take advantage of their peers for their own personal profit. And at present, there are hundreds of them in New Zealand, denying me the chance to see New Zealand’s World Cup Qualifier against Bahrain.

WDKF Wednesday: Playing Away – A FIFA Conspiracy?

I woke up early this morning to attempt to buy a couple of tickets for the All White’s playoff match against Bahrain in November, but the 500 temporary seating tickets that went on sale today somehow disappeared in the 3 seconds after clicking “Buy Now” at precisely 9am that it took the next page to load. That seems implausible to me, but I know next to nothing about the workings of Ticketek, and so I move on.

The distinctive smell of conspiracy and controversy is far more pungent around FIFA’s strange decision to alter the usual enforcement of the away goals rule for the same fixture, which means that away goals will continue to decide the tie after extra time – giving the away side Bahrain an extra 30 minutes to score a crucial away goal. What could have driven such a strange and apparently obviously unfair rule change? Why, FIFA’s never-ending greed of course!

Click through for the full conspiracy theory at WDKF.co.uk…

Beckham’s on his way to Milan… and the World Cup.

Beckham flourished during his last stint in Milan, will he do so again?

So AC Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani has assured the world that the loan deal to take David Beckham back to the red half of the San Siro in January is “100% done” and “The only thing missing is the signatures” which simultaneously confirms that he’s lying (let’s face it, unless it’s signed and sealed, it isn’t 100% done) and that David Beckham will almost certainly be part of England’s World Cup squad in South Africa next year.

He’s proven popular as a squad member during Fabio Capello’s time in charge of the three lions but because of the Italian’s reluctance to take a player plying his trade in the sub-European standard MLS to a World Cup there was still a chance that Beckham could miss out. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that a move to Milan was the only way that Beckham could give himself a really good chance of being included – a much talked about Premier League return could actually have harmed his chances.

You know what? Fuck the Carling Cup.

Gosling & Fellaini looked worse for wear, even after equalising.

Author’s note: consider this a follow up to my earlier post, ‘Who wants to win the Carling Cup?‘

I was lucky enough to be inside the Westpac Stadium in Wellington to witness Wellington Phoenix’s 6-0 demolition of previous A-League pace-setters Gold Coast United yesterday evening, but unfortunately that only served as a brief – albeit very welcome – relief from a fairly desperate couple of days for me in terms of football as Everton’s unbeaten run was brought to an abrupt end as a severely depleted squad was hammered in Benfica before losing out to Bolton last yesterday.

In fact, it’s after a few days such as this that Everton, with an already small squad stretched seemingly beyond breaking point by a huge injury list and the stresses of European competition, need a good week’s rest to regroup, nurse some players back to fitness and bounce back for the test against Villa next weekend. Unfortunately though, before the players can put their feet up they must play their third match in six days when they face Tottenham in the Carling Cup on Tuesday. You have to ask then, who let that happen?

Premiership Predictions

The big clash of this weekend sees Manchester United travel to Anfield to attempt to compound what has already been a simply awful week for Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool side. Much of the pre-match speculation centres around whether or not Rooney, Gerrard and Torres will be making an appearance for their respective sides but one prediction I’m positive about is that at least one beach ball will make it onto the field of play at some point. For the rest of the weekend’s predictions, read on…

Saturday Fixtures; all kick-offs 3pm unless stated.
Wolverhampton Wanderers vs. Aston Villa (12.45pm)
Villa stunned Chelsea last week after putting in an excellent battling performance, they had their backs to the wall for long spells but their new defensive lineup is really shining and there’s a great spirit amongst the squad. That spirit will be important for this Midlands derby with Wolves bound to be up for the game and with the return of Michael Kightly and Slyvain Ebanks-Blake they’ll certainly be boosted in terms of squad morale and confidence. I think this’ll be a typically frantic derby that Villa may just shade.
Prediction: 1-2.