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So, Newcastle United finally lost a game – after leading! Manchester United made it three in a row while Arsenal made it five wins from five starts.
But the biggest talking point from the mid-week games was Oracle Glenn. ChippyBoy called five games spot-on to haul in 27 points in the One Ball ZA Prediction game. He went from last to first and built up a 12-point lead at the summit of the table.
He called the 1-1 draw between Leeds and Everton at Elland Road, the bore-draw (0-0) between Bournemouth and Wolves, although for the Cherry’s, it seemed like a win after their 9-0 smashing by Liverpool on the weekend and Scott Parker’s dismissal.
Glenn then also called the 6-0 win by Man City over Nottingham Forest, the 1-1 draw between West Ham and Spurs as well as the 2-1 win for Liverpool over Newcastle. Glenn was so in form that his 27 points overshadowed my dour 8 points and the paltry 3 points from Woody.
The smashing game week from ChippyBoy has seen him move onto 47 points with Woody (35) and me (34) trailing in his dust.
There are now only three teams with an unbeaten record in the Premier League after five games – Arsenal, Manchester City and Spurs (argh). Arsenal made it five from five with their 2-1 win over Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa while City’s 3-3 draw with Newcastle their only blemish. Spurs’ two stalemates with Chelsea (2-2) and the last outing of 1-1 with London rivals West Ham, have left them four points adrift of Arsenal.
This weekend’s games sees ten matches on Saturday with two on Sunday. The juiciest of course is the early kick-off of the Merseyside derby between Everton and Liverpool at Goodison Park.
Frank Lampard’s side sit one place above the relegation zone, on three points, not having won a match in five starts, while Liverpool’s topsy-turvy start to the season see’s Jurgen Klopp’s side in 6th place, seven points off the top.
Another indifferent start from Chelsea see’s Thomas Tuchel’s side take on London rivals West Ham with David Moyes hoping to pick up just their second victory of the season but face a difficult challenge at Stamford Bridge.
The other London derby takes place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with Spurs hosting exciting Fulham. But the dream match of the weekend sees ChippyBoy taking on Batty, I mean, Manchester United hosting Arsenal at Old Trafford on Sunday in the final game of the weekend.
With United finding some form with three wins on the bounce, and Arsenals’ 100% start to the season, fans are in for a treat with Arsenal’s exciting attacking form trying to breakdown a defense that is being built around a back-four without Harry “No Look Defending” Maguire.
My pick is for United to win by 1 goal!
Playing my Wildcard during the midweek games seems to have paid off a bit as I managed to keep pace with the rest of the pack. My 72 points joined six other players in our 9-player league with only Chug Along Ponies scoring less and Winhill (Man Utd are now winning) scoring in the 80’s.
Erling Haaland has now scored two back-to-back hattricks and is looking the real deal for City and with them travelling to war-torn Villa, another hattrick is on the cards. If Arsenal are to make a statement in their best start to a season for 18 years, then a victory at Manchester United is needed as they have not faced any “top-quality” opposition yet – but whether United fit that bill yet is yet to be seen. Arsenal’s first real test will come on 1 October – a week before my birthday – when they host those horrible people called Spurs.
Newcastle have some relatively easy matches coming up with the likes of Palace, West Ham and Bournemouth awaiting with their next real test coming on 16 October at Old Trafford.
United, of course have Arsenal next up, but they the Manchester Derby on 2 October and Newcastle on 16 October. The real test for Erik ten Hag’s men comes during October as they face Spurs just three days after Newcastle’s visit followed by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge just three days after the Spurs game.
May the weekend festivities begin.
