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It was not a happy day on Merseyside with both Everton and Liverpool losing their respective games. Manchester United continued their impressive form post-Ronaldo while Arsenal and Newcastle showed why they have the best defenses as they played to a goalless draw.
It was a slightly extended game week with Chelsea having to play twice, although they wish they hadn’t as they crashed on both occasions, leaving Graham Potter in a spot of bother.
The Blues lost 1-0 to Manchester City as the Citizens closed the gap on front-runners Arsenal to five points, and then crashed to a 2-1 defeat to fellow Londoners, Fulham.Potter’s men have just one victory under their belt, a 2-0 triumph over Bournemouth, since mid-October.
That victory snapped a three-game losing streak but have since managed just one points, a 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest to show for their efforts.
Brentford moved into the top 10 with an impressive 3-1 win over Liverpool while Everton crashed to a 4-1 defeat to Brighton at home, heaping more pressure on manager Frank Lampard.
In the blockbuster clash of the game week, Arsenal hosted third-placed Newcastle United. Despite dominating almost every facet of the game, Arsenal were unable to breakdown the resolute Newcastle defense. The Gunners, who are five points clear of defending champions City, and nine points clear of the Toons, with a game in hand, had two-thirds possession and had more than twice the amount of shots on goal.
Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Eddie Nketiah, all came close to scoring with goalkeeper Nick Pope keeping them at bay. Such was Arsenal’s dominance that Newcastle failed to register a shot on target in the second half.
Fulham had a fantastic week, first beating Leicester at the King Power Stadium, 1-0, before returning to Craven Cottage on the Thames and beating Chelsea to move up to sixth on the log, three points ahead of Liverpool, who do have two games in hand.
Since Man United suffered a humiliating 6-3 hammering by neighbours City at the Etihad, Erik ten Hag’s men have lost just once in 10 games, a surprise 3-1 defeat to Unai Emery’s Aston Villa at Villa Park.
That run has included seven victories with 14 goals for and six goals against. This should give Ten Hag and his men confidence in their return derby fixture against City on tomorrow at Old Trafford.
This next week sees Spurs, who beat Crystal Palace 4-0, United, City and Palace all play twice in the space of six days.
Villa take on Leeds at Villa Park tonight before United take on City tomorrow. Both Paddy and myself are calling a 2-2 draw while ChippyBoy is doing the reverse-psychology thing and handing City a 2-0 victory.
Brighton host an erratic Liverpool side on the South coast with both Chippy and Paddy calling a Reds victory. Me? I am going against the grain and calling the Seagulls to pull off a 2-1 win.
Lampard’s already under-pressure position will be put to the test as Everton host Southampton in a basement scrap at Goodison Park, with Southampton rock bottom and Everton in 18th, just three points ahead of the Saint’s but with a superior goal-difference.
But the big games to look out for this week, besides the Manchester derby on Saturday, is the North London derby on Sunday, when Spurs host league leaders Arsenal. The Gunners have not beaten Spurs in the “White” part of town since September 2015, when a brace from Mathieu Flamini gave Arsenal a 2-1 win. In May last year, Spurs ran out 3-0 winners thanks to a double from Harry Kane and a second-half Son goal.
The other fixture to look forward to is City’s hosting of Spurs on Thursday. I hate calling City and Spurs as games to watch but Arsenal fan’s will really be supporting United tomorrow. However, come Thursday, the only fair result we can have is a draw, which Chippy is calling.
Woody has failed to submit any predictions again for this game week, which leaves him in a precarious position as Paddy is now just seven points behind the Wood-meister. However, like Arsenal, my lead at the top is growing and now stands at 14 points over Chippy.
But Chippy can feel pretty good about himself, considering that he is top of the FPL table and second in the Predictions table, not to mention that his side, Man United, could move third in the Premier League if results go their way!
ChippyBoy has taken the lead! Yes, his 58 points in GW 19 moved him to the top of the standings, just two points ahead of Paddy. But, Paddy and Crouch Potatoes are the only teams to have yet drop points in their transfers.
VAR Rovers are not far behind the leading duo, just 14 points to be precise. Mr Newcastle, Woody, is a further four points back so it is really tight at the top with just 20 points separating them. But I don’t care, that is because I am the strongest – holding everyone else up!
My measly 46 points left me the only player not to cross the 1000-points mark. But hey, surely a deficit of 132 points to the leader can be made up?
