Premier League Predictor: Round 12 Picks
After my 5/10 in Round 11 that matched the community average, I've been eagerly looking forward to Round 12 all week as we have some huge fixtures coming up.
Friday night's game at Carrow Road is absolutely crucial for both sides, Unai Emery and Arsenal need to finally put in a good away performance and then we have the main event to finish. Liverpool vs. Manchester City - Champions of Europe vs. Champions of England. That one needs no introduction! Here are my picks, let me know how yours compare in the comments.
Liverpool have developed a very good habit of winning games late, which isn't always fluke, but they are worse defensively than last season and almost never keep clean sheets at the moment which obviously isn't ideal against City. However, Pep Guardiola's team appear to have fallen further from last season than Liverpool have as a result of the injury to Aymeric Laporte. Suddenly, rather than looking like the perfect, precise winning machine that they have been for a couple of years, City look human (and even that machine couldn't win at Anfield last year due to Mahrez's missed penalty). Pep Guardiola deserves massive credit if he finds a way to win this match with the injuries he has but I make Liverpool favourites. Prediction: Liverpool 2-1 Manchester City
Best of luck in Round Twelve!
Friday night's game at Carrow Road is absolutely crucial for both sides, Unai Emery and Arsenal need to finally put in a good away performance and then we have the main event to finish. Liverpool vs. Manchester City - Champions of Europe vs. Champions of England. That one needs no introduction! Here are my picks, let me know how yours compare in the comments.
Norwich vs. Watford
This game will be incredibly tense for both sets of fans and is a hard one to call for Superbru players. Awful defence meets awful attack at Carrow Road and I'm really interested to see how Quique Sanchez Flores sets up. Watford haven't scored nearly enough goals this season but whilst this is their best chance yet at three points, they can't afford to go to Norwich and open the game up fully because the hosts stand a better chance in that kind of game. Equally, if they're too cautious and this ends up goalless, the away fans will rightly be fuming. It sounds as if this is the game Watford have been planning Troy Deeney's return for and that will give them a massive lift if true. I think the Hornets can finally pick up three points but I'm far from confident. Prediction: Norwich 1-2 WatfordChelsea vs. Crystal Palace
This is a tricky game for Chelsea. They're on a fantastic run in the Premier League but their last two midweek games in other competitions have raised some question marks. Palace are rarely easy to beat and I'm tempted to pick them to sneak a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge but N'Golo Kante being likely to return for Chelsea is stopping me. Jorginho being out through suspension is a blow but Kante makes an absolutely massive difference, as he would for any team in world football. Prediction: Chelsea 2-1 Crystal PalaceBurnley vs. West Ham
What's happened to West Ham? After the win over Manchester Utd, people were rightly singing their praises but since then they've been poor and losing 2-3 at home to Newcastle is a really bad result. Burnley are coming off three straight losses themselves but I fancy them to win. If I'm right, West Ham could be in real trouble by December with Tottenham and Chelsea coming up. Prediction: Burnley 2-0 West HamNewcastle vs. Bournemouth
I feel like Bournemouth ought to win this game with the team they have but I still doubt whether or not they will given what they're like away and the fact that Newcastle have actually had some good results in the last two rounds. It's a bit of a coin flip because you never know if either of these teams will turn up but Bournemouth are far less likely to rip a team apart away than they are at home and Newcastle should be steady enough. A draw makes sense to me. Prediction: Newcastle 1-1 BournemouthSouthampton vs. Everton
Another dilemma here - Everton haven't won away yet this season but Southampton lost their last home game 0-9! I think Marco Silva could lose his job in the international break without three points here but I'm not convinced he'll get them. Most will probably pick Everton but Southampton showed real improvement at City last week and they owe St Mary's a performance. That said, with their poor defence in mind, there'll still be problems. I think this could be a similar story to Brighton for Everton and Silva - scoring enough goals to win the game, but not winning the game. Prediction: Southampton 2-2 EvertonTottenham vs. Sheffield United
I'd probably pick Sheffield United to win this at Bramall Lane but Tottenham should have enough to sneak it at home. The Blades have been very impressive this season and will be competitive but Tottenham's win in Belgrade last night was both convincing and much-needed. If Kane and Son can keep linking up like that, and both Ndombele and Lo Celso continue to grow into the starting XI, Spurs can still turn this season around. Prediction: Tottenham 2-1 Sheffield UnitedLeicester vs. Arsenal
I'm really struggling to see how Arsenal win this match. The Gunners have been ordinary for pretty much all of this season and they're playing against a very good Leicester team. Once Wenger departed, Arsenal will have been expecting Emery to have had the kind of impact we've instead seen Rodgers have with the Foxes. Very little has changed under Emery and as a result, we can expect Arsenal to keep losing away games against top four rivals. Prediction: Leicester 3-1 ArsenalManchester United vs. Brighton
It's a little tricky to judge how United will fare in this kind of game because their home matches this season have all been against top six sides, other than Crystal Palace who did of course win at Old Trafford. Having said that, this Brighton team won't roll up and park the bus on Sunday so it should be an entertaining game. I just feel that the Seagulls aren't quite ready yet to pull off big away upsets with their new playing style. We've seen them fairly comfortably beaten at Manchester City and Chelsea and though United aren't as good as either of those two teams this season, I think they'll find a goal or two. Potter moving away from his principles and playing defensively in this game isn't impossible though and could well hand them points since Man Utd are so poor at creating - just look at Bournemouth last week. Prediction: Manchester United 1-0 BrightonWolves vs. Aston Villa
This fixture isn't as big as Birmingham vs. Aston Villa, but it'll still mean a large amount to both sets of fans and I think things will be pretty even on the pitch. Wolves have drawn a crazy number of games this season but home advantage will be significant and may give them the edge even in spite of the fact they have a game this evening (Thursday). Wolves' performance at Arsenal last week where they created so many chances has persuaded me to back them for this one. Prediction: Wolves 2-1 Aston VillaLiverpool vs. Manchester City
Last season, I felt fairly confident that Manchester City wouldn't lose either league game against Liverpool as they were that little bit better than the Reds. This season, I feel like you have to make Liverpool favourites - both for this game and for the title. This will obviously be a close and entertaining match between two very good teams but I don't think either have reached the heights they did last season, so far.Liverpool have developed a very good habit of winning games late, which isn't always fluke, but they are worse defensively than last season and almost never keep clean sheets at the moment which obviously isn't ideal against City. However, Pep Guardiola's team appear to have fallen further from last season than Liverpool have as a result of the injury to Aymeric Laporte. Suddenly, rather than looking like the perfect, precise winning machine that they have been for a couple of years, City look human (and even that machine couldn't win at Anfield last year due to Mahrez's missed penalty). Pep Guardiola deserves massive credit if he finds a way to win this match with the injuries he has but I make Liverpool favourites. Prediction: Liverpool 2-1 Manchester City
Best of luck in Round Twelve!
Our current pool leader 'Anton' has 42 from Exacts and 120.5 in Total. However 2nd placed 'HomeTheatreShop' has a massive 60 from TWENTY Exacts! His total is only 1 fewer. He has had much success with 1-1s and only went 1-0 or 0-1 once. 1-2s work as often as 2-1s btw. However I think Anton should still win, as he is overdue more Exacts by Round 38 - statistically.