Hello and welcome! As you lads might know tonight the Portuguese league returns. Yes, I know, most of you don't give a damn. But then again, football is football and right now we are probably even excited about marble races, so let's give it a try, shall we?
So, to start up with here are the matches for today and tomorrow:
Today
Portimonense x Gil Vicente - 7pm UK Famalicao x Porto - 9.15pm UK
Tomorrow:
Maritimo x Vitoria FC - 6pm UK Benfica x Tondela - 7.15pm UK Vitoria SC x Sporting CP - 9.15pm UK
Friday:
Santa Clara x SC Braga - 7pm UK Aves x B SAD - 9.15pm UK
Saturday:
Boavista x Moreirense - 9.15pm UK
If you want to jump to the end, check out the Liga NOS table at the moment and also some interesting curiosities about it.
P.S.: NOS is the sponsorship, it's a big TV/Internet provider, but they will stop being the sponsor in 2021/22.
Now a small sum up of each teams current status, hopes and expectations.
1. PORTO Porto had quite a recovery after being 7 points down on the title race, as they won to Benfica at home and saw Benfica losing against Braga and drawing against Moreirense. Then again, they could have further their lead if they hadn't dropped points against Rio Ave, but they let that one slide.
+ STRONG POINTS Porto's defense Alex Telles and goalkeeper Marchesin mostly, have been their best assets. Although Telles is not available for Famalicao, but if he comes back with the usual pinpoint crossing accuracy they might have gather some victories with the usual Sergio Conceicao goals: set pieces! Players to watch: Diogo Leite, Fabio Silva, Fabio Vieira, Vitor Ferreira (young blood from the UEFA Youth League victorious team)
- WEAK POINTS Well, you might have figured through my nickname that I am not the biggest Sergio fan. He is not very well known to make a proper use of the youth academy and his tactics are neither productive or attractive to watch. Porto does not have the best attack or defense (Benfica holds both) and has just lost Marcano on an injury that will sideline him for 3 months. The option is to finally let Diogo Leite shine, but might be too much pressure on the youngster. Added to that, add games against Braga and Sporting to a heavy calendar and they are sure to lose some points on the way.
BENFICA They are one point behind Porto, but due to the injuries of their direct rival, they might have an edge. Plus they do not have such a difficult calendar, besides trips to face Rio Ave and hosting Sporting on last matchday.
+ STRONG POINTS They got the best defense and attack in the league. That said, they also can rely on players that can finish with ease, like Carlos Vinicius, Rafa Silva, Pizzi, while Porto's attackers are all quite clumsy in front of goal. Players to watch: Vinicius, Florentino Luis, Ferro.
- Weak Points Benfica has a strong squad but the insistence in having Seferovic upfront has brought quite some nightmares to Benfica fans, as the Swiss is not very sharp in front of goal. He has only 2 goals this season in Liga NOS (10 games) and averages 1.6 shots on goal. If Bruno Lage strategy goes through bringing Seferovic in times of need, he might be shooting blanks once again.
Verdict on the title hopes: I would say Benfica will have the edge if Porto's defense crumbles under the absence of Marcano. Pepe is 37 and is injured often, so they will have to rely on Mbemba and Leite, a duo who is unexperienced and might cost points.
The other teams:
SC BRAGA Currently in 3rd place, 4 points ahead of Sporting, they have not lost a single game since December. Their manager Ruben Amorim arrived and left undefeated, winning to Porto, Benfica, and Sporting on the way. Sadly though, jealous Sporting down there scooped him for €10M (either the best or worst deal ever?). The new coach Custodio is not a strange face as he coached their youth squads and will likely keep the tactics and routines of Amorim, so trust in Braga to keep their 3rd place (their most challenging match will be on last day against Porto).
Players to look for: Palhinha, Trincão, Paulinho, Abel Ruiz.
SPORTING CP The loss of Bruno Fernandes to United in January impacted the team immensely , as they have already accounted 2 losses since then. Then the president had the brilliant idea of spending some of the cash he just got on a shiny new coach, only for corona to come up and ruin his spotlight. Well, Amorim might not have enough eggs to make omelets and Sporting should not go further than the 4th place, as they are struggling to find a player who can bring the creativity that Bruno once did. Sporar, the striker they signed in January, does seem like a good asset as a player with the same characteristics of Bas Dost.
Players to watch: Jovane Cabral, Sporar, Big Dick Wendel
RIO AVE Probably the best surprise of the league so far, Rio Ave have been playing very attractive football, under the command of former Swansea manager Carlos Carvalhal. They haven't lost a game since 14 of January and if they stick to 5th place they might sneak into Europa League. They have less goals conceded than Sporting and SC Braga. Matches against Benfica and SC Braga probably will be the highest worries.
Players to watch: Taremi, Lucas Piazon (remember him?), Borevkovic
Vitoria SC To start with it's Vitoria Sport Club, not Vitoria Guimaraes. Don't trigger a vimaranense! Vitoria are 6th and close to the desired 5th place, but they got a difficult calendar ahead with matches against Porto, Benfica and Sporting. They sold Tapsoba in January and that might impact their defense, although they won 4 of their last 5 games (the only defeat was against Porto).
Players to watch: Sacko, Marcus Edwards, João Carlos Teixeira (will this kid finally bloom? Wait he is 27 already, wtf!!)
Famalicao Back in October I posted here an article about the Famalicao phenomenon. Well, they are still making an impressive campaign but the hype quickly faded away as they conceded defeats to their closest rivals, being thumped by Benfica and Porto. For a newly promoted team 7th place is still a feat, but they got the top 3 on their calendar so an Europa League place seems too far out the horizon for now. Jorge Mendes will have to wait for this child to grow older.
Players to watch: Neuhen Perez, Gustavo Assunção, Toni Martinez
Moreirense They haven't been as strong as last season, when they finished 6th under Ivo Vieira. However they haven't lost a game since January. They have already faced Benfica (1x1 draw), but they will have matches against the other 3 teams in the top 4..
Players to watch: Fabio Abreu, Patricio Rodriguez, Pedro Nuno
Santa Clara - The only team from Azores in the league, has gone through some extra sporting issues, but they have a complicated calendar with matches against 5 of the top 6. They haven't won any of their last 3 games, so they might drop some positions. They should be safe from relegation by now, though.
Players to watch: Lincoln, Osama Rashid, Fabio Cardoso.
Gil Vicente Guided by the veteran coach Vitor Pereira, the team from Barcelos has already played the top 3, so they got an easier calendar ahead. They have only lost one game in the last 5 matches (0-1 against Benfica) and they got a better attack than the opponents below (25 goals).
Players to watch: Lourency, Lima, Kraev.
Boavista They were a serious case of success in the beginning of the season, being mostly unbeaten. However, somehow they went through a managerial change (even though their coach Lito Vidigal had 18 points in 14 points) and since the appointment of Daniel Ramos they have struggled. They have 3 losses in the last 5 games and they might risk being relegation threatened if they don't get their shit together.
Players to watch: Helton Leite (GK), Heriberto Tavares, Marlon
Vitoria FC The other Vitoria, this one is called Futebol Clube but is from Setubal, south from Lisbon. They are coached by Spanish manager Julio Velasquez. They got only 2 points in the last month, but if it serves as consolation one of those points was against Benfica. Also, they already played the top 3 teams, so the calendar is on their favor. Don't fuck up sadinos!
Players to watch: Mirko Antonucci (remember this guy Roma fans?), Tofol Montiel, Brian Mansilla
Belenenses SAD Well, this is the only team who probably does not mind playing under closed doors, as this is the only way they can equal their opponents on fans. If you haven't heard about the Belenenses division interesting read here Anyway, they ere doing fine before the interruption and didn't lose any of the last 4 games. They have to face Porto and Braga still, but they should be safe from relegation (even though I wouldn't mind they dropped).
Players to watch: Koffi (GK), Cassierra, Marco Matias (where are my Sheffield Wednesday fans at?) and Cafu Phete (for the South Africans out there!).
Tondela This is a mystery for me, as this team always struggles but ends up being saved at last call. You know, like Sunderland years ago (so I guess when Tondela finally drops dark times wait for them: Tondela Until I Die?). They are coached by Spaniard Natxo Gonzalez and they had a pretty good season start being 6th, now dropping until 14th. They failed to win a game in the last 5 matches and they got the top 4 all in their calendar. Stay strong Tondela fans, hold up your buttcheeks together.
Players to watch: Claudio Ramos (GK - seriously, how is this guy still not in a better team?), Jhon Murillo (FIFA legend), Fahd Moufi.
Maritimo Edging close to the relegation zone is Maritimo, who somehow has the player with most successful take ons on all the league (Zainadine Jr), yet seem to be struggling anyway. 3 defeats in a row in their last 3 matches with games in hand against 5 of the top 6 will test the team from Madeira. Won't be surprised if they get back to Segunda Liga.
Players to watch: Zainadine Junior (again, how is this guy not in a better team?), Daizen Maeda, Xadas (what happened to you mate?)
Paços de Ferreira After 14 rounds on the relegation zone they finally saw the light to get out of the hole. Paços future might be positive as they got 6 points out of the last 5 games and they played Benfica already. A match against Portimonense who is just below might be a decider on who gets down and who stays up.
Players to watch: Pedrinho, Tanque, Eustaquio (Canadian international!)
Portimonense If you were expecting to see two teams from Algarve in the league next season and see some more Primeira Liga games while you are on Spring Break on Portimao... it might not happen. Farense did get promoted, but their counterpart Portimonense are edging by a thread. They got 5 points in the last 4 months so future seems dark.
Players to watch: Jackson Martinez (he is likely to retire after this season), Mohanad Ali, Koki Anzai, Marlos Moreno (wonder where this guy had been?)
Aves Well finally, if you thought Portimonense was doomed to drop, well what can we say about bottom placed Aves? Not only they are dead last, they also have some problems leaving due to owing them salaries. Their calendar contemplates matches against Porto, Benfica and Braga, so betting on them to drop seems like easy money. And thinking that not so long ago this team won the Portuguese Cup!
Players to watch: Mehrdad Mohammadi, Adam Dźwigała.
That's it lads. If you want to give some support and read further in depth on the league return click here
Wish you some good games and might the odds be in your favor. Also fuck you Sergio Conceiçao!

LIVERPOOL CHELSEA

Matchday 34
14 April 2019
Kick Off: 16:30 GMT Convert to local time
Venue: Anfield
Referee: Michael Oliver Assistants: Stuart Burt, Simon Bennett Fourth official: Craig Pawson
Odds: Liverpool 8/11 Chelsea 18/5 Draw 14/5 (Via SkyBet)
Links
Where to Watch
Pre-Match Conference: Jurgen Klopp
Preview

• Liverpool return to action on Sunday, with Maurizio Sarri's Chelsea visiting Anfield in the Premier League.
  
• The Reds come into the game buoyed from a 2-0 UEFA Champions League win over FC Porto and will be out to maintain their place at the top of the table with victory over the Blues.
  
• Chelsea were also victorious in midweek, as they beat Slavia Prague 1-0 in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday. Sarri's men were not at their best, but the victory was their fourth in a row in all competitions.
  
• Liverpool top the table by two points from Manchester City, although they have played a game more than Pep Guardiola's side and know they can't afford to drop points if they are to be crowned champions.
  
• Chelsea should provide a stiff test and are also in need of all three points as they continue their battle with Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Manchester United for a place in the top four.
  

Statements
Jurgen Klopp:

• "I feel the positive energy. It's a massive change from surprise we are up there to getting used to it and getting more confident.
  
• "The five or 10 seconds after the Tottenham equaliser [at Anfield two weeks ago] was the best reaction in the stadium.
  
• "We really feel as one with the supporters as a whole group. You don't walk alone, you're never alone in these situations.
  
• "We are trying to keep this dream alive and at the moment it's all good."
  

Maurizio Sarri:

• "To face Liverpool is going to be difficult for us but every game now is difficult.
  
• "We know well the risks of this match but we also know that when we are able to play at 100% of our potential, we can gain points anywhere.
  
• "We are in a very good physical and mental condition right now."
  

Match Facts

• Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 37 Premier League games at Anfield - only once in their top-flight history have they had a longer unbeaten home run (63 between Feb 1978-Dec 1980).
  
• Chelsea have lost their last five Premier League away games against fellow 'big six' opponents, including all three this season by an aggregate score of 1-11. However, the Blues have won three of their last four away league games against sides starting the day top, including a 2-0 victory at Anfield in April 2014.
  
• Chelsea have won three Premier League games in a row for the first time since September 2018, when they won their first five matches in the competition under Maurizio Sarri.
  
• Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge netted the equaliser for his side at Stamford Bridge in the reverse fixture back in September; the only player to previously net both home and away against the Blues within the same campaign was Fabio Borini, who did so for Sunderland during the 2015-16 season.
  
• Only three of the last 32 visiting managers have managed to taste victory in their first Premier League trip to Anfield (W3 D5 L24); Louis van Gaal in March 2015, Slaven Bilic in August 2015 and most recently, Paul Clement in January 2017.
  
• Roberto Firmino has scored seven goals in his last six Premier League home games for Liverpool. However, the Brazilian has only faced Manchester United (8) and Everton (7) more often than Chelsea (5) without finding the net in the Premier League.
  
• Chelsea's Eden Hazard has had a hand in more goals than any other Premier League player this season (28 - 16 goals and 12 assists). The only league season in which the Belgian has been involved in more goals was in 2011/12 with Ligue 1 club Lille (36).
  

Head to Head

• Liverpool have not won any of their last six Premier League home games against Chelsea, drawing four and losing two of those - they have never endured a longer winless run against an opponent in the competition.
  
• The Blues have only lost twice in their last 16 meetings with the Reds in all competitions, and both of those defeats came at Stamford Bridge.
  
• Chelsea have already tasted victory at Anfield this season, winning 2-1 in the EFL Cup third round. They have never won twice away to Liverpool in the same season.
  
• Liverpool wins: 77 Draws: 41 Chelsea wins: 63
  

Team News
Liverpool

• Liverpool will welcome back left-back Andrew Robertson from a suspension that ruled him out of the midweek Champions League win over Porto.
  
• Joe Gomez was named on the bench on Tuesday and is in line for a first appearance since early December, though Dejan Lovren performed well at the back against Porto. Gomes is with U23s so definitely out for today's game.
  

Chelsea

• Chelsea have the full squad to choose from, except left-back Emerson, who missed Thursday's game, will be assessed before the game.

Predicted Lineups
Liverpool XI:

• Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson; Milner, Henderson, Wijnaldum; Salah, Firmino, Mané

Chelsea XI:

• Kepa; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Luiz, Emerson; Kante, Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek; Hudson-Odoi, Higuain, Hazard

Form

Chelsea	D L W W W
Liverpool	W W W W W

Points Table

POS	CLUB	P	W	D	L	GD	PTS
1	Liverpool	33	25	7	1	55	82
2	Man City	32	26	2	4	62	80
4	Spurs	33	22	1	10	30	67
3	Chelsea	33	20	6	7	23	66
5	Man United	33	19	7	7	19	64

Format Credit: u/YIIZWL

So, the FA cup is done, it was an interesting weekend for football, if not for the FPL. Now that we're closing in on the fifth round, the legendary Blank Game week(s) are coming up, and I'm dangerously unqualified to analyse what happens next (so I'm going to do it anyway).

Gameweek 26 -

If you're saving your Triple Captain and your Bench Boost, there will be a blank gameweek in GW26 - teams that don't play in this fixture will have a double gameweek later in the season, and that week is likely to be the best time to play your Triple Captain

Who's involved:

Southampton play Man United on Sunday 26th of February in the final of the Football League Cup, so won't be available to play their Premier League game scheduled for this weekend.

Who's affected:

Southampton are due to play Arsenal, Man United are due to play Man City. These games are now guaranteed postponed, none of these teams have a Premier League game scheduled for GW26 (a Blank Game Week or BGW). For obvious reasons, try to make sure that you can field a team of 11 players whilst these teams are not playing.
Currently, these matches have not been rescheduled, but on the basis of previous seasons, these will be between GW32 - GW37. The most likely weeks are GW34 or 37, but these are not nailed on yet. Matches played in this week (a Double Game Week or DGW) will be counted into the TOTAL score, meaning a correct captaincy pick will make or break many of your seasons.

Gameweek	Southampton	Arsenal	Man City	Man United
26	Arsenal (H)	Southampton (A)	Man Utd (H)	Man City (A)
32	West Brom (A)	Crystal Palace (A)	Hull (H)	Sunderland (A)
33	Man City (H)	Middlesbrough (A)	Southampton (A)	Chelsea (H)
34	Chelsea (A)	Sunderland (H)	West Brom (H)	Burnley (A)
35	Hull (H)	Spurs (A)	Middlesbrough (A)	Swansea (H)
36	Liverpool (A)	Man Utd (H)	Crystal Palace (H)	Arsenal (A)
37	Middlesbrough (A)	Stoke (A)	Leicester (H)	Spurs (A)

Ones to watch

With Southampton's back line in tatters following Fonte's departure and Van Dijk's recent injury, the team doesn't have much in the way of FPL assets. Long may be returning to form following his goal against Liverpool to put them through to the final, and Rodriguez is turning heads as a cheap 4th or 5th midfielder. Forster is playing well, but with Yoshida and Betrand standing in for the regular centre-backs, the Southampton penalty area isn't the Fort Knox that it was at the start of the season. In my opinion, Southampton don't have a strong captaincy pick, unless you fancy Forster against Arsenal and Chelsea or Middlesborough
Arsenal are playing well week to week, and it's little wonder that Cech, Koscielny, Bellerin and Sanchez are all amongst the highest selected players in their position. There have been concerns about Giroud's impact, particularly on Sanchez's striking potential, however Giroud has looked less convincing recently and Wenger needs a good finish to the season to keep his job. Expect big things from this team, and expect many managers to Captain Sanchez against Southampton and Sunderland/Stoke. Follow the crowd or pick a differential? Only time will tell, and I'll see you in the rant thread!
Man City have the players. They have the skill. They have Kun. What they don't seem to have recently is a solid team. Be careful when picking players here, Guardiola likes to rotate his squad, so it's entirely possible that any player you draft in to play for a City DGW won't play twice at all. Sterling, De Bruyne & Silva are playing well in midfield, and of course the legenday Aguero. Due to the rotation issue, picking a captain that is guaranteed to play a full 180 minutes is hard, but if you're picking a City player against West Brom/Leicester and Man United (never write off a derby, anything can happen), Aguero is the sort of player that can go on a rampage and score 7 goals in two games.This will either be an explosive performance or a failure to launch, but if it goes right City's lower ownership could help to close the gap.
Man United are also performing well, however with Man City and Spurs/Burnley in the space of a week, it could go very well or very badly. Pogba and Ibrahimovic are my picks for the United team due to their reliablity and week-to-week scoring potential, but fixtures make me wonder whether it's worth persuing them. Burnley have had a fantastic run at home, Spurs are still chasing the title and Man City are Man City. If you want a captain pick, go for Ibrahimovic, but this feels risky to me.

Gameweek 28 Blanks:

The FA Cup 5th round draw has been completed as of today (the 30th of January). Teams that play and win their 5th round match will play in the quarter final, which clashes with GW28. All of the Premiership teams involved have managed to avoid each other, meaning that if they all get past their opponents, it'll be a big double game week, and a Bench Boost could result in 15 players playing 180 minutes. Can you say ka-ching?
Currently there is no guarantee that any blanks will occur - although none of the 8 premiership have drawn each other, if all 8 winners of the 5th round are non-premiership teams, GW28 is a normal gameweek.

FA Cup 5th Round Matches

All FA Cup matches take place on the 18th of February at 3pm
Millwall v Derby/Leicester
Huddersfield Town v Manchester City
Wolves v Chelsea
Middlesbrough v Oxford United
Sutton United v Arsenal
Blackburn v Manchester United
Fulham v Spurs
Burnley v Lincoln

Games that may be affected:

Man City v Stoke (if Man City beat Huddersfield)
Crystal Palace v Spurs (if Spurs beat Fulham)
Middlesbrough v Sunderland (if Middlesbrough beat Oxford United)
Arsenal v Leicester (if Arsenal beat Sutton United OR if Leicester beat Derby in their replay on the 8th of February and also beat Millwall)
Southampton v Man Utd (if Man Utd beat Blackburn)
Liverpool v Burnley (if Burnley beat Lincoln)
Chelsea v Watford (if Chelsea beat Wolves)
As soon as betting odds are released, I will update this post, although it's fair to say that the premier league sides will be favoured to progress to the next round.

"Safe" fixtures for GW28:

Bournemouth v West Ham
Everton v West Brom
Hull v Swansea
None of these teams are in the 5th round, so they will all definitely play their GW28 matches. As the draw has kept all Premier league teams apart, we won't know anything more about blanks until then. Whilst it's possible to plan around betting odds, the FA cup is renowned for being unpredictable.
Betting odds should be out within the next week or so - I'll be teaming up with the TheFantasyPL guys (check out their latest team selection blog to pick through the players most likely to be affected and the best replacements to fill their boots during the Blanks.
I won't be keeping this post updated from here on out, but as always, if there are there any players you think need to be watched or avoided, feel free to discuss!

Chelsea vs Liverpool

Overview

	Match Day 26
Kick-off:	Sunday, 6th of Feb 2011 at 4.00pm GMT (11am East Coast, 3am Sydney)
Location:	Stamford Bridge, Chelsea, London
Referee:	Andre Marriner (16 matches, 2 red cards)
Assistant referees:	Scott Ledger & Adam Watts
Fourth official:	Kevin Friend
Previous Fixture:	Liverpool won 2-0 at Anfield with Fernando Torres scoring two goals. The match marked the beginning of a form slump for the title holders. Soccernet Match Report
Television:	Live on Sky Sports 1 (UK), Fox Sports (Aus) and Fox Soccer Channel (USA)
Websites:	Liverpool Latest News, Chelsea Latest News

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Match News

• Critical match for both teams, with Chelsea looking to get their title bid back on track after a recent slump in results. The blues spent more than 70 million pounds in the transfer window to re-enforce their starting lineup both at the front and at the back.
• Liverpool have seen a recent revival under new manager Kenny Dalglish and have also spent bid in the January transfer window in a bid to secure a place in Europe next year. The top 4 is still not out of sight for Liverpool, but they will need to pick up more points on the road.
• Fernando Torres is set to make his debut for Chelsea against his former club after a 50M pound move from Anfield
• Ancelotti is likely to slot Torres up front in a 3-man front line alongside Drogba and Anelka.
• Both Chelsea and Liverpool have taken maximum points from their last three Premier League games
• New Liverpool signing Luis Suarez is set to make his starting debut after coming on in the 70th minute against Stoke mid-week and scoring the second goal.
• Suarez scored 81 goals in 110 games for Ajax, and is looking to make his mark in his first full EPL game
• Raul Meireles is looking to continue his recent good form, with 3 goals in his last 4 EPL outings. The former Porto player has re-found his old form under new manager Kenny Dalglish, who has played him in a more advanced midfield role where he has the freedom to create opportunities.
• Pepe Reina is coming into the game having not conceded a goal in 308 minutes of play (since they played Everton at Anfield on the 16th of January). Three straight clean-sheets for the Spanish keeper.
• Jamie Caragher is expected to return to the starting lineup after sitting out the mid-week Stoke match on the bench. He return from a shoulder injury that kept him out for 6 weeks.
• New Chelsea signing David Luiz is set to make his debut for his new club after a protracted January transfer from Portugese club Benfica. Luiz is expected to line up along-side club captain John Terry in the center of defense, while Branislav Ivanovic is expected to take back his newly preferred position of right-back, possibly relegating Jose Bosingwa back to the substitutes bench.

Match Trivia

• Liverpool have not scored a goal in 5 of their last 6 visits to Stamford Bridge.
• In the 2008 fixture, Liverpool beat Chelsea 1-0 with Alonso scoring the only goal of the match early on. The Liverpool win ended Chelsea's 86-game winning streak at the Bridge. Match Report from 2008
• The sides have met 27 times since 2004, with Chelsea winning 12 times while Liverpool have won 8.
• Chelsea have won all four games at Stamford Bridge this year without conceding a single goal
• Didier Drogba has scored five goals in his last eight matches against Liverpool in all competitions.
• Over the last five games since Kenny Dalglish has taken over at Liverpool they have taken 10 points. Only Manchester United are in better form in the past 5 games
• Fernando Torres scored seven goals in eight games for Liverpool against Chelsea.

Pre-Match Press Quotes

We are more important than any player they have got. We'll play against whoever they put on the pitch. I would expect they would relish the battle against him [Torres] but they have competed brilliantly against everyone since I have come in

-- Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool Manager

Media

Site	Links
Soccernet	Gamecast
Guardian	Gamecast
Sky Sports(UK)	Preview

Live Streams

Streams will be updated 30-15 minutes before the game. Check back here

Site	Links
LiveTV	Homepage STREAMS
myp2p	Homepage STREAMS
atdhe	Homepage
rojadirecta	HOMEPAGE (scroll down to liverpool vs chelsea) STREAM

Match Odds

The price on Liverpool has been shifting a lot while Chelsea have shortened. A lot of money on Torres to score at $2.20

Agency	Chelsea	Draw	Liverpool
SportingBet	1.53	3.70	5.75
William Hill	1.57	3.75	6.00
Bet365	1.57	4.00	6.00
Betfair	1.64	4.30	6.00

Bets: 2-2 is $19, while Chelsea to lead at half time and Liverpool to win is paying $41

Table

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	D	P
1	Man Utd	25	15	9	1	55	24	31	54
2	Arsenal	25	15	5	5	54	27	27	50
3	Man City	26	14	7	5	42	22	20	49
4	Chelsea	24	13	5	6	46	21	25	44
5	Tottenham	25	12	8	5	35	27	8	44
6	Sunderland	26	9	10	7	32	31	1	37
7	Liverpool	25	10	5	10	33	31	2	35
8	Bolton	26	8	9	9	36	37	-1	33
9	Stoke	25	10	3	12	31	32	-1	33
10	Newcastle	25	8	7	10	40	38	2	31

Stats

	Chelsea		Liverpool
Top Scorers	Florent Malouda	9	Fernando Torres
	Didier Drogba	9	Steven Gerrard
	Salomon Kalou	7	Dirk Kuyt
	Nicolas Anelka	6	Maxi Rodríguez
Assists	Didier Drogba	8	Steven Gerrard
Yellows	Branislav Ivanovic	7	Fernando Torres
Reds	Michael Essien	1	Lucas
Last 5 (home/away)	W-D-W-D-L		W-L-L-L-L
Last 5	W-W-W-L-D		W-W-W-D-L
Avg. Scored1		2.2
Avg. Conceeded1		0.6

*1. Average at home for home team, away for away team *

Last 5 Results

Chelsea	Result	Liverpool	Result
Sunderland (A)	4-2	Stoke (H)	2-0
Bolton (A)	4-0	Fulham (H)	1-0
Blackburn (H))	2-0	Wolves (A)	3-0
Wolves (A)	0-1	Everton (H)	2-2
Aston Villa (H)	3-3	Blackpool (A)	1-2

Lineups

Chelsea

Manager:
Formation:
Unavailable:
In doubt:

Possible Starting (unconfirmed)

No.	Player	Pos
1	Petr Cech	GK
17	José Bosingwa	RB
2	Branislav Ivanovic	CB
26	John Terry	CB
3	Ashley Cole	LB
5	Michael Essien	CM
12	Jon Obi Mikel	CM
8	Frank Lampard	CM
39	Nicolas Anelka	RW
9	Fernando Torres	ST
11	Didier Drogba	LW

Subs

No.	Player	Pos
22	Ross Turnbull	GK
4	David Luiz	CB
15	Florent Malouda	F
19	Paulo Ferreira	D
21	Solomon Kalou	F
51	Josh McEchran	M
43	Sala

Liverpool

Manager:
Formation:
Unavailable:
In doubt:

Starting (Confirmed - LFC)

No.	Player	Pos
25	Reina	GK
23	Jamie Carragher	CB
34	Skrtel	CB
5	Agger	CB
34	Kelly	RWB
2	Johnson	LWB
21	Lucas	CM
8	Gerrard	CM
17	Maxi Rodríguez	LM
4	Meireles	CAM
18	Kuyt	ST

Live Updates

Min	Action
0'	KICK OFF
33'	FUCK!! MAXI!!
45'	HALF TIME - Awesome Game. Torres had one chance, runs onto a ball from Drogba that was cut across goal. Brilliant last second block from Carragher. And then there was Maxi. Maxi, maxi maxi. No doubt that video will be all over reddit within an hour.
45'	SECOND HALF
65'	SUBSTITUTION CHELSEA Solomon Kalou (9M pounds) has come on for Fernando Torres (50M pounds)
68'	RAUL MEIRELES!!!! LIVERPOOOOOL!
90'	FULL TIME what a game, what a weekend!

(Apologies for not keeping up a running game log. I got a bit carried away watching the game. Almost had a heart attack)

Match Overview

Chelsea	0	Liverpool	1
		Meireles	68'
_____________________	___	_____________________	___

Match Stats

Chelsea		Liverpool
0(0)	Shots (on Goal)	0(0)
0	Fouls	0
0	Corner Kicks	0
0	Offsides	0
0%	Possession	0%
0	Yellow Cards	0
0	Red Cards	0
0	Saves	0

Match Reports

[TBA]

Man UtdvsMan City

Competition: Premier League - Matchday 16
Referee: Michael Oliver
Venue: Old Trafford
Date: Sunday, 10 Dec.
Time: 4:30 p.m. (GMT)
soccerstreams | Worldwide Channel List
Betting Odds

• Manchester United: 3.30
  
• Draw: 3.40
  
• Manchester City: 2.25
  

PL Table

Club	Played	+/- Goal Difference	Points
1. Man City	15	+36	43
2. Man Utd	15	+26	35

Possible Starting XI
Manchester United
De Gea; Lindelof, Smalling, Rojo; Valencia, Matic, Herrera, Young; Lingard, Martial, Lukaku
Manchester City
Ederson; Walker, Otamendi, Kompany, Delph; De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Silva, Sterling, Aguero, Sane
Team News
Manchester United:

• Ander Herrera will partner Nemanja Matic in midfielder as Paul Pogba starts his three-game ban this weekend. A late decision will be made on Marouane Fellaini.
• Jose Mourinho has confirmed Phil Jones and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are available this weekend, but Eric Bailly and Michael Carrick miss out once again.
• All in all, Herrera and Jones should be the only changes from the side that beat Arsenal 3-1 last weekend.

Manchester City:

• Pep Guardiola has confirmed David Silva will play in the Manchester derby on Sunday after overcoming an injury scare.
• Vincent Kompany was not 100% in midweek and remains a doubt, while Fabian Delph was ill and may not be fully fit on Sunday.
• Other than that, only Benjamin Mendy and John Stones are sidelined for Pep Guardiola this weekend.
• Sergio Aguero looks likely to start at the weekend after he was given the night off on Wednesday.

Stats

• After losing four Premier League games in a row against Manchester City, Manchester United have lost just one of their last five derbies against them (W2 D2 L1).
  
• No away side has scored more Premier League goals at Old Trafford than Manchester City (27 - level with Chelsea) while only Chelsea (6) have won more games there as the visiting side in the competition than City (5).
  
• Manchester United have lost seven of their last 12 league games against their local rivals (W3 D2 L7) – as many as they had lost in their previous 45 in league competition against them (W22 D16 L7).
  
• Jose Mourinho’s side are on the longest current unbeaten home run in the Premier League (24 games - W14 D10 L0), with their last such defeat at Old Trafford coming against Manchester City in September 2016 (1-2).
  
• Manchester City have now won 13 successive league matches – a joint-record within a single top-flight season, alongside Chelsea (2016-17), Arsenal (2001-02), Preston and Sunderland (both 1891-92).
  
• If Pep Guardiola’s side win this match then they will equal the all-time English top-flight league record of 14 consecutive victories; set by Arsenal between February and August 2002.
  
• Jose Mourinho has won just four of his 19 managerial meetings with Pep Guardiola in all competitions (W4 D7 L8), with just one of those wins coming in league competition (2-1 with Real Madrid at Barcelona in April 2012).
  
• These are the two tightest defences in the Premier League this season, with Manchester United (9) having conceded one goal fewer than Manchester City (10); this despite facing more than double the tally of shots on target (64 v 27).
  
• Manchester United’s cumulative xG conceded total in the Premier League this season is 18.79 (8th best), meaning that from the quality of chances they have allowed their opponents, the average side would have conceded 10 goals more than they have done (19 instead of nine).
  
• Romelu Lukaku scored in both of Everton’s league matches against Manchester City last season – the only player to have scored in three successive league appearances against a side managed by Pep Guardiola is Diego Forlan (Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona between March 2009 and February 2010).
  
• Gabriel Jesus has been directly involved in 21 goals in his 24 Premier League appearances so far in his career (15 goals, six assists).
  

Form guide
Manchester United: WWWWL
Manchester City: WWWWW

Part 2 here - Part 3 here - Part 4 here

On Friday at 8pm UK time, Reading and Derby County will kick off the 127^th season of the English second division - also known as the Championship! 24 clubs will compete for 3 promotion spots to the Premier league (2 via automatic promotion and 1 via playoffs) and to avoid the 3 relegation spots to the third tier a.k.a League One.

Its looking like a really tight and competitive season. The league is absolutely full of ambitious player and managerial talent - the more time goes by the more it looks like a Premier League 2. If you want a competitive league with proper English football, that also has the spice of skilful players and forward thinking managers, it really is the place to go.

This is guide written by the fans who have come together on /Championship - an absolutely huge thanks to them. Do check out the sub, we try to keep it a good place to discuss the EFL, away from the rancid gloryhunting shithole that is /soccer (just kidding - I like this place). Lots going on, including a score predictor thread which is running all season.

This guide is in table order with the PL demoted sides first. Only 5 clubs today (because the Swansea one is a fucking novel and I can't fit any more in), the rest will be submitted tomorrow and Friday. Do bare in mind that not all the transfer news will be up to date as these guides were largely written a week ago. Point out to me if there are any clear errors with formatting or spelling.

Championship info, links and media

/Championship's 17/18 player of the season review

Season previews: The Guardian | Sky Sports | The Mirror
EFL focused podcasts: Not the Top 20 | The Totally Football League Show
The 17/18 table - Wolves, Cardiff and Fulham went up. Barnsley, Burton and Sunderland went down. This season West Brom, Swansea and Stoke join from the PL and Wigan, Blackburn and Rotherham join from League 1.
These are the bookies' favourites for promotion (via Oddschecker):

Club	Odds
Stoke	2.75
Middlesbrough	4
West Brom	4
Nottingham Forest	4.5
Leeds	4.75
Swansea	5

And relegation:

Club	Odds
Rotherham	2.2
Bolton	2.25
Ipswich	4.5
Reading	5
QPR	6
Hull	6

How to watch in the UK: Live rights are owned by Sky Sports. They are upping the number of televised matches this season. Reading v Derby on Friday is televised. The weekly highlights show previously on Channel 5 is moving to Quest TV, which apparently is on Freeview.
How to watch abroad: Depends, but in most territories, the iFollow Service is available, which is £110 to watch all a single club's matches. Bargain. I think the clubs that aren't on iFollow have their own similar streaming services.
Check out club Youtube channels - quite a few of them post extended highlights now with their own commentary, including Derby, Norwich, Sheffield Wednesday, Brentford and more. (You may need VPN to watch if you're abroad.)

Swansea City by RafiakaMacakaDirk and my_knob_is_gr8

Location: Swansea, Wales
Nickname: Swans, The Jacks
Major honours: Football League Cup (2013), Championship Play-off Winner (2011), League One Winners (1925, 1949, 2008)
17/18 finishing postion: 18th (Premier League)
Transfermarkt squad value: €115.5 mil NOTE: This number is as of July 22nd, when we still have Mawson (€15 mil), A. Ayew (€15 mil), Bony (€10 mil), Clucas (€8 mil) and Fernandez (€8 mil), who are all pretty much expected to be sold, or loaned out, before the season starts. Without all of these players except Bony (who's injured for a while so it makes it unlikely he'll be sold soon), the squad value would be around €70 mil.
Manager: Graham Potter joined the Swans on 11th June 2018. In 2010, he became head coach of Östersund, who were in the fourth tier of Swedish football. 5 years later, he got the club promoted into the Swedish top flight and in 2017, they won Svenska Cupen which qualified them for the Europa League where they managed to get through the group stage. He’s been applauded for what he did at Östersund and the way he managed to build the club up from nothing. The year after his success in the Europa league he signed a 3 year contract with Swansea.
Potter is well respected by The Swans and after a few years of poor managerial and financial decisions his appointment is seen as a step in the right direction to bringing us back to our old ways of being a well-run club. Potter has been recognised for his "progressive" and "unconventional" coaching methods. At Östersund, he encouraged his players and staff to engage in community activities, such as performing in theatre and music productions which was designed to take them out of their comfort zone. Potter describes his style of football on the pitch as "tactically flexible, attacking, and possession-based". At Östersund, he deployed a flexible 3–5–2 formation centred on ball possession.
Best player(s)/ talisman:With many of our best players being rumoured with a move away what good players that remain at the start of the season is yet to be seen.
Alfie Mawson is probably our standout player. He’s been amazing for us since we got him and was a bargain at about £3m. He’s great in the air and is just an all round tank. Keeping him will be a huge boost for us and should be solid in the championship.
Federico "El Pajaro" Fernandez has also been strong at the back with Alfie. The pair played with each other for the majority of last season and together became a solid unit. We will most likely sell him to reduce wages though.
Jordan Ayew put in a great shift last season and was our top goal scorer. His work rate was immense and was able to drop back and defend when needed. He’s fast, able to beat a man and a decent finisher. Sadly all these players are transfer targets for other clubs and might not even be here at the start of the season. If we can keep a lot of our players we should have a decent season but who knows who'll be left by the end of the window…
Rising star: Swansea’s U23 had a great season last year and with Potter wanting a young and fresh squad, a handful have moved up into the first team.
Our standout youngster, Oliver McBurnie, joined Barnsley on loan in January last season where he went on to win a Championship player of the month award after 6 goals in 8 games and went on to win Barnsley’s Player of the year award. While only 22, he’s struggled to break into our first team but will most likely be our main striker for the coming season. Be on the lookout for his long legs, miniature shinpads and ridiculous sock length! LEGS LEGS LEGS!!!
Connor Roberts performed well at RB last season and adapted quickly to the premier league where he battled Kyle Naughton to be in the starting line up and did great when given the chance. Decent at going forward and professional at the back. Hopefully potter puts him ahead of Naughton.
What happened last season?: What Happened last season?: After our great escape the season before and with Paul Clement at the helm there was optimism that the 17/18 season could be our turning point where we start rebuilding 'The Swansea Way". How wrong we were.
After a disastrous transfer window where we sold Sigurdsson and never replaced him and started panic buying the week before the transfer window closed we were left an obvious hole in our team. We had no creativity in midfield and no one could kick the ball into the box to save their life. And just to rub it in further Renato Sanches turned out to be more disappointing than Bob Bradley. With the team sitting bottom of the table Clement was sacked in late December.
Then along came the wise talking Carlos Carvalhal who managed to rebuild the confidence the team had lost. Our results took a turn for the good, beating Liverpool, Arsenal, Burnley and West Ham consecutively at home. He pulled us out of the relegation zone and things were looking good. However, the good times were quickly followed by the bad times. Our form turned and we didn’t win a single one of our last 9 matches. We were quickly relegated after pitifully losing to both Southampton and Stoke in our last 2 games of the season.
Highlights (Or lowlights):
The pass by Renato Sanches that summed up his and our season
Swansea City 3-1 Arsenal
Summer transfer business (so far): At the end of last season, it was clear we needed several transfers, both in and out. However, this would all depend on the manager we got.
Yan Dhanda (Free, Liverpool): A 19 year-old Midfielder, Yan Dhanda left Liverpool this summer and joined the Swans in a free, before we even hired Graham Potter. At one time one of the most promosing youngsters in Liverpool's Academy, injuries slowed down his progress, and ultimately made him fall behind other players. Citing lack of first-team playing time, Dhanda decided to join us this summer in hopes of getting regular playing time in the senior squad. Through 3 pre-season games, Dhanda has been one of the brighest and most impressive players in the squad, even scoring a game-winning goal and smashing a penalty in a shootout against Genoa. With our current injuries and shenanigans involved in our midfield, Dhanda has a good chance of becoming a starter and hopefully guide our midfield during the season.
Jordi Govea (Free, Real Madrid): Another 19 year-old from Ecuador, Jordi was the first signing under Potter. Not much can be said about the lad, but this is what Real Madrid had as his bio:

Jordi is an Ecuadorian defender who possess three key qualities for a player in his position: he's skilful, is able to go past a player and has a good shot on him. He's left footed and is able to send in good crosses on the run.

With Martin Olsson currently as our starting LB, and Kyle Naughton as the backup, the hope is that Jordi can develop on our U-23 squad and hopefully move up to the senior squad in coming years. Also the only man I've seen do a medical while wearing jeans (https://twitter.com/SwansOfficial/status/1015251916132057089)
Joel Asoro (€2 mil., Sunderland): Yet another 19 year-old, a Swedish winger who has represented his country in the younger levels, he was Potter's first senior signing. With world-class speed, and some impressive skills, Asoro was able to score 3 goals and get 2 assists last season in 26 apperances for Sunderland. While these numbers may seem a bit disappointing, many of these games were sub appearances on a very dysfunctional team. Along with Dhanda, Asoro has been one of the most impressive players during preseason, constantly beating his man with either speed or skills, and whipping in good balls to Legs. At the current rate, Asoro appears to have a good chance of starting on the right wing spot, with Nathan Dyer and Luciano Narsingh backing him up.
Predicted starting XI: NOTE: This is gonna be assuming Mawson, A. Ayew, Clucas, and Fernandez are all sold by the start of the season. If by some reason they end up staying, they are pretty much guaranteed to start. Based on the pre-season games so far, a lineup looking like this would be plausible, with Rodon most likely to be replaced by a CB (possibly Scott McKenna) when we buy one. Our second unit is looking something like this.
Best case scenario: Graham Potter is able to motivate and make sure our senior players (Fer, Carroll, etc.) stay fit, along with our youngsters being able to make an impact as expected, and also we retain Mawson, Fernandez, and Clucas, we can finish in the top 2 and get promoted automatically.
Worst case scenario: Our worst case scenario, and something many of us fear of happening, consists of primarily 3 things. 1. Graham Potter isn't given enough time to build an identity with our squad and is sacked by the midway point of the season by the greedy, dumb American owners. . 2. We end up not replacing the players we sold properly like last summer, therefore having a squad with holes everywhere and no chemistry. 3. Our youngsters such as Asoro, McBurnie, Dhanda and company don't pan out and progress at all, thefore becoming mediocre players. This would all culminate in us looking like Sunderland, and making relegation a probability.
Prediction: Realistically I see us selling Mawson and company in the last days before the season starts and not replacing them properly until later on. Because of this, as well as our current injuries with Fer and Clucas, I can see us initially struggling to build an identity but over time, we will start playing like Potter wants us and finishing the season strongly.
8th place, missing the play-offs by 4 points
What will happen to your closest rivals?: The scum that is known as Cardiff City will break the record for lowest points ever accumulated in a Premier League season, getting 5 points all from draws, and will therefore get relegated with 17 games to spare.

West Bromwich Albion by Joelwba

Location: The Hawthorns, West Bromwich, West Midlands
Nickname: The Baggies, The Throstles
Major honours: 1x League title, 1x League Cup, 5x FA Cup
17/18 finishing postion: 20th in Premier League (relegated)
Transfermarkt squad value: £101.16m
Manager: Darren Moore or Big Dave as he's known to Albion fans. A club icon as a player in the early 2000s, he returned to look after our U23 squad before being promoted to assistant manager by Alan Pardew in January. Following the end of Pardew's horrific reign, Moore took temporary charge with Albion facing inevitable relegation. He led us to wins over Newcastle, Spurs, Man Utd and a draw with Liverpool, somehow taking our futile battle for survival to the final week of the season. Following this he earned the head coach role permanently. Moore is loved among the Albion faithful, largely due to his reputation as a player here. He heavily favours a 4-4-2 formation and at the back end of last season, tended to soak up pressure and play on the counter attack. It will be interesting to see how his approach differs in a league where we are one of the favourites, not fighting to survive (hopefully)
Best player(s)/ talisman: It's an interesting situation for Albion currently. There are plenty of Premier League quality players still in the squad. A lot depends on if they are picked off before the deadline shuts. Chris Brunt is a club stalwart and likely to be reappointed as captain. He is adored by the fans and in my opinion will be an incredible asset in the championship. His set pieces alone will bring 10+ goals to the side. Kieran Gibbs is a high quality player who appears to be set to stay and should make a big difference. Jay Rodriguez, Craig Dawson, Salomon Rondon and Nacer Chadli should all make a big difference in this division IF they stay. In all honesty I expect to lose a few of the above. Sam Johnstone appears to be an astute signing to replace the outgoing Ben Foster.
Rising star: Sam Field he's one of our own! He looked completely at home against some of the top Premier League sides last campaign. A box-to-box midfielder, he's full of energy and looks so comfortable on the ball. I expect him to be a major part of our side this season, having just signed a new long-term deal.
Kyle Edwards is an exciting attacking midfielder who has been impressing in pre-season. He may have a part to play following a loan spell at Exeter last campaign.
Jonathon Leko looked like a potential world-beater when he first came through a couple of years back. A lightning quick winger full of tricks. A loan spell at Bristol City and limited appearances later he seems to be losing his way. Will be an interesting one to watch.
Finally, the enigma that is Olly Burke. After signing with us last summer for £15m, he failed to impress any of the four managers we had over the season. He looks exciting when he comes on, without any end product so far, and was unfairly blamed for a loss at West Ham by Alan 'Coward' Pardew. We all know the talent he's got. Hopefully we can see it this season.
What happened last season?: Let's not talk about it... We finally escaped the stranglehold of Tony Pulis, only to opt for the human joke that is Alan Pardew and duly hurtled towards relegation. Four of our players stole a taxi and then played (and lost) the following weekend.
Pardew was sacked about 3 months too late, and Moore took over, restoring pride with some notable wins over Man Utd and Spurs.
This season we also lost the great Cyrille Regis, and the outpouring of emotion and the coming together of the club during the weeks after his passing was something special.
Summer transfer business (so far): We started by releasing Claudio Yacob, Boaz Myhill and Gareth McAuley. Yacob and McAuley will be greatly missed but it is perhaps the right time for them to go.
Jonny Evans departed for Leicester for a cut-price £3m, Ben Foster left for Watford and James McClean has departed for Stoke City.
Sam Johnstone has been bought in to replace Foster, with Jonathon Bond arriving as backup. Kyle Bartley has joined from Swansea City and it appears that Harvey Barnes will soon be arriving on loan from Leicester.
Finally, James Morrison is currently out of contract but still with the club. His future is uncertain.
I am very happy with Johnstone and Bartley. It has been a quiet window for Albion so far but that is largely a good thing. The squad is packed with Premier League talent and the window is more about keeping hold of them.
There is major interest in Dawson and Rondon, along with interest in Rodriguez, Hegazi and Chadli. If any of the above go, then we would need to replace. Otherwise I would be happy with another striker and another CB.
It is also worth mentioning that every player in the Albion side suffered a 50% wage cut upon relegation which means that we are financially sound despite relegation, but may lead to more big names leaving.
Predicted starting XI: This is my best attempt. It will undoubtedly be 4-4-2. We may see Nyom in at right back and perhaps Barry in for Field.
Obviously about half of this side could leave, so we shall see.
Best case scenario: The bulk of the side remains and the quality in the side shines through as we breeze to automatic promotion.
Worst case scenario: The better players leave or do not put the effort in. Moore cannot transfer his great start into his first full season in management. We become embroiled in a relegation battle
Prediction: It will be somewhere in the middle. I'd like to think we'll go up automatically but I think play-offs are more likely. 6th
What will happen to your closest rivals?: Villa won't go down but will settle into mid-table, despite the recent takeover.
I think Wolves will do well in the PL, although I don't know how long Nuno will last before a big club comes in.

Stoke City by mrmariomaster

Location: Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire
Nickname: The Potters
Stadium: bet365 Stadium, 30,089 seats
Major honours: 1972 League Cup
17/18 finishing position: 19th, Premier League
Squad value: £127.8 million
Manager: Gary Rowett signed from Derby in May. His honest attitude has brought lots of optimism to fans, who are looking forward to an overhaul of the Club. His style of play seems to change based on the squad he has available.
Best Player: Joe Allen was vital to the Club last season, giving us hope that we would avoid relegation. His massive new contract signed this summer shows how loyal and committed to the Club he is, and will be a vital player this season.
Rising star: Tom Edwards is a local lad who has won the Under 18 Player of the Year award twice in the Club. In the latter parts of last season he played some good first team football.
What happened last season: A pathetic attempt at a season that had been coming for a while under Mark Hughes. Paul Lambert was appointed in January, but a win rate of just 2 in 15 matches wasn’t enough for him to keep his job and miss out on the million pound bonus offered to him.
Transfer business so far: So far this has been a decent transfer window. Peter Etebo had an amazing World Cup for Nigeria and Benik Afobe looks really promising. Adam Federici has also been appointed to replace Lee Grant. Xherdan Shaqiri has left along with a few players like Stephen Ireland and Glen Johnson who will not be missed. Badou Ndiaye also looks to be on his way out, but it looks like Jack Butland will stay with us, which is massive. Perhaps most surprising are the new contracts signed by our 2 best players last season, Joe Allen and Moritz Bauer.
Predicted Line up: Here is our predicted squad. I’m not sure what formation we will have. EDIT: This is a new version, complete with our rumoured new signings and in the right formation.
Best case scenario: Stoke will finish top with an all-time Championship points record.
Worst case scenario: A mediocre start to the season will see Rowett sacked and Stoke with a disappointing mid-table finish.
Prediction: I think with our squad and our new manager, we will finish 1st.
What will happen to our closest rivals? Port Vale will be relegated to the Vanarama National League.

Aston Villa by trueschoolalumni

Location: Villa Park, Trinity Rd, Birmingham B6 6HE
Nickname: The Villans, The Villa, Prince William's Club, David "Twat" Cameron's Second Club.
Major honours: 7 First Division wins, 7 FA Cups, 5 League Cups, 1 European Cup, 1 European Super Cup, 1 Intertoto Cup
17/18 finishing postion: 4th
Transfermarkt squad value: £67.77m and dropping fast
Manager: Steve Bruce (for now). Former Man Utd playing legend who's been a fixture of English football for decades. He joined Villa in 2016 after successful runs at Hull, Sunderland (yes they were good once) and Birmingham City. A bit of a promotion specialist, he's taken Championship clubs up to the Premier League 4 times in the past and just missed out last season, losing 1-0 to Fulham in the Playoff Final. Tactically, he's fairly old school who prefers 4-4-2 or a 4-1-4-1, usually involving a big man up top. Fun fact: while managing Huddersfield in 1999 he wrote three novels, "Striker!", "Sweeper!" and "Defender!", which focus on main character Steve Barnes, a football manager. Barnes solves crime and takes on terrorists, and the books have become prized rarities. The Guardian's Football Weekly podcast managed to get a copy and read out some of the copy - suitably awful.
Best player(s)/ talisman: There's only one Jack Grealish. A Villa boy through and through, he's been with the club since 2001 (aged 6), and made his way into the first team in the 2013-14 season. He's been the centre of controversy a few times, most notably getting on the beers and passing out on a Tenerife street. Playing as a number 10, his quick feet and dribbling skills provide a number of goals and assists, as well as fouls. He probably went down a bit too easily when first in the Premier League, but time in the gym has noticeably toughened him up and he's a much more solid player as a result. One of the better players in the Championship, and due to Villa's abject finances, a transfer target for the likes of Leicester.
Rising star: Keinan Davis could possibly be it, potentially Andre Green and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy as well.
What happened last season?: Have you ever walked into a casino, spotted the roulette table and popped £10,000 on red? It's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off. You've doubled your money if you win, but look like a right git if you lose. Villa figured this was a good way to approach 2017-18: spend millions on players, get in lots of loans, gamble everything on achieving promotion. After a so-so start, Bruce got the team playing well, stringing together a number of wins and moving through the playoff spots. Unfortunately they ran into a few teams playing out of their skin - champions Wolves ran away with the league and boasted a squad that included several Champions League players. Neil Warnock's Cardiff couldn't stop winning and grabbed the second automatic promotion. In the playoff final Villa came up against a Ryan Sessegnon-led Fulham and were just pipped at the post 1-0.
Summer transfer business (so far): It's one-way traffic, due to absolutely abysmal finances. Loan spells for Lewis Grabban, Robert Snodgrass, Josh Onomah and Sam Johnstone have all ended, which is almost the spine of the team (Johnstone in particular - he was arguably the best keeper in the Championship and personally bagged a number of wins). Plus clubs are circling to pick off whatever assets we have left (eg. Jack Grealish, James Chester). With no prospect of anyone new coming in, it looks like the youth academy will be getting a lot more game time.
Predicted starting XI: Possibly this, but half these players could be gone before the first match.
Best case scenario: Mid-table anonymity would have to be best case - Villa are a mess and could go down this time around.
Worst case scenario: Our finances are the real issue - they are dire. Villa need to find £9 million this month to avoid going into administration. Owner "Dr." Tony Xia is a billionaire, apparently, but tax bills went unpaid and the question remains if he's able to support the club as generously as he has in the past. Administration, points deductions and potentially relegation to League One are all real possibilities right now. It's not looking good.
Prediction: Due to financial irregularities in the 23 clubs above us, Villa will get into the Champions League and take out the likes of Atletico, Bayern and Real Madrid on the way to our second European Cup. "Taylor, Green, prepared to venture down the left. There's a good ball played in for Jack Grealish. Oh, it must be and it is! It's Keinan Davis!"
What will happen to your closest rivals?: Unfortunately the Scum managed to avoid League One in the final rounds of the season. Here's hoping they go one better. Agbonlahor to re-sign for one game: the Derby. And score the winner, again.

Middlesbrough by OneSmallHuman

Location: The Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough
Founded: 1876
Nickname: The Boro (Or just Boro)
Major honours: The League cup 2003-2004 season
17/18 finishing position: 5th
Transfermarkt squad value: 79.34m
Manager: Tony Pulis became manager of us in late December 2017, replacing the sacked Garry Monk after a pretty lacklustre few months of the campaign (despite where our league position was). Pulis is known in England for being the man that is never relegated when in charge of someone in the top flight. We are all aware of Tony Pulis' style of football. You start by having a strong and massive defence and maximise your use of set pieces to gain an advantage. Pulis is a lover of all set piece plays, whether that is crossing the ball in from a corner or free kick, or launching a ball into the box from a throw in, they're all in his arsenal of weapons. 'Pulisball' as it is pretty much known. Pulis has achieved promotion from the championship once before with Stoke, and I hope he achieves it again with us this season
Best player(s)/ rising star: I mean, where else do I begin. Adama Traore. Arguably the best player in the championship on his day and is one of the most frightening dribblers in English football, maybe even world football. The winger is known for his speed and dribbling ability although is usually criticised for his lack of end product. Before last season I would've agreed, however 5 goals and 10 assists, with all but 2 assists coming before Pulis' arrival show the progression of the Spanish winger.
As for other members of the squad, Ben Gibson, the prodigal son. Boro through and through he's progressed into a commanding centre half with the ability to play out from the back thanks to Karanka. He gained attention and emerged as one of the few given credit after our disappointing premier league campaign but was only the subject of one bid upon our relegation, from now manager Tony Pulis. It remains to be seen whether he'll be here come the first game of the season, but I hope he will be.
As for future stars, Dael Fry, already has played 2 championship campaigns for us and looks as assured as a veteran of the game. Another centre half produced by our academy and he is being played in cdm this pre-season by Pulis, to add to his versatility. Hopefully a standout season for him, especially if Gibson does end up leaving. Finally, yes, he does always look as confused as images of him show.
What happened last season?: Well, the first half of the season was tragic under Monk. We played really poor football at times and looked like we hadn't defended a day in our lives. There was also no consistency in the team, we'd win one game then lose the next. A key theme under both managers however, was our inability to beat those around us in the table. After Pulis' appointment the results picked up and it ended with us finishing 5th in the table. We ultimately lost in the playoff semi finals to Aston Villa but honestly, we didn't think we'd even be in the top half around Christmas.
Summer transfer business (so far): Just the three deals to talk about so far. We've acquired Paddy McNair from Sunderland who looks like a decent player. He's been utilised in right back and midfield during pre-season so it looks like they'll be his positions for the season. I imagine he'll play alongside Clayts and Howson in a midfield three.
Aden Flint was signed from Bristol City and I think I'm in the minority when I say I don't like how much we paid for him. Obviously the man is a Pulis player but I'm a bit unsure about his defensive ability. That being said he's looked strong during pre-season and I'm sure Pulis will get the best out of him. Fabio departed our club for Nantes so we'll need more full back cover.
As for the rest of the window, I expect Gibson to leave but will be delighted if he doesn't. One of our strikers will also leave and Braithwaite should follow after his decent World Cup performances. We'll probably bring in a striker and a winger and hopefully hold onto Adama. That'd be a successful window in my eyes.
Predicted starting XI: My best guess The only other guess I could make is that Gibson might leave and then Ayala would start, but he's injured at this point in time. Britt might play over Gestede too if Pulis is feeling fancy.
Best case scenario: It has to be top of the pile right? It's not out of the question to imagine us up there and if everything clicks then we've got a chance. A defence that scores more than some teams' strikers, Adama channelling his inner Messi and finding consistency, Rudy/Britt/Bamford scoring for fun. It could be carnage.
Worst case scenario: I can't see us finishing outside the playoffs, if we did then that would be gut-wrenching. But if we did then that would most certainly be the worst. Realistically, it'd be losing in the playoffs... again, and if it were in the final again then god help me. Although saying this, now losing Bamford and maybe Traore will be a worst case scenario in itself, definitely if they're not replaced.
Prediction: Have to be confident, although it always kills me. 1st or 2nd. Tony Pulis and his nice white trainers carry us to the promise land. That being said, we never do it the easy way.
Best Match of Last Season Sorry Leeds fans, but it had to be. "Hattrick Bamford" as our Twitter account tweeted, 3-0 against Leeds with Adama running the show. Leeds clearly found some positive from the game as they're set to sign him off us. This was the sign of what we should've done more last season. Showed what Paddy could've been too if given an even more extended period in Striker by himself. Oh well.
What will happen to your closest rivals?: Who even are our closest rivals in this league? We're in geographical purgatory. Can't say Sunderland anymore so what? Leeds? Bielsa either turns them into the well oiled machine they hope for or he succumbs to the old Leeds ways and is sacked by December. As for the Mackems, probably promoted from League 1.

UPDATED 1/5

SkyBet predictions
Manager out

Name	Former Position	Team To	Transfer Type	Fee	Source	Status
Garry Monk	CB	TBD	Sack	none	Official	confirmed

Manager in

Name	Nationality	FormeCurrent teams coached	Source	SkyBet odds	Status
Marcelo Bielsa	Argentina	Chile, Marseille	Everyone	16/1	Would've happened by now, right?
Gus Poyet	Uruguay	AEK Athens, Sunderland	Most everyone	10/1	We're better than Sunderland
Roberto Di Matteo	Italy	Chelsea, Shalke	Just search the man	12/1	Interesting history, this guy
Jose Morais	Portugal	Chelsea (asst.), Al Shabab	Sky	16/1	Inexperienced but interesting
Alan Curtis	Wales	Swansea City	Watch a game, you twats	1/3	Club legend out, legend in?
Unai Emery	Spain	Sevilla	WalesOnline	20/1	Pipe dream IMO
Ryan Giggs	Wales	ManU	Guardian	20/1	Not sure why this would ever happen
Brendan Rodgers	N. Ireland	Liverpool, Us	DailyMail	4/1	Would've happened by now
Clarence Seedorf	Netherlands	AC Milan	WalesOnline	28/1	My personal favorite for no reason at all

At the time of writing, Beijing Renhe - Henan Jianye just kicked off, with the away side being the heavy favourites with avg. odds of 1.50 (Source). Now, I could explain in 3-4 paragraphs why these odds are odd by just comparing the teams, but to summarize the important part: Henan Jianye is garbage and Beijing Renhe is slightly less garbage.
So what is the problem? The odds for this game opened at 2.56 - 3.51 - 2.73 (1X2, Pinnacle odds), not going into details I would say this is fairly priced, midtable garbage team vs 2nd to bottom garbage team; it could go both ways.
Prematch, the odds had changed to 5.83 - 4.37 - 1.50. In a "clean" competition it would probably mean that something big happened; injuries, point deduction, maybe even no supporters. However, in this match nothing of that kind happened.
Then what is going on here? Let's start with some background:

• Henan's Korean coach Chang Woe-Ryong got fired after the 1-4 defeat to Shandong Luneng. If it was justified to fire him is not for me to decide, but anyone can make a case for his dismissal. The results weren't good nor was the quality of play showing any signs of progression.
  
• Technically, Beijing Renhe and Hebei CFFC are out of the running for continental football (only top 4 qualify). Their relegation worries are also not that big, especially since the meltdown extraordinaire at Tianjin Quanjian.
  

Why Hebei? Well, that is where I got suspicious. The first match for new coach Wang Baoshan was the homegame Henan - Hebei. The away side, coached by the Premier League's finest Chris Coleman, struggled for a long time but had been getting decent results as of recent. However, their goal of qualifying for the ACL is long, long gone. Opening odds were 3.35 - 3.56 - 2.17 (Source, Pinnacle odds). Pretty logical right? Relegation side out of form vs slightly more in-form mid table team, nothing shady here.
Then, before kickoff, odds for Henan had dropped to an avg. of 1.57 - 4.07 - 5.47. Injuries for Hebei? Nope. Point deduction? Nope. Contract issues with players? Nope. Financial worries? Nope. Bettors finally remembered it was Sunderland Chris Coleman and not Wales Chris Coleman? Well... Maybe..
Henan, in an.. ahem.. Surprising turn of events, won the game 2-0, which was already achieved in the 11th minute.
So up till this point it is mostly facts, below I will lay out why I think this is a very possible case of matchfixing. Be warned, this is all my opinion and I do not have any facts to back it up.

• Chang Woe-Ryong got fired because Henan officials thought they could not stay up in the "legal" way. While Chang is certainly not the South-Korean Guardiola, his preferred counter-attacking tactics have gotten him various jobs at relegation-candidates and he can make any team under his control a pain in the ass to beat. The new coach, Wang Baoshan, coached Chongqing Lifan to promotion back when they were in the China League 1. He also spent some time at two other CL1 sides, without a lot of success. All three sides, especially Chongqing, can be labelled as suspicious when it comes to matchfixing activities.
  
• Related to Wang Baoshan, the suspicious odds movements started once Chang left. Was Chang fired because he would not cooperate in matchfixing? I don't know and he will probably not say so either.
  
• Henan is certainly not dead in the relegation battle. The implosions happening at both Tianjin teams and Chongqing being just two points above them, means that Henan certainly has a chance to stay up. This does require them to win games though, and that seemed to be the problem under Chang.
  
• However, is it really believable for a team to hire a Chinese coach with hardly any credentials to turn the tide? Dalian Yifang hired Bernd Schuster who took the team to a slightly safer haven, Chongqing improved a bit under Jordy Cruyff and last season Capello managed to keep Jiangsu Suning out of relegation issues. In fact, looking at how the teams perform vs. the expectations, I would be sure that Chinese coaches underperform by a large margin. The only "succesful" Chinese coach would be Li Xiaopeng of Shandong Luneng, who truly is doing an admirable job.
  
• If this is true it would be more believable as to why Henan appointed a Chinese coach just before the matchfixing started happening.
  

What is next? Obviously, as a bettor I would be very careful when betting on matches involving Henan from now on. Especially in games vs. opponents that have nothing to gain or lose on the table, odds for Henan might drop quite hard. If it is possible at your bookmaker, in these cases I would lay Henan's opponent (if they are the favourites) at opening odds and close your position before kick-off. Again, it is important to note that I would only do this vs. opponents that are not deep in relegation or ACL-qualification battles.
Then again, it might just be someone who bets really big on Henan thinking it is matchfixing and then all of the things I wrote above are nonsense. I'm not sure as to which one I prefer..
Anyway, I hope this helps as a warning not to take the odds at face value, especially in China.

A trial of a roundup thread of all major transfer news for the past few days. If this works we can do them during the transfer window, as opposed to having numerous different threads from different sources.
I need help with sources for the other leagues. Please feel free to drop story sources for the other leagues into the thread and I will add them on the next roundup.
Also feel free to add other transfer stories and rumors as comments on this thread.

Jan 8 Transfer News Thread

English Premier League

• BREAKING: Paul Scholes has signed for Manchester United
• Premier League Transfer Talk Roundup (telegraph)
• Frank Lampard to Manchester United? (guardian)
• Manchester City's Carlos Tevez closing in on AC Milan switch (mirrorfootball)
• QPR bids for Andrew Johnson and Christopher Samba are rejected (guardian)
• Andy Gray: Darren Bent owes Aston Villa loyalty (mirrorfootball)
• McLeish - Reds not chasing Bent (skysports)
• O’Neill to run rule over Sunderland loans (sunderlandecho)
• City plot £50M swoop for Wayne Rooney (mirrorfootball)
• Potters join race for City defender (eatsleepsport)
• Chelsea ready to sell Lampard (mirrorfootball)
• Eric Abidal 'courted by Liverpool and Manchester City' (metro)
• Man United join chase for Bolton defender Gary Cahill (people)
• Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp says his side is still lagging behind (telegraph)
• Arsenal ready to sell Andrey Arshavin in January for £12m (mirrorfootball)
• Manchester City ready to outbid Manchester United and Chelsea for Cheick (mirrorfootball)
• Manchester United tracking Gary Cahill move to Chelsea in hope of late swoop (mirrorfootball)
• Coyle rules out Davies exit (skysports)
• Newcastle vow to keep Demba Ba after Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp (mirrorfootball)
• Warnock plans busy January (skysports)
• Blackburn Rovers captain Chris Samba set to make transfer request (mirrorfootball)
• Harry admits Samba liking (skysports)
• Agent: Spurs pricing Pav out of transfer (skysports)
• Rumor roundup: Maxi López to Fulham? (guardian)
• Latest Transfer Betting Odds (skybet)

La Liga

• Barcelona wonderkid Isaac Cuenca snubs Manchester United, Chelsea & Arsenal (mirrorfootball)
• Trezeguet joy at River switch (skysports)

Serie A

• Rumor roundup: Mario Balotelli to Milan? (guardian)
• Liverpool, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur offered Inter Milan striker (mirrorfootball)
• Edinson Cavani to Chelsea? (guardian)
• Vargas' Blues snub explained (skysports)

Bundesliga

• Franck Ribery is planning to stay at Bayern for life (soccernet)

Update: Interested to know what you guys think about filtering out some of the crazy rumors. I am tempted to leave them in since they are a bit of fun and they likely get submitted here anyway. I might just do a single story for each rumor or news item, though, rather than have multiple sources for each story. Will work this out with each roundup thread but feedback appreciated.

This post in a Picture form to View on Mobile thanks to Lolzafish

After the positive response and result lets take a look at the rest of the fixtures left. Link to the previous thread : http://redd.it/1dp452

Current Table

	Team	Played	GD	Points
	Chelsea	35	34	68
	Arsenal	36	31	67
	Tottenham	35	18	65

Situation 1 ] Points are tied

So in case points are tied at the end of the season we have a better goal difference than both Tottenham and Arsenal. Arsenal can catch upto our GD but Tottenham cant so if we are tied on points come end of season we have a pretty good chance.

Situation 2 ] Maximum points

Tottenham and Chelsea have 3 and Arsenal have 2 games in hand If all teams win all points then the table will look like

	Team	Played	GD	Points
	Chelsea	38	-	77
	Tottenham	38	-	74
	Arsenal	38	-	73

Tottenham and Chelsea have to play each other so only one of them can get maximum points.
We are again at that advantage as most points to play for.

Fixture by Fixture - Tottenham

Biggest hinderance

We have a very good record against Tottenham and a betting man would bet on a Chelsea win or a draw for this one with better odds for the win given Tottenham's recent performances but the biggest problem Chelsea are facing is fixture congestion.
By some miracle the same thin squad we are always questioned about has managed 4 wins in the last 4 games with 2 European games included. Squad rotation has little to do with it, this is all down to the players and I'll have to admit, even the manager for the fight we have put up just showing what this team can achieve if they put their heads together.
Chelsea however will have played matches on 25th, 28th, 2nd, 5th and Tottenham falls on the 8th with Villa falling on 11th and finally a breather of an extra day for the Europa final on 15th. The problem I see with this is that this is just too much work and too tough of matches to play so quickly and sooner or later we might end up losing steam at the absolute worse time. Lets hope that doesn't matter though and the lads go through this in one piece. We have seemed to thrive best under pressure though so I really hope we can do this too.

If Chelsea win against Tottenham - Table will look like

	Team	Played	GD	Points
	Chelsea	36	-	71
	Arsenal	36	-	67
	Tottenham	36	-	65

• Tottenham only had 74 points to play for which is reduced to 71, this knocks them out unless Arsenal drops point.
  
• For Chelsea it puts us in an absolutely amazing spot. Because Tottenham can only manage 71 points maximum, Chelsea after beating Tottenham can lose both the coming games and still qualify on goal difference.
  
• This result will give us the best chance to win the Europa league especially considering Benfica are caught up in the same problems as us.
  

If Chelsea draw against Tottenham - Table will look like

	Team	Played	GD	Points
	Chelsea	36	-	69
	Arsenal	36	-	67
	Tottenham	36	-	66

• Again this is not so bad. This is why I stressed that the United game was so important in the last post. Now Tottenham can manage a maximum of 72 points and Chelsea can manage a maximum of 75 points while Arsenal will get 73.
  
• This result is more dangerous to Arsenal than Chelsea because if Chelsea win 1/2 games and Tottenham win 2/2 games and Arsenal drop a single point, They will be knocked out of the champions league even if their GD is better.
  
• For Chelsea this really is not that bad as we are not letting both teams gain on us at the same time by drawing to Tottenham.
  

If Chelsea loses to Tottenham - The table will look like

	Team	Played	GD	Points
	Chelsea	36	-	68
	Tottenham	36	-	68
	Arsenal	36	-	67

• This is the worst case scenario for us and for Arsenal as well. Now Chelsea and Tottenham can manage a maximum of 74 points and Arsenal can only manage a maximum of 73 points.
  
• However you have to remember that Chelsea have that final in between and we really don't want to be in a situation where we have to win every coming game including the final.
  

Upcoming fixture difficulty [Updated rankings and details]

Chelsea

	Home		Away	Opponents form Ranked 1 to 20 out of Premiership teams. Lower numbers for more difficulty
	Chelsea	vs	Tottenham	4
	Villa	vs	Chelsea	5
	Chelsea	vs	Everton	7

Chelsea are still ranked 2nd due to the defeat to Southampton. Things though have gotten worse for us because Villa have hit smashing form winning their last 2 games while Everton have dropped in form. Both of these are bad results for us as even a slightly less dangerous Everton is still Everton and a Villa side gaining form just adds to the problem. Everton also had no problem keeping Liverpool to a draw.

Tottenham

	Home		Away	Opponents form Ranked 1 to 20 out of Premiership teams. Lower numbers for more difficulty
	Chelsea	vs	Tottenham	2
	Stoke	vs	Tottenham	11
	Tottenham	vs	Sunderland	13

Things haven't changed for Tottenham apart from Chelsea now on the good end of 13 points from the last 5 games. Stoke and Sunderland though are still dozing in and out with a draw each recently, heres to hoping Stoke help us out by holding off Tottenham.

Arsenal

	Home		Away	Opponents form Ranked 1 to 20 out of Premiership teams. Lower numbers for more difficulty
	Arsenal	vs	Wigan	8
	Newcastle	vs	Arsenal	15

Wigan seem to have live-lied up a bit with a win in the last match improving their run of form. This plays in great for both Chelsea and Tottenham. This has put Wigan right at the wrong end of the relegation zone while Newcastle is now at the right end of the relegation zone. If Wigan beats Arsenal and Newcastle lose by 1 goal, Wigan get out of the relegation zone. Now guess which team is in the relegation zone on GD? Newcastle United facing Arsenal the next week in a last match of the season fight for survival. This is absolutely amazing if it plays out this way. Newcastle are away to Rangers and Wigan are home to Swansea though so statistically Newcastle should pick up points for this situation to develop in the first place but there is a possibility given that Wigan are climbing and Newcastle are gliding down.
My conclusion : We won the United game and now to give us the best chance for the Europa league final we need to win against Tottenham. However, a draw against Tottenham isn't bad either and we can still slack a little and make it.
The relegation battle shaping up is crucial to Arsenal dropping points. If just 1 fixture plays out the way I wrote about above, Arsenal can end up losing both games. However if the opposite happens Arsenal will end up winning both games again sides with nothing to play for.
Spurs will come out with all guns blazing. This is the best shot they will get to regain some control in their hands. Getting even a draw makes them lose control of the spot so we have to be ready for that. I don't think we have a team to play for a draw so I hope Luiz starts in the middle with Ramires alongside and 4 defenders behind them. Not conceding is priority number one.

It's one of those weekends which have a huge earning potential. Loads of great games in all the leagues around europe and many carrying great value. You just have to hope the teams you place your money on don't fuck up.

English Premier League

Sunderland Vs Spurs
Spurs should be very confident going into this fixture and should get the 3 points. Before losing 3-0 to liverpool at lane spurs were unbeaten for 8 games in total. Spurs under new manager Pochettino have looked great with always improving Eriksen and in form Lamela, also new signing Eric Dier.
Sunderland haven't won a game against spurs for a long time with previous fixtures ending 5-1 and 2-1 to spurs.
Sunderland sit with 2 points from 3 games (Above ManU though) with taking a loss in previous match against QPR who are not at all good themselves.
Soldado and walker are the spurs absentees which won't be any problem.
Spurs can't afford to take anything less than 3 points from here and are very capable of beating sunderland at stadium of light.
Spurs to win @ 2.1
Also odds available on DNB spurs are great(1.5) , so you can include DNB spurs in other accumulators as well
Chelsea Vs Swansea City
Title contenders Chelsea welcome swans at stamford bridge after completely thrashing every team they have met up till now. Chelsea have looked amazing and also completing an almost impossible task of thrashing everton at goodison park in the previous game.
No fresh injury concerns for chelsea, though swans sit with a perfect score themselves they are not going to get a single point from this fixture. Sorry gylfi.
Also Chelsea would like to confirm 3 points in this game before making the trip to etihad to face man city in the next fixture.
Chelsea to win @1.28
Liverpool Vs Aston Villa
Liverpool after amazingly beating spurs at lane 3-0, now face Aston Villa at anfield.
Skretl and sturridge are injured for liverpool and benteke is the long time absentee for villa.
Absence of sturridge is not going to be a problem as they now have Mario Balotelli who will be eager to open his scoring.
Liverpool is a much better team than aston villa and should very well beat aston villa in this high scoring match.
Fun Fact - Liverpool have failed to beat villa at anfield for 3 years. last one being a 2-2 draw. But this is going to change this year.
Liverpool to win @ 1.3
Southampton Vs Newcastle
Southampton play a very impressive pressing game and despite losing many star players, they are still a force to be reckoned with.
Jay rodriguez is the only absentee in southampton squad and de jong and ryan taylor are for newcastle.
Southampton were brilliant in the game against liverpool despite losing 2-1 whereas newcastle is in a very bad position, not having won a single game in EPL.
In Past meetings, saints won 2-0 and 4-0 in this fixture.
Southampton to win @ 1.75
DNB Southampton
Stoke City Vs Leicester City
Stoke welcome leicester at their home.
Stoke have done an impossible job of beating man city at etihad and thus making us all lose money.
They entertain newly promoted side leicester who have also done a pretty good job of earning some points from tough games.
No injury concerns for stoke and you can go for a straight win for stoke here but if leicester scores a goal anyhow don't expect stoke to do the hard work of scoring again. So be careful and opt for a DNB here as both of these teams are very much satisfied with a draw.
DNB Stoke
U2.5
West Brom Vs Everton - Avoiding this match because of lot of injuries in the everton squad including lukaku and eto'o.
Arsenal Vs Man City
This is the game to watch this weekend with Arsenal welcoming title contenders Man City to their home.
I would advice avoid betting on this match because there are plenty of much predictable matches this weekend where the money can be earned easily without taking huge risk.
Still i will say what i think.
Arsenal except that great comeback to get a draw when they were 2 down at goodison park haven't had a convincing game in which they have played well.
They are still playing way below their caliber and have been under par in most of the games whereas man city except that 1-0 loss to stoke have looked quite furious and ready to win the title again.
Walcott and giroud are absent for arsenal whereas jovetic and fernando are the absentees for city.
This fixture have been very opposite of high scoring which everyone would expect, with every one of them ending with less than 3 goals for a long time.
All in all, i think manchester city is the better team and will surely like to bounce back from the disappointing loss and take 3 points home before the next match with chelsea which can be very crucial in deciding the title winner this season.
DNB City

Bundesliga

Bayern Munich Vs Stuttgart
German giants Bayern Munich play Stuttgart at their home.
Stuttgart is no match match for bayern and to make it even worse they are in a very bad form losing to a newly promoted side Koln at their home.
But this all shows in the odds awarded for this match. Use it in your accumulators.
Bayern Munich -1
Dortmund Vs Freiburg
Injury ridden Dortmund face perennial bottom dweller Freiburg.
The starting of the season has not been convincing from dortmund's perspective plus now they are missing Reus, Blaszyzkowski, Immobile which is going to be a great loss.
They have saved Kagawa from ManU and now he can go back to playing and will start at injured reus's position.
Striker Karim Guede of freiburg is still serving suspension for the red card he got in 1st match.
Still Dortmund should be good enough to beat freiburg at their home.
Dortmund -1
Accumulator 1:
Spurs , Liverpool, Chelsea, Bayern munich @ 4.23
Accumulator 2:
DNB Spurs, Liverpool, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen @ 3.7
Sorry for the leverkusen typo, their match was on friday, i meant to write Borussia Dortmund
Accumulator 3:
Chelsea, Bayern Munich, DNB Spurs, DNB Stoke @ 3.16
Best of luck!!!!