Update

Sorry for not updating things

Wife is very ill in hospital, so other things on my mind at moment

Fingers crossed 

So hopefully predictions etc back before the next games

Whatever next 😒

 

Premier Predictions (Week 12)

Another International week coming up where England take on the mighty Malta and North Macedonia.
Before that one more round of fixtures.
5 games on Saturday, 5 games on Sunday (first Kick Off Saturday 12:30)

A few games harder to pick due to midweek Europen matches for some.
I guess Stevie Wonder will be VAR official at Wolves again?
Have Chelsea got their act together or will 11 man Man City roll over them?

Wolves v Tottenham
Arsenal v Burnley
Crystal Palace v Everton
Man Utd v Luton
Bournemouth v Newcastle
*
Aston Villa v Fulham
Brighton v Sheff Utd
Liverpool v Brentford
West Ham v Nottm Forest
Chelsea v Man City

Good Luck All  😀

Premier Predictions (Week 11)

Week 11
7 games on Saturday, 2 on Sunday, 1 on Sunday
A lot of unpredictable teams at the moment, so possibly a few shocks?
Will Ten Haag survive another loss.


Fulham v Man Utd
Brentford v West Ham
Burnley v Crystal Palace
Everton v Brighton
Man City v Bournemouth
Sheff Utd v Wolves
Newcastle v Arsenal
Nottm Forest v Aston Villa
Luton v Liverpool
Tottenham v Chelsea

Good Luck All  😀

Premier Predictions (Week 10)

A quarter of the season gone already.

Friday night kick off this week with Palace hosting current leaders Tottenham.
Followed by 4 games on Saturday, and 5 on Sunday.

West London derby the early game on Saturday, and the Manchester derby is the final game on Sunday.
Hoping West Ham can bounce back after two lacklustre performances?


Crystal Palace v Tottenham
*
Chelsea v Brentford
Arsenal v Sheff Utd
Bournemouth v Burnley
Wolves v Newcastle
*
West Ham v Everton
Aston Villa v Luton
Brighton v Fulham
Liverpool v Nottm Forest
Man Utd v Man City

Good Luck All  😀

Premier Predictions (Week 09)

Nearly forgot, International breaks always muck me up.
8 games Saturday, 1 each on Sunday and Monday.

Mersey derby to start, Everton unpredictable recently although this one should be predictable.
Man City should be relieved to have Rodri back as they've lost all 3 games without him.
Arsenal go to Chelsea, anyone's guess how Chelsea will play.

Villa and West Ham must be over the moon that they play Sunday evening, when both have away trips in Europe this week?
The Gary O'Neil derby is one of 4 "relegation 6 pointers"  😁


Liverpool v Everton
Bournemouth v Wolves
Brentford v Burnley
Man City v Brighton
Newcastle v Crystal Palace
Nottm Forest v Luton
Chelsea v Arsenal
Sheff Utd v Man Utd
*
Aston Villa v West Ham
Tottenham v Fulham


Good Luck All  😃

Premier Predictions (Week 08)

6 games on Saturday, 4 on Sunday ahead of another International week.
Saturday lunchtime kick off 12:30

Quite a few "tough to call" fixtures this week.
"Kane-less" Tottenham have the chance to go top for a day, before Sunday's big one.
No Rodri or KDB so Arsenal will fancy their chances.
West Ham v Newcastle is interesting, both with midweek tough Euro games and the records show that the away team usually does better, in the last 4 meetings 2 draws and a win a piece away from home.


Luton v Tottenham
Burnley v Chelsea
Everton v Bournemouth
Fulham v Sheff Utd
Man Utd v Brentford
Crystal Palace v Nottm Forest

Brighton v Liverpool
West Ham v Newcastle
Wolves v Aston Villa
Arsenal v Man City

Good Luck All  😀

Final Thought  🤔
?? If Klopp gets his wish and gets a replay?, 

how are West Ham going to fit in the extra 20+ games they will get for VAR errors ??

 

Premier Predictions (Week 07)

League Cup out of the way till next month, only 10 Premier teams through.
Big European week coming up, so probably a few changed teams.

Bounus game this week with the re-arranged Luton Burnley game.
So 11 matches this week, 8 on Saturday and 1 each on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
Top teams all have difficult games, and I'm hoping Sheffield Utd are still shell shocked 😁


Aston Villa v Brighton
Bournemouth v Arsenal
Everton v Luton
Man Utd v Crystal Palace
Newcastle v Burnley
West Ham v Sheff Utd
Wolves v Man City
Tottenham v Liverpool
*
Nottm Forest v Brentford
Fulham v Chelsea
Luton v Burnley

Good Luck All  😀

A picture to explain how the comments (spam) page works

all posts come here, but some need to be unblocked?

Not sure why this is happening, and now a new problem of posts that do show up at first

now going back to here, meaning some of the old comments threads don't make sense??

Premier Predictions (Week 06)

8 teams played in Europe this week, most teams involved in next weeks League Cup so all this weeks matches are on Saturday and Sunday. 5 games each day.

Saturday Man City home to Forest, Man Utd away at Burnley late Saturday night.
North London derby on Sunday with new improved Tottenham's first big test, and West Ham go to Liverpool which (with one exception) is not a happy place 😒 also same ref and VAR as last season where Thiago's double handball was mysteriously missed? so not expecting much.


Crystal Palace v Fulham
Luton v Wolves
Man City v Nottm Forest
Brentford v Everton
Burnley v Man Utd

Arsenal v Tottenham
Brighton v Bournemouth
Chelsea v Aston Villa
Liverpool v West Ham
Sheff Utd v Newcastle

Good Luck All  😀

Premier Predictions (Week 05)

Back after a fairly uninspiring international break with week 5 of the Premier League.
7 games on Saturday, 2 on Sunday and 1 on Monday.
Big test for new improved West Ham, with City this week and Liverpool next week either side of the return of European football.
Saturday 12:30 kick off this week which is good.


Wolves v Liverpool
Aston Villa v Crystal Palace
Fulham v Luton
Man Utd v Brighton
Tottenham v Sheff Utd
West Ham v Man City
Newcastle v Brentford
.
Bournemouth v Chelsea
Everton v Arsenal
.
Nottm Forest v Burnley

Good Luck All  😃

Summer Transfers 2023

Most of the transfer windows shut now, still a few open which doesn't seem right?
Turkey, Greece, and a few others still have up to 2 weeks.
The Saudi one is now closed so Liverpool will be relieved.

Anyway here's where the Premier league cash was splashed this season.
Another monopoly money window with over £2.5 billion spent!!
With the so called "big 6" accounting for £1.5 billion of that.
(Info based on the best sources I could find, includes squad and youth players).

Big spenders by a mile were Chelsea again, with Tottenham, Arsenal and Man City also doing over £200m.
Just 4 teams making a profit this season.


The Chart:

Total Spend - £2,671,600,000

Most Players In - Burnley 18, Nottm Forest 17, Chelsea 16

Most Players Out - Chelsea 50, Man City 41, Wolves 38

Most Money Paid - Chelsea £453.9m, Tottenham £246.3m, Man City £219.22m

Most Money Received - Chelsea £251.7m, Brighton £191.2m, Man City £152.86m

Largest Profit - Brighton £99.3m, Wolves £58.95m, Everton £39.5m

Largest Defecit - Chelsea £202.2m, Arsenal £144.6m, Man Utd £133.13m

Largest Fees Paid (£50m +)

Used to do this list for £10m + but now you can't get an untried kid for that.

Moises Caicedo [Brighton - Chelsea] £115m

Declan Rice [West Ham - Arsenal] £105m

Harry Kane [Tottenham Hotspur - Bayern Munich] £95m **

Josko Gvardiol [RB Leipzig - Man City] £77m

Rasmus Hojlund [Atalanta - Man Utd] £72m

Kai Havertz [Chelsea - Arsenal] £70m

Dominik Szoboszlai [RB Leipzig - Liverpool] £70m

Sandro Tonali [AC Milan - Newcastle] £64m

Christopher Nkunku [RB Leipzig - Chelsea] £60m

Romeo Lavia [Southampton - Chelsea] £58m

Jeremy Doku [Rennes - Man City] £55.4m

Moussa Diaby [Bayer Leverkusen - Aston Villa] £55m

Matheus Nunes [Wolves - Man City] £55m

Mason Mount [Chelsea - Man Utd] £55m

Aleksandar Mitrovic [Fulham - Al Hilal] £52.6m **

Matheus Cunha [Athletico Madrid - Wolves] £50m

First impressions are that Chelsea way overspent on Caicedo and Lavia, but did good business on getting those fees for Havertz and Mount.

Not sure on the Man City signings but Pep is rarely wrong.

RB Leipzig in Germany have done well with bringing in over £200m from English clubs, while taking Carvalho from Liverpool on a free loan?

Would be good for Harry Kane if he actually wins something at last in Germany (or is he a jonah??), must be awkward for him at England time with Kalvin Phillips showing off his large collection of winners medals despite only playing for a couple of hours in 2 seasons 😀

Premier Predictions (Week 04)

Week 4 already, and the last week before another International break.
Transfer window shuts on Friday night, and will be interesting to see how many players Chelsea end up with as they've been linked to nearly everyone.

Friday night start again with Luton's first home game in the Prem against table toppers West Ham 😀
6 games on Saturday and 3 on Sunday.

Luton v West Ham
:
Sheff Utd v Everton
Brentford v Bournemouth
Burnley v Tottenham
Chelsea v Nottm Forest
Man City v Fulham
Brighton v Newcastle
:
Crystal Palace v Wolves
Liverpool v Aston Villa
Arsenal v Man Utd

Good Luck All  😃

Premier Predictions (Week 03)

The week is flying along, Thursday already which means the games start again tomorrow.

Another Friday start, with 6 games on Saturday and 3 on Sunday.

Chelsea's billion pound team will hope to beat paupers Luton and get a first win.
The bottom 2 meet at Everton, West Ham go to bogey team Brighton who are top 😟


Chelsea v Luton
:
Bournemouth v Tottenham
Arsenal v Fulham
Brentford v Crystal Palace
Everton v Wolves
Man Utd v Nottm Forest
Brighton v West Ham
:
Burnley v Aston Villa
Sheff Utd v Man City
Newcastle v Liverpool

Good Luck All  😃

Premier Predictions (Week 02)

Friday night starts in the first 4 weeks of the season  😠

1 game Friday, 5 on Saturday, 2 games Sunday and 1 on Monday.
(the Luton v Burnley game has been postponed due to Luton having a crap ground)

Big game is on Saturday night as Man City who have just won the Euro Super cup in 30c Greece play in form Newcastle.
West Ham face Chelsea who have spent another £300m this summer so far in an attempt to finish above the Hammers.


Nottm Forest v Sheff Utd
:
Fulham v Brentford
Liverpool v Bournemouth
Luton v Burnley (Postponed)
Wolves v Brighton
Tottenham v Man Utd
Man City v Newcastle
:
Aston Villa v Everton
West Ham v Chelsea
:
Crystal Palace v Arsenal


Good Luck All  😃

The Womens World Cup 2023

Congratulations to the England womens football team on reaching Sunday's final.

Probably their best performance so far in beating Australia 3-1.

 

Hopefully they can play as well against Spain on Sunday

Premier Predictions (Week 01)

(Drum Roll) ....  🥁
Here we go again the Premier League is back, so if anybody is still interested here we go with the 14th NBTF Premier Predictions competition (2023-24 Edition).

Hopefully the regular players will be back and anyone reading this blog is welcome to join in at any point, just let me know a name and club supported so I can give you some colours.

It looks like there are going to be lots of Friday night games which muck up this and fantasy football, plus hundreds of re-arranged for TV games over the season. 😠

T&C's - Usual rules apply
3 Points for a correct score, 1 Point for a correct result.
Predictions League will be decided on weekly wins first, if 2 or more people share a weekly win that will be classed as a draw, if at the end things are still level the total points for the season come into play.
Predictions in the comments please  😀   
Obviously predictions will only count if they are made before the kick offs, please try and post the whole set at once (but I won't enforce it as these Friday night games catch everyone out including me).

Prizes - Just the admiration of everyone who plays

I guess the comments problem is still going on? so if your comment does not post straight away don't worry it should be in my comment moderation box as it assumes every post is spam.
Will publish as soon as I check.

Here we go  👍

Week 1 - Friday 11th August to Monday 14th August
1 game on Friday night, 6 games Saturday, 2 on Sunday and one on Monday

Burnley v Man City
:
Arsenal v Nottm Forest
Bournemouth v West Ham
Brighton v Luton
Everton v Fulham
Sheff Utd v Crystal Palace
Newcastle v Aston Villa
:
Brentford v Tottenham
Chelsea v Liverpool
:
Man Utd v Wolves


Good Luck All  😀

Early Season Thoughts

Premier league back next weekend.
Early season thoughts.

Man City should be favourites again but Pep is shedding some of his reliable players with Gundogan and Mahrez gone, So far just Kovacic in.

Arsenal have been on a spending spree with over £200m already spent on Rice, Havertz and Timber, with only Xhaka going out so far. I think Top 4 for them but would be surprised if they go as close this season.

Chelsea have had a massive yard sale with more to come, over £250m received for many first teamers and players like Lukaku just back from loans probably being moved on. Over £130m spent on new players means they still have about 50 potential first teamers on the books.
I like Pochettino and think he can only improve them.

Liverpool have lost a lot of their reliable heads like Henderson, Milner, Firmino, Fabinho with just MacAllister and a £70m Leipzig player coming in.

Man Utd have brought in Mount and a new goalie, at the moment I can't see them doing any better than Europen places.

West Ham losing Rice and with money in the bank, but as usual they are struggling to bring anyone in.

Will interesting to see if Brighton can carry on improving, if they do Top 4 is not out of reach.
If Kane stays at Tottenham they might be in with a shout at European places, without him I doubt it.
Newcastle, Aston Villa and Fulham could all be in with a shout at Top 6.

I think Burnley and Sheff Utd should stay up and do reasonably well, Luton maybe not.

The fact that the Saudi transfer window goes on for 3 weeks after the European one could derail a few teams this season, as older players will find it hard to resist the money on offer.

Predictions???
Champs - Man City
Other Top 4 from - Chelsea, Arsenal, Newcastle, Liverpool, Brighton
Relegated - Luton + any 2 from Bournemouth, Palace, Wolves, Forest and hopefully not West Ham

The Womens World Cup 2023

I've watched way more of this than I expected to.
The skill and quality level has improved massively from previous editions, and there has been many enjoyable games so far.

The biggest problem with the men's game in recent seasons has been the amount of play-acting, diving and time wasting. There has been virtually none of that in this World Cup so far.
The VAR and referees have been as bad as in the men's game, with every decision taking forever to sort out.
Most of the games running over with huge amounts of time added, mainly down to the VAR delays.
Amusing bit has been the referees having to explain the decisions, with a lot of them seeming really embarrassed about public speaking.

At this point a few teams are standing out, Japan have been superb with pinpoint passes all over the pitch.
England winning all 3 games so far, but not quite on top form yet.
Sweden, France and Netherlands all looking potential champions.
Usual top team USA have struggled so far.

Fantasy Premier League

This Years Nothing Better Than Football - Fantasy Premier League

Code -  trqqvr

Auto Join - https://fantasy.premierleague.com/leagues/auto-join/trqqvr

Fantasy Football

One final table for completion 

The top 10 for this seasons NBTD TFF Telegraph fantasy football.

This used to be the best fantasy football game around, but with less prizes and the overall prize money being reduced, it is close to death.

Won several cash prizes in the past (about £300) and a box load of medals and trophies, but now just play for fun.

Used to be a Super Leagues prize which made it worthwhile recruiting lots of people, most seasons I would make the Top 100 and did win the Euro version a few seasons back.

Now you can't even find out where your league sits as their isn't a table anymore 😒

So this season just 6 players (up to 5 teams per person).

Probably because I ddn't bother promoting it on Socal media (only did so for the FPL one).

At least I won 😀 unlucky for Colin who did an Arsenal by leading for about 30+ weeks but falling away at the end.

FA Cup Final

For the sake of completion, if anyone wants to do the final FA Cup prediction.

 

Man City v Man Utd

 

Should be a reasonably even game, Man City should be favourites but will have one eye on next weeks Champions league final so Pep might rest a few names?

Man Utd will hope to stop City from possibly completing the treble and can go all out as it's their last game of the season.

Other stuff

Almost felt sorry for an English ref last night

Anthony Taylor got the Europa league final between Seville and Roma and it must have been a nightmare for him and his crew with both teams diving, cheating and surrounding him after every decision.

Seville probably deserved the win but as usual it was Mourinho's diva performance that gets the headlines.

Transfer stuff

Obviously don't want Declan Rice to leave but if he does I was glad to hear that Bayern Munich were in for him, almost a guarantee he will win something with them and get regular Champions league football.

Don't think I could bear to see him playing for another English club, and if he wants to win things Man City seem the only ones who could offer him that but would he actually get a game for them?

 

Most obvious transfer seems to be Harry Kane to Man Utd, he needs to be in a team who have a chance of  winning something and Man Utd desperately need a striker.