#can’t believe we actually scored 4 times and kept a clean sheet?

[wileys-russo]

good afternoon to everyone who celebrates victory

[eastbridge-sb]

EFL Championship Match Previews – 15th February Saturday

Hull v Swansea

Our Friday night viewing from the Championship presents two out of form teams in the shape of Hull City and Swansea City. That is especially the case for Grant McCann’s Tigers, who are winless in seven, losing six of those in question. The last two of which were 5-1 and 3-0 to Brentford and Blackburn Rovers respectively. Swansea are four league clashes without success, and were involved in a fairly dour 0-0 with QPR in midweek.

Games of this nature between two teams clearly suffering from some form of drop in confidence tends to either go one of two ways. Firstly, this could be a match where both go into their shells and almost play through the motions, or conversely this may actually be quite open and end-to-end, with each believing that the opposing side are there to be taken. I’m of the opinion this could be quite a close encounter.

A word of note for anyone betting on football in the UK at this moment in time is that there are severe wind problems up and down the country. Therefore, this has an impact on the game, with wind quite possibly the worst condition to play football in, especially if you do indeed play a certain style. Taking the matches from Tuesday into account, four of the six finished under 2.5 goals, mainly due to a lack of rhythm contributing because of the weather.

Looking at the forecast for Friday night in the Hull area it does look as though a mixture of wind and rain will be in the air. With both really struggling for form anyway, this has all of the makings of being a scrappy kind of encounter.

Hull are dealing with a rather heavy injury list and were missing 12 players for their last game. There is a chance this number be reduce by only one or two for the visit of Swansea, but couple in the fact that they recently lost star forwards Jarrow Bowen and Kamil Grosicki in the transfer window then it suggests plenty of negatives surrounding Hull. Also, some new faces have been added and they’ll undoubtedly take some time to settle, with Marcus Maddison still adjusting to life at this level having been mostly in the lower-leagues beforehand.

Swansea are a team that although don’t have many injuries, they don’t have that many options either. Steve Cooper only made one substitute in the QPR game on Tuesday, that despite not playing to their best and still having a realistic chance of winning. A similar eleven should again take to the field, and considering they’ve failed to score in three of their last six it suggests they may be rather laborious in front of goal again.

I am more than happy to recommend Under 2.5 Goals on this occasion. The only worry is if there are some defensive errors but confidence won’t be high across the squad and as such I don’t see too many risks being taken.

Asian Total Goals Betting Recommendation: Under 2.50 at 2.000

Birmingham v Brentford

Whilst there is a fairly sufficient gap between both Birmingham City and Brentford on the Championship table at this moment in time, there are many reasons to believe Saturday’s match should be quite an even affair. The reason being is that whilst Brentford will of course be attracting many headlines because of the way the play and that they’re involved in the promotion race, Birmingham are going nicely about their business too. They’ll believe they can beat Birmingham, without a doubt.

Pep Clotet has guided the Blues to a nine match unbeaten streak in all competitions. That has gone almost under the radar purely because they occupy a mid-table position and there is still a big enough gap to the play-off spots to maybe hint that a few more results are needed if they’re to truly get involved. Still, they’re going great guns at the moment and have developed the handy habit of winning close games. Their last six wins read 2-1, 2-1, 2-1, 3-2, 3-1 and 1-0. The most recent being on Tuesday away to Barnsley.

Brentford have lost only three of their last 14 in all competitions, and on Tuesday they experienced a real top of the table clash versus Leeds United, and it ended in a draw. The widespread opinion from the footballing community was that Leeds were the better side and Brentford perhaps under-performed slightly. Still, Thomas Frank was quite happy afterwards and if they can back that draw up with a win here he’ll be even happier.

My one doubt backing Brentford is always when they are away from home. That may seem strange considering they’ve been to Bristol City and Hull City in recent times and won 4-0 and 5-1 respectively. However, sandwiched between that they drew 0-0 at Huddersfield Town, whilst losing at Millwall, Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn Rovers not so long ago. I very much plant Birmingham in a similar sort of category as those teams; an outfit who are so tough to play against and never easily beaten.

We however can’t deny both are in good form and have been scoring quite a few goals of late. Birmingham are now four unbeaten at home in all competitions, and they’ve not actually kept a home clean sheet since beating Blackburn in October. They’re therefore likely to need to score at least twice here at the very least. Good thing is they’ve only failed to score in one of their last 12 overall. Brentford are good for goals of course, and both teams have produced decent Expected Goals (xg) figures in recent time which suggests creativity isn’t a problem either.

I can only foresee quite an entertaining game here. The perception is that Birmingham are a bit of an ugly team but the recent addition of Scott Hogan is a game-changer, without a doubt. He compliments Lukas Jutkiewicz nicely, whilst Brentford’s front three are the best in the league. Over 2.5 Goals has to be of worthy consideration.

Asian Total Goals Betting Recommendation: Over 2.50 at 2.000

Charlton v Blackburn

Charlton Athletic against all the odds went away to Nottingham Forest on Tuesday and came away with a 1-0 win, whilst Blackburn Rovers netted three fairly late goals to defeat Hull City 3-0 at home. Therefore, both the Addicks and Rovers approach Saturday’s match in high spirits, which does raise the prospects of quite an entertaining game.

Both consistent factor, and an unwanted one, that Charlton and Blackburn have in common is that they have many injury problems. Darren Pratley and Andre Green were just two other fairly high-profile names added to the list after sitting out the Forest game, and at a time when Lee Bowyer was starting to believe injuries were a thing of the past. Sam Gallagher missed out for Blackburn during the week, and joined many others in doing so, such as Lewis Holtby. However, these injuries weren’t as badly felt as they could have been.

Charlton will be especially keen to back up their shock win now they’re back at The Valley on Saturday. Blackburn are certainly a side that they will harbour ambitions of defeating, and a draw will naturally feel like two points lost, regardless of whatever form Blackburn are in. The Addicks have not won back-to-back games since all the way back in August however, so recent history is probably against them changing that.

The issue with Blackburn is that they’re generally quite a ‘streaky’ team, which is something pointing in the direction of Bristol City quite a lot of the time, too. By that, it essentially means they’re whilst they’re put together unbeaten runs, they can also go just as long without winning, almost at any given moment. They won four in a row in November/December, and then followed up that winning once in eight. They’re not necessarily the most reliable from a betting perspective.

Whilst midweek saw plenty of tight, low-scoring affairs, I do anticipate more of the opposite on the weekend card. I’m happy to place this game within that category and so Over 2.5 Goals will be the recommended play. Goals have normally followed Charlton this season, with 20 of their 32 league clashes seeing at least three goals, including four of their last five at home in Championship action. Tuesday was a fairly rare clean sheet moment for Blackburn, plus they rarely fail to score so this is the sort of game where both should have their moments in front of goal.

Whilst Charlton did win at Forest, they achieved it by not necessarily playing their usual style of play. They won’t be so defensive at home to Blackburn, and this really should open up the match. Blackburn are also not the sort of side where Tony Mowbray sets them up to just sit back. When they have momentum they can be tough to deny, and they’ve scored in each of their last ten away, and only failed to do so twice on the road all season long.

Asian Total Goals Betting Recommendation: Over 2.50 at 2.100\

Preview by:@JamesOR1.

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The post EFL Championship Match Previews – 15th February Saturday appeared first on Eastbridge.

source https://eastbridge-sb.com/efl-championship-match-previews-150220/

[gadgetsrevv]

Garth Crooks’ team of the week: De Gea, Maguire, Tomori, Buendia, Abraham, Mane

Defending champions Manchester City suffered a shock 3-2 defeat at Norwich City after Liverpool maintained their 100% record with a 3-1 win over Newcastle.

Chelsea picked up a 5-2 win at Wolves, while Tottenham cruised past Crystal Palace 4-0.

Manchester United returned to winning ways with a narrow 1-0 win over Leicester as Watford recovered to draw 2-2 with Arsenal.

Elsewhere, Bournemouth won 3-1 against Everton, Southampton secured a valuable 1-0 win at Sheffield United and Brighton drew 1-1 with Burnley.

Here’s my team of the week – have a read and select your own below.

Goalkeeper – David de Gea (Man Utd)

David de Gea: The save from Leicester’s James Maddison with only a few moments gone was superb and the tip over the bar from a Ben Chilwell strike that was dipping viciously under the bar dealt with an effort that had real menace.

De Gea took some ferocious stick towards the end of last season from people who should have known better. The suggestion that the Spain international keeper should have been left out of the Manchester United team line-up was as hysterical as it gets.

Reports that De Gea is close to signing a new contract puts some of those comments in to their proper perspective and it will be the best bit of business United have done for some considerable time.

Did you know? David de Gea has already kept as many Premier League clean sheets at Old Trafford this season (2) as he did in the entirety of the 2018-19 campaign.

Defenders – Serge Aurier (Tottenham), Fikayo Tomori (Chelsea), Harry Maguire (Man Utd), Andrew Robertson (Liverpool)

Serge Aurier: Every time I have seen Aurier play for Tottenham I have been left desperately disappointed and quite often angry. Disappointed because of his lack of performance and angry because of his inability to respect the depth of quality in the Premier League.

This is not France where there are only a couple of decent teams in the league but the toughest and most demanding league in the world. Against Crystal Palace the former Paris St-Germain defender woke up to that fact and finally played like it. And about time.

Did you know? As well as providing an assist, Aurier made more crosses from open play (4) than any other player in Spurs’ win over Crystal Palace.

Fikayo Tomori: What a goal. What’s more he meant it. This performance by this youngster was outstanding and his goal only tells half the story.

Playing in a back three, he was amazing. Tomori’s confidence to take the ball into the danger area and provide the assist for Tammy Abraham suggest this lad is no ordinary defender. This is someone I intend keeping my eye on.

As for Wolves’ Raul Jimenez, it’s hardly surprising their centre-forward looked dead on his feet – he only returned from Mexico City on Thursday morning and expects to bother Chelsea 48 hours later? Wolves can’t handle Europe and international breaks. Ditch Europe.

Did you know? Tomori’s long-range strike against Wolves was only his second English league goal in his professional career, in what was his 81st such appearance (excluding play-offs) for Chelsea, Brighton, Hull and Derby.

Harry Maguire: Some players actually look forward to playing against their former clubs – I don’t know why because I hated it. Maguire not only seemed to enjoy playing against the players he once called his team-mates but hardly gave them a kick.

Why Leicester fans felt the need to boo their former player having given them wonderful service and made them a vast sum of money by agreeing to be sold to Manchester United makes you wonder what was it about the move that actually upset them!

Did you know? Against his former side Leicester, Harry Maguire won six of his 10 duels, four of his six aerial duels, made five clearances and won possession six times to help his side to a clean sheet.

Andrew Robertson: It must have been excruciating for Steve Bruce to watch the player he brought to English football tear his resurgent Newcastle apart.

The Scottish international was outstanding yet again for Liverpool. Robertson was so effective down Liverpool’s left-hand side and almost entirely responsible for Sadio Mane’s brilliant opening goal. My only criticism of Robertson is someone who strikes the ball as cleanly as he does should be having more shots on goal. He has the firepower, now apply the confidence.

Did you know? Robertson has made 17 assists in the Premier League since the start of the 2017-18 season, the most of any defender in this period.

Midfielders – Moussa Djenepo (Southampton), Emiliano Buendia (Norwich), Todd Cantwell (Norwich)

Moussa Djenepo: The goal was just wonderful. If this had been scored by David Ginola, Thierry Henry or Gianfranco Zola we would be showing this goal every week for the next three months.

It was Djenepo who produced a little bit of magic in Southampton’s 2-0 defeat of Brighton recently but this is becoming something of a habit. Have the Saints found another Sadio Mane? I think they might have you know.

Did you know? Against Sheffield United, summer-signing Moussa Djenepo netted his second Premier League goal for Southampton courtesy of just his third shot on target in the competition.

Emiliano Buendia: I have seen Norwich in this mood before when they beat Manchester United some years ago and the Canaries gave United superstars no respect whatsoever on that day either. It was like watching history repeat itself, only this time it was against United’s arch rivals and neighbours.

Manchester City were blitzed by Norwich but this time it wasn’t Anthony Pilkington who stunned the visitors but Emiliano Buendia. The Argentine, a £1.5m signing from Getafe, was magnificent. What a contrast to his fellow countryman, the £28.5m Nicolas Otamendi who had an absolute shocker.

Did you know? In their win over Man City, Buendia won more duels (10), had the joint-most touches (61) and tackles (4), completed the most dribbles (5) and won possession (9) more than any other Norwich player.

Todd Cantwell: Well what do we have here? Another England Under-21 international who looks like a player?

Cantwell wanted to be involved in everything Norwich did and if you’re an attacking midfielder it doesn’t get better than that. There was something about Cantwell’s performance that reminded me of a young Frank Lampard but with a sprinkle of arrogance – and I liked it.

It took far too long for this star-studded Manchester City side to get the jet lag out of their system. It looks like the international break may have already robbed City of another Premier League title.

Did you know? Todd Cantwell has already been directly involved in more Premier League goals in 5 games this season (4 – 2 goals, 2 assists) than he was in 24 Championship appearances last season (3 – 1 goal, 2 assists).

Forwards – Son Heung-min (Tottenham), Tammy Abraham (Chelsea), Sadio Mane (Liverpool)

Son Heung-min: I can’t believe Son has not scored a hat-trick in the Premier League. If anyone deserves to have that statistic firmly emblazoned on his CV it should be the South Korea international.

Son was electric against a Crystal Palace side who are blowing hot and cold these days and, against Spurs, were freezing. I understand manager Mauricio Pochettino spent an hour in a “clear the air” meeting with his players. If that’s the response, would he mind saving those discussions for the really big games?

Did you know? Son Heung-min is Spurs’ top scorer across all competitions at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, netting four goals in seven home appearances there.

Tammy Abraham: His first goal against Wolves was alright, his second better and his third outstanding. I said recently said that Frank Lampard had seen something in this kid and we are clearly starting to see the same thing.

If he can remain fit, stay out of the pubs and clubs and look after himself Chelsea may have found a new Peter Osgood. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen an English centre forward of Abraham’s size and stature move around the pitch so comfortably and be so competent on the ball.

Osgood was a genius and Abraham has some way to go to get close but all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are there. They just need to be put in the right places.

Did you know? Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham has become just the third player in Premier League history to score two or more goals in three consecutive appearances aged 21 or younger, after Cristiano Ronaldo in December 2006 and Dele Alli in January 2017.

Sadio Mane: It was quite fitting that Mane’s two goals against Newcastle placed the Senegal international with other illustrious African names who have scored 70 goals in the Premier League.

It was also nice to see Mohamed Salah congratulating Mane on his goals after their recent spat at Southampton. Salah’s goal was magnificent but even he must realise that he has to concede the spotlight to team-mates on the odd occasion.

Did you know? Liverpool’s Sadio Mane has never lost a Premier League home game in which he’s found the net, winning 33 and drawing two of his previous 35 games in the competition when doing so.

Now it’s your turn

You’ve seen my selections this season. But who would you go for?

Crooks of the matter

Howay the lads! The unseemly spat between two of England’s greatest finishers made me smile at first and then realise that not much changes in football. For two players, especially strikers, to “have words” with each other is like having a row with you wife. It’s going to happen sooner or later.

In Michael Owen’s recently published book; Reboot – My Life, My Time, he seems to have reopened an old wound with England team-mate and now Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer. It’s clear Michael desperately wanted to get something off his chest when he claimed in his book that he never really wanted to go to St James’ Park.

I suspect Shearer could have let that go. However, what Newcastle’s record goalscorer could not let go was the claim by Owen that his beloved Newcastle was “only a big club because they have lots of fans and a big stadium”.

I have no doubt that Alan and Michael will find a way past this public disagreement but Newcastle fans will find forgiveness a little more difficult.

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[fmlfpl]

Lineup Lamentations - GW35

Our Transfers, Captains, and Starting 11s for the week.

WALSH

TRANSFERS:

OUT: Aubz Alexis Austin

IN (For -8 points hit): Jesus Raz Ings

Fucking darkness. The darkest of darknesses. This GW past has sunk my season so it is time to chase points and say fuck the world. Fuck you Mark Hughes. Fucking fuck you. I will have one sleep with dreams of an Ings hat. A nice night's sleep ahead only for reality of his 2 pointer to come crashing down upon my soul.

GK:

None. Lol at me.

DEF:

Really need a Newc clean with Lejuene and Dummett in for me this week. 

Sakho goes again for a 1 pointer. Great pick and great job by me.

So too will Kiko. Hoping for a two pointer and sub on 61' would be a huge coup for me. Fuck him.

MID:

Some guys here. Zaha looks great happy to have him. Watford suck so hopefully Woy doesn't be dumb and leaves Benteke out of the squad where he belongs the absolute piece of shit.

Double City mid is back with Kevin and Raz seems like a couple of good friends.

Finally Andy King gets a run out. Go on Andrew get me 2 points thanks.

FWD:

Jesus feels like a great pick no brainer pick with Kun on the shelf. 

Next to him is new friend flying without Daniel Ings. Just chasing here and with the team sheet leaked every week I can bench him if he isn't going to start. Might get another cheeky start out of him with Kloppo rotating for UCL in full effect.

CAP:

Jesus the tap in merchant. If the game is 8-0 as I expect then I might actually get a green arrow. What is a green arrow? No clue. I genuinely couldn't tell you.

ALON

TRANSFERS:

OUT: Auba and Mahrez

IN (For -4 points hit): Jesus and Raz Sterling

These felt easy to me; simple moves.

Auba out because Wenger, rightly so, is fully 100% on board with Europa League being the only thing that matters for Arsecast so he said he might not even play Auba... Since Auba is cup tied he wants to try some stuff with the actual first team UEL squad. Fair enough from him... I’m sure Auba will still play some amount of minutes in the 0-45 range but the Kun injury news - out for the season - is just too good for Jesus in FPL. They don’t even have another striker in their squad except for a 19 year old child named Lukas Nmecha. Ok.

Arguably simpler of the two moves is Mahrez to Raz. Feel pretty unlucky to not get Riyad points since owning him, his stats in some of the matches were huge, and keepers made some really good stops on him, such is life, such is FPL... But even a fully firing Mahrez / Leicester can’t come close to touching the ceiling of Raz and the supremacy of City. End of.

Ditching Mahrez also means I’ve decided to keep Son... I’ve been thinking about it all week and just kept coming to the conclusion - wait, why are we getting rid of Son?

I made this exact same mistake earlier in the season. I don’t think ANY City attacker will feature in all five of their remaining fixtures, but we’re still all fine to get them in because they’re really good. Well I feel exactly the same feelings towards Son. He’s just really good and a really good pick. He won’t start all four of their last four but he’ll probably play like ~250 minutes and that’s a lot of points for someone of the quality of Sonny. Let’s go bro I’m not fucking you off like last time. I'm never gonna dance again, guilty feet have got no rhythm, though it's easy to pretend, I know you're not a fool.

GK:

Only ten guys for me this blank gameweek starts with Karius straight in...

Since GW23 (12 matches) in the 4-3 Liverpool win vs. City where Karius became the nailed on first choice keeper - LFC have the most clean sheets in the league, least goals conceded (tied with MUN and TOT), and second in the league to City for xGoals allowed... That’s pretty fucking dominant.

Up the Reds.

DEF:

Rolling four dudes out there... Not expecting many points but I’ll take what I can get in this GW.

Lowton goes at Stoke, very cleanable fixture, but who am I kidding Burnley don’t keep cleans vs. anybody so maybe I can just hope for a Lowton assist or to get get subbed off after 60′ but before they inevitably concede... I can dream.

Mama Sakho bias is in again. Hilarious that we both have Mama even tho Palace have six cleans on the season... Fucking hell what are we doing? Mama still a pod favorite though and if Palace can ever manage a clean - maybe this week vs. on the beach Watford - then Mama is a beast on bones. Come on you Eagles.

Lascelles is gonna garner heavy transfer rumors this summer I reckon. He might be the best English pure CB in the world straight up. Unless you’re one of those people who believe in Stones, Cahill, and Harry Maguire... fuck outta here. Let’s get some clean points Jamaal.

Lastly Van der Hoorn vs. City. May not play - though we expect him to do - but fucking hell it’s City. Won’t even be mad if he doesn’t play because I’m just praying for NOT negative points anyway in City’s first home match since winning the title. Maybe they’ll just have a festival and score 10 who the fuck knows?

MID:

New / old friend Raz hello, nice to see you little guy. He’s been by far my favorite FPL pick from City all season and so I’m backing that. It’s kind of funny when you sort mids by total score it looks like it’s close between Kev (190 total) and Sterling (200 total) but when you break that down to points:minutes ratio and/or points per start it is truly not close at all. Raz in.

Still a big fan of the Arnie pick even though he blanked vs. Stoke... Just hoping that Moyes can resist the temptation of going Carroll up top and stick with Arnie up there because it’s mostly worked and Arnie has really flourished... Even though Andy’s finish was delightful. Come on Arnie.

Lastly Wilf. What a great guy. Love him and he’s top class. Gotta hope like Arnie above that Woy keeps Wilf up top and doesn’t dip back into the Benteke pool because that water is shit. I wonder where Wilf will be playing football next season...?

FWD:

Gayle goes again for me. Not the best debut in a blank last week when they score two and the other forward hauls but hey he was still good as he has been for most of the season... His stats are very good especially for a guy on a promoted side. Come on Dwight treat me BABYYYYyyyyyyy!!!

And another new / old friend in Gab Jesus. Eyebrows icon legend tap-in merchant. If he gets, as we’re lead to believe, 400ish minutes from here on out then holy fuck. He’s the easiest pick ever and should be the first name in all FPL team sheets. Who knows? But I hope.

CAP:

I’m on Jesus. I feel as though he’s a touch safer then Raz for ya know, 60-70+ minutes, and that’s really all there is to it. As I mentioned above they have basically no other forwards without punting on a child. It’s their first home fixture since winning the title so should be party atmosphere. Let’s score a lot of points Gab........... But very scared with no Salah as he’s in the leaked lineup. Still think he’s not a good pick for rest of season - but if I had Salah or if I were free hitting this week I’d 100% cap Salah over anyone because he’s by far the best player in the league.