Graph

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Week 22 – Man City go top

Man City continued their good run with a 5-0 win at the Hawthorns. Ilkay Gundogan (£3.9m) has now scored 7 goals in 9 games. City seem to be re-writing the offside rule every week too. Bernardo Silva being the beneficiary of an ‘interesting’ interpretation of the rules against Villa in their last league game, and Cancelo scoring this week with half of the West Brom defence watching on - Sian Massey-Ellis had her flag up, but VAR disagreed.

I thought Burnley winning at Anfield a week ago was big, but Sheffield United said ‘hold my beer’; they went to Old Trafford where the home team needed 3 points to go back to the top of the table – and won 2-1

In the final game of the week, Liverpool went to Spurs for a vital game for both clubs. In the end the reds bounced back to form and won 3-1, thanks to a goal and 2 assists from Sadio Mane. Harry Kane injured both ankles in that game and will miss a couple of weeks ... or more

Leicester are in 3rd, a point behind Man United, after a 1-1 draw at Everton. Chelsea drew 0-0 at home to Wolves under new manager Thomas Tuchel .... time to dust-off the 'Chelsea Manager Sweepstake' set

There were 3 games with 5 goals in this week. City’s win at West Brom and two 3-2s. Burnley came from behind to beat Villa at Turf Moor and West Ham won by the same score at Palace (Soucek with 2). The Hammers are now up into the top 5 – nosebleed territory for them.

At the bottom Sheffield Utd are still 10 points from safety, despite winning 2 in 3 games but they are now only 3 points behind West Brom. Fulham make up the bottom 3 after their 0-0 draw at Brighton.

Eleven players made it into double figures this week, four of them were from Man City ....
Cancelo – 15 points
Mane – 13
Gundogan & Soucek – 12
.... and 7 others with 10 pts

The top of the season-long table remains in the same order ....
Salah - 132
Kane - 131
Fernandes - 121
Son - 120
Vardy - 110

Our flip-flopping leaders have been at it again and Marius Ionita has regained top spot ....
Lead position up 38 to 1,150 pts - averaging 52.27 .... fantastico (Marius Ionita)
100th up 44 (1,057 pts)
1k up 41 (991)
10k up 36 (896)

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Week 23 – All over

At the top of the table Man City beat Sheffield Utd 1-0 to record their 12th consecutive victory in all competitions – a club record. They are now 3 points clear with a game in hand – some bookies will no doubt be paying out soon

City have been helped by other clubs dropping points all over the place. Man United drew 0-0 at Arsenal, Leicester were beaten at home (3-1) by Leeds, and Spurs (who were top of the league in December) lost at Brighton and are now down in 6th – 11 points behind the leaders, that’s just two wins in nine Premier League games for Spurs

The biggest game at the top was 4th v 5th but it didn’t go to form as Liverpool won relatively easily at West Ham. The Hammers remain 5th – the reds are up into 3rd – Salah with 2 goals.

Aston Villa are quietly having a good season, thanks in no small part to Emiliano Martinez who has kept 10 clean sheets in the Premier League this season, only Ederson (12) has more. They won 1-0 at Southampton but had the ‘rub of the VAR’. Danny Ings had an injury-time equaliser chalked off by because the last defender’s backside wasn’t playing his armpit onside. That decision was bad enough, but maybe worse was the decision by VAR not to give Saints a penalty for the Matty Cash save .... but then I saw that Mike Dean was the VAR official and it all became clear Villa are in 9th but have 2 games in hand over most of the teams above them and are only 3 pts behind West Ham.

The new manager at Chelsea has discovered the way forward – just go back to the 2017 defensive pairing of Alonso & Azpilicueta (see week 39 on page 5 of this thread). They got the goals (and a clean sheet) in the 2-0 win over Burnley.

At the bottom, Callum Wilson scored both goals in a 2-0 win for Newcastle at Everton which gives Steve Bruce some respite. The Blades remain bottom on 8 points and the other 2 in the drop zone (West Brom v Fulham) drew 2-2 which didn’t help either of them really. The bottom three have a 7-point gap to overcome, thanks to Brighton’s win.

Top scorers of the TFF week
Bamford – 13 points
Salah, Azpilicueta, Alonso, Wilson – 12
Saka, M. Pereira, J. Lewis - 10

For the season-long leaders, with Kane and Vardy both absent, Mo Salah has stretched his lead at the top. Bamford’s 13 points have moved him into the top 5.
Salah - 144
Kane - 131
Fernandes - 123
Son - 122
Bamford - 115

We have a new face at the top of the TFF leaderboard ....
Lead position up 46 to 1,196 pts - averaging 52 exactly .... Slater’s Superstars (Adele Slater)
100th up 37 (1,094 pts)
1k up 38 (1,029)
10k up 36 (932)

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Week 24 – Southampton lose 9 (nine) – 0 .... again

There was a record-equalling score at Old Trafford this week as Man United beat Southampton 9-0. It’s the third time that score has occurred in the Premier League era, Southampton lost 9-0 to Leicester in 2019 and Man United beat Ipswich 9-0 in 1995. VAR and/or Mike Dean had a role to play in this one (as ever) with some dubious decisions There was no debate about the early red card which got things going, Alexandre Jankewitz, on his debut, sent off after just 79 seconds A special mention to Jan Bednarek who scored an own goal, conceded a hatful and also got sent off near the end (subsequently rescinded) for a total TFF score of .... minus 12 Remarkably there were 8 different scorers in the game, Martial with the 2.

At the top of the table, Man City continued their winning streak with a 2-0 win at Turf Moor. The headline writers had a field day as Jesus got the better of Pope for the opener After having won 68 games at home, Liverpool have now lost 2 in a row as Brighton beat them 1-0 .... that’s 4 clean sheets in a row for Brighton and their first win at Anfield since 1984. Liverpool are now 7 points behind the leaders, having also played a game more – next week, City go to Anfield

Leicester jumped above Liverpool into 3rd with a 2-0 win at Fulham. West Ham won 3-1 at Villa in the David Cameron derby with Jesse Lingard, newly -arrived from Man United, scoring twice. Arsenal lost 2-1 at Wolves, another game with 2 red cards David Luiz and Leno were both sent off. Arsenal have been shown nine Premier League red cards under Mikel Arteta (appointed 20 Dec 2019), 6 more than any other team in that period – dirty Gunners

There was a big game at the foot of the table as Sheffield Utd (20th) beat West Brom (19th) 2-1 to move to within a point of them. Fulham, Burnley & Newcastle all lost to give the bottom 2 half a chance of making up the 10/11 points they need to survive

Seven players made it into double figures this week, unsurprisingly, 5 of them are Man United players ....
AWB – 15 points
Martial – 14
Fernandes – 13
Lingard & Justin – 12
Shaw & Rashford – 10

The final game of the week saw Chelsea go to Spurs and win 1-0 .... Kane’s absence is really telling for Spurs and is also affecting Son’s points in the season-long standings as he registered just 2 points for the third consecutive game ....
Salah – 146
Fernandes - 136
Kane - 131
Son - 124
Bamford - 120

Our flip-flopping leaders have been at it again and Marius Ionita has regained top spot ....
Lead position up 61 to 1,257 pts - averaging 52.38 .... fantastico (Marius Ionita)
100th up 53 (1,147 pts)
1k up 52 (1,081)
10k up 48 (980)

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Week 25 – Alisson blunderland (various sources)

Manchester City had not won in their last 19 trips to Anfield in all competitions (D6 L13), since a 2-1 victory in the Premier League back in May 2003 under Kevin Keegan Phil Foden starred in the 4-1 win this week, and man-of-the-moment Ilkay Gundogan bagged another brace, despite first missing a penalty. The real standout performance though was from Liverpool ‘keeper Alisson who made two big errors. City are now 10 points clear of Liverpool, in 4th place, and 5 ahead of Man United in 2nd.

Man United looked like they would continue where they left off last week (winning 9-0) after going 2-0 up against Everton, but a 95th-minute equaliser by DCL made it 3-3, David De Gea is another ‘keeper who had a bad week. Leicester also slipped up, drawing 0-0 at Wolves. Man City the only team in the top 4 to win

The week got off to a flying start as Watkins scored after 74 seconds against Arsenal, 1-0 was the final result. The only Arsenal player who had a good game this week was Joe Willock – unfortunately for the Gunners he’s on loan at Newcastle. He scored their first against Southampton and Almiron added 2 more. Newcastle played the last 20 minutes with 9 men due to a red card (Hendrick) and an injury, but held on to win 3-2.

Mike Dean has been getting more mentions in this thread than most recently, and he didn’t disappoint this week, sending Soucek off for West Ham in their 0-0 draw at Fulham. I wouldn’t mind but he had a check on the monitor before getting it totally wrong His sending off of Bednarek last week was overturned – and so (already) has this one for Soucek.

At the bottom of the table, Sheffield United lost at home to Chelsea (2-1) and West Brom lost 2-0 at the Hawthorns against Spurs – with Harry Kane making a something of a surprise return from hyperbolic ankle injuries (he missed 2 games) to get the Son/Kane roadshow up and running again. Burnley drew 1-1 with Brighton to edge further away from trouble. The bottom 3 are now 8 points adrift.

The positions at the top of the season-long points table are unchanged, and the top 6 powered on ....
Salah – 153 (scored)
Fernandes – 143 (scored)
Kane – 138 (scored)
Son – 131 (scored)
Bamford – 127 (scored)
DCL – 124 (scored)

Another good week of scoring for our tracked positions and a brand-new leader for the first time in a few months ....
Lead position up 63 to 1,320 pts - averaging 52.80 .... Rob's Robbers 1st XI (Robin Flippance)
100th up 62 (1,209 pts)
1k up 58 (1,139)
10k up 54 (1,034)

Coming up next week (starting later today), we have the 5th round of the FA Cup, with 12 Premier League teams in action.

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Week 26 – FA Cup 5th Round

Just a quick (late) update this week for a couple of reasons....
1) It was only the FA Cup so it’s not too busy
2) I’ve managed to get myself into a ‘bit of a situation’ – more on that later.

Here are the scores of the 8 games, complete with the scorers. The main upset was Bournemouth’s win at Burnley; they are ‘rewarded’ with a QF draw v. Southampton. The tie of the round was certainly Everton 5-4 Spurs, which unsurprisingly provided the top 5 scorers of the week.

Burnley ........ 0-2 ... Bournemouth
Man United ... 1-0 ... a.e.t. West Ham (McTominay)
Swansea City .. 1-3 ... Man City (Walker, Sterling, Jesus)
Leicester ..... 1-0 ... Brighton (Iheanacho)
Sheff United .. 1-0 ... Bristol City (Sharp)
Everton ...... 5-4 ... Spurs a.e.t. (DCL, Richarlison 2, Sigurdsson, Bernard – D. Sanchez 2, Lamela, Kane)
Wolves ...... 0-2 ... Southampton (Ings, Armstrong)
Barnsley ..... 0-1 ... Chelsea (Abraham)

The top 5 scorers of the week were ....
Sigurdsson – 15 points
DCL – 13
Son & Richarlison – 11

The season-long leaders are ....
Salah – 153
Fernandes – 144
Kane – 143
Son – 142
DCL – 137

The Quarter-Final draw looks like this .... for the weekend of the 20th March .... use those transfers wisely.
Everton v Manchester City
Bournemouth v Southampton
Leicester v Manchester United
Chelsea v Sheffield United

Understandably low scores this week. The leader is up 35 to 1,355 pts - averaging 52.12 .... Rob's Robbers 1st XI (Robin Flippance)
100th up 29 (1,238 pts)
1k up 30 (1,169)
10k up 30 (1,064)

Oh yeah – my ‘situation’ – I visited Melbourne for 2 days and they had an outbreak of 13 cases of Covid. I know that’s nothing compared to the UK but here it’s worthy of a 5-day snap lockdown and the interstate borders being closed, requiring a 14-day hotel quarantine when I return home on Sunday .... at my expense!

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Week 27 – Aubameyang hat trick

Arsenal 4-2 Leeds, another entertaining game featuring the Yorkshire side, but the star of the show was Aubameyang who bounced back to form with a hat trick. These 2 sides are 10th & 11th in the table, which is why they seldom get a mention here.

At the top of the table, everything seems to be going Man City’s way. They beat Spurs 3-0 at the Etihad, with man-of-the-moment Ilkay Gundogan with another brace – that’s 9 in 9 in the league for the German. Spurs have lost 4 of their last 5 league games. Useless stat alert .... Man City have now won six successive home League games without conceding, for the first time in 119 years (Feb - Mar 1902).

To further help City, 2nd placed Man United only managed to draw (1-1) at West Brom. After the game OGS said ‘we won’t let City run way with it’!! Liverpool have gone to pieces in the last few weeks – they were beaten 3-1 in the crunch-game at Leicester, with Vardy, Maddison & Barnes scoring 3 quick goals (78’, 81’, 85’), after Salah had given Liverpool the lead. Chelsea beat Newcastle 3-0, with Werner in the goals, and West Ham beat Sheffield Utd 3-0. These two victories mean that Liverpool and now down into 6th (sixth).

At the bottom, Sheffield Utd had a really bad week .... above them, Burnley won 3-0 at Palace, and Fulham pulled off the shock of the week by winning 2-0 at Goodison with both goals to Josh Maja. That leaves the Blades on 11 points, 14 points from safety.

Top scorers of the week were ....
Aubameyang – 17 points
Lowton, Diop, Maja – 12
Rodriguez, Cresswell, Neves, Ederson, Aina, Barnes - 10

The season-long leaders are ....
Salah – 160
Fernandes – 151
Kane – 145
Son – 144
DCL – 137

Now here’s a manager who never gives up, lead position up 61 to 1,416 pts - averaging 52.44 .... fantastiko (Marius Ionita) - back at the top for the fourth time.
100th up 53 (1,291 pts)
1k up 49 (1,218)
10k up 46 (1,110)

Week 27 seems a rather arbitrary time to start this, but it's what I did for the last couple of seasons - so why change now? Here's our top ten ....
1) .... 1,416 .... Marius Ionita ............... fantastiko
2) .... 1,410 .... Robin Flippance .......... Rob's Robbers 1st XI
3) .... 1,377 .... Mark Lemmer ............. Lem's 4
4) .... 1,371 .... Jim McKie .................. Blue is the colour
5) .... 1,371 .... Paul Garrood .............. End The Lockdown
6) .... 1,360 .... Adele Slater ................ Slater's Superstars
7) .... 1,358 .... John Chapman ............ John's Team
8) .... 1,357 .... Jeremy St Lawrence .... NoMancsthankstoo
9) .... 1,354 .... Craig Pringle ................ EASY NOW FC
10) .. 1,353 .... Charles Mouzon .......... MIXED BUNCH 5

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Week 28 – Everton win at Anfield .... Villa ban fantasy football

There were 2 re-arranged fixtures to kick off the week .... Fulham drew 1-1 at Burnley and Man City won 3-1 at Everton to go 10 points clear at the top.

The Merseyside derby created the big news of the week with Everton winning 2-0 at Anfield. Liverpool have lost four consecutive home league games for only the second time, last doing so back in December 1923 – but this will hurt much more, as it also means Everton have won at Anfield for the first time in over 20 years Liverpool ended the game with Kabak & Phillips as the central-defensive partnership .... their 18th combination of the season

Man City’s other game was a 1-0 win at Arsenal, their 18th consecutive win. Leicester remain 3rd after winning 2-1 at Villa Park with Maddison & Barnes on target. Dean Smith has promised to find out who leaked the fact that Grealish would be absent, days before the game. A quick look at the (FPL) fantasy football transfers of several of his staff showed the problem – and now fantasy football is banned at Villa Park

Man United beat Newcastle 3-1 at Old Trafford, Fernandes with another penalty – his 16th goal of the season. United remain 10 points behind City in 2nd place.

Meanwhile, Liverpool loanee Takumi Minamino scored the Southampton goal in a 1-1 draw with Chelsea at St. Mary’s. Tuchel brought Hudson-Odoi on at half-time and took him off after half an hour – unhappy with his attitude. Leeds lost 1-0 at Wolves with Illan Meslier becoming the youngest ever goalkeeper to ‘score’ an own goal, but to be fair there was little he could have done about it. West Ham continued their great season with a 2-1 win at Spurs.

At the bottom, Fulham put another nail in Sheffield United’s Premier League coffin as they won 1-0 at Craven Cottage. West Brom had Semi Ajayi sent off at Burnley after half an hour but had plenty of chances to win the game and were disappointed with a 0-0 draw, which leaves them second-bottom.

There was a smash ‘n’ grab raid in the A23 derby. Palace had 2 shots on target in the game and scored two excellent goals including a 95th minute winner by Benteke. Brighton have still never won a Premier League game on a Monday

Top scorer of the TFF week is something of a surprise package ....

Ola Aina – 14 points
Richarlison – 13
Mahrez & Joachim Andersen – 12
Bernardo Silva – 11
Digne, Rashford, Barnes – 10 pts

The season-long leaders are ....
Salah – 162
Fernandes – 160
Kane – 147
Son – 146
DCL – 141

Good scores all round in the TFF table - leader up 64 to 1,480 pts - averaging 52.86 .... fantastiko (Marius Ionita)
100th up 58 (1,349 pts)
1k up 55 (1,273)
10k up 48 (1,158)

Your top 10 for this week ....
1) .... 1,480 .... Marius Ionita ............... fantastiko
2) .... 1,466 .... Robin Flippance .......... Rob's Robbers 1st XI
3) .... 1,443 .... Paul Garrood .............. End The Lockdown
4) .... 1,437 .... Mark Lemmer ............. Lem's 4
5) .... 1,434 .... Jeremy St Lawrence ... NoMancsthankstoo
6) .... 1,427 .... Charles Mouzon .......... MIXED BUNCH 5
7) .... 1,427 .... Andy Jackson ............. ManC
8) .... 1,421 .... Jim McKie ................... Blue is the colour
9) .... 1,420 .... Adele Slater ................ Slater's Superstars
10) .. 1,419 .... Darren Osman ............ Legend Ossie

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Week 29 – Liverpool win!

In week 29 last season (see page 12) Liverpool were 22 points clear at the top and had just recorded 18 consecutive Premier League wins, equalling Man City’s record (the Reds then lost in week 30).

Leeds v Southampton was an extra game to start this week off, with Leeds continuing their entertaining season with a 3-0 home win, Raphinha was the star of the show.

Man City beat 4th-placed West Ham 2-1 at the Etihad, not one of City’s best performances but that extended the winning run to 20, and Aguero started his first game for some time but it was the defensice duo of Stones & Dias with the goals. Man United lost ground as they drew 0-0 at Chelsea, one point not really helping either team – City are now 12 clear and the fat lady is clearing her throat.

There was a bit of an upset at Leicester as Arsenal beat the Foxes 3-1. Maddison & Barnes are both now out injured which could mean problems for Brendan Rodgers. This defeat means the 4 teams chasing City all failed to win

Liverpool won 2-0 at Sheffield United and are in 6th place, a point behind Chelsea. Aston Villa (without Grealish) went to Elland Road and won 1-0, they are still within striking distance of the European places if they win their games in hand.

At the bottom, Fulham drew 0-0 at Palace and Newcastle drew 1-1 with Wolves. At the Hawthorns we had a real VARsical situation where the referee had a check to see if he’d blown his whistle or not, before disallowing Dunk’s quickly taken free kick! Gross hit the bar from the penalty spot in the first half, then Welbeck hit the post with one in the second .... somehow the Baggies beat Brighton 1-0, they remain 9 points from safety but that defeat kept Brighton involved in the relegation fight.

Only 4 players made it into double figures this week ....
Bale – 15 points
Bartley – 12
Pepe & Reguilon – 10
.... closely followed by 8 Leeds players who, remarkably, all scored 9 points!

The order of season-long leaders remains unchanged, but Kane & Son closed the gap ....
Salah – 164
Fernandes – 162
Kane – 154 (scored)
Son – 154 (2 assists)
DCL – 143

Reasonably good scores all round again in the TFF table - leader up 44 to 1,524 pts - averaging 52.55 .... fantastiko (Marius Ionita)
100th up 45 (1,394 pts)
1k up 42 (1,315)
10k up 42 (1,200)

Your top 10 for this week ....
1) .... 1,524 .... Marius Ionita ............... fantastiko
2) .... 1,518 .... Robin Flippance .......... Rob's Robbers 1st XI
3) .... 1,492 .... Mark Lemmer ............. Lem's 4
4) .... 1,480 .... Jeremy St Lawrence ... NoMancsthankstoo
5) .... 1,480 .... Paul Garrood .............. End The Lockdown
6) .... 1,472 .... Andy Jackson ............. ManC
7) .... 1,470 .... Jim McKie ................... Blue is the colour
8) .... 1,466 .... Lee Fricker .................. Superman 3
9) .... 1,463 .... Adele Slater ................ Slater's Superstars
10) .. 1,459 .... Charles Mouzon ......... MIXED BUNCH 5

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Week 30 – Man City are not invincible and they’re not going to win the quadruple

There were 7 re-arranged games at the start of this week. Man City beat Wolves 4-1 in the first of them to make it 21 wins on the bounce in all competitions, Gabriel Jesus with 2 goals.

The other 6 games saw a total of 6 goals. Leicester drew 1-1 at Burnley, Sheffield United beat Villa 1-0 to close the gap at the bottom and Man United drew 0-0 at Palace to slip further behind City at the top. VAR finally jumped the shark this week (see Happy Days for reference) when it disallowed a Fulham equaliser in their 1-0 loss v Spurs. It may be accurate to say it’s the rule, not VAR that’s at fault, but at least things look like they may be changing after this latest travesty. Everton won 1-0 at West Brom and Chelsea became the latest team to go to Anfield and win 1-0

Burnley drew 1-1 with Arsenal to start the 10 games of this week, in a game which saw the useful side of VAR. Arsenal were awarded a penalty and Pieters was red carded but on review both were (correctly) overturned – this VAR thing could catch on

In the big game of the week, the honours went to Man United who (again) won at the Etihad with goals for Fernandes (a penalty after 30 seconds) and man-of-the-match Shaw. That ends City’s winning streak and closes the gap at the top to 11 points. Even when 2-0 down and pressing for a way back into the game there was no move to bring Aguero on .... very strange Raheem Sterling missed a sitter in that game and has now had 30+ attempts at goal against United and never scored against them .... which is about his average I reckon If you look up ‘Profligate’ in the dictionary it says ‘See Raheem Sterling’

After losing 5 games in a row at home, Liverpool would have been happy to entertain Fulham, you know, to get back into the winning groove – yikes, Fulham won 1-0 to make it 6 (six) Liverpool’s only home goal in 2021 so far has been a Salah penalty, if you look up profligate in the dicti .... oh wait, I’ve already done that one Liverpool are down into 8th (eighth) place in the table

Spurs have found some sort of form recently, and so too has Gareth Bale. He scored twice in their 4-1 win v Palace – as did Harry Kane, they have now won 3 in a row and are looking good. The Chelsea defence is also looking good, they kept another clean sheet in a 2-0 win v Everton, that’s 6 clean sheets out of 7, including an away game at Athletico Madrid.

The final game of the week saw West Ham beat Leeds 2-0. The Hammers are up into 5th spot – well done to them and to David Moyes. Leeds were still entertaining but have now lost 4 of the last 5.

There were lots of points this week as there were 17 games, the top scorers were ....
Harry Kane – 20 pts
Luke Shaw – 18
.... then seven players on 14.

The season-long leaders have shuffled somewhat ....
Kane – 174
Fernandes - 171
Salah – 168
Son – 161
DCL - 147

We have another flip-flop at the top of the TFF table – lead position up 57 to 1,581 pts - averaging 52.70 .... Rob’s Robbers 1st XI (Robin Flippance)
100th up 66 (1,460 pts)
1k up 66 (1,381)
10k up 65 (1,265)

Your top 10 for this week ....
1) .... 1,581 .... Robin Flippance .......... Rob's Robbers 1st XI
2) .... 1,566 .... Marius Ionita ............... fantastiko
3) .... 1,562 .... Mark Lemmer ............. Lem's 4
4) .... 1,554 .... Paul Garrood .............. End The Lockdown
5) .... 1,545 .... Craig Eastwood .......... Rubber Dinghy Rapids
6) .... 1,543 .... Jim McKie ................... Blue is the colour
7) .... 1,541 .... Jeremy St Lawrence ... NoMancsthankstoo
8) .... 1,537 .... Lee Fricker .................. Superman 3
9) .... 1,534 .... Andy Jackson ............. ManC
10) .. 1,527 .... Adele Slater ................ Slater's Superstars

Signs of improvement on the graph against previous averages after a big week ....

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Week 31 – Iheanacho hat trick

Arsenal won the North London derby, with Eric Lamela having a starring role. An audacious Rabona nutmeg against the run of play to give Spurs the lead and then a red card in the last 15 minutes when they were 2-1 down, thanks in no small part to a dodgy penalty – which VAR confirmed so it must have been ok. That win moves Arsenal into the top half of the table

The one re-arranged fixture this week was a high-scoring affair at the Etihad with Man City beating Southampton 5-2. KDB & Mahrez both scoring twice. City also went to Craven Cottage and beat Fulham 3-0 with Sergio Aguero back amongst the goals .... like City needed any more firepower Man United beat West Ham 1-0 thanks to a Dawson o.g. to remain in 2nd place, 14 points behind City and a point ahead of Leicester.

At the bottom, Chris Wilder’s departure from Sheffield United did not result in a ‘bounce’ in their performance as they were thrashed 5-0 at Leicester with Kelechi Iheanacho scoring a hat trick. West Brom also lost (1-0 at Palace) which meant the bottom 3 all slipped a point further behind Newcastle, who scored with the last touch of the game to draw 1-1 with Villa .... lots of dropped points for my Villa defenders there

Brighton won 2-1 at Southampton, and Burnley won 2-1 at Everton. These two unexpected away wins were huge, as both teams moved towards safety into 15th & 16th places. Burnley are now level on points with Saints.

In the mid-table clash for the final game of the week , James Milner made his 158th appearance as a Premier League substitute (equalling the record of Peter Crouch) in a 1-0 win for Liverpool at Wolves, Diogo Jota with the winning goal against his old club. Liverpool are in 6th place in the league – level on points with Everton (7th).

Eight players made it into double figures this week with 5 of them from Man City (played twice)
Iheanacho – 17 points
Mahrez – 15
Adams – 14
KDB, Stones – 12
Vardy, Foden – 11
Cancelo - 10

Top of the season-long rankings .... remains the same
Kane – 176 (blanked)
Fernandes - 173 (blanked)
Salah – 170 (blanked)
Son – 163 (blanked)
DCL – 154 (scored)
Remarkably - none of these 5 were in the top 5 in week 31 last season

No change at the very top of the TFF league.
Leader up 58 to 1,639 pts - averaging 52.87 .... Rob’s Robbers 1st XI (Robin Flippance)
100th up 64 (1,524 pts)
1k up 60 (1,441)
10k up 52 (1,317)

Your top 10 for this week ....
1) .... 1,639 .... Robin Flippance .......... Rob's Robbers 1st XI
2) .... 1,637 .... Marius Ionita ............... fantastiko
3) .... 1,626 .... Lee Fricker .................. Superman 3
4) .... 1,623 .... Mark Lemmer ............. Lem's 4
5) .... 1,611 .... Paul Garrood .............. End The Lockdown
6) .... 1,602 .... Jeremy St Lawrence ... NoMancsthankstoo
7) .... 1,601 .... Jim McKie ................... Blue is the colour
8) .... 1,600 .... Craig Eastwood .......... Rubber Dinghy Rapids
9) .... 1,595 .... Andy Jackson ............. ManC
10) .. 1,591 .... John Chapman .......... John's Team

Next up we have the FA Cup QF weekend and 4 Premier League games, no games for Liverpool, Palace, Burnley, West Brom & Wolves.

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Week 32 – FA Cup QF
It was a low-scoring affair this week with just 4 Premier League games and the 4 FA Cup quarter finals .... so here are the scores and scorers....

EPL
Fulham 1-2 Leeds (Andersen, Bamford, Raphinha)
Brighton 3-0 Newcastle (Trossard, Welbeck, Maupay)
West Ham 3-3 Arsenal (Lingard, Bowen, Soucek .... Dawson og, Soucek og, Lacazette)
Aston Villa 0-2 Spurs (Vinicius, Kane)

FAC
Bournemouth 0-3 Southampton (Djenepo, Redmond 2)
Everton 0-2 Man City (Gundogan, KDB)
Chelsea 2-0 Sheffield Utd (Norwood og, Ziyech)
Leicester 3-1 Man United (Iheanacho 2, Tielemans, Greenwood)

The biggest result of the week was Brighton’s win v. Newcastle, which moved them above Steve Bruce’s side into 16th place, 6 points clear of the relegation places. The Geordie’s are 2 points ahead of Fulham, and they also have a game in hand.

Everton held Man City out for much of the game at Goodison and on another day could have grabbed a 1-0 win, but in the end City deserved to go through - still fighting on all fronts. Kelechi Iheanacho is on fire at the moment, another 2 goals for him which makes it 7 in his last 4 matches, and also 11 in 11 FA Cup games. West Ham were 3-0 up against Arsenal but threw it away to draw 3-3, Soucek scored at both ends and didn’t know much about either of them.

Seven players made it into double figures this week ....
Redmond & Iheanacho – 15 points
Chilwell – 13
Lingard, Veltman, Trossard & Laporte - 10

Top of the season-long rankings .... remains the same
Kane – 183 (scored)
Fernandes - 174 (blanked)
Salah – 170 (no game)
Son – 163 (injured)
DCL – 156 (blanked)

No change at the very top of the TFF league.
Leader up 35 to 1,674 pts - averaging 52.31 .... Rob’s Robbers 1st XI (Robin Flippance)
100th up 30 (1,554 pts)
1k up 31 (1,472)
10k up 30 (1,347)

Your top 10 for this week ....
1) .... 1,674 .... Robin Flippance .......... Rob's Robbers 1st XI
2) .... 1,670 .... Lee Fricker .................. Superman 3
3) .... 1,670 .... Marius Ionita ............... fantastiko
4) .... 1,663 .... Mark Lemmer ............. Lem's 4
5) .... 1,646 .... Paul Garrood .............. End The Lockdown
6) .... 1,645 .... Andy Jackson ............. ManC
7) .... 1,627 .... Jim McKie ................... Blue is the colour
8) .... 1,627 .... IAN DAWSON .............. IOSD20
9) .... 1,626 .... Jeremy St Lawrence ... NoMancsthankstoo
10) .. 1,625 .... Craig Eastwood .......... Rubber Dinghy Rapids

[brencarr]

Week 33 – Jesus scores at Easter

There was a full set of fixtures this week, a total of 38 goals and Man City & Liverpool kept clean sheets .... so why are the scores so low

At the top of the table the two Manchester clubs pulled away from the chasing pack. City won 2-0 at third-placed Leicester and United came from behind at home to beat Brighton 2-1. Chelsea have managed multiple clean sheets over the last 5-6 weeks and lured everyone in to stacking up on their defenders .... only to lose 5-2 at home , to West Brom , thanks in part to Thiago Silva’s red card but also to some excellent finishing form the baggies – who are probably still doomed.

Spurs also missed a chance as they drew 2-2 at Newcastle with a brace for Kane. West Ham took full advantage of the weeks results by hanging on to beat Wolves 3-2 and move up into 4th place! Liverpool looked like their old selves winning 3-0 at Arsenal. Jota is looking like a must-have for the run-in, he scored 2 after coming from the bench.

At the bottom of the table, Sheff United lost 2-1 at Leeds and remain firmly rooted to the bottom. West Brom’s win moved them to within 8 points of Newcastle (and safety) but the Baggies have a much worse goal difference. Fulham lost 3-1 at Villa (Trezeguet with 2) to make up the bottom three, they are 3 points from safety.

Top scorers of the week are not (all) your usual suspects ....
M. Pereira – 18 points
Kane, B. Mendy – 12
Trezeguet, Robinson – 11
.... and 6 players on 10 pts.

Top of the season-long rankings .... remains the same
Kane – 195 (scored 2)
Fernandes - 179 (assist)
Salah – 177 (scored)
Son – 164 (blanked)
DCL – 158 (blanked)

Top of the TFF league for a 4th consecutive week ....
Leader up 41 to 1,715 pts - averaging 51.97 .... Rob’s Robbers 1st XI (Robin Flippance)
100th up 38 (1,592 pts)
1k up 38 (1,510)
10k up 37 (1,384)

Your top 10 for this week ....
1) .... 1,715 .... Robin Flippance .......... Rob's Robbers 1st XI
2) .... 1,711 .... Marius Ionita ............... fantastiko
3) .... 1,708 .... Lee Fricker .................. Superman 3
4) .... 1,698 .... Mark Lemmer ............. Lem's 4
5) .... 1,683 .... Andy Jackson ............. ManC
6) .... 1,681 .... Paul Garrood .............. End The Lockdown
7) .... 1,673 .... Jeremy St Lawrence ... NoMancsthankstoo
8) .... 1,665 .... Jordan Whaley ........... Whaleys Wonders
9) .... 1,663 .... Craig Eastwood .......... Rubber Dinghy Rapids
10) .. 1,658 .... IAN DAWSON .............. IOSD20

[brencarr]

Week 34 – Drop-zone sorted
At the top of the table we had a couple of blips this week. Man City lost 2-1 at home to 10-man Leeds, thanks to a brace from Stuart Dallas. Leeds had 2 shots, both of which were goals, City had 29 (7 on target) but it was one of those days for the blues. Leicester City (in 3rd place) lost 3-2 at West Ham, who are now up to 4th place, just a point behind the Foxes. Two of the league’s in-form players starred again in the game, Lingard & Iheancho both scoring twice.

Man United dealt Spurs’ European qualification hopes a blow, by going to London and coming from behind to win 3-1. The only black mark against United was regarding OGS’s parenting skills Of course VAR had a shocker as well but I’m not even bothering to go there United are now 11 points behind City, with a game in hand. Chelsea remain 5th with a 4-1 win at Palace.

In week 34 last season, I wrote the following ....
Liverpool are champions - It’s the Reds’ first title for 30 years but I can’t remember one which was more richly deserved. They have one of the most engaging, entertaining and personable managers in the game. They have won the title with a fantastic style of football, excellent defence and exhilarating attack – many congratulations to all at the club – they are going to take some beating next year. .... well, they certainly made me look foolish! They are, however, back to some sort of form as they beat Villa 2-1 at Anfield to make it 3 league wins in a row. They are now 6th, 2 points behind Chelsea.

At the bottom, Adama Traore’s last-minute winner at Craven Cottage has probably decided the relegation battle, as Newcastle managed to come from behind and win 2-1 at Turf Moor. They are 6 points ahead of Fulham and have a game in hand. West Brom are looking like champions at the moment, they followed up their 5-2 demolition of Chelsea last week with a 3-0 thumping of Southampton, goalkeeper Sam Johnstone even saving a JWP penalty. Alas, it’s probably too little, too late, as they are 8 points from safety .... and just 7 games to go. Sheffield United lost 3-0 at home to Arsenal and are a couple of games away from the drop.

The top scorers of the week this week all got 12 points
Lacazette; Dallas; Johnstone; Lingard; Iheanacho; Pulisic
.... Bowen & Havertz both scored 10.
(I have none of these 8 players )

We finally have a change to the top 5 scorers overall with DCL replaced by Bamford.
Kane – 197 (blanked)
Salah – 184 (scored)
Fernandes - 181 (blanked)
Son – 171 (scored and won an Oscar )
Bamford – 160 (assist)

We also have a new leader at the top of the TFF table as we get to the pointy end of the season ....
Lead position up 31 to 1,746 pts - averaging 51.35 .... Superman 3 (Lee Fricker)
100th up 29 (1,621 pts)
1k up 27 (1,537)
10k up 27 (1,411)

Your top 10 for this week ....
1) .... 1,746 .... Lee Fricker .................. Superman 3
2) .... 1,742 .... Robin Flippance .......... Rob's Robbers 1st XI
3) .... 1,737 .... Mark Lemmer ............. Lem's 4
4) .... 1,722 .... Marius Ionita ............... fantastiko
5) .... 1,707 .... Andy Jackson ............. ManC
6) .... 1,702 .... Paul Garrood .............. End The Lockdown
7) .... 1,695 .... Jim McKie ................... Blue is the colour
8) .... 1,695 .... Jordan Whaley ........... Whaleys Wonders
9) .... 1,693 .... John Chapman .......... John's Team
10) .. 1,691 .... Jeremy St Lawrence .. NoMancsthankstoo

[brencarr]

Week 35 – FA Cup Semi-finals, the Super League & Mourinho sacked.

The re-arranged games have made these two weeks a bit unbalanced so I have proposed to draw the line after the Chelsea v Brighton game although it doesn’t match the TFF weeks.... anyone against .... no .... carried

Well – THAT was an interesting week in the World of Football and no mistake Six Premier League clubs joined some European counterparts and decided to break away and form a ‘Super’ League .... long-story-short .... the fans (and the players to be fair) spoke out, and the cads had to back down .... poor form. The only people who were happy were Paris St. Germain, who would have won the Champions League and Brentford, who may have been awarded the League Cup

Anyway, on to normal business. The Semi-finals of the FA Cup were both low-scoring and I didn’t manage to catch a single minute of them live – obviously once I heard the City score I didn’t rush to watch the recording either Both games were settled by a single goal in the 55th minute ....

Leicester 1-0 Southampton (Iheanacho .... on fire, and available for £3.4m)

Chelsea 1-0 Man City (Ziyech)

In the Premier League, 1st (Man City) and 3rd (Leicester) didn’t have a game, but only Man United of the rest of the top eleven teams managed a win They beat Burnley 3-1 at Old Trafford, with a brace for Greenwood. Chelsea had a game after their semi-final and drew 0-0 with Brighton.

West Ham are in 5th spot after losing 3-2 at Newcastle, they had Dawson sent off in the 1st half. Liverpool drew 1-1 at Leeds and are 6th. Kane scored twice in a 2-2 draw at Everton, with Sigurdsson getting both for the Toffees. Spurs sacked Jose shortly thereafter.

At the bottom, Sheffield Utd were relegated after a 1-0 loss at Wolves. They will be replaced (kinda) by Norwich, who were promoted .... that’s Teemu Pukki pencilled in for next season Newcastle’s win and Brighton’s draw edged them further away from trouble, with only Burnley looking anxiously over their shoulder at Fulham, who are 6 points behind.

At the top of the TFF rankings, Harry ‘ankles’ Kane has broken through the 200 barrier ....
Kane – 209 (scored 2 and hobbled off)
Salah – 185 (blanked)
Fernandes - 183 (blanked)
Son – 173 (blanked)
Bamford – 162 (blanked)

At the top of the TFF league ....
Leader up 48 to 1,794 pts - averaging 51.26 .... Superman 3 (Lee Fricker)
100th up 37 (1,658 pts)
1k up 36 (1,573)
10k up 32 (1,443)

Your top 10 for this week ....
1) .... 1,794 .... Lee Fricker ................ Superman 3
2) .... 1,780 .... Robin Flippance ........ Rob's Robbers 1st XI
3) .... 1,769 .... Mark Lemmer ........... Lem's 4
4) .... 1,748 .... John Chapman ........ John's Team
5) .... 1,748 .... Marius Ionita ............. fantastiko
6) .... 1,747 .... Paul Garrood ............ End The Lockdown
7) .... 1,736 .... Andy Jackson ........... ManC
8) .... 1,726 .... Paul Scott ................. Emily's Eagles
9) .... 1,722 .... Jim McKie ................. Blue is the colour
10) .. 1,722 .... Jordan Whaley ......... Whaleys Wonders

[brencarr]

Week 36 – Wood hat-trick

Man City won the League Cup for the 4th season in a row, beating Spurs 1-0

At the top of the table it was a good week for Man City. They won 2-1 at Villa in a game which saw Stones & Cash both sent off, they won the League Cup and effectively clinched the Premier League title when Man United drew 0-0 at Leeds.

Leicester made 3rd place a little more secure as they won twice this week; first they beat West Brom 3-0 and then Palace 2-1. Iheanacho scored in both games and has now scored 14 in 14 for the Foxes in all competitions. Chelsea beat West Ham 1-0 in the 4th v 5th clash thanks to ‘goal-machine’ Timo Werner

Liverpool are in 6th place after a 1-1 draw at ‘fortress’ Anfield with ‘mighty’ Newcastle. The Geordies were almost dealt a cruel blow as VAR disallowed a Callum Wilson goal in the 92nd minute, but still managed a last-gasp equaliser. With 159 appearances from the bench, James Milner has now overtaken Peter Crouch for the most substitute apps in Premier League history.

At the bottom – Sheffield United won – they beat Brighton 1-0, but are still relegated. West Brom drew 2-2 at Villa, and Fulham didn’t have a game. The big winners were Burnley who went to Wolves and won 4-0, thanks to a Chris Wood first-half hat-trick. The gap between the bottom 3 (mainly Fulham) and Brighton is 7 points, with 5 to play.

Watford are promoted back to the Premier League .... that’s Troy Deeney pencilled in for next season, alongside Teemu Pukki We could have the same 6 teams swapping places this year as we had last year, with Bournemouth in the play-offs and the relegation places looking pretty much sorted.

Top scorers this week ....
Wood – 20 points
Evans, Castagne & Iheanacho all on 17

Season leaders ....
Kane – 209 (blanked)
Salah – 192 (scored)
Fernandes - 185 (blanked)
Son – 180 (scored)
Bamford – 163 (blanked)

At the top of the TFF league, our leader scored a very healthy 76 to open up a 37-point lead
Leader up 76 to 1,870 pts - averaging 51.94 .... Superman 3 (Lee Fricker)
100th up 56 (1,714 pts)
1k up 50 (1,623)
10k up 43 (1,486)

There was quite a shake-up in your top 10 for this week, with 5 new entrants ....
1) .... 1,870 .... Lee Fricker ............... Superman 3
2) .... 1,833 .... Robin Flippance ....... Rob's Robbers 1st XI
3) .... 1,806 .... David Chadwick ....... Rising Force
4) .... 1,806 .... Mark Lemmer ........... Lem's 4
5) .... 1,804 .... John Chapman ........ John's Team
6) .... 1,793 .... Jamie Baer ............... Amelia Five
7) .... 1,791 .... Jack Palmer ............. Ashton Villa
8) .... 1,786 .... Andy Jackson ........... ManC
9) .... 1,782 .... Darren Taylor ........... TFF Mutley 1
10) .. 1,781 .... Darren Taylor ........... TFF Mutley 2

[Canaryfan]

We could have the same 6 teams swapping places this year as we had last year, with Bournemouth in the play-offs and the relegation places looking pretty much sorted.

Not sure that has ever happened, but won't this time as Sheffield United didn't get promoted last season.

[brencarr]

We could have the same 6 teams swapping places this year as we had last year, with Bournemouth in the play-offs and the relegation places looking pretty much sorted.

Not sure that has ever happened, but won't this time as Sheffield United didn't get promoted last season.

Of course - Fulham won the play-offs and Leeds were the other team, my mistake. I even looked back to check, and still got it wrong!

[Canaryfan]

We could have the same 6 teams swapping places this year as we had last year, with Bournemouth in the play-offs and the relegation places looking pretty much sorted.

Not sure that has ever happened, but won't this time as Sheffield United didn't get promoted last season.

Of course - Fulham won the play-offs and Leeds were the other team, my mistake. I even looked back to check, and still got it wrong!

Don't worry, we all make mistakes - you only need to look at my transfer history to see that

[brencarr]

Week 37 – Bale hat-trick, Man United fans are revolting

At the top of the table, Man City won 2-0 at Palace which meant that if Liverpool won at Old Trafford, City would be crowned champions. The Old Trafford faithful had other ideas, and in protest of the Glazer family they demonstrated on the pitch, which led to the postponement of the game .... and no points this week for any of our Liverpool & United players

Leicester remain 3rd after a 1-1 draw at St. Mary’s, which was a great point for Saints who had Vestergaard sent off after 10 minutes. Chelsea beat Fulham 2-0 (Havertz 2) to remain 4th, fifth-placed West Ham won 2-1 at Burnley (Antonio 2) and a Gareth Bale hat-trick in a 4-0 win v Sheff United, moved Spurs above Liverpool into 6th.

At the bottom, West Brom’s 1-1 draw with Wolves and losses for Newcastle & Burnley meant that Brighton were the big winners as they moved to 37 pts with a 2-0 win v. Leeds. The bottom 3 still look doomed

Eight players made it into double figures this week in the TFF league ....
Bale – 17 points
Aurier – 13
Antonio & Havertz – 12
Welbeck, Aubameyang, Son & B. Mendy – 10 pts

The top scorers for the season ....
Kane – 211 (blanked)
Salah – 192 (postponed)
Son – 190 (scored + assist)
Fernandes - 185 (postponed)
Calvert-Lewin – 167 (scored)

At the top of the TFF league, our leader is now 54 points clear and looks uncatchable ....
Leader up 41 to 1,911 pts - averaging 51.65 .... Superman 3 (Lee Fricker)
100th up 32 (1,746 pts)
1k up 31 (1,654)
10k up 31 (1,517)

Your top 10 for this week ....
1) .... 1,911 .... Lee Fricker ............... Superman 3
2) .... 1,857 .... Robin Flippance ....... Rob's Robbers 1st XI
3) .... 1,841 .... Mark Lemmer ........... Lem's 4
4) .... 1,839 .... David Chadwick ....... Rising Force
5) .... 1,829 .... John Chapman ........ John's Team
6) .... 1,824 .... Jamie Baer ............... Amelia Five
7) .... 1,821 .... Paul Scott ................. Emily's Eagles
8) .... 1,821 .... Andy Jackson ........... ManC
9) .... 1,819 .... Jamie Baer ............... Amelia Two
10) .. 1,816 .... Darren Taylor ........... TFF Mutley 1

[brencarr]

Week 38 – West Brom & Fulham relegated

For the first time in the Premier League era, all the relegation places have been confirmed with three games to go as West Brom lost 3-1 at Arsenal, and Fulham were beaten 2-0 at home to Burnley; it’s quite possible that all 3 relegated clubs could end up with under 30 points for the season

At the top of the table things are still very much alive. Sergio Aguero will be thankful that City (probably) didn’t need to win v Chelsea to clinch the title, as his awful Panenka penalty is not the way he would want to be remembered. Chelsea continued their great form with a 2-1 win at the Etihad and have now beaten City in the FA Cup and Premier League in the run-up to playing them in the Champion’s League final in Istanbul .. Wembley .. Portugal .. wherever

Leicester are making hard work of remaining in the top 4, losing at home 4-2 to Newcastle put a dent in their run-in, they have 3 tough games, and an FA Cup final, still to go, and have slipped down to 4th below Chelsea.

Man United won 3-1 at Villa to keep up the chase in 2nd spot. West Ham (5th) lost 1-0 at home to Everton, their 3rd defeat in 5 games. This gives Liverpool, Spurs and Everton a chance to overtake them and the Hammers could miss out on Europe altogether. Liverpool beat Saints 2-0 at Anfield this week, this means that Sadio Mane is still the last Southampton player to score there! Spurs lost (3-1) at Leeds.

Only 4 players scraped into double figures this week ....
C. Wilson 12 points (for his brace at Leicester)
G. Cahill, B. Godfrey & E. Eze – 10

The top scorers for the season ....
Kane – 213 (blanked)
Son – 197 (scored)
Salah – 197 (assist)
Fernandes - 192 (scored)
Calvert-Lewin – 174 (scored)

No change at the top of the TFF league, with just 3 weeks to go ....
Leader up 34 to 1,945 pts - averaging 51.18 .... Superman 3 (Lee Fricker)
100th up 37 (1,783 pts)
1k up 37 (1,691)
10k up 34 (1,551)

1) .... 1,945 .... Lee Fricker ............... Superman 3
2) .... 1,894 .... Robin Flippance ....... Rob's Robbers 1st XI
3) .... 1,884 .... Mark Lemmer ........... Lem's 4
4) .... 1,883 .... David Chadwick ....... Rising Force
5) .... 1,863 .... John Chapman ........ John's Team
6) .... 1,862 .... Paul Scott ................. Emily's Eagles
7) .... 1,859 .... Andy Jackson ........... ManC
8) .... 1,854 .... Darren Taylor ........... TFF Mutley 1
9) .... 1,853 .... Jamie Baer ............... Amelia Two
10) .. 1,847 .... Jack Palmer ............. Ashton Villa

The FA Cup final is this weekend, which ruins my graph, as that game is normally ‘week’ 42. I’ll figure something out .... but not today.

You can really see the effect of removing the 2nd key contribution points compared to the last few years. Even just comparing to last season, when the scores in week 38 were ....
Leader 1,996 (51 points more than this season)
100th - 1,897 (+114)
1k - 1,835 (+144)
10k - 1,725 (+174)

[brencarr]

Weeks 39 & 40 – Man City are champions .... Leicester win the FA Cup .... Torres hat-trick .... Alisson scores .... fans return .... some people are on the pitch, they think it’s all over ....

During this TFF ‘week’ there were 3 re-arranged games and the FA Cup final – so, this update is effectively 2 of my ‘weeks’ which makes the graph work out at 42 weeks the same as in previous seasons – I simply split it 50/50 between the two (for anyone playing along at home).

With the relegation spots decided last week, this week was all about the top of the table; It started with a re-arranged fixture at Old Trafford where Leicester played a strong team and United didn’t; Leicester won 2-1 which meant City were uncatchable at the top and Leicester took a huge step closer to Champions League football next season. Man City then went on to win 4-3 at Newcastle to set a new record for the most consecutive away wins in English league history (12), with Ferran Torres scoring a hat-trick .... he looks good

In their 2nd game of the week, Man United lost at home again, this time 4-2 to Liverpool, in a game that would have been a TFF points-fest for some of you out there .... but not me Liverpool’s 2nd game of the week looks on paper like it was a regulation 2-1 win at West Brom, but it was far from it. The Baggies put up a great fight and the Reds had to rely on a last-gasp header by Alisson to win it. He’s the 6th goalie to score in the Premier League era – I’ll list the other 5 below if you want to test yourself first .... I've not got time to cover the VAR decision

Arsenal threw the cat amongst the pigeons when they did the double over Chelsea for the first time in 17 years by winning at Stamford Bridge (1-0). That left the door open for the chasing pack as next week Chelsea (4th) host Leicester (3rd) with Liverpool just a point behind them, and 3 points behind the Foxes .... something has to give. As a warm-up to that crunch match, Leicester beat Chelsea 1-0 in the FA Cup final .... in front of fans That was their first win, at their 5th attempt. Chelsea have looked really solid since Tuchel took charge but their season could be coming badly unstuck .... where’s that ‘fingers-crossed’ emoji

Spurs (beat Wolves 2-0) & West Ham (drew 1-1 at Brighton) have mathematical chances of making the top 4 .... but not realistically.

Southampton also had 2 games this week and they got their 4th win in 23 Premier League games when they beat Palace 3-1 (Ings 2). They decided they liked this ‘winning’ thing and also beat Fulham 3-1, with Theo Walcott scoring his first home goal for Saints in nearly 15 years .... you expect a better return than that really, from someone of his calibre! A quick mention for Sheff United who won 1-0 at Everton, they are now on 20 points and could catch West Brom

Those goal-scoring goalkeepers ....
P. Schmeichel (Shot in box, 2001) Friedel (Shot in box, 2004) Robinson (Own half, 2007) Howard (Own half, 2012) and Begovic (Own half, 2013)

There were plenty of double figure scores this week with the re-arranged games and the cup final but the top player with 17 points from one game ....
Ferran Torres.

The top scorers for the season ....
Kane – 220 (scored)
Salah – 211 (played 2, scored 2)
Fernandes - 200 (scored)
Son – 199 (blanked)
Calvert-Lewin – 178 (double blank)

Updating the scores for this double ‘week’....
With just 2 weeks to go I think we know who the winner is going to be .... surely.
Leader up 80 to 2,025 pts - averaging 50.63 .... Superman 3 (Lee Fricker)
100th up 58 (1,841 pts)
1k up 56 (1,747)
10k up 53 (1,604)

Your top ten for this week ....
1) .... 2,025 .... Lee Fricker ............... Superman 3
2) .... 1,965 .... David Chadwick ....... Rising Force
3) .... 1,951 .... Robin Flippance ....... Rob's Robbers 1st XI
4) .... 1,930 .... Mark Lemmer ........... Lem's 4
5) .... 1,922 .... Jamie Baer ............... Amelia Two
6) .... 1,920 .... Andy Jackson ........... ManC
7) .... 1,918 .... Graham Harris .......... Blunt Hedgehogs
8) .... 1,915 .... John Chapman ........ John's Team
9) .... 1,915 .... Jamie Baer ............... Amelia Five
10) .. 1,914 .... Darren Taylor ........... TFF Mutley 1

[brencarr]

Week 41 – Tight at the top

First up – how absolutely wonderful to see and hear the fans at the matches this week – such a difference.

Man City couldn’t extend their record run of away wins, as they lost 3-2 at Brighton .... red cards (given & not), end-to-end action and a managerial contretemps made for an exciting game. I suggest the City team for the final game will be much changed, and their ‘stars’ will be in cotton wool at home, preparing for the Champions League final.

Chelsea will not have that luxury, they beat Leicester 2-1 to gain a little revenge for the FA Cup final, in a game which saw Iheanacho become the first player to score on every day of the week in the Premier League, in a single season – a sign of the times .... but a 3-0 win (at Turf Moor) for Liverpool means that the top 4 battle will go down to the wire with one game remaining....

Man City ....... 83 pts
Man United ... 71 pts
Chelsea ......... 67 pts ..... +23 goal difference
Liverpool ....... 66 pts ..... +24
Leicester ....... 66 pts ..... +20

Man United could only draw 1-1 with Fulham, which was a shame as Cavani’s goal was deserving of winning any game – a real cracker

The battle continues just below the Champions League places as West Ham came from behind to beat West Brom at the Hawthorns, after that game it was announced that Big Sam will be leaving next week. The Hammers are in 6th, 3 points ahead of Spurs who lost 2-1 at home to Villa (thanks in part to a Reguilon own goal .... the 1,000th own goal in Premier League history) and Everton who beat Wolves 1-0. Spurs currently occupy a qualification place in the new Europa Conference League play-off round .... sounds like fun

Only four players made it into double figures this week ....
Robertson – 13
Pepe & Nat Phillips – 12
Bamford – 10

The top scorers for the season, and Bamford jumps above DCL into the top 5 ....
Kane – 222 (blanked)
Salah – 213 (blanked)
Fernandes - 204 (assist)
Son – 201 (blanked)
Bamford – 184 (scored & assist)

There are quite a few changes in the top 10 this week but nobody is catching our runaway leader ....
Leader up 39 to 2,064 pts - averaging 50.34 .... Superman 3 (Lee Fricker)
100th up 37 (1,878 pts)
1k up 37 (1,784)
10k up 34 (1,638)

Your top ten for the week ....
1) .... 2,064 .... Lee Fricker ............... Superman 3
2) .... 1,994 .... David Chadwick ....... Rising Force
3) .... 1,975 .... Jamie Baer ............... Amelia Two
4) .... 1,973 .... Robert Ashworth ...... Money Onomah Mind
5) .... 1,969 .... Robin Flippance ....... Rob's Robbers 1st XI
6) .... 1,969 .... John Chapman ........ John's Team
7) .... 1,956 .... Mark Lemmer ........... Lem's 4
8) .... 1,954 .... Viv Ziar ...................... Van de Beek For Good
9) .... 1,953 .... Graham Harris .......... Blunt Hedgehogs
10) .. 1,946 .... Craig Booth ............... Boothylicious

[Canaryfan]

Kane – 222 (blanked)
Salah – 213 (blanked)
Fernandes - 204 (assist)
Son – 201 (blanked)
Bamford – 184 (scored & assist)

Can you guess which 3 I have in my most important team?

[brencarr]

Week 42 – The final league fixtures

The final day of the season centred around the European places as the bottom three were already down.

Leicester had to win and hope Chelsea or Liverpool slipped up in order to end in the top four. Liverpool easily beat Palace at Anfield, 2-0 (Mane 2), but Chelsea did indeed drop the ball, losing 2-1 at Aston Villa. At the King Power, Vardy won 2 penalties (the 2nd was very generous) and scored them both, but Bale came off the bench and scored twice in Spurs’ 4-2 win, to ensure Chelsea qualified for the Champions League. Spurs’ win also did Arsenal a favour, as they pipped the Gunners for 7th place (by a point) to clinch a spot in the Europa Conference league, a highly dubious honour
Top stat (from BBC MotD) .... Leicester spent more days in the top four than any other Premier League side this season – ouch

Man City were awarded the Premier League trophy after their game at the Etihad. So much for keeping their stars safe at home, Guardiola surprised many people by picking an almost full-strength team to face Everton – City won 5-0. Aguero scored twice after coming on as a second half sub to break Wayne Rooney’s record for the most Premier League goals for a single club. His final total of 184, is 4th in the all-time Premier League standings ....

Shearer – 260 (0.59 goals per game)
Rooney – 208 (0.42)
Andy Cole – 187 (0.45)
Aguero – 184 (0.67)
.... Harry Kane is 7th in that list on 166 (0.68 goals per game)

Aguero will forever be remembered for his dramatic goal which won the league for City in 2012 .... I swear we’ll never see anything like that ever again

A quick mention for Joe Willock, he scored for the 7th successive game in Newcastle’s 2-0 win at Fulham, Arsenal could have done with him this season.

There wasn’t a high turnover of managers this season, here is the list ....
West Brom – Slavan Bilic to Sam Allardyce .... who left at the end of the season
Chelsea – Frank Lampard to Thomas Tuchel
Sheffield United – Chris Wilder to Paul Heckingbottom (interim)
Spurs – Jose Mourinho to Ryan Mason (interim)
Wolves - Nuno Espirito Santo, left at the end of the season.

Man City, Chelsea & Man United still have European finals to play but that wraps up the Premier League for another season; at times it seemed to me that you can indeed get too much of a good thing, the games were coming think and fast at times. I know we’ll never get back to 3pm kick-offs being the norm, but games every day of the week was too much.


The top 10 TFF points scorers for the season were ....
Kane – 232 – also won the Golden Boot with 23 goals, one more than Salah.
Salah – 218
Son – 206
Fernandes - 204
Bamford – 190
Vardy – 187
Calvert-Lewin – 182
Rashford – 170
Mane – 163
Ederson – 161 – Golden Glove winner, and only City player in the top 10

This year’s winning total was 9 points short of averaging 50, ending up at 49.79! Congratulations to Lee Fricker who won by 68 points – emphatic!

Winner up 27 to 2,091 pts - averaging 49.79 .... Superman 3 (Lee Fricker)
100th up 33 (1,911 pts)
1k up 39 (1,823)
10k up 42 (1,680)

The final top ten ....
1) .... 2,091 .... Lee Fricker ............... Superman 3
2) .... 2,023 .... David Chadwick ....... Rising Force
3) .... 2,023 .... Robert Ashworth ...... Money Onomah Mind
4) .... 2,020 .... John Chapman ........ John's Team
5) .... 2,006 .... Robin Flippance ....... Rob's Robbers 1st XI
6) .... 2,005 .... Robert Ashworth ...... Tosun and Turning
7) .... 2,005 .... Scott Gardiner .......... Leave My Arselona
8) .... 1,998 .... Jamie Baer ............... Amelia Two
9) .... 1,995 .... Mark Lemmer ........... Lem's 4
10) .. 1,993 .... Graham Harris .......... Blunt Hedgehogs

Obviously, the removal of the 2nd ‘key contribution’ points this season was going to have a big effect .... the team that finished in 1,000th place last season ended with 2,002 points – which would have been enough to finish 8th this year!

[Canaryfan]

Thanks for these interesting write-ups through the season(s)

[murf]

No 2nd KCs but the top 9 scorers were all attackers (some categorised as midfielders but most really forwards - Bruno F the only non forward by my definition).

I think Covid reduced the number of CSs; no crowds, rotated defences and a packed schedule so maybe best not to over rely on these stats for next season.

[Darbyand]

No 2nd KCs but the top 9 scorers were all attackers (some categorised as midfielders but most really forwards - Bruno F the only non forward by my definition).

I think Covid reduced the number of CSs; no crowds, rotated defences and a packed schedule so maybe best not to over rely on these stats for next season.

PPM still skewed towards defenders:

[murf]

Nearly all that PPM value in cheap players/defenders so the way to go was cheap defence to afford attacking big scorers.

...and we all started with TAA etc...

[SamD]

As prime minister Benjamin Disraeli once said: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics".

I think Covid reduced the number of CSs; no crowds, rotated defences and a packed schedule so maybe best not to over rely on these stats

In fact, there were more clean sheets in latest campaign.

Clean sheets* over last five Premier League seasons:

Code: Select all

2020-21 19-20 18-19 17-18 16-17
   224   207   207   226   214 

* extrapolated from https://www.soccerstats.com/latest.asp?league=england

[SamD]

@ brencarr: thank you for compiling the graph, statistics and updates every week over the last six seasons.

Interesting reading and, truly, an apt example of a labour of love. Hope your TFF teams also benefit from the exercise.