Con

Con Arsenal 4 : 0 Newcastle Crystal Palace 0 : 6 Man City Fulham 0 : 2 Hull Liverpool 0 : 1 Chelsea Gerrard will miss a penalty Man Utd 5 : 0 Norwich Southampton 1 : 1 Everton Stoke 1 : 1 Tottenham Sunderland 3 : 3 Cardiff Swansea 1 : 2 Aston Villa Swansea will have a player sent off West Brom 4 : 1 West Ham Stevo985 Arsenal 0 : 4 Newcastle Crystal Palace 6 : 0 Man City Fulham 2 : 0 Hull Liverpool 1 : 0 Chelsea Lampard will miss a penalty Man Utd 0 : 5 Norwich Southampton 1 : 1 Everton Stoke 1 : 1 Tottenham Sunderland 3 : 3 Cardiff Swansea 2 : 1 Aston Villa Aston Villa will have a player sent off West Brom 1 : 4 West Ham

The prediction contest form now includes an exciting new "Your name!" field. Thanks to those who have made entries so far. Please claim ownership of the following -

Have to say I like the guys Giggs has appointed to be his coaches. Scholes, Butt and Phil Neville. With that high profile team do they need a new manager to attract talent? Possible turning point. However, they need to rebuilt the entire squad so until they get that new CB sorted you can write off next season.

I don't have stats to hand but don't recall Bale scoring too many goals early in his career. In fact he started notoriously slowly and then exploded when everything clicked in place and he was scoring ridiculous goals. Bit like what happened with Ronaldo at Utd and what we're seeing now with Hazard. 5 goals in 40 for Southampton. What position was he playing? He could score free kicks

Not convincing in the slightest, sorry. Would Aston Villa be more like Tottenham, Everton or Fulham or Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham? I suggest that Manchester City and Liverpool were okay because they could afford a huge squad with depth. Everton and Fulham could not and dropped. Also, where is Newcastle? Swansea? Their poor seasons in the PL followed Europa League participation. Why? They don't have massive squads.

BTW I don't disagree that he's been excellent and is our best prospect - just in case anyone thought I was intending to "run down our youth players." It's an excellent season. Just the idea that he is the next Eden Hazard or Garath Bale is not justified on the basis of his first professional season. Personally, I'd wanted a few long shots to go in.

I have but not for Notts County. He sucks players in with his close control, his back turned against them, then suddenly tries to give them the slip and gets brought down and wins a foul. He shoots like Gary Lineker but being on the wing rather than 5 yards out he is rarely in position to score. Won't head the ball or tackle. Not ridiculously quick. At his age Gareth Bale was curling in free kicks from 25 yards. Grealish is not a set piece taker for Notts County. Okay, these criticisms might seem contradictory from me as I did just earlier worry about him going to a Manchester club. He is still our best prospect. Just trying to get a grasp of why so we can sort the hype from the reality. Is he really going to play on the wing for us? If he has good composure and can finish inside the penalty box and is disciplined at closing down, would he be better converted into a striker, like Jay Rodriguez.

Or Christian Eriksen. That's why I picked up on his lack of long range goals. It's something he doesn't have yet. If he was good at this, with the time and space he can create for himself in Division one he'd have twice as many goals as he has now. Is Grealish a set piece specialist - does he take shots from direct free kicks? If he doesn't have this then what does he do, exactly. Control the ball, stop, spin 180 degrees fall over and win a foul. However, I'm prepared to accept Notts County are just not a very good team to play for and have been holding his goals and assist numbers back.

Here is the prediction contest form, for those of you who like such things. I've not made my predictions yet. You will also notice a couple of optional bonus questions in this week's edition so although Stevo985 intends to choose opposite to what I say he might want to fill the form out anyway.

If you haven't counted something but you're guessing it's a lot, it's countless. New Man Utd manager? That is very worrying. If Villa lose Grealish for peanuts after losing Crowley for nothing there is no point having an academy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27123088

Actually, not it's not. At least it doesn't make sense in a number of ways and needs refinement. I like the idea of deducting points for really bad guesses though. If we keep this rolling week on week during the season, an average rating leaderboard would be better than a total points scored leaderboard. This will make it easier for anyone to join in at whatever stage.

Quick update... my hot source says the consortium is lead by a "dream team" quartet of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Diego Maradona, Dino Zoff and Tom Hanks. She is usually very reliable and never lies to me.

I've just got some inside info... the new bidders have flown in and are staying in a Travelodge near Edgbaston. I will keep you updated with these exciting developments. Apparently very big name indeed.

I think it's a possibility if the investment rumor based on 200 mill on new players, is a reality. I wouldn't trust Moyes to spend 200 million on new players. I wouldn't trust him with 2 million on new players. Actually, I would trust him with peanuts. Might pick up another Seamus Coleman for £60,000. He showed with the Fellaini purchase he doesn't know how to handle the really big budget signings. If we get new investment that is what we want, so Moyes not-in!

Cost practically nothing, our second highest scorer, played all over the pitch where he's been needed and started nearly 30 games in his first season. I don't know how anyone can qualify Bacuna as anything but a successful signing. On my shortlist for POTS.

I think it's a possibility if the investment rumor based on 200 mill on new players, is a reality. I wouldn't trust Moyes to spend 200 million on new players.

Moyes' spell at Man Utd has undermined his authority. This will negatively affect his man-management capabilities at any future club. After Everton a Premier League player could fear him, look up to him. He had that invincible aura. Now he is thought of as a joke. For good measure, Martinez has made his most recent achievements at Everton look a bit empty. It will be very hard to get that respect he had back.

Here are the anti-results of the prediction contest. leviramsey Spurs 0-2 Fulham = 0 Cardiff 1-0 Stoke = -2 Newcastle 1-1 Swansea = -2 West Ham 0-0 Palace = -2 Aston Villa 1-1 Southampton = -5 Chelsea 0-2 Sunderland = -7 Jimzk5 Spurs 1-3 fulham = 0 Cardiff 1-1 stoke = -10 Newcastle 0-1 swansea = -5 west ham 1-2 palace = 0 Chelsea 0-3 Sunderland = -5 villa 2-1 Southampton = 0 PieFacE Spurs 2-1 fulham = -7 Cardiff 1-2 stoke = -2 Newcastle 1-0 swansea = 0 west ham 2-2 palace = 0 Chelsea 1-0 Sunderland = 0 villa 20-1 Southampton = 0 Xela Spurs 1-3 Fulham = 0 Cardiff 1-2 Stoke = -2 Newcastle 1-2 Swansea = -10 West Ham 0-1 Palace = -10 Aston Villa 1-1 Southampton = -5 Chelsea 0-2 Sunderland = -7 kurtsimonw Cardiff 1-1 Stoke = 0 (1-1 was the actual score) Newcastle 2-2 Swansea = -2 West Ham 0-1 Palace = -10 Aston Villa 1-1 Southampton -5 Chelsea 0-3 Sunderland = -5 Morley_crosses_to_Withe Spurs 1-2 Fulham = 0 Cardiff 1-0 Stoke = -2 Newcastle 0-0 Swansea = 0 West Ham 1-0 Palace = 0 Aston Villa 1-2 Southampton = 0 Chelsea 0-3 Sunderland = -5 Con Spurs 0-4 Fulham = 0 Cardiff 1-3 Stoke = -2 Newcastle 2-2 Swansea = -2 West Ham 0-1 Palace = -10 Aston Villa 3-1 Southampton = 0 Chelsea 0-2 Sunderland = -7 Stevo985 Spurs 4-0 Fulham = -5 Cardiff 3-1 Stoke = -2 Newcastle 2-2 Swansea = -2 West Ham 1-0 Palace = 0 Aston Villa 1-3 Southampton = 0 Chelsea 2-0 Sunderland = 0 Anti-Leaderboard (how wrong you were) - 34 - Xela - 21 - Con - 20 - Jimzk5 - 18 - leviramsey -12 - kurtsimonw - 9 - Stevo985 - 9 - PieFacE - 7 - Morley_crosses_to_Withe Leaderboard (how right you were) 24 - Jimzk5 17 - kurtsimonw 17 - Xela 17 - Morley_crosses_to_Withe 12 - PieFacE 11 - leviramsey 9 - Con Correctness Adjusted Leaderboard (right - wrong) 12 - Stevo985 10 - Morley_crosses_to_Withe 7 - leviramsey 4 - Jimzk5 3 - PieFacE -5 - kurtsimonw -12 - Con -17 - Xela I've moved up 1 place.

Stevo985 Spurs 0-4 Fulham = 0 Cardiff 1-3 Stoke = 2 Newcastle 2-2 Swansea = 2 West Ham 0-1 Palace = 10 Aston Villa 3-1 Southampton = 0 Chelsea 0-2 Sunderland = 7 Leaderboard 24 - Jimzk5 21 - Stevo985 17 - kurtsimonw 17 - Xela 17 - Morley_crosses_to_Withe 12 - PieFacE 11 - leviramsey 9 - Con Stevo985 storms into second place.

Also cheap successes: Year 1 - Westwood Year 2 - Bacuna

Sorry! I did not keep up with the early part of this thread because I was otherwise occupied all Saturday. Did not realise there were so many predictions. 10 points for a correct score, 5 points for correct result, 2 points for half-correct score. leviramsey Spurs 2-0 Fulham = 0 Cardiff 0-1 Stoke = 2 Newcastle 1-1 Swansea = 2 West Ham 0-0 Palace = 2 Aston Villa 1-1 Southampton = 5 Chelsea 2-0 Sunderland = 0 Jimzk5 Spurs 3-1 fulham = 10 Cardiff 1-1 stoke = 10 Newcastle 1-0 swansea = 2 west ham 2-1 palace = 2 Chelsea 3-0 Sunderland = 0 villa 1-2 Southampton = 0 PieFacE Spurs 1-2 fulham = 0 Cardiff 2-1 stoke = 2 Newcastle 0-1 swansea = 5 west ham 2-2 palace = 0 Chelsea 0-1 Sunderland = 5 villa 1-20 Southampton = 0 Xela Spurs 3-1 Fulham = 10 Cardiff 2-1 Stoke = 2 Newcastle 2-1 Swansea = 0 West Ham 1-0 Palace = 0 Aston Villa 1-1 Southampton = 5 Chelsea 2-0 Sunderland = 0 kurtsimonw Cardiff 1-1 Stoke = 10 Newcastle 2-2 Swansea = 2 West Ham 1-0 Palace = 0 Aston Villa 1-1 Southampton 5 Chelsea 3-0 Sunderland = 0 Morley_crosses_to_Withe Spurs 2-1 Fulham = 7 Cardiff 0-1 Stoke = 2 Newcastle 0-0 Swansea = 0 West Ham 0-1 Palace = 10 Aston Villa 2-1 Southampton = 0 Chelsea 3-0 Sunderland = 0 Con Spurs 4-0 Fulham = 5 Cardiff 3-1 Stoke = 2 Newcastle 2-2 Swansea = 2 West Ham 1-0 Palace = 0 Aston Villa 1-3 Southampton = 0 Chelsea 2-0 Sunderland = 0 Leaderboard 24 - Jimzk5 17 - kurtsimonw 17 - Xela 17 - Morley_crosses_to_Withe 12 - PieFacE 11 - leviramsey 9 - Con Congrats to Jimzk5 for being the best at predicting this Saturday's fixtures. Two correct scores there. He wins a gold star and a Bannan gif of his choice. Have to admit that my performance was terrible however I am happy I didn't jinx the Villa result and I was 3/3 results wise for this Sunday. This game is ideally suited to run over a larger span of matches. Like, for a whole season. One planned for the world cup should be good. Still, it is fun all the same. I'll do another form for the weekend.

Liverpool was my preferred team to win the title. I don't live in Birmingham. Now I understand why so many of you are so against a Liverpool win. Not that it will do any good if they just miss the title. My tip when talking to these glory hunters: emphasise the Liverpool defence is fairly ordinary and Gerrard is not getting any younger. What will the team be like when Suarez is sold to Real Madrid? They could easily be battling with Man Utd for 7th next season.

Hey Con, How did we all get on in the predictions game or are you still working out this week's scoring system? Nobody contributed any predictions this week. I asked but nobody showed any interest so I didn't create a form.

They said that about Sturridge. 23-years-old. If he got the game time in a central role maybe his strike rate would increase? He's already got the link-up game and work ethic. If it wasn't for the state of the current Man Utd team Welbeck would stay but he knows he can get similar or more money at a Champions League team, so he's prepared to consider offers. that's the situation IMO. He's probably not a natural finisher as Sturridge though played in the centre I reckon he could get as high as 1 in 2, 15-20 a year, plus assists. could form a formidable strike partnership with a complementary player. 10 in 32 this season. not great but it's not the best team and he's played mostly on the wing.