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Bit bored whilst the kids are still asleep so I thought I would do some stats about our form over the past few months. First up - I was told a couple of matches ago to stop being so negative about our form against "poor" opposition this season "Bruce always does better against the top teams" I was told. Well last season we did the double over all three teams that were relegated (this season we have not beaten either of the teams that we have played that are currently in the relegation zone). Our record against the top teams, however, has actually been pretty shocking. I suppose the good news is that combining this season and last we have not lost at home to any team in the Top 10. Which is impressive. However, if you include the play-offs we have played 11 matches against Top 10 teams at home. We have W3 D8 L0. So whilst it is true that we are unbeaten we have still dropped 16 points in 11 matches. However, our away form is shocking (I have included Wembley in the stats as it isn't VP) and reads P13 W4 D0 L9!!!! Against Top 10 teams our records is 29 (17+12) points gained v 35 (8+27) points gained by our opponents - so we have a net loss of points against the top teams. Secondly - we are told that we shouldn't judge the team over the 6 or 7 matches of this season as it is a new team, we are re-building, etc, etc, etc. So I've looked into this too. This season we have P9 (including cup matches) and would have gained 13 points. Multiplied up over a 46 match season - our form this season would have us scoring 66 points which would see us finishing 12th based on the points totals last season. No real surprise given that we are currently 12th and the average position of the teams we have played (exc. lower division teams) is 13th. However, I have extended this back to the middle of March and the Wolves match (mainly because that was when I got a bit excited last season). Over that period we have played 22 matches and would have accumulated 31 points. Multiply that up for a 46 match season and we would finish up with 65 points. Good enough for.... yep 12th place. So our current league position is exactly our form position over the last 6 months. Time is not the issue. Rebuilding is not the issue. PS - Just in case anyone thinks that the stats will be skewed by the 3 extra matches against other promotion rivals last season - the average league position of our opponents over that 22 matches is.... 12th. All of which is "interesting" but really just suggests that our mid-table form is not just based on results at the start of this season but over the final third(ish) of last season too. I then went back to the fact that we scored 18 points against the Bottom 3 last season and yet this season have only gained 2 (from 1/3 of the matches). Several people (myself included) refused to get carried away by our "best start to a season since the 1960s" and highlighted that the fixture list had been incredibly kind to us and given us a string of "easy" early matches. So I have basically taken the current league position of the teams we have played so far this season and compared it directly to the results against the teams who occupied those positions at the end of last season. Obviously for this analysis I have dropped the cup matches. So the stats for this season are: P7 W2 D4 L1 - which gives us 10 points. Project that over the remainder of the season and we would finish up with 66 points and a finishing position of 12th. However, compare those figures with the comparison of the results from last season: P7 W6 D1 L0 - which gave us a total of 19 points. Project that over the remainder of the season and we would have finished up with a rather incredible 125 points. Automatic promotion sealed several months before the end of the season. So we are 9 points worse off this season compared to last in just 7 matches. Obviously there will be other "groups" of matches from last season where our form will have been disaster and so things will even out. But I think this does reinforce the concerns that many of us have been expressing this season. We got off to a seemingly "good" start because we had a string of easy fixtures. However, we have under-performed in those fixtures (and just imagine how much worse it would be if we hadn't grabbed three injury time goals!). What crisis? Well frankly this crisis! We are already in the position where our form in the next 39 matches needs to be better than our form last season. Even if we just match form from now on - those 9 fewer points would have seen us drop out of the play-off positions (74 points = 7th position last season). This is not a knee-jerk reaction of fickle fans who don't understand that a new team needs time to settle (as if we are the only team with new players this season). This is based on pretty much half a season's worth of results and our form / performances over last season and this season. No doubt some will argue that 7th is "there or thereabouts" (well maybe just Steve now) but that assumes that our form from now exactly matches last season.

Some pretty good goals nominated this year though no idea how Salah made it onto this top 10. McGree is a great looking goal but looks a fluke too

Villa v Fulham Please do not mention streams or streaming in this thread. Please note that there is no distinction between legal or illegal, video or audio. If you aren't sure, it doesn't go in this thread. You will receive warning points if you ignore this.

Your ratings and reactions please. Keep it respectful even if you know everyone else is wrong. The players' names will be added to the poll when a mod gets chance.

Villa won this tie at the Riverside and finished the job last night. It was a close call between the two teams, but we were so determined to emerge the victors that we were not to be denied. Boro have played us four times in the Championship this season and have not scored against us. If anyone was going to score last night, it was Villa that had looked the more likely to do so. Boro had a little more possession than we had last night but they rarely threatened to do anything with it. Our game management was as impressive as was our defence resolute. We started strongly and had the better of the second half when it was our opponents who needed to press for a goal to level the aggregate score. Although at times we were forced back in the first half the clean sheet that secured the win that clearly meant so much to our team was rarely under threat in hindsight although a Villa goal would have eased our understandable nerves. Our players gave all they had and were backed by an impressive wall of noise that was produced by a packed claret & blue clad Villa Park. Boro’s one and only plan was to give the ball to Adama. That plan did not work on Saturday and it did not work again last night because on both occasions he was unable to get the better of our formidable defence. Pulis assisted us by repeating the same tactics that had failed in their home leg and by not starting with Bamford and Fabio last night when they had to seek a goal. So, it is to be a Wembley playoff final with Fulham that makes or breaks our promotion campaign this season. Fulham will be the media’s firm choice. They can play some nice football, but have they ever come near to the level of performance that we produced to humiliate this season’s champions at Villa Park two months ago? They have had their off days this season as have we. There was not a lot to choose between the two clubs points tallies at the end of the season and we have both beaten each other once. I think we have the big match experience and the team spirit to clinch promotion at Wembley. To do that we need to produce the sort of Wembley performance that we gave against Liverpool 3 years ago rather than the one that we produced a month later against Arsenal. We won a cup final on the same day that we will be facing Fulham 36 years ago. Wembley would be a great place to clinch promotion but as we know it is no place for losers. Let’s win one again to get back where we belong on the 26th! My player ratings from a game before which we remembered Jloyd and after which we celebrated reaching Wembley once again are: Sam Johnstone – 7 – Confident and assured for most of the game. Was perhaps fortunate to still be on the pitch at the end having got a hand to keep out an 87th minute Adama effort when he had strayed just outside of the penalty area with his mind on claiming the bouncing ball. Downing’s resultant free-kick from the edge of the box thudded against the crossbar much to Sam’s relief. James Bree – 7 – Lost possession on a couple of occasions early on but did his bit and settled into the game well. Did well to head out a 40th minute Adama cross at the far post with Howson having ran into position behind him. James Chester - 9 – Another confident display. Hit a 37th minute shot wide of the post from a Grabban header. John Terry – 9 – Just one win from picking up another trophy. Led by example last night. Alan Hutton - 9 – Had Adama in his pocket once again. Adama had the edge in pace but Alan had the guile, will and experience to win his duel with him. Robert Snodgrass – 8 – Covered an awful lot of ground last night. Mile Jedinak - 9 – MOTM – Played a crucial role in front of the defence and his contribution like his beard was immense last night. Conor Hourihane – 8 – Worked tirelessly to deny his opponents space and time. Charged down a 10th minute Randolph clearance but the ball deflected harmlessly to the left. Almost got on the end of a 34th minute Adomah cross but Friend made a timely and important challenge. Albert Adomah – 8 – Another that put in a big shift for the cause. Had a 71st minute shot from the edge of the area deflected off a defender past the far post. Jack Grealish – 9 – Curled a sweet 75th minute shot from the edge of the box which Randolph did well to keep out at the far post. He just oozes class. Lewis Grabban – 8 – Worked hard up front and was denied by Randolph’s outstretched right leg when he got on the end of a 60th minute Adomah cross after a good one two between Jack and Albert. Hit a shot from well outside of the box 10 minutes later that Randolph tipped over. Substitutes: Jonathan Kodjia – Replaced Grabban on 79 minutes and did his bit tonight. Nice to see him joining in with the celebrations at the end. Not quite on long enough to get a rating Glenn Whelan – Replaced Hourihane on 85 minutes. Not on long enough to merit a rating. Birkir Bjarnason – Replaced Adomah on 91 minutes. Not on long enough to gather a rating. Get Up Villa! John Lewis

Villa v Middlesbrough Please do not mention streams or streaming in this thread. Please note that there is no distinction between legal or illegal, video or audio. If you aren't sure, it doesn't go in this thread. You will receive warning points if you ignore this.

Your ratings and reactions please. Keep it respectful even if you know everyone else is wrong. The players' names will be added to the poll when a mod gets chance.

Middlesbrough v Villa Please do not mention streams or streaming in this thread. Please note that there is no distinction between legal or illegal, video or audio. If you aren't sure, it doesn't go in this thread. You will receive warning points if you ignore this.

Your ratings and reactions please. Keep it respectful even if you know everyone else is wrong. The players' names will be added to the poll when a mod gets chance.

Welcome to the Premier League 2017/18 VT prediction league, you can join in at any time during the tournament but please make sure you follow the instructions carefully. However, if you are just thinking about just playing for a single week, or are going to lose interest after a couple of weeks, then do us all a time saving favour and don't bother playing. -- Why Premier League, Villa are in the Championship? -- We did the Championship last year and it was a slog. There are just too many mid-week games per season to keep up with, so it's back to the Premier League. -- I see a Villa prediction, what gives? -- If Villa play in the Championship on the weekend of Premier League fixtures then I will include the Villa game as a bonus prediction. Getting the correct results for the Villa game will give you 2 points instead of 1, and the correct score will get you 4 points instead of 3. -- Making a Prediction -- Head on over to https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Q0EQFXauzVahxeUprjXRBbVa_G4VEWKVYWt9Dzw4pec/edit#gid=1844145816 Make sure you are selecting the right sheet for the Gameweek (inactive sheets will be fully locked) Find the first 'blank' entry with all scores set as '0-0' and 'ENTER YOUR NAME HERE' as the name Green Cells are for you to enter stuff into, all other cells are not! Fill in your predicted scores for each game When entering your name, make sure it is EXACTLY the same as your VT name and that it doesn't have any erroneous spaces and is CaSe SeNsEtIvE Incorrectly entered names, even if it is just a space at the start or a capital letter, will result in tracking errors throughout the tournament Once your prediction is complete, copy the cells within the dotted line and post them into this VT thread If you do not post the results correctly into this thread then your prediction will be ignored Thread banter is encouraged! Gameweek already started? No problem you can still play, just put the score for the games you have missed as N/A, e.g Fulham N/A - N/A Villa -- When will prediction threads be posted up? -- Generally I will try and post threads on Tuesday or Wednesday of each week, but this may slip at times. Just keep an eye on the forum and it'll be there before the games start. Gameweek matches will follow those as laid out on the Fantasy Football Fixtures Page let me know if I miss something due to a game being moved or postponed etc. -- Previous Gameweek Results -- Name Result Points Score Points Total Points Chewie 6 6 12 andykeenan 6 3 9 imavillan 5 3 8 Daniel 5 3 8 Czechlad 4 3 7 ismail-villa 4 3 7 chappy 4 3 7 rubberman 3 3 6 Demitri_C 4 0 4 Yours truly topped the previous week Name Points from Correct Results Points from Correct Scores Total Points GWs Played Avg Points per GW andykeenan 221 129 350 37 9.5 Czechlad 212 136 348 37 9.4 imavillan 199 148 347 37 9.4 rubberman 198 140 338 37 9.1 Demitri_C 202 122 324 37 8.8 Chewie 219 92 311 37 8.4 chappy 206 96 302 37 8.2 Daniel 203 99 302 37 8.2 ismail-villa 187 101 288 33 8.7 Rodders 166 82 248 31 8.0 villakram 135 87 222 24 9.3 Hornso 90 58 148 17 8.7 Tripstah 21 13 34 3 11.3 Villaphan04 21 9 30 4 7.5 TheAuthority 9 0 9 2 4.5 Vive_La_Villa 6 3 9 1 9.0 PaulC 4 0 4 1 4.0 Czechlad shoots himself in the foot and allows andykeenan to go top by two points. imavillan comes out of nowhere to also challenge! Big final week, right down to the wire! -- My (Chewie's) Prediction for this Gameweek -- Name Home Team Away Team Guess - - - - Draw Burnley 1 0 Bournemouth Burnley Palace 1 1 West Brom Draw Huddersfield 1 1 Arsenal Draw Liverpool 3 1 Brighton Liverpool Man Utd 2 0 Watford Man Utd Newcastle 1 2 Chelsea Chelsea Southampton 1 4 Man City Man City Spurs 3 1 Leicester Spurs Swansea 1 0 Stoke Swansea West Ham 2 1 Everton West Ham Chewie -- Bets -- I will aim to stick a bet on each prediction for the final day, so try and get them in before Saturday afternoon if you want a chance to "win".  -- Good Luck -- Good luck to everyone for the week, and please don't be a bitch and mess with other people's predictions in the Google Sheet, there's a good girl All games are 3pm on Sunday.

Your ratings and reactions please. Keep it respectful even if you know everyone else is wrong. The players' names will be added to the poll when a mod gets chance.

Millwall v Villa Please do not mention streams or streaming in this thread. Please note that there is no distinction between legal or illegal, video or audio. If you aren't sure, it doesn't go in this thread. You will receive warning points if you ignore this.

Welcome to the Premier League 2017/18 VT prediction league, you can join in at any time during the tournament but please make sure you follow the instructions carefully. However, if you are just thinking about just playing for a single week, or are going to lose interest after a couple of weeks, then do us all a time saving favour and don't bother playing. -- Why Premier League, Villa are in the Championship? -- We did the Championship last year and it was a slog. There are just too many mid-week games per season to keep up with, so it's back to the Premier League. -- I see a Villa prediction, what gives? -- If Villa play in the Championship on the weekend of Premier League fixtures then I will include the Villa game as a bonus prediction. Getting the correct results for the Villa game will give you 2 points instead of 1, and the correct score will get you 4 points instead of 3. -- Making a Prediction -- Head on over to https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Q0EQFXauzVahxeUprjXRBbVa_G4VEWKVYWt9Dzw4pec/edit#gid=157198376 Make sure you are selecting the right sheet for the Gameweek (inactive sheets will be fully locked) Find the first 'blank' entry with all scores set as '0-0' and 'ENTER YOUR NAME HERE' as the name Green Cells are for you to enter stuff into, all other cells are not! Fill in your predicted scores for each game When entering your name, make sure it is EXACTLY the same as your VT name and that it doesn't have any erroneous spaces and is CaSe SeNsEtIvE Incorrectly entered names, even if it is just a space at the start or a capital letter, will result in tracking errors throughout the tournament Once your prediction is complete, copy the cells within the dotted line and post them into this VT thread If you do not post the results correctly into this thread then your prediction will be ignored Thread banter is encouraged! Gameweek already started? No problem you can still play, just put the score for the games you have missed as N/A, e.g Fulham N/A - N/A Villa -- When will prediction threads be posted up? -- Generally I will try and post threads on Tuesday or Wednesday of each week, but this may slip at times. Just keep an eye on the forum and it'll be there before the games start. Gameweek matches will follow those as laid out on the Fantasy Football Fixtures Page let me know if I miss something due to a game being moved or postponed etc. -- Previous Gameweek Results -- Name Result Points Score Points Total Points Demitri_C 9 6 15 rubberman 6 6 12 Daniel 5 6 11 Rodders 7 4 11 imavillan 5 6 11 Chewie 7 3 10 andykeenan 6 3 9 Czechlad 7 0 7 ismail-villa 4 0 4 chappy 4 0 4 Dem_C tops the table and rubberman comes a respectable second. Name Points from Correct Results Points from Correct Scores Total Points GWs Played Avg Points per GW andykeenan 215 126 341 36 9.5 Czechlad 208 133 341 36 9.5 imavillan 194 145 339 36 9.4 rubberman 195 137 332 36 9.2 Demitri_C 198 122 320 36 8.9 Chewie 213 86 299 36 8.3 chappy 202 93 295 36 8.2 Daniel 198 96 294 36 8.2 ismail-villa 183 98 281 32 8.8 Rodders 166 82 248 31 8.0 villakram 135 87 222 24 9.3 Hornso 90 58 148 17 8.7 Tripstah 21 13 34 3 11.3 Villaphan04 21 9 30 4 7.5 TheAuthority 9 0 9 2 4.5 Vive_La_Villa 6 3 9 1 9.0 PaulC 4 0 4 1 4.0 You could not write a better story than this! Both andykeenan and Czechlad share the top spot with 341 points with a bumper week to go. I am not sure I can take this much excitement! -- My (Chewie's) Prediction for this Gameweek -- Name Home Team Away Team Guess Millwall 1 1 Villa Draw Brighton 0 3 Man Utd Man Utd Stoke 1 2 Palace Palace Arsenal 2 0 Burnley Arsenal Bournemouth 1 0 Swansea Bournemouth Leicester 2 1 West Ham Leicester Watford 1 1 Newcastle Draw West Brom 0 3 Spurs Spurs Everton 1 2 Southampton Southampton Man City 4 1 Huddersfield Man City Chelsea 2 2 Liverpool Draw Swansea 0 1 Southampton Southampton Chelsea 3 1 Huddersfield Chelsea Leicester 1 2 Arsenal Arsenal Man City 4 1 Brighton Man City Spurs 3 1 Newcastle Spurs West Ham 1 3 Man Utd Man Utd Chewie -- Bets -- Each week I will aim to pick two predictors and place a quid or so on an accumulator bet for their predictions. Should we win, they'll get 10% of the winnings to be paid via Paypal. Both of the bets lost last week -- Good Luck -- Good luck to everyone for the week, and please don't be a bitch and mess with other people's predictions in the Google Sheet, there's a good girl Huge double gameweek and kickoff is tonight (Friday) at 8pm.

This poll will be open for the first week of the month.

Our unlikely hopes of automatic promotion were finally extinguished beyond any doubt yesterday. We will end the season in fourth place but will hopefully end it with a Wembley win to show for our efforts this season. Ex Blue-Nose Cameron Jerome gave Derby County a 14th minute lead yesterday that despite Villa enjoying the lion’s share of the possession they had looked increasingly like holding onto until Lewis Grabban hit our late equalizer and put their invitation to the playoff lottery on hold for another week. Villa deserved a point from this game at the very least and can now move on towards the playoffs having lost only two of our twenty-three home league games this season. The East Midlander’s arrived hoping to win their first game at Villa Park since 1988. Having gone a goal up they resolved to keep what they had by means of a dogged well organised defence. On another day we might have scored four but on this occasion, we had to be content with one and with keeping our powder dry for the three playoff games on which the success or otherwise of our promotion campaign will be dependant. Who knows we may meet our visitors again in those playoffs. On 26th May (a date of great significance in our club’s proud history already) a Wembley appearance may propel one of these two clubs back into the top flight. I for one would rather like that that meeting to happen, and I would back us to breech their defence more than once on that occasion to claim that final promotion place. We are now able to rest players who may benefit from that in our final game of the season at The Den. Of those players that started yesterday I would wrap Elmohamady, Terry, Chester, Snodgrass, Adomah and Jack in cotton wool next weekend. My player ratings from a game after which Gabby made his final Villa Park appearance as a current Villa squad member are: Sam Johnstone – 6 – Kept out a 51st minute shot from the edge of the box from Lawrence. Ahmed Elmohamady – 6 – Did well to get back to block Weimann’s 73rd minute shot. James Chester - 7 – Dependable and solid as ever. John Terry – 7 – Welcome back! JT and Chester are such an effective central defensive pairing. Neil Taylor – 4 – Substituted on 23 minutes due to injury. Should have just ran the ball out for a corner but instead gifted the ball to Weimann who then played the ball to Jerome for their goal. May well struggle to dislodge Hutton from the starting line-up now that he is recovered from injury himself. Robert Snodgrass – 7 – Hit a fierce 75th minute shot from the edge of the box after his free-kick had come back to him which Carson tipped over unseen by the referee apparently. Worked tirelessly and kept trying to move Derby’s parked bus aside. Glen Whelan – 6 – Had a decent game yesterday. Jack Grealish – 8 – MOTM – Played a nice one-two with Grabban on 31 minutes chested the ball down well but his shot was kept out by Carson’s right foot. Hit a shot over the bar from the edge of the area on 61 minutes and another one wide 15 minutes later. He simply makes us tick. Conor Hourihane – 6 –Tried to curl a 32nd minute shot from the edge of the box inside the far post but it was safely gathered by Carson. The ex-Villa keeper also was on hand at his right-hand post to save another 67th minute effort from him from the edge of the area. Somehow hit a 70th minute header from Snodgrass that fell to him at the far post wide. Albert Adomah– 5 – Hit a nice cross that looked destined to be turned in by Grabban on the line just before the interval after Jack had found him with an inch perfect ball. Looks in need of a couple of weeks rest after having been a big player for us to date this season. Albert was substituted inside an hour. Lewis Grabban – 7 – Curtis Davies had him in his pocket for a fair bit of this game, but he did what goal scorer’s do and hit home our equalizer and his 20th goal of the season on 84 minutes. Hourihane hit a powerful shot that Carson blocked but the ball rebounded to Terry who coolly played it along to Lewis who applied the required finish. Headed an Adomah cross harmlessly over the bar on 25 minutes when he should have been on target also headed a ball from Elmohamady onto the post in first half stoppage time. Substitutes: Alan Hutton – 7 – A very welcome return. Alan came on for Taylor in the 23rd minute. Made some decent runs forward and had a 79th minute header which went just wide of the post. Jonathan Kodjia – Replaced Adomah on 59 minutes. He is increasing his match fitness with each appearance following his long injury lay off but would benefit from the confidence that a goal brings and almost got one in the 74th minute when he hit the post from a Snodgrass cross. Josh Onomah - Replaced Whelan on 81 minutes. Josh was not on long enough to gather a rating. Get Up Villa! John Lewis

Last game of the season and we can't go up or go down any places in the league. So, what are you wearing for fancy dress?!?

Villa v Derby Please do not mention streams or streaming in this thread. Please note that there is no distinction between legal or illegal, video or audio. If you aren't sure, it doesn't go in this thread. You will receive warning points if you ignore this.

Your ratings and reactions please. Keep it respectful even if you know everyone else is wrong. The players' names will be added to the poll when a mod gets chance.

Welcome to the Premier League 2017/18 VT prediction league, you can join in at any time during the tournament but please make sure you follow the instructions carefully. However, if you are just thinking about just playing for a single week, or are going to lose interest after a couple of weeks, then do us all a time saving favour and don't bother playing. -- Why Premier League, Villa are in the Championship? -- We did the Championship last year and it was a slog. There are just too many mid-week games per season to keep up with, so it's back to the Premier League. -- I see a Villa prediction, what gives? -- If Villa play in the Championship on the weekend of Premier League fixtures then I will include the Villa game as a bonus prediction. Getting the correct results for the Villa game will give you 2 points instead of 1, and the correct score will get you 4 points instead of 3. -- Making a Prediction -- Head on over to https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Q0EQFXauzVahxeUprjXRBbVa_G4VEWKVYWt9Dzw4pec/edit#gid=834459147 Make sure you are selecting the right sheet for the Gameweek (inactive sheets will be fully locked) Find the first 'blank' entry with all scores set as '0-0' and 'ENTER YOUR NAME HERE' as the name Green Cells are for you to enter stuff into, all other cells are not! Fill in your predicted scores for each game When entering your name, make sure it is EXACTLY the same as your VT name and that it doesn't have any erroneous spaces and is CaSe SeNsEtIvE Incorrectly entered names, even if it is just a space at the start or a capital letter, will result in tracking errors throughout the tournament Once your prediction is complete, copy the cells within the dotted line and post them into this VT thread If you do not post the results correctly into this thread then your prediction will be ignored Thread banter is encouraged! Gameweek already started? No problem you can still play, just put the score for the games you have missed as N/A, e.g Fulham N/A - N/A Villa -- When will prediction threads be posted up? -- Generally I will try and post threads on Tuesday or Wednesday of each week, but this may slip at times. Just keep an eye on the forum and it'll be there before the games start. Gameweek matches will follow those as laid out on the Fantasy Football Fixtures Page let me know if I miss something due to a game being moved or postponed etc. -- Previous Gameweek Results -- Name Result Points Score Points Total Points Czechlad 6 3 9 Rodders 6 3 9 Chewie 5 3 8 chappy 5 3 8 Demitri_C 4 3 7 imavillan 3 3 6 andykeenan 5 0 5 Daniel 5 0 5 rubberman 4 0 4 ismail-villa 4 0 4 Czechlad tops the gameweek and andykeenan finds himself the wrong side of the middle. Rodders surprises everyone with the joint top score Name Points from Correct Results Points from Correct Scores Total Points GWs Played Avg Points per GW Czechlad 201 133 334 35 9.5 andykeenan 209 123 332 35 9.5 imavillan 189 139 328 35 9.4 rubberman 189 131 320 35 9.1 Demitri_C 189 116 305 35 8.7 chappy 198 93 291 35 8.3 Chewie 206 83 289 35 8.3 Daniel 193 90 283 35 8.1 ismail-villa 179 98 277 31 8.9 Rodders 159 78 237 30 7.9 villakram 135 87 222 24 9.3 Hornso 90 58 148 17 8.7 Tripstah 21 13 34 3 11.3 Villaphan04 21 9 30 4 7.5 TheAuthority 9 0 9 2 4.5 Vive_La_Villa 6 3 9 1 9.0 PaulC 4 0 4 1 4.0 Which now sees Czechlad go from 2 points behind andykeenan to 2 points in front! -- My (Chewie's) Prediction for this Gameweek -- Name Home Team Away Team Guess Villa 2 1 Derby Villa Liverpool 3 1 Stoke Liverpool Burnley 1 1 Brighton Draw Palace 2 1 Leicester Palace Huddersfield 1 1 Everton Draw Newcastle 1 2 West Brom West Brom Southampton 2 0 Bournemouth Southampton Swansea 0 3 Chelsea Chelsea West Ham 1 4 Man City Man City Man Utd 2 2 Arsenal Draw Spurs 3 1 Watford Spurs Chewie -- Bets -- Each week I will aim to pick two predictors and place a quid or so on an accumulator bet for their predictions. Should we win, they'll get 10% of the winnings to be paid via Paypal. Both of the bets lost last week -- Good Luck -- Good luck to everyone for the week, and please don't be a bitch and mess with other people's predictions in the Google Sheet, there's a good girl Small GW again this week, kick off and deadline is Saturday at 12:30pm with the scum bag bin dippers away to Stoke.

So 2nd is gone (or it would take a major miracle for it to fall into our lap at this point.) So common sense points to us playing Middlesborough in the play off semi final. So, rest a lot of the usual players for the game against Derby or try and keep the momentum with a full strength team? I like the idea of mixing it up and giving opportunities to some of the more fringe players. Grabban certainly stated his case to start as the lone striker in the play offs with his performance against Ipswich. Maybe some others would do the same. As it's the last home I predict a cracking atmosphere and a comfortable 3-1 victory.

Your ratings and reactions please. Keep it respectful even if you know everyone else is wrong. The players' names will be added to the poll when a mod gets chance.

Ipswich v Villa Please do not mention streams or streaming in this thread. Please note that there is no distinction between legal or illegal, video or audio. If you aren't sure, it doesn't go in this thread. You will receive warning points if you ignore this.

Welcome to the Premier League 2017/18 VT prediction league, you can join in at any time during the tournament but please make sure you follow the instructions carefully. However, if you are just thinking about just playing for a single week, or are going to lose interest after a couple of weeks, then do us all a time saving favour and don't bother playing. -- Why Premier League, Villa are in the Championship? -- We did the Championship last year and it was a slog. There are just too many mid-week games per season to keep up with, so it's back to the Premier League. -- I see a Villa prediction, what gives? -- If Villa play in the Championship on the weekend of Premier League fixtures then I will include the Villa game as a bonus prediction. Getting the correct results for the Villa game will give you 2 points instead of 1, and the correct score will get you 4 points instead of 3. -- Making a Prediction -- Head on over to https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Q0EQFXauzVahxeUprjXRBbVa_G4VEWKVYWt9Dzw4pec/edit#gid=821189613 Make sure you are selecting the right sheet for the Gameweek (inactive sheets will be fully locked) Find the first 'blank' entry with all scores set as '0-0' and 'ENTER YOUR NAME HERE' as the name Green Cells are for you to enter stuff into, all other cells are not! Fill in your predicted scores for each game When entering your name, make sure it is EXACTLY the same as your VT name and that it doesn't have any erroneous spaces and is CaSe SeNsEtIvE Incorrectly entered names, even if it is just a space at the start or a capital letter, will result in tracking errors throughout the tournament Once your prediction is complete, copy the cells within the dotted line and post them into this VT thread If you do not post the results correctly into this thread then your prediction will be ignored Thread banter is encouraged! Gameweek already started? No problem you can still play, just put the score for the games you have missed as N/A, e.g Fulham N/A - N/A Villa -- When will prediction threads be posted up? -- Generally I will try and post threads on Tuesday or Wednesday of each week, but this may slip at times. Just keep an eye on the forum and it'll be there before the games start. Gameweek matches will follow those as laid out on the Fantasy Football Fixtures Page let me know if I miss something due to a game being moved or postponed etc. -- Previous Gameweek Results -- Name Result Points Score Points Total Points andykeenan 9 9 18 Czechlad 8 9 17 imavillan 6 10 16 chappy 8 6 14 ismail-villa 7 6 13 rubberman 6 6 12 Daniel 6 6 12 Demitri_C 5 3 8 Rodders 5 3 8 Chewie 5 0 5 Another tight week between andykeenan and Czechlad. An absolute disaster for me, hanging my head in shame. Name Points from Correct Results Points from Correct Scores Total Points GWs Played Avg Points per GW andykeenan 204 123 327 34 9.6 Czechlad 195 130 325 34 9.6 imavillan 186 136 322 34 9.5 rubberman 185 131 316 34 9.3 Demitri_C 185 113 298 34 8.8 chappy 193 90 283 34 8.3 Chewie 201 80 281 34 8.3 Daniel 188 90 278 34 8.2 ismail-villa 175 98 273 30 9.1 Rodders 153 75 228 29 7.9 villakram 135 87 222 24 9.3 Hornso 90 58 148 17 8.7 Tripstah 21 13 34 3 11.3 Villaphan04 21 9 30 4 7.5 TheAuthority 9 0 9 2 4.5 Vive_La_Villa 6 3 9 1 9.0 PaulC 4 0 4 1 4.0 So andykeenan pulls another point ahead of Czechlad but there really is nothing in it, this is how you end a season! -- My (Chewie's) Prediction for this Gameweek -- Name Home Team Away Team Guess Ipswich 0 2 Villa Villa West Brom 0 3 Liverpool Liverpool Watford 1 2 Palace Palace Arsenal 3 1 West Ham Arsenal Stoke 1 1 Burnley Draw Man City 4 1 Swansea Man City Everton 2 2 Newcastle Draw Chewie -- Bets -- Each week I will aim to pick two predictors and place a quid or so on an accumulator bet for their predictions. Should we win, they'll get 10% of the winnings to be paid via Paypal. Both of the bets lost last week -- Good Luck -- Good luck to everyone for the week, and please don't be a bitch and mess with other people's predictions in the Google Sheet, there's a good girl Small GW again this week, kick off and deadline is tomorrow (Saturday) at 12:30pm with the scum bag bin dippers away to the baggies.

A second successive home win and clean sheet has left us just 270 playoff minutes plus stoppage/extra time away from promotion. We did not need to be at our best last night to emerge the victors and we were not. We had by far the better of the game and ran out comfortable winners, but we took our foot off the gas noticeably in the second half and other teams might have made us pay the penalty for that. This was our third game within a week, so it might have been tired legs rather than a casual approach that brought the visitors more into the game in the second half, but we never quite killed them off and a one goal lead can often not prove quite enough. This was a night when we might have boosted our goal difference I hope that we do not regret having not done so. Leeds are not the team to fear that they once were, but neither are we. They had some unfamiliar names in their starting line-up but of these their young goalkeeper Peacock-Farrell kept them in the game and their full back Pearce also looked very promising. These are two players that on this showing I suggest we would perhaps do well to keep an eye on for the future. My player ratings from a game that left me thinking what might have been had we performed a little better in a couple of our recent games and not spent so much of this season without Jack, JT and Kodjia are: Sam Johnstone – 6 – Tipped a 3rd minute Alioski shot over the bar. Rarely called upon after that. Ahmed Elmohamady – 6 – A decent enough performance. James Chester - 7 – Failed to get a touch on a great ball from Onomah on 69 minutes that was all that was needed to seal our win. Dependable as always at the heart of our defence. Mile Jedinak – 7 – Has done well alongside Chester in the centre of our defence as two successive clean sheets suggest. Mistimed his header on 76 minutes when Snodgrass found him with a free kick. Neil Taylor – 5 – Not yet quite up to the level he has given us at times in the past. Robert Snodgrass – 7 – Tried to curl an 18th minute shot inside the far post which Peacock-Farrell pushed out. Unusually hit a couple of free kicks harmlessly into the wall but hit some nice crosses and kept working at it. Glen Whelan – 6 – Did a decent enough job as our holding midfield player. Kept things simple and did well to be in the right position to cover at the far post to head away an attempt by Phillips to turn in a cross on 50 minutes. Josh Onomah – 6 – Much better than of late. Did well to work himself a 33rd minute shooting opportunity but flashed his shot wide of the near post. Kept busy throughout. Jack Grealish – 8 – MOTM - Had a couple of attempts to repeat his match winning shot against Cardiff but they did not trouble the keeper. Made a nice run into the box on 69 minutes and hit the ball from just outside of the 6-yard area which Peacock-Farrell blocked with his outstretched leg. Jonathan Kodjia – 6 – Ran on towards a nice early Snodgrass ball hit from inside his own half only for Peacock-Farrell to run outside his area, beat him to it and clear it with his head on 18 minutes. Looked odds on to hit a second goal for us when he was pushed by O’Connor at the near post as he looked to get his head to a sweet Grealish cross. For some reason his penalty claim was denied. I was surprised to see him start but each minute he gets sets him up to make a bigger contribution in our playoff games. Substituted having got 67 minutes game time. Lewis Grabban – 7 – Elmohamady hit an intended cross from the right so wildly across the goal that it fell to Grealish just outside the left-hand edge of the box. Jack then hit a perfectly flighted 29th minute cross which Lewis headed unchallenged into the left-hand corner of the net for our winner and his fifth goal for us. Was not quite able to turn a nice 61st minute ball from Snodgrass past Peacock-Farrell from close range and the keeper also got to Kodjia’s attempt to turn in the rebound which was ruled out for offside. Substitutes: Albert Adomah – 6 – Came on for Kodjia in the 67th minute. Grealish chipped a lovely ball over a couple of defenders to Albert whose 75th minute shot was blocked at the near post by Peacock-Farrell. He then left a defender for dead on 84 minutes on the left flank but then hit the ball wildly across the face of the goal rather than find Snodgrass who was unmarked on the centre edge of the penalty box. Scott Hogan - Replaced Grabban on 78 minutes. Not on long enough to earn a rating. Chris Samba – Replaced Onomah on 85 minutes and was not therefore on long enough to gather a rating. Get Up the Villa! John Lewis

Villa v Leeds Please do not mention streams or streaming in this thread. Please note that there is no distinction between legal or illegal, video or audio. If you aren't sure, it doesn't go in this thread. You will receive warning points if you ignore this.