SPUG EPL Prediction League (2 - 3 Febuary 2008)

Sorry for the late input of the prediction games as Jaywalk is having fun in Las Vegas.

On Sat, Arsenal have to go to City of Manchester Stadium to end Sven Eriksson's unbeaten run at home. Time to see whether Arsene's Young Troops can handle the stress.

While on Sun, it is the derby between Middlesbough and Newcastle.

Good luck.

EPL 41: SAT 02/02 Man City vs Arsenal at 8.45pm SIN/HKG

EPL 42: SUN 03/02 Newcastle vs Middlebrough at 9.30pm SIN/HKG

Midweek Outlook (31 Jan 2008)

Manchester United vs Portsmouth

"And for that reason, Man Utd have to give a handicap of 1.75!! It seem to make Portsmouth a team to be underestimated."

-Gary, 31 Jan 2008

One good news and one bad news to report. Bad news first, I think Man Utd is really suay that they have to face Arsenal in the next round FA Cup tie.

Good news is we end Juande Ramos's run in cup competitions. I suggest dont look at the stats too much as the match itself, Tottenham were the hungrier side till the sending off of Michael Dawson. From then on, Man Utd take advantage of the extra man to kill the tie beyond doubt in the dying minutes of the match.

Next match is against Portsmouth before heading to White Hart Lane over the weekend (hope the match has no revenge over it.) Portsmouth is another bogey team for us. Ever since Harry Redknapp is in charge of Portsmouth in Dec 2005, he have transform Portsmouth from relegation-threatened team into an Europe-hopeful team. Last 2 matches against them ended with a draw and a win to them, credit to Rio Ferdinand for scoring an own goal due to a miscommunication between him and Edwin van der Sar.

With the African Nations Cup taking place right now, Portsmouth is depleted without their African players, mainly John Utaka, Sulley Muntari, Papa Bouba Diop and Lauren. Those whom are not mentioned are still with the Portsmouth squad. And for that reason, Man Utd have to give a handicap of 1.75!! It seem to make Portsmouth a team to be underestimated.

By the way, Ronaldo have won the bet for scoring 25 goals. Wonder Fergie will honour the bet or not.

Man Utd's Team News: No major injuries going into this match. Gary Neville is still out.

Portsmouth's Team News: Other than the African players on duty for African Nations Cup, there are also no major injuries. Milan Baros will be making his debut for Portsmouth from Lyon on loan.

Odds and Analysis: Such a high handicap of 1.75 at 2.205 and with a strong reasoning in the outlook, i wont take Man Utd to clear the handicap but a slim win for Man Utd.

Disclaimer: This review is entirely on my own views and opinion. I didn’t point a gun at you to ask you to follow. If you want to bet on this game, do so at your own risk. Pls bet within limits. Good luck.

Weekend Outlook (27 Jan 2008)

Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur

"Tottenham has become a cup-specialist team overnight.."

- Gary, 27 Jan 2008

Kudos to Tottenham for demolishing Arsenal 5-1 to reach Carling Cup Final for the first time! And out of sudden, Tottenham has become a cup-specialist team overnight, taking the same identity like Chelsea and Liverpool.

Juande Ramos have an impressive cup record since in Sevilla. But one fact remained, Tottenham have not won at Old Trafford since 1989.

At the last count since Saturday's match have ended, there is only 5 Premiership's teams left, not counting Sunday's fixtures. The chances of facing lower leagues team are quite high, provided we pass through Tottenham.

Man Utd's Team News: Paul Scholes is back in contention. But i dont think he will be rush for this match. Most likely, he will be in the midweek game against Portsmouth. A youth named Danny Welbeck is promoted to the first team after Man Utd Youth is dumped out of the FA Youth Cup. Gary Neville is still out.

Tottenham's Team News: Darren Bent and Gareth Bale are out. Anthony Gardner is back. Paul Robinson is been left out.

Odds and Analysis: With Man Utd giving 1 ball handicap at 1.85, the best is to avoid it. Match stats between these two teams at Old Trafford is settled by the odd goal.

Disclaimer: This review is entirely on my own views and opinion. I didn’t point a gun at you to ask you to follow. If you want to bet on this game, do so at your own risk. Pls bet within limits. Good luck.

Beer Fund Raising : 26 - 27 Jan 2008

No EPL matches again as we break for the FA Cup weekend. With 9 of the 20 Premiership clubs already eliminated, the number will increase further 3 of the matches involve one Premiership club against another i.e. guaranteed at least 3 more top flight casualties at the end of the weekend.

Anyway, as most are aware, my English punting only involve the EPL which means I only have the Spainish Liga to bet on this weekend since the Italian Serie A betting is still on a testing theory basis.

Saturday's Picks:

• AS Roma - Give 1.25 ball (Testing Theory)
  
  
• Sevilla - Give 1.00 ball (Draw)
  

Sunday's Picks:

• Inter Milan - Give 0.75 ball (Testing Theory)
  
  
• Real Madrid - Give 1.00 ball
  

HUAT AH!!!

Result This Week : 0 - 1 - 0

Result This Season: 57.5 - 8 - 39 = 18.5-UP as at 26 Jan 2008

Disclaimer: This is merely to log my own results. You are welcome to follow if you like but I must warn you that you bear your own winnings or losses, whatever the outcome. I have nothing to do with your bets. Please bet responsibly and within your means. There is no absolute sure thing in football betting. If you can't afford to lose, then don't bet.

SPUG EPL Prediction LeagueResults 19 - 21 Jan 2008

It's claypot all around for everybody as we were wrong footed with two draws. Benitez' days look to be numbered if he were to continue to drop points.

You know Liverpool's days in the Top 4 is more or less over when headlines sigh a relief when Crouch equalise as if they managed to avoid the worst of fate. However, in the race to be right at the top, you are screwed even if you finish with a draw. Suddenly, Liverpool are sounding like a mid-table club.

Really sad for what was once a mighty rival that would bring electricity to the air. Even Arsene Wenger jibed about Goodison Park being a more difficult place than Anfield.

Congrats to Raynaldo and Bedokian with the points while I carve out a measely 2-point to pull one point away to stay at the top.

Housekeeping Notes:

All of this season's tables will be kept in Flickr's photoset. Click Here.

For last season's, Click Here.


SPUG EPL Prediction League "Perfect Score" Hall Of Fame
Perfect Score = 2 correct-score predictions in a single weekend and hence the award of the full 10 points.

1) David.hvp (23 Dec 2007)
2) Beaver21 (23 Dec 2007)

Scoring System
3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)
1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry
Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty
No points for submission after kick-off. (Disqualification)

SPUG Blackout
The SPUG EPL Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to my personal blog at http://jaywalk.blog-city.com. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Prediction League Past Winners

Copa America 2004 - WeiMeng
EPL 2004/2005 - Friday13
EPL 2005/2006 - ianrush
World Cup 2006 - EdwinSng
EPL 2006/2007 - Voxeros

As usual:

1) If you have spotted a mistake, please let me know where and what so that I can amend them accordingly.
2) Please check your scores for accuracy as soon as possible before I update the table during the next round of scores. Once the table has been updated, the old table will be overwritten.
3) In case you are still seeing the old table even if I have announced a new update, please refresh your browser to reload the table.

Beer Fund Raising : 19 - 21 Jan 2008

If all goes well, I may have a bumper crop of English games to wager on as all indicators are giving the green light.

With the European campaigns taking a break at the moment, the top clubs are well rested prior to playing each domestic game which as a result, makes the results pretty predictable.

With 6 teams in the relegation zone, the relegation fight is really tight. Even point counts, with 3 points? Even better!

Hence the 3 points from the win over Portsmouth last week was a massive 3 points and even 1 draw today would be enough to lift them out of the relegation zone as there are current 4 teams on 20 points. What the chances of all 4 teams scoring points this week?

Good luck.

Click here to find out how the Wanker Points Index came about.

Saturday's Picks:

• Fiorentina - Give 1.00 ball (Testing Theory)
  
  
• Arsenal - Give 1.00 ball (Win)
  
• Manchester United - Give 1.50 ball (Win)
• Tottenham Hotspur - 1.25 ball (Win)
• Newcastle United - Give 0.75 ball (Lose)
  

Sunday's Picks:

• Inter Milan - Give 1.50 ball (Testing Theory)
• AS Roma - Give 1.50 ball (Testing Theory)
  
  
• Atletico Bilbao - Eat 0.25 ball (Lose)
• Real Madrid - Even ball (Win)
• Barcelona - Give 1.75 ball (Lose)

HUAT AH!!!

Result This Week : 4 - 0 - 3

Result This Season: 57.5 - 7 - 39 = 18.5-UP as at 20 Jan 2008

Disclaimer: This is merely to log my own results. You are welcome to follow if you like but I must warn you that you bear your own winnings or losses, whatever the outcome. I have nothing to do with your bets. Please bet responsibly and within your means. There is no absolute sure thing in football betting. If you can't afford to lose, then don't bet.

Weekend Outlook (19 Jan 2008)

Reading vs Manchester United

"...It was a good thing we got the Newcastle game out of the way before the arrival of Keegan...."

- JayWalk, 19 Jan 2008

It was a good thing we got the Newcastle game out of the way before the arrival of Keegan. Not that with the presence of Keegan, they will beat us, but why take the difficult path when the easy one is available?

Keegan has proved to be a pretty good manager and had he come in a week earlier, the scoreline would have been less flattering for us.

With Allardyce gone under such bad terms, you can tell that the morale in the changing room was at an all time low. Newcastle's squad is quite talented with Butt, Smith, Owen, Viduka and Given, just to name a few, then how is it even possible to lose by a 0-6 margin?

The answer is heart or rather the lack of it. 31 goals attempted (21 on goal) vs 7 goals attempted (5 on goal) and you would have thought we were playing a team from the lower divisions.

But no.

This was the Mighty Toon Army we are talking about here and this must be a really low point in the history of the Tyneside club.

Anyway, I welcome the return of Kevin Keegan whom I think would be able to turn things around and bring exciting football back to Newcastle. Overall, it is good for the game. Go Kev!

On a lighter note, read "The Gospel according to St James" - Robbo Robson, 17 January 2008. Great read! Highly recommended!*

* Thanks to winz for the link.

JayWalk The Talk: Scholes and Neville are back to fitness although not quite enough to be contenders for the Starting XI yet (perhaps the FA Cup 4th Round against Totteham Hotspur?). Silvestre and Foster are in the sickbay for the long term and joining them would be Saha for a fresh new injury albeit minor. Looks like Fergie may not play him much for the rest of the season in order to keep him healthy. That way, Saha could be offloaded for a higher price in the summer.

Big headache for Coppell over at Reading side as Bikey, Sonko and Fae are playing in the Africa Nations Cup while Oster, Duberry and Little are injured. Coppell may have thrown the FA Cup replay game at midweek in order to conserve whatever first team players he has left ahead of this game but I am afraid, it may just be a case of too little too late.

However, the most fatal of all in the Reading changing room would be that of morale which is pretty non-existent at the moment. Already short of players, Coppell also have to deal with Shorey and Lita whom both have submitted their transfer request and expressed their desires to be out of the door at the end of this month.

JayWalk The Walk: ManUtd has to give up a 1.50-ball handicap with a decimal odds of 2.05 to clear it. At the moment, the distribution of punter's money is 80-20 in favour of the Red Devils.

Pundits are all focusing on the goals stats where ManUtd have the most goals scored while Reading is the team with the most goals conceded (tied with Derby).

The 47 goals leaked translates to a goal conceded every 42 minutes and so perhaps 1 goal lost in each half at the very least?

Problem with Reading right now is a shortage of central defenders and I would expect Tevez, Rooney, Giggs and Ronaldo to be running circles all around them. ManUtd on the other hand, has the best defensive record at a rate of 1 goal leaked every 180 minutes. With Wes Brown back from suspension to regain his place from O'Shea, I seriously can't see how Reading is even going to get a goal in.

In all, I believe that the Reading has already lost the game mentally, even before the kick-off whistle is blown. As I have said that Reading is currently leaking 2 goals on average every game and coupled with the fact the ManUtd is scoring 2 goals on average every game, I say a 4-0 result would be a higher probability than a 1-0 or 2-0 victory.

Disclaimer: The above views are purely my own two-cents' worth. In other words, I cannot and will not guarantee that my predictions are accurate. If you want to bet on the game, do so at your own risk. Also, please bet responsibly and within your means regardless of how "sure thing" that game may appear to be. As the old saying goes, "The Ball Is Round". Good luck.

SPUG EPL Prediction League (19 - 20 January 2008)

Normally, we pick games that are televised at prime time unless of course there are mega clashes like Arsenal vs ManUtd. Then again mega clashes are more often then not played at prime time.

So anyway, the prime time matches this week, in ihawk98's opinion is terrible. If we were to follow the rule of thumb, we would be predicting Reading vs ManUtd and Fulham vs Arsenal. The problem with one sided matches is the all of us will more or less predict the same outcome. At the end of the weekend, we all either score points or we all claypot. League table-wise, it would remain unchanged sans the overtaking of those who did not predict.

As such, ihawk98 has taken the liberty of picking closer matches for this weekend and I think we should drop the old practice dictated by the TV Guide and adopt this new approach as the new match pick rule of thumb.

Cheers.

EPL39: TUE 22/01 Liverpool vs Aston Villa at 04:00 am SIN/HKG

EPL40: SUN 20/01 Manchester City vs West Ham United at 23:55 pm SIN/HKG

Important Note: The Liverpool vs Aston Villa game has been rescheduled to Monday night (Tuesday morning SIN/HKG time). Please Note.

Good luck.

SPUG EPL Prediction LeagueResults 12 - 13 Jan 2008

It has been proven (Cha Dum Yen can also vouch for me on this) that, overdose of gf/spouse leads to impotence on the SPUG EPL Prediction league.

I kena whenever I head home to Singapore while Cha Dum Yen will buang whenever the wife twists his ear for getting too engrossed with football.

While KingMeng is happy enjoying his Bintan weekend with his significant other, his predictions bombed yielding only a couple of singles to allow me to overtake the lead.

Congrats to Sheena who is the other 6-pointer of the weekend to allow her to jump 2 places back into the Top 10 and shaking off Everton in the process.

Well done!

Housekeeping Notes:

All of this season's tables will be kept in Flickr's photoset. Click Here.

For last season's, Click Here.


SPUG EPL Prediction League "Perfect Score" Hall Of Fame
Perfect Score = 2 correct-score predictions in a single weekend and hence the award of the full 10 points.

1) David.hvp (23 Dec 2007)
2) Beaver21 (23 Dec 2007)

Scoring System
3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)
1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry
Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty
No points for submission after kick-off. (Disqualification)

SPUG Blackout
The SPUG EPL Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to my personal blog at http://jaywalk.blog-city.com. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Prediction League Past Winners

Copa America 2004 - WeiMeng
EPL 2004/2005 - Friday13
EPL 2005/2006 - ianrush
World Cup 2006 - EdwinSng
EPL 2006/2007 - Voxeros

As usual:

1) If you have spotted a mistake, please let me know where and what so that I can amend them accordingly.
2) Please check your scores for accuracy as soon as possible before I update the table during the next round of scores. Once the table has been updated, the old table will be overwritten.
3) In case you are still seeing the old table even if I have announced a new update, please refresh your browser to reload the table.

Beer Fund Raising : 12 - 13 Jan 2008

We welcome back the Italians from their winter break but not much of a difference to me considering the fact that I am not touching the Serie A for now until they become more predictable.

Still it is good to have all the leagues back to their regular schedule. A vast contrast to last week where I only have the Primera Liga to punt as FA Cup is out of my radar scope.

With 21 games played already, Sunderland is about 6 points off their schedule if they wish to reach the magic 40 points of Premier League survival. At 21 games, they should be at least at 23 points.

Still, a hearty congratulations to Roy Keane for beating Mick McCarthy dubious honour for the lowest points in a EPL season of all time (15 points).

So with McCarthy done and dusted, it's onwards to Premiership Survival.

Good luck.

Click here to find out how the Wanker Points Index came about.

Saturday's Picks:

• Arsenal - Give 1.75 ball (Lose)
  
• Everton - Give 0.25 ball (Win)
  
• ManUtd - Give 1.75 ball (Win)
  
  
• Barcelona - Give 1.75 ball (Win)

Sunday's Picks:

• Inter Milan - Give 1.00 ball (Testing Theory)
• Lazio - Give 0.50 ball (Testing Theory)
  
  
• Getafe - Eat 0.25 ball (Lose)
• Villarreal - Give 0.75 ball (Win 1/2)
• Real Madrid - Give 1.25 ball (Win)
  
  
• Blackburn Rovers - Eat 0.25 ball (Win)

HUAT AH!!!

Result This Week : 5.5 - 0 - 2

Result This Season: 53.5 - 7 - 36 = 17.5-UP as at 13 Jan 2008

Disclaimer: This is merely to log my own results. You are welcome to follow if you like but I must warn you that you bear your own winnings or losses, whatever the outcome. I have nothing to do with your bets. Please bet responsibly and within your means. There is no absolute sure thing in football betting. If you can't afford to lose, then don't bet.

Weekend Outlook (12 Jan 2008)

Manchester United vs Newcastle United

"...the next month is going to be to our advantage as our opponents will be losing African players to the African Nations Cup...."

- JayWalk, 11 Jan 2008

We won comfortably last week over Aston Villa in the FA Cup 3rd Round match and that was good.

Stats-wise, we were all over them but I would have preferred if we maintained more possession.

It was a good thing we won and got things over and done with. Hence we don't have to deal with the redundant replays like Liverpool against Luton Town. Every unnecessary match we play, we risk exhaustion and injuries. Really not worth it. Sew up everything within 90 minutes is the best way to navigate through the already jam packed fixtures.

Looking ahead, the next month is going to be to our advantage as our opponents will be losing African players to the African Nations Cup. With Quinton Fortune being the last of the African players to leave the club, we will be playing at full strength against teams missing key players.

JayWalk The Talk: We will be missing Wes Brown due to suspension but Gary Neville is still not ready for top tier football despite an excellent showing in mid week's reserve game. I think Simpson will be handed another rare start this week alongside O'Shea, Ferdinand and Vidic.

Park is back and so no problem in the midfield department while we wait for reports with regards to Tevez's minor ankle injury to see if we can continue to field the winning combination of the stocky duo. Otherwise, it's Saha and Rooney up front.

Speaking of the bane of the African Nations Cup, Newcastle will be missing Beye, Faye and Geremi while Martins is 50-50 pending Nigeria's green light to release him. Carr, Emre and Milner are all injured with the departure of Allardyce as the cherry on top, in our favour.

JayWalk The Walk: Newcastle is already pretty screwed coming to Old Trafford, a place that they have never won in 36 years. We also happen to be the team to beat them the most in Premier League encounters with a immaculate record of 16 wins.

Bookies are making ManUtd to give a 1.75-ball handicap with a decimal odds of 1.975 to beat it. The way I see it, I expect the decimal odds to go down further as we get nearer to kick off which is an excellent sign of confidence on the home side.

Normally, I would shun 1.75-ball handicaps but given the fact that Newcastle's poor away form is further aggravated with the loss of Allardyce, I say let's go for ManUtd to bring home the 3-points and the wager.

Disclaimer: The above views are purely my own two-cents' worth. In other words, I cannot and will not guarantee that my predictions are accurate. If you want to bet on the game, do so at your own risk. Also, please bet responsibly and within your means regardless of how "sure thing" that game may appear to be. As the old saying goes, "The Ball Is Round". Good luck.

SPUG EPL Prediction League (12 - 13 January 2008)

Greetings one and all as we return from the FA Cup weekend break.

More of less predictable results for the top clubs except for Liverpool who shot themselves in the foot at Luton but at the end of the day, I can't see how that will be eliminated at the hands of Luton Town. Liverpool to win the replay!

Still, there is the problem of the extra match to jam into the already packed fixture, especially if the match immediately before or after is a tricky one.

Well, what is done is done. Too late to cry over spilled milk now. I wish the Reds all the best during the early rounds.

EPL37: SAT 12/01 Middlesbrough vs Liverpool at 22:55 pm SIN/HKT

EPL38: SUN 13/01 Bolton Wanderers vs Blackburn Rovers at 23:55 pm SIN/HKT

Good luck.

Beer Fund Raising : 05 - 06 Jan 2008

Happy New Year to all as when start off the new year with a relatively quiet start. With Serie A still on their winter break, we are only left with FA Cup weekend and the Primera Liga to wager on.

Problem is that I don't bet on FA Cup matches and the stronger teams have a tendency not to field their stronger XI and I don't have information on teams outside of the Premier League.

As such, my picks this weekend will be solely on La Liga.

Good Luck!

Saturday's Picks:

• Barcelona - Give 0.75 ball (Win)
  

Sunday's Picks:

• Deportivo - Give 0.25 ball (Lose)
  
• Valencia - Give 1.25 ball (Lose)
• Real Madrid - Give 1.25 ball (Win)
• Sevilla - Give 1.00 ball (Win)

HUAT AH!!!

Result This Week : 3 - 0 - 2

Result This Season: 48 - 7 - 34 = 14-UP as at 06 Jan 2008

Disclaimer: This is merely to log my own results. You are welcome to follow if you like but I must warn you that you bear your own winnings or losses, whatever the outcome. I have nothing to do with your bets. Please bet responsibly and within your means. There is no absolute sure thing in football betting. If you can't afford to lose, then don't bet.

Weekend Outlook (05 Jan 2008)

Aston Villa vs Manchester United

"...Sir Fergie (Sir Alex Ferguson) has never lost an FA Cup 3rd Round match...."

- JayWalk, 05 Jan 2008

A happy new year to one and all and here's wishing everybody a great 2008 ahead!

We are now officially into the second half of the season as we have completed the Christmas/New Year fixture crunch.

We did pretty ok with a 3-0-1 but while we all aim for a perfect 4-0-0, it is not as easy as it looks as evident by our neighbours both above and below us with a slightly better 3-1-0.

We really struggled with our last two games, losing 1-2 to West Ham and scraping a 1-0 win over lowly Birmingham. While the picture looked rosy with our 20 goals attempted (13 on target) compared to their 12 goals attempted (4 on target), allow me to bring your attention to the Time Of Possession which was 50% apiece.

Under such a skewed shots statistics, one would have expected the same in terms of possession and so at 50-50 you know that we failed to dominate this game despite impressive shot numbers. And the probably explain the odd-goal win as we squandered too many chances.

JayWalk The Talk: Good news from the sickbay as Park is out and running when he played against Birmingham. Scholes is ready to come back really soon and Tevez was given the green light after a bruising scare at the Birmingham game. Still, I think Fergie may rest Tevez today for safety reasons.

Elsewhere, we should expect Van der Sar back between the sticks and Rooney overcoming his flu.

Otherwise, we are only left with Neville, Foster and Silvestre still struggling to recover.

Over at Aston Villa, touted to be the club with the smallest squad strength, only Carew will be unavailable for selection.

JayWalk The Walk: Let me present the stats here:

• Aston Villa has failed at the FA Cup first hurdle 5 times in the last 6 attempts.
• Aston Villa lost 9 of their 11 FA Cup encounters to ManUtd.
• Aston Villa has not beaten ManUtd in their last 20 head-to-heads in all competitions. The last was dated back in 1999 during Worthington Cup which we played our second team.
• Sir Fergie has never lost an FA Cup 3rd Round match.

So, it looked pretty attractive for the bookies to set the decimals odds of 1.85 for ManUtd to beat the 0.50-ball handicap. I don't see how we can lose this.

I say go for ManUtd today.

Disclaimer: The above views are purely my own two-cents' worth. In other words, I cannot and will not guarantee that my predictions are accurate. If you want to bet on the game, do so at your own risk. Also, please bet responsibly and within your means regardless of how "sure thing" that game may appear to be. As the old saying goes, "The Ball Is Round". Good luck.

SPUG EPL Prediction LeagueResults 29 - 30 Dec 2007

It's the last game of the year before we officially cross the halfway mark of the EPL season.

Apologies for the late update as I am still in Singapore and too cheap to pay for internet access and had to resort to the LTN method (Love Thy Neighbour).

Anyway, just a word to all that there will be no predictions this coming week as a result of FA Cup weekend. The game will resume from the week after.

Also, special lookout for david.hvp for putting in stellar performance week after week after week to see him in 3rd spot and just a mere 5 points away from the lead.

Won't be surprised to see him grab pole position very soon!

Happy New Year everybody!

Housekeeping Notes:

All of this season's tables will be kept in Flickr's photoset. Click Here.

For last season's, Click Here.


SPUG EPL Prediction League "Perfect Score" Hall Of Fame
Perfect Score = 2 correct-score predictions in a single weekend and hence the award of the full 10 points.

1) David.hvp (23 Dec 2007)
2) Beaver21 (23 Dec 2007)

Scoring System
3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)
1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry
Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty
No points for submission after kick-off. (Disqualification)

SPUG Blackout
The SPUG EPL Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to my personal blog at http://jaywalk.blog-city.com. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Prediction League Past Winners

Copa America 2004 - WeiMeng
EPL 2004/2005 - Friday13
EPL 2005/2006 - ianrush
World Cup 2006 - EdwinSng
EPL 2006/2007 - Voxeros

As usual:

1) If you have spotted a mistake, please let me know where and what so that I can amend them accordingly.
2) Please check your scores for accuracy as soon as possible before I update the table during the next round of scores. Once the table has been updated, the old table will be overwritten.
3) In case you are still seeing the old table even if I have announced a new update, please refresh your browser to reload the table.

Midweek Outlook (1 Jan 2008)

Manchester United vs Birmingham City

"Birmingham will get a backlash on New Year's Day..."

-Gary, 1 Jan 2008

On behalf of RedhalfofManchester, we wish all of us here a happy new year.

Last match against West Ham, Ronaldo missed a penalty, lose the match and not only that, lose the top of the standings to Arsenal at the last day of 2007.

Tonight's match is the last festive fixtures before weekend FA clash against Aston Villa, again!

This match pits the skills of 2 Scots, Fergie and Alex McLeish. It was a pity that Alex McLeish didnt continue to lead Scotland for their World Cup Qualifiers but to opt for a day-to-day management job. Not to rub salt into wounds, he was the man that nearly send Scotland to their first European Championships this summer if not for the last min lost to Italy. Scotland did a historic Double against France. Sad to say, none of any British teams are going to participate in the European Championships, least to say England.

Birmingham's Team News: Damien Johnson is out. Johan Djourou will be putting on the last of his Birmingham jersey before returning to Arsenal.

Manchester United's Team News: Rooney and Carrick missed out West Ham's game due to illness. Gary Neville and Paul Scholes are having light training. Edwin van der Sar is still out.

Odds and Analysis: Handicap of 2 balls at 2, Avoid this match. Though Birmingham will get a backlash at New Year's Day, but under the guidance of Alex Mcleish, they are playing decent football at the moment. Man United to win the match but will not clear the handicap. Avoid it.

Disclaimer: This review is entirely on my own views and opinion. I didn’t point a gun at you to ask you to follow. If you want to bet on this game, do so at your own risk. Pls bet within limits. Good luck.