On The Mend

After starring in the England Legends team that beat a plucky Ireland side on penalties last week, John is back at FPL towers and has added his predictions for the weekends matches. To say it was the same Salako that used to terrorise oppositions right backs might be stretching things a little, but he did look pretty good. An excellent assist for Englands third goal and a very well taken penalty showed that there is life in the old boy yet.

He was a little upset though when the team went in a half time expecting to tuck into Mrs Fulhams home made pies only to find Kenny Sansom siting there with an empty tray on his lap and crumbs all around his face..


In The News

As England continue their march towards South Africa we all have to get by on a diet of Conference football on Setanta. Not that I am knocking the BSP, as joint owner or the mighty Ebbsfleet United I can regularly be found staring up at the Directors Box down at Stonebridge Road.

On the subject of England, it seems that since the Kazek match every man and his dog have come out in support of Ashley Cole and have condemmed the crowd for booing him. Personally I think it was an "accident" waiting to happen. Cole has become one of the most unpopular players in the Premier League and only has to touch the ball to get booed in most of the games he plays in week in week out.

His mistake for the Kazek goal reminded me of when I used to play for The Farnham Pump, then my local pub team. We had this guy called Simon who played at right back and once when we were defending a corner he was on the back post. The corner came in, it was heading straight to him, so he caught it. It must have been 20 years ago and there is no reason for me to mention it other than Cole reminded me of that day.


The Week Ahead

It's going to be another tough round of results to predict, I know I say that every week but you only have to look at them to know it's true. Almost all of the matches could go either way but I will try and make a little sense of them..

Arsenal should be too good for the Everton of this season so far. The only thing is, all but one of Everton's points thus far have come on the road where they are in fact unbeaten. I'm still going to go for the home win but it might be a little closer than you think. Villa v Pompey is another tough one. Villa are unbeaten at home and I think that home advantage will be just about enough to sway this on in their favour.

Bolton v Blackburn really could go either way. Rovers have won two of their previous three away games and Bolton have made a shakey start to the season but won well at West Ham last time out. I have to say that this one has draw written all over it so that's the way I am going to go.

I don't really want to talk about the Fulham v Sunderland game. In the corresponding match last season we all left the Cottage accepting that we would be in the Championship this season only for us to then go and win four of our last five matches and stay up on goal difference. Yes it was that close. After a decent start we are now on a four game losing streak and heading back towards the dreaded drop zone. Sunderland will be well up for it and it will be a horrible, hard fought game of football. At least there's the X-Factor to look forward to when we get home.. HOME WIN!!

Wigan are blowing hot and cold this season and make the short trip to Anfield at the weekend. This will surely be too much to ask though and Liverpool should run out comfortable winners. Home Win. I was up at the Hawthorns two weeks ago and what impressed me the most about the home side was their work rate. I thought they had to tire which would open the game up and possibly favour us, but they never let up and deserved the three points in the end. Old Trafford will be a different proposition entirely though and I can't see anything other than a Home Win.

Chelsea visit the Riverside Stadium where they have not had it all their own way in recent seasons, this time though I think they will have too much for a Boro side who can't seem to find any consistency this season. They lose at home to WBA then win at Wigan, there's no logic to it. Away Win.

Hull entertain West Ham and the question is can they keep it going. Obviously they will have their ups and downs this season, but right now they are well and truly up. The International break maybe came at the wrong time for the Tigers. I'm really not sure which way this one will go, but I backed them to win at Tottenham so I'm going with them again. Home Win.

Talking of Spurs, they make the trip to Stoke for a crucial match on Sunday. One Day Ramos will get a win (One Day, geddit??), but I'm not convinced it will be this weekend. Stoke are going to try and batter the Spurs and if they don't roll their sleeves up and really get stuck in then they will lose the match. Stoke are no mugs and will want to kick then hard while they are down. Draw.

An last, but in no way least, Newcastle. I remember walking into a little sandwich bar on the Fulham Palace Road some years ago and who should be sitting there all on his own, stuffing his face with a bagette but Dennis Wise. He was at Chelsea at the time so I obviously didn't speak to him, but I always wondered what he was doing sitting there on his own. Why didn't he just take it away? There was no one in the entire place other than the person behind the counter. Again there's about as much relevance to that story as the Farnham Pump one, but it needed telling.

I don't have an issue with Dennis, well I didn't, but I really thought he was doing well at Leeds and could have gone on to be a real legend there. Leeds are a huge club and if you do well there you will never be forgotton. He though decided to follow the pound signs to Newcastle and for what? Now no one likes him, he can't stay there and hopefully that will be the last we'll see of him.

On Monday evening Man City make the trip to Tyneside and I expect it to be another difficult match for the Geordies. City are on an indifferent run after a great start which has seen them drop out of the top ten so I don't think it's a forgone conclusion that they will take the points, but I do make then just favourites. In saying that I do think Newcastle will make a real fight of it and will hopefully get at least a point. Draw.


Guest Reviewers

As well as guest predictors I'd like to get a guest reviewer or two involved. If anyone would like to have a go at writing this piece, "The Week Ahead", email me nick@fpl.org.uk and I'll organise it.

I'd like to get my old mate Robbo the Geordie on as a Guest Predictor too so if you're reading this Robbo email or MSN me so I can get you involved.


Here are the next round of fixtures in full:

Arsenal		v		Everton
Aston Villa		v		Portsmouth
Bolton Wanderers		v		Blackburn Rovers
Fulham		v		Sunderland
Liverpool		v		Wigan Athletic
Manchester United		v		West Bromwich Albion
Middlesbrough		v		Chelsea
Hull City		v		West Ham United
Stoke City		v		Tottenham Hotspur
Newcastle United		v		Manchester City

Changes To The Bonus Game

Just to remind you that we have made a change to the bonus section of the FPL. You can now change your predictions as often as you like and at any time up to when the window closes and the tables are locked. If you have not done so already, take a minute and login to your members area to see the changes we have made. You can check and change you predictions while you're there.