Season 25 Week 17 processing...

Welcome to week 17 of the season.

Due to the bank holiday I am opening the envelopes and running the reset today, which is tuesday, instead of the usual day of monday, so everything will be a day late this week. Which means the league games will kickoff on thursday rather than the usual wednesday.

Man City v Liverpool
This one should be a cruise for the home side. In spite of conceding an 89th minute equaliser in a thrilling draw at Birmingham last week the Citizens are feeling buoyant and currently sit top albeit on goal difference from Plymouth. Geoff will have his key men firing on all cylinders but with new focal point Negredo starting off well for Liverpool this tie looks harder than it would have done a few turns ago. Even with Liverpool's up turn in form they still look destined for the drop but could make life difficult for the teams they play before the end of the season.

Birmingham v Chelsea
5th place Birmingham sit 7 points off top spot but are proving genuine title contenders with their mix of of power and Fellaini's hair. Chelsea are 6 points above the relegation zone and are probably safe due to the strength of their midfield duo, Ramires and Oscar. The onus here is on the home team to secure the points needed to keep up their title challenge. Anything less than 3 points would probably see them with too much ground to make up on the leaders. Make or break time for Birmingham's less cool and fashionable club.

Man United v Blackburn
The visitors are doomed and Man Utd have nothing to play for as they float in mid table. Neither side has any level of defensive solidity so this could turn out to be an interesting match up. No real pressure and both teams out to give the fans something to enjoy.

Plymouth v Watford
The last review had no pressure .... this one has everything riding on it. Plymouth need the 3 points as it seems likely City will win at home and a slip at this stage could be difficult to recover from. Watford, on the other hand, simply can't lose. A loss and the League is probably out of reach this season. It simply does not get better than this .... Bale, Ozil, Alexis, Aguero, Costa ..... the best of the best in one pitch with everything to play for. And on the respective benches 2 of the game's best managers.

Fulham v Charlton
A London derby with a lot riding on it. Charlton after going through an early sticky patch are red hot at the moment. The addition of Walcott and The Ox bringing even more attacking intent to a team already bristling with it. Facing them this week are a very patchy Fulham. Phil's team have a lot of quality in Suarez and a midfield packed with talent but results aren't matching the impressive team sheet. This is another pressure game and neither side can afford a loss.

Spurs v Everton
Another match with a team all but relegated visiting a Spurs team who are safe in mid table with nowhere to go. It could be 6-6 or it could be 0-0 or somewhere in between. Both teams playing with an element of freedom.

Bolton v Villa
2nd host 1st in what could be an early title decider. Birmingham's favourite team are 7 points clear and desperate for a win to maintain or extend their lead. The all Belgian front trio of Mirallas, Benteke and Chadli are starting to gel and cause defences issues with their mix of power, pace and guile. Bolton look dangerous and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake has 5 in his last 6 games. An exciting top of the table clash with promotion on the cards. It's not as exciting as the Prem but one day .....

Ancona v Juventus
2 of the best sides in Italy face off and this could be an absolute stormer. Both teams ooze quality and are particularly strong defensively. The key difference could be Ancona's stellar front line who are among the Penninsula's strongest with 35 league goals so far. I'm obviously secretly hopeful of Juve grabbing a draw which would effectively knock Ancona out of the title race but can't see it.

Salertana v Inter
Bottom host top with 40 points and a 79 goal gap in goal difference. The hosts have only netted once in 8 home League games while Inter have scored 17 in 7 games on the road. It all looks like a straightforward away win but in light of Inter's cup match with Juve several younger players will be getting a run out including Marco Verratti and Stephan El Shaarawy and the home fans hopeful of Vanrane and new signing Ricardo Rodriguez getting some game time before the end of the season. Should be an away banker but Cup commitments could cause issues.

Great reviews again Rob, thanks very much.

No orders this week from Newcastle, Birmingham, Fulham or Real.

The cutoff deadline will be 1500 hours today ( wednesday ), at that point I have to prepare for running the league games, so no more team changes can be made.

Kickoff at 1000 hours this morning ( thursday ) confirmed...

the players are out and warming up ...

And we're off...

Arsenal 1 West Brom 0 Giroud on 2 minutes.

Arsenal doing much better now they have unloaded their unhappy players...

Man City 1 Liverpool 0 Lampard on 3 minutes.
Etienne 1 Lyon 0 Barnetta.
Ancona 0 Juventus 1 Motta.

Plymouth 1 Watford 0 Ozil on 5 minutes.

a huge goal there at Home Park.

Wow. That's a huge 2 minutes in the Prem.

Ajax 1 Twente 0 Huntelaar on 6 minutes.

Bolton 1 Villa 0 Hammill freekick on 7 minutes.
Ancona 0 Juventus 2 Adriano.

Juventus looking very strong at the moment.

Bolton 1 Villa 1 Mirallas freekick on 8 minutes.

Fulham 0 Charlton 1 Gerrard on 9 minutes.
Ancona 1 Juventus 2 Cuadrado penalty.
Lazio 0 Napoli 1 Hamsik freekick.
Salernitana 0 Inter 1 Higuain header.
Inverness 0 Rangers 1 Iturraspe freekick.

Sao Joao 0 Santos 1 Keirrison header on 11 minutes.

Atletico 0 Valencia 1 Aimar freekick on 15 minutes.

Celta 0 Real Madrid 1 Fabregas on 17 minutes.

Cork City 0 Cherry 1 Delfouneso on 18 minutes.

Arsenal 2 West Brom 0 Tevez freekick on 19 minutes.

» Season 26 week 23 processing...into the pre-season break...
» Season 24 week 1 processing ... new season ...
» Season 26 Week 22 processing...End of the season...
» Season 25 week 1 processing ... the new season ...
» Season 23 Week 7 processing :)