FanPost

IKTS: FA Cup final for Arsenal versus Chelsea at Wembley.

Klopp’s team finished the season on 99 points, and should have been on 101 had they won at home against Burnley a few weeks ago, in a game that they dominated handily. But Manchester City holds all the records for the season, except that they would crush some opponents and lose against others that came up with plans specifically designed to deal with their strengths, a bit like Arsenal did in the semifinal of the FA Cup.

On the day, Arsenal scored on all their decent opportunities but did a Unai Emery after that and allowed Watford back in the game; in fact, we needed Martinez to snuff out Welbeck, by far the best attacker for Watford, and you must wonder if the Hornets would have avoided the drop if he had been healthy all season. Chelsea and Manchester United got the two CL spots ahead of the misfiring Leicester team that had a poor post-confinement run of results. While we were delightfully relegating Watford, Bournemouth finally produced a good game against a disinterested bunch of Toffees, but Aston Villa stayed up by leading West Ham for a while and then holding on for a tie with the Hammers. Another goal for West Ham, and Bournemouth would have stayed up, equal on points with Watford and Aston Villa, but with a better goal difference. Other results included a stroll in the park at home for Manchester City, a routine win for Liverpool at Newcastle, a win for Brighton at Burnley that helped us, a win for Southampton against Sheffield United that also helped us, with these two results synonymous with eighth place for Arsenal, and there was also a 1-1 score for the noisy neighbors at Crystal Palace.

So, Arsenal must win the FA Cup to enter the EL. I am not worried about the EL. I would love another FA Cup. Number 14 would put us two ahead of Manchester United. More importantly, it is an actual trophy. We all hope that Mikel Arteta will have a plan to come on top.

Scores for the week:

hansdampf 10 (2)
ClevelandJames 9 (1)
inthekcmix 8 (2)
Ray from Norfolk, Virginia 6 (1)

Stars of the week: hansdampf leads on 10 points (and 2 correct IKTS predictions) with ClevelandJames in second on 9 points (and one correct IKTS prediction) and inthekcmix in third on 8 points (and 2 correct IKTS predictions) while Ray from Norfolk is on 6 points (and one correct IKTS prediction) but Geaux_HR forgot to post any predictions.

Clever pick of the week: Only hansdampf predicted a 1-1 tie for the noisy neighbors at Crystal Palace. Ray from Norfolk and inthekcmix had the exact score of 1-1 for Aston Villa at West Ham. The other correct IKTS predictions were for ClevelandJames, inthekcmix, and hansdampf, as all three predicted a win by the score of 1-3 for Liverpool at Newcastle.

Crisis pick of the week: Geaux_HR picked the wrong day to forget to post any predictions, but still won the IKTS title.

Standings after week 38+:

Geaux_HR 291 (39)
Ray from Norfolk, Virginia 285 (39)
ClevelandJames 266 (27)
hansdampf 258 (30)
inthekcmix 256 (29)
sammy dog 68 (7)
Le Poulain Francais 64 (8)

Geaux_HR wins by 6 points with Ray from Norfolk in second, 19 points ahead of ClevelandJames in third place, but hansdampf and inthekcmix are not too far behind. Sadly, sammy dog (once the leader) dropped out and Le Poulain Francais got too busy to stay on.

Cup game: No game, but a big one is coming.

Cup standings:

Geaux_HR 16 (3)
inthekcmix 13 (0)
Ray from Norfolk, Virginia 12 (1)
hansdampf 10 (1)
ClevelandJames 7 (0)
sammy dog 3 (0)
Le Poulain Francais 0 (0)

In the Cup standings, Geaux_HR has an insurmountable lead with inthekcmix in second and Ray from Norfolk in third.

Upcoming schedule:

FA Cup final on Saturday August first:

Arsenal – Chelsea

COYG!