FanPost

IKTS Week 13: At home versus Newcastle.


On this day, the Friday after Thanksgiving, I engaged in zero shopping, but rather into digesting, thus explaining this late post. Arsenal held a while against Liverpool, but could have benefited of more stringent decisions by the match official, as Mane engaged into foul play (pun intended, even though I only eat ham at Thanksgiving, as I rarely eat birds except at the embryonic state as eggs) and could have easily received up to 3 yellow cards had he been named Granit Xhaka, getting only one for his efforts. Once the first goal was scored, Arsenal unwisely tried to attack using a bravado style, opening up for 3 easy goals. I am not surprised that Arteta wishes to have our legendary AW back, as a big worry for Arsenal is how their passing has become predictable, ponderous, and imprecise. Leicester tried hard but lost 0-3 to Chelsea. Aston Villa left it late to win by 2-0 against Brighton for Steven Gerrard's first win in the Premier League. Burnley versus Crystal Palace and Newcastle versus Brentford both ended 3-3, with the home teams getting late equalizers. Norwich won late by 2-1 at home against Southampton, for Dean Smith's first win with his new side. Watford beat Manchester United 4-1 prompting the sacking of the Manchester United manager, to the dismay of many opposing fans, except for the last side beaten by Manchester United in the Premier League; who could that be? Wolverhampton beat West Ham 1-0, thus interrupting a series of impressive results for the Hammers. Manchester City beat Everton 3-0 in a rather soporific game; I find their style of play so boringly hypnotizing that I end up getting an involuntary nap every time I have to watch them. My suggestion for NBC is to always put them on Peacock unless they are playing Arsenal, Chelsea, or Liverpool. Finally, the noisy neighbors left it late to beat Leeds 2-1 after initially falling behind, in another sleep inducing fixture bar the few attacking forays by some of the Leeds players. Overall, the 8 participants combined for 62 points (or 7 and 3/4 each) and we had a grand total of 5 correct IKTS predictions.

Scores for the week:

Geaux_HR 10 (1)
skinnejay 10 (1)
ben from portsmouth 8 (0)
inthekcmix 8 (0)
ClevelandJames 7 (1)
Sonny from Suffolk 7 (1)
Ray from Norfolk 6 (1)
hansdampf 6 (0)

Stars of the week: Geaux_HR and skinnejay are first on 10 points each (and one correct IKTS prediction a piece) with ben from portsmouth and inthekcmix in third on 8 points each (alas without correct IKTS predictions) but the others are not too far behind.

Clever pick of the week: Only skinnejay submitted the correct score for Leicester versus Chelsea and only Sonny from Suffolk had the exact score for Tottenham versus Leeds. The other three correct IKTS predictions were courtesy of Manchester City versus Everton.

Crisis pick of the week: A collective crisis due to the outcome of Watford versus Manchester United, made even more bitter by the subsequent firing of OGS.

Standings after week 12:

skinnejay 102 (17)
ClevelandJames 99 (12)
Geaux_HR 99 (12)
Sonny from Suffolk 90 (10)
hansdampf 88 (10)
Ray from Norfolk 81 (6)
ben from portsmouth 69 (7)
inthekcmix 67 (4)

After Week 12, skinnejay leads ClevelandJames and Geaux_HR by 3 points.

Cup game: No game.

Cup standings:

Geaux_HR 5 (1)
ben from portsmouth 4 (1)
ClevelandJames 4 (0)
hansdampf 4 (0)
Sonny from Suffolk 3 (0)
Ray from Norfolk 2 (0)
skinnejay 2 (0)
inthekcmix 1 (0)

In the Cup standings, Geaux_HR has the lead ahead of ben from portsmouth and ClevelandJames.

Upcoming schedule:

Week 13: Saturday November 27, and Sunday November 28:

Arsenal - Newcastle
Crystal Palace - Aston Villa
Liverpool - Southampton
Norwich - Wolverhampton
Brighton - Leeds
Brentford - Everton
Burnley - Tottenham
Leicester - Watford
Manchester City - West Ham
Chelsea - Manchester United

COYG!