Matchday 11: Hopefully a better collective week than the last

I think we all knew that this weekend's football wouldn't live up to the last. Games between Manchester United and Arsenal haven't lived up to the Sky Sports hype for several years, especially those at Old Trafford. Most recognised that, with only the most belligerent, or foolhardy predicting anything but an United win. Unfortunately, due to my refusal to every put money on Arsenal to lose, I include myself in that group. Liverpool and Newcastle too have provided many classic games over the years, but neither side has really got going this season. I thought their match was rather damp, brightened only by 2 delicious goals. Liverpool will be disappointed not to have won though, with Shelvey missing the best of a host of chances for them.

If you were to pick a team most likely to stifle a free-flowing game, it'd be one managed by Sam Allardyce. West Ham did that, and took a point off Man City that they'll be very happy with. Us lot, less so, as most thought that over £200m of talent would find a way through, at least once. Chelsea and Everton both saw late equalisers deny them away wins and Spurs did what Spurs always do and disappoint. Everyone had Spurs to win. Norwich and WBA picked up vital wins, whilst QPR and Reading battled to a draw that satisfies noone. Finally, Villa won away against a Sunderland side that are looking to take the title of most turgid side in the league, showing Lambert may be starting to settle in nicely.

All in all, a low key weekend, which played out in the results here, with the 2nd lowest scoring week this season, and with 50% more players than the lowest week.

To the stats:

This week, 18 players were involved
Most popular predicted result: Tottenham WIN (18-0-0)
Most disputed result: Fulham vs Everton (4-8-6)

Longest odds: Josh Daniels with a ridiculous 256,166/1 (that would have won £2561.66 off a penny)
Shortest odds: Sam Ruback 1191/1
Average odds: 44,103/1 - although that's somewhat skewed. Ignoring the statistical outlier, the average was 13,808/1.

Best predictor: Doron Salomon (6/10)
Worst predictor: Andrew Feneley (1/10)
Average score: 4/10

Best predicted result: WBA WIN (16/18)
Worst predicted result: Wigan WIN (0/18)

Villain of the week: No-one even got close to a score high enough to discuss villains this week.

Everyone's results:

After the highs of last week, this seems a little disappointing, but it has had interesting implications for the leaderboard. Most people maintained their position, with only 2 position swaps, but the differences are decreasing. That said, the range across the table has grown by 0.13, so in Tarek's case, it's not entirely true that a rising tide raises all ships.

Just a reminder that only those who have played >2/3 of weeks are eligible for the leaderboard, so that's those who have played 7+ weeks.

Right, to this week's predictions:

Arsenal vs Fulham - ARSENAL
Everton vs Sunderland - EVERTON
Reading vs Norwich - NORWICH
Southampton vs Swansea - SWANSEA
Stoke vs QPR - DRAW
Wigan vs WBA - WBA
Aston Villa vs Man Utd - MAN UTD
Man City vs Spurs - MAN CITY
Newcastle vs West Ham - DRAW
Chelsea vs Liverpool - CHELSEA

Total odds: 2947/1 (PaddyPower)


And I didn't win Euromillions either. Gutted. Good luck guys, until next week