Week 12

Liverpool v Wolves

Liverpool favourites for this one but struggled to get any rythym as they were set out to play as lstd said "We don’t have a set formation" Which Wolves coped with well. The home side front 3 will always be a danger but Wolves held firm for the first half. Wolves scored early in the second half and it was Immobile on the scoresheet from a knock down from Higuain. Liverpool made subs and went close with a more direct approach, they hit the bar and post withing minutes of each other, Marky made his subs and Lstd one final one, they pushed on but couldn't find the back of the net today unfortunately for them and Wolves went home with probably an unexpected 3 points

Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolves
Immobile (Higuain)59
MOTM - Pepe - Organised the defence very well and kept a stong strike force out

Hull v Stoke

Hull went into this home game in good form but with a surprisingly pessimistic approach, playing a 5-4-1 albeit with dangerous players in their side and the ability to move to a 3-4-3 when in possession.Stoke with their usual youthfulness against possibly the only other side in the league with a similar average age, Stoke had plenty of pace in their attack and a solid 4-3-3/4-5-1 system.Both sides cancelled each other out somewhat, with both waiting for the other to make a mistake, neither side was willing to overcommit and it was no surprise to hear the halftime whistle with the game still scoreless.
Neither side really had a Plan B to push on and win the game, and while the game was played at a high tempo, no real clear cut chances were created, only Ibrahimovic and Rashford going close from outside the area.
The game was there for the taking but neither side could afford to lose, which played a factor as both sides take a point and move onto next week
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Hull City 0-0 Stoke City
MOTM: Diawara, pretty insurmountable in midfield today, more than played his part in his sides clean sheet

Aston Villa v Birmingham

A game in which the home side would have been confident going into, but Nirmingham are a very rugged side hard to beat, which Villa found out today, they dominated large parts of the game but there attacks game to nothing with Goretzka and the back 3 as solid as you will see today, tried as they did they couldn't find the back of the net, themselves however reduced Brum to mostly high balls up to Llorente, a fair few he on but his support today was pretty non exsistent, Vardy when he came on just couldn't use his pace to any effect either, that's about it really, Villa huffed and puffed but couldn't blow the Brum house down

Aston Villa 0 - 0 Birmingham
MOTM - Bailly

Portsmouth 3 - 0 Everton
Varane (KDB)5
Vidal (KDB) 39
Lewandowski (KDB) 56
MOTM - KDB

Leicester v Newcastle

Two teams vying for the championship, and this started a cagey affair with neither pushing too far forward, contrasting styles but they managed to cancel each other out most of the time, neither team dominating, but both having good spells in possession, Leicester struck first, Ndidi winning the ball and backl to Azpilicueta, who played it down the line for Vitolo, he crossed in early and Ronaldo powered home a fine header. like said, it wasn't a game which either dominated, and chances were few and far between, but Newcastle got a sweet equaliser., Florenzi doing well down the right, Pjanic, picking up and laying it into Kane who buried home.


Leicester 1 - 1 Newcastle
Ronaldo(Vitolo)54
Kane(Pjanic)67
MOTM - Ndidi

Arsenal v Tottenham

Big North London derby today, between two sides who desperately want the points.

Tottenham played a bold 4-4-2 which was basically a 4-2-4, naturally making them dangerous but leaving them exposed on occasion.It worked today as inside 8 minutes Willian got down the right hand side, whipped a cross in that evaded both the Arsenal defenders and the Spurs strikers, but Leroy Sane was on hand to finish on the half volley at the back post.It got even better for Spurs midway through the half as Marchisio slid a slide rule pass through the Arsenal defence for Lukaku to run onto, Lukaku squared the ball when one on one for Morata to tap into the empty net for 2-0.Arsenal never showed up and Spurs continued along in 2nd gear, more goals could have followed but for wastefulness from the Spurs attack, a comfortable away win for Spurs and the home fans chanting for Tino to resign after a shambolic performance.

Arsenal 0-2 Tottenham
Sane (Willian) 7
Morata (Lukaku) 22
MOTM: Sane, never stopped troubling the Arsenal defence

Chelsea v Brighton
A game of two halves today saw the champions struggling for much of the game in Sergio Busquets absence. Brighton started really well showing an eagerness to get at Chelsea and test their backline. The highland and fast tempo start caught Chelsea napping wth Gameiro latching on to a Payet through ball to slot home after just 4 minutes. Chelsea continued to struggle, without Busquets the high pressure from Brighton, combined with the excellent work of Kondogbia and Krychowiak kept Chelsea star forwards quiet. It was 2-0, this time Kondogbia rising highest to nod in Payet’s exquisite corner. The scoreline seemed to kick Chelsea into action and Khedira began to make up for the loss of Busquets with his fine running. By half time they’d halved the deficit with a well taken Aguero goal. The second half saw the complexion of the game change. In the 63rd minutes Bonucci made a sublime pass that split Brighton’s high line, Mbappe on to it and 1 v 1 with Cech, the keeper came rushing out and brought him down, only to be shown a red card and a free kick awarded. Neymar duly curled the free kick beyond Angus Gunn. 2-2 and a man down but Brighton didn’t change their attitude, however with 10 men they really struggled to keep their energy levels up and in the last 20 minutes the introduction of Callejon and Jesus gave Chelsea the win.

Chelsea 4-2 Brighton
Chelsea Scorers: Aguero(Mbappe) 41, Neymar(FK) 65, G.Jesus(Callejon) 76, Griezmann(Khedira) 84
Brighton Scorers: Gameiro(Payet) 4, Kondogbia(Payet) 28
MOTM: Sami Khedira
Red Card: Petr Cech 63