INNOCENT POSSUM'S PICKS:

Hey everyone,
Its been a few weeks in now so going to try to go for 1X2 and pick from form. Obviously, some teams are hard to gauge still and some teams can spin on a dime form-wise. But hopefully all the teams picked keep their run going and the teams they oppose don't have a worldy outing.

MY PICKS:

NO.	FIXTURE:	COMPETITION:	WIN:
1.	BLACKBURN Vs. Nottingham Forest	Championship	@1.95
2.	IPSWICH Vs. Accrington Stanley	League One	@1.70
3.	PETERBOROUGH Vs. Oxford	League One	@1.95
4.	Rochdale Vs. HULL	League One	@1.85
5.	FOREST GREEN Vs. Stevenage	League Two	@1.70
TOTAL:	5-Fold	1-5	@20.33
6.	SWANSEA Vs. Huddersfield	Championship	@1.95
7.	Swindon Vs. SUNDERLAND	League One	@1.90
8.	HARROGATE Vs. Barrow	League Two	@2.00
9.	Southend Vs. CHELTENHAM	League Two	@1.65
10.	Ross County Vs. HIBERNIAN	Scottish Premier League	@1.90
TOTAL:	5-Fold	6-10	@23.45
TOTAL:	10-Fold	1-10	@476.80

. BTTS:

• Barnsley Vs Bristol @1.72
• Fleetwood Vs Lincoln @1.80
• Charlton Vs Wigan @1.70
• Plymouth Vs Northampton @1.66
• Portsmouth Vs Doncaster @1.75
• Bolton Vs Oldham @1.66
• Crawley Vs Morecambe @1.66
• Eastleigh Vs Aldershot @1.66
• Total Odds: @71.37

.

MY REASONING:

BLACKBURN VS. NOTTIGNHAM:
BLACKBURN:
Position: 6th Overall Record: 2-1-1 They are in good form starting off. Lost to a league favourite, Bournemouth 3-2, but smashed Wycombe and Derby 5-0 and 4-0. Drew against Cardiff last week, unable to capitalize against 10 Men but the wet conditions played a part. I feel they are playing positively and scoring a lot to give Forest trouble.
.
NOTTINGHAM:
Position: 22nd (23rd without Wednesday's Point deduction) Overall Record: 0-0-4 Have started very poorly, are a bit of a mess. Lost to QPR, Cardiff and Bristol City Even lost to Huddersfield who are terrible at scoring goals. Have only scored once but let in 7.
.
IPSWICH VS. ACCRINGTON:
IPSWICH:
Position: 1st Overall Record: 4-1-0 They are in good form starting off. Drew with MK Dons but got results against the rest that they have played. Admittedly not played anyone top-tier but did beat Wigan who were tipped to do well in the league.
.
ACCRINGTON:
Position: 6th Overall Record: 3-0-2 Started well also. Lost to an out of form Oxford and 23rd place Burton Did beat Peterborough but that was the first game of their season. Are sitting even with an 8 for, 8 against, +0 Goal Difference.
.
PETERBOROUGH VS. OXFORD:
PETERBOROUGH:
Position: 5th Overall Record: 3-0-2 They are in good form starting off. Lost to Accrington week one and had a loss against Sunderland Did beat Fleetwood and have a positive Goal Difference
.
OXFORD:
Position: 21st Overall Record: 1-0-3 Oxford have started very poorly to what's expected They have beaten Accrington out of the blue but lost the rest Their other fixtures were against teams doing well but on paper are worse teams than Oxford. They have a -3 Goal Difference
.
ROCHDALE VS HULL:
ROCHDALE:
Position: 18th Overall Record: 1-1-3 They are not a team expected to do too well They lost to newly promoted Swindon Have a -4 Goal Difference letting in 8 goals in 5 games.
.
HULL:
Position: 3rd Overall Record: 4-0-1 Hull have started extremely strongly Got beat by Fleetwood out of the blue but beat the likes of Gillingham and Portsmouth The lost last week is hopefully a chance to reset against a much weaker opponent this week.
.
FOREST GREEN VS STEVENAGE:
FOREST GREEN:
Position: 6th Overall Record: 1-3-1 They are undefeated currently Got draws against Salford and Walsall who are league favourites Their Goal Difference is looking strong at +4, conceding only 4 in 5.
.
STEVENAGE:
Position: 15th Overall Record: 1-2-2 Were not very good last season. This season lost to Bradford and drew with Barrow and Mansfield Their only win was against bottom of the table Oldham. They are yet to face anyone particularly good and still only have 5 points in 5 games.
.

MY BETS:

• £17.50 on 5-Fold of WINS 1-5 @20.33 returns £355.78
• £5.00 on 5-Fold of WINS 6-10 @23.45 returns £117.25
• £2.50 on 10-Fold of WINS 1-10 @476.80 returns *£1192.00
• £5.00 on 8-Fold of BTTS @71.37 returns £356.85

.

• TOTAL STAKE: £30.00

.
You do not have to back my picks the same way I do, back singles if you like, I just find accumulators more fun!

BEST OF LUCK IF YOU FOLLOW!
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Liverpool FC vs. Manchester City F.C.
Competition : Champions League – Quarterfinal – Leg 1
Venue: Anfield, Liverpool UK
Date: Wednesday, 4 April
Kick-off : 19:45 BST | 20:45 CET | 14:45 Central USA
Referee : Felix Brych
Assistants : Mark Borsch, Stefan Lupp
Fourth official : Markus Häcker
Liverpool FC
Manager: Jürgen Klopp
Line Up - Ederson, Walker, Kompany (C), Otamendi, Laporte, Fernandinho, Silva, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Sane, Jesus
Substitutes - Bravo, Danilo, Stones, Sterling, Delph, Bernardo, Zinchenko
Sidelined – Matip (thigh), Gomez (ankle), Lallana (hamstring), Klavan (knock), Woodburn (knock), Brewster (knee)
Form Guide -
All competitions - W D L W W
Champions League – W D W W D
Pre-Match Press Conference Statements
“ We want to go as far as possible in the competition, so we have to face the best teams in the world. City's confidence is probably at an outstandingly high level, but we're in a good moment as well. I like difficult tasks, I like difficult jobs. For a manager it's the most interesting – what to do and how to prepare your boys as best as possible. It's a big opportunity and we'll try everything to win.“

• Jürgen Klopp*

Manchester City F.C.
Manager: Pep Guardiola
Line Up – Karius, Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson, Miller, Henderson, Oxlaide-Chamberlain, Mane, Salah, Firmino
Substitutes - Mignolet, Clyne, Wijnaldum, Moreno, Ings, Solanke, Masterson
Sidelined – Mendy (knee), Agüero (knee)
Form Guide
All competitions - W W L W W
Champions League - W W L W L
Pre-Match Press Conference Statements
"Everyone's talking about how tough Liverpool will be, but it would be the same for Barcelona, Bayern or Sevilla. In the quarter-finals, you have to expect your opponents to be one of the toughest teams in the world. The way we play is perfect for Liverpool. Of course we will try to do something [to stop them], but I feel the best way to win is to play how we've been doing as a group all season."
Pep Guardiola
HEAD-TO-HEAD

• The clubs have never met in UEFA competition
  
• Liverpool have the upper hand domestically: W87 D46 L45
  

ODDS

Book	Liverpool	DRAW	Man City
William Hill	3.00	3.50	2.40
Bet 365	3.00	2.60	2.40
Bwin	2.90	3.60	2.35
Tipico	2.90	3.50	2.40

Payout odds in multiples of 1, i.e. odds of 2.60 means a total payout of €2.60 if you place a winning bet of €1.
Odds at 11:00 GMT. Just a look at how the bookies rate this game, and not an endorsement for betting/gambling.
MATCH FACTS
Liverpool

• Jordan Henderson and Alberto Moreno are a booking away from a ban.
  
• Liverpool have failed to score in only two of their last 19 matches in all competitions, winning 2-1 at Crystal Palace FC on Saturday.
  
• Liverpool have lost only one of their 23 games at Anfield in all competitions this season (W14 D8), although they have won only three of the last six (D2 L1). They have scored in all but three of those 23 fixtures.
  
• The Reds have won seven of their last 12 matches in all competitions, losing three.
  
• Liverpool's 2-0 win against Newcastle United FC on 3 March was their first clean sheet in their last seven home games; they subsequently kept clean sheets in the next two.
  
• Mohamed Salah has scored 16 goals in his last 14 appearances for Liverpool, including the late winner at Palace at the weekend. The Egyptian has 29 Premier League goals in 31 appearances this season.
  
• Nathaniel Clyne has not played for the first team this season due to a back injury – although he has been added to Liverpool's UEFA Champions League squad and was an unused substitute at Palace.
  
• Joe Gomez had to be replaced early in England's 1-0 victory away to the Netherlands on 23 March with an ankle problem. Emre Can has been sidelined since 17 March with a back injury.
  
• Salah was on target in Egypt's 2-1 defeat by Portugal on 23 March; new Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk scored in a 3-0 victory against the Portuguese three days later.
  
• Dominic Solanke recovered from a toe injury to score a late winner for England Under-21s against Ukraine on 27 March.
  

Manchester City

• Danilo, İlkay Gündoğan and Fernandinho will incur a suspension with their next yellow cards.
  
• City have won all but four of their 31 Premier League games this season. They have lost just one of their last 39 league fixtures, winning 33 and drawing five. They were 3-1 winners at Everton FC on Saturday and will be crowned champions if they beat Manchester United at home on 7 April.
  
• Josep Guardiola's side have won their last three away games in all competitions, and four of the last five – keeping clean sheets in but one of all those victories. Their overall record away from home this season is W19 D3 L3 with 12 clean sheets.
  
• City have scored 58 goals away from home, conceding 20. Only Crystal Palace FC, in the Premier League on 31 December (0-0), and third tier Wigan Athletic FC in the last 16 of the FA Cup on 19 February (0-1) have stopped them scoring.
  
• Sergio Agüero has 15 goals in 15 games in all competitions in 2018, and needs one more to become the first player to score 200 for City. His four-goal haul against Leicester City FC on 10 February was the third time he has managed four in a Premier League match; no other player can match that.
  
• Raheem Sterling has 16 Premier League goals this season – seven more than his previous best total of nine, with Liverpool in 2013/14.
  
• City claimed the first silverware of the English domestic season with a 3-0 victory against Arsenal in the League Cup final at Wembley on 25 February, thanks to goals from Agüero, Vincent Kompany and David Silva. It is the fifth time the Citizens have won the competition.
  
• Gabriel Jesus scored the only goal as Brazil beat Germany on 27 March. The same day, Kevin De Bruyne found the net as Belgium beat Saudi Arabia 4-0 – his first goal in 20 internationals, since May 2016 – and Nicolás Otamendi was on target for Argentina, although they lost 6-1 to Spain in Madrid.
  
• Kyle Walker, Sterling and John Stones were in the England team that beat a Netherlands side captained by Virgil van Dijk and also featuring Georginio Wijnaldum 1-0 in Amsterdam on 23 March. The same day, Bernardo Silva started for Portugal in a 2-1 win against Mohamed Salah's Egypt.
  
• Benjamin Mendy has not played since a cruciate knee injury on 23 September. Fabian Delph suffered a muscle injury on 5 March and has not featured since; Agüero has been out since 10 March with a knee problem picked up in training while Stones missed the Everton game with concussion.
  
• De Bruyne was included in the UEFA.com Fans' Team of the Year 2017. The Belgian handed over a cheque from for €100,000 to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) before the second leg against Basel.
  

Will be updated as more information emerges

The Reds will be top of the league on New Years Day

Liverpool 4 - 0 Newcastle

Player Ratings

Player	WS	SofaScore	TAW	This is Anfield	Liverpool Echo	Average	Notes
Alisson	7.2	7.5	10.0	7.0	7.0	7.7
Alexander-Arnold	8.2	8.2	10.0	7.5	7.0	8.2
Lovren	8.5	8.1	10.0	8.0	8.0	8.5
van Dijk	7.8	7.5	10.0	7.0	7.0	7.9
Robertson	6.6	7.0	10.0	8.5	8.0	8.0	82' sub off
Wijnaldum	6.7	6.7	10.0	7.0	6.0	7.3	62' sub off
Henderson	6.9	6.8	10.0	8.0	8.0	7.9
Shaqiri	8.0	8.3	10.0	7.0	7.0	8.1
Firmino	6.7	6.6	10.0	6.0	7.0	7.3	69' sub off
Mané	7.2	7.2	10.0	6.5	7.0	7.6
Salah	8.1	8.1	10.0	8.0	8.0	8.4
Starting XI avg	7.4	7.5	10.0	7.3	7.3	7.9
Fabinho	7.4	7.3	10.0	7.5	7.0	7.8	62' sub on
Sturridge	6.6	6.7	10.0	7.0	7.0	7.5	69' sub on
Clyne	6.4	6.6	10.0	-	-	7.7	82' sub on​

Degsy Lovren, best defender in the world right? What a finish from the big man. Virgil who? Salah is also mustard, and with nobody getting below a 7 it's a good day all round for the Reds.

Links
Post Match Thread - credit hotwhovian
Match Thread - credit gurple98
Pre-Match Thread - credit _cumblast_

Title Race

Pos	Team	GP	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Liverpool	19	16	3	0	43	7	36	51
2	Tottenham Hotspur	19	15	0	4	42	18	24	45
3	Manchester City	19	14	2	3	51	15	36	44
4	Chelsea	19	12	4	3	37	16	21	40
5	Arsenal	19	11	5	3	41	25	16	38
6	Manchester United	19	9	5	5	37	31	6	32

City are a bit shite aren't they? Down to third now, Chelsea breathing down their necks, closer to Arsenal as to us... bet Pep is shaking a bit. Spurs are now our closest competition, but they're still a full 6 points behind us, and with a +12 goal difference that might as well be 7. Win against Arsenal and City in the next two games and... who knows?
On to the comparisons. The chart below displays the cumulative points totals over the games so far:
https://i.imgur.com/24D27FX.png
And we just keep going. It's mad looking at that straight line from us and City, it's just been a constant drive onward.
The next graph is for goals scored:
https://i.imgur.com/a3qguS5.png
Now we're getting back to business. If we keep scoring goals at this rate we'll be very pretty indeed.
The final graph is goals conceded:
https://i.imgur.com/t9sLUGp.png
And of course the defence is still absolutely mint. Best in Europe now yaknow? Mad that.
The spreadsheet I'm working from is below:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1D7aM5g9Pqhnt2y58BdFUc4xTp3epreMhKMlpEVgQOdY/edit?usp=sharing

Goals Analysis

Lovren 11' (1-0)	https://streamja.com/1Klk
https://i.imgur.com/erXzmKt.png	This is an odd set piece from us. Usually we'll stick the CBs in the penalty spot area and try to whip the ball in there. With this one though we go short to Robertson who then whips it in. This gives time for the big lads to get a run on the ball.
https://i.imgur.com/s966tgR.png	As you can see here the intent is for Virgil to run near post and Lovren to run back post, essentially to cause as much chaos as possible.
https://i.imgur.com/q36bi7E.png	However, Robertson's ball is overhit. What's clever from Lovren is how he sees this and stops. He knows no Newcastle player has picked him up and he is in acres of space.
https://i.imgur.com/s1z0YkS.png	But we do get lucky. This is an appalling header. The absolute last thing he can do is head it back into the danger area where there are - count them - five unmarked Liverpool players. Yet, he does, and Lovren is there to absolutely smash it home. What a guy.

Salah 48' (2-0)	https://streamja.com/1KXk
https://i.imgur.com/NGeUXoo.png	Not much to say at penalties but let's look at the decision. To start with, Dummett puts two hands on Salah's left arm. That tells Salah that he's got a defender who's worried about fouling him nearby.
https://i.imgur.com/EFxG37f.png	Dummett then continues his run behind Salah but crucially leaves his left hand grasping Salah's arm. I don't think that this is a pull or a grab, I think he's actually just left his hand there, but potentially it puts Salah off balance.
https://i.imgur.com/PXi62uj.png	But this is what buys the penalty. Salah starts to fall backwards, it doesn't look great, but crucially Dummett's hand is still on Salah's arm. All the ref can see in real time is a hand on the arm and Salah going down as if he's been pulled. It is a foul - Dummett makes no attempt to get the ball - but Salah has been smart to play it like he has.

Shaqiri 79' (3-0)	https://streamable.com/6ixhl
https://i.imgur.com/MQFGc65.png	This goal has some lovely play but I want to concentrate on Shaqiri's relentless effort. First the ball goes out wide to Trent. Shaqiri has already pointed where he wants that ball whipped in (Sturridge has decided to stand 5 yards offside for some reason).
https://i.imgur.com/JR4AARO.png	Trent has to take a touch but Shaqiri keeps with it, trying to get to the near post to beat the ball to the keeper.
https://i.imgur.com/tHHc0ie.png	The ball gets deflected to the back post and Mané - but Shaqiri has reacted. He's already turned and trying to get his way back to the center of the goal because he knows he could score.
https://i.imgur.com/QIr3Afs.png	The ball does eventually get cleared wide but as it falls to Robertson Shaqiri again sees an opportunity to score. He makes a dart to the near post to meet a cross.
https://i.imgur.com/5xBAB3U.png	Cleared again, but this time only to Sturridge who can lay it back for Henderson to play a lovely first time pass to Trent.
https://i.imgur.com/C3v2z8Q.png	And now Shaqiri gets his reward. He's the closest man to the ball when Trent plays it through that lovely Corridor of Uncertainty we (and I) love so much. This goal came because he always stayed alive, always looking for a chance to get a goal.

Fabinho 85' (4-0)	https://streamable.com/nza89
https://i.imgur.com/OoSMQmi.png	And then this goal happens. Just to prove my point from early - Lovren and Van Dijk hanging around the penalty spot. Salah's corner is whipped in to the near post.
https://i.imgur.com/QlpcEok.png	Newcastle's defending is appalling though. You have a man on the post that lets Fabinho get a yard free. Lovren's marker lets him run free. A free man who doesn't really even try to get a head on the ball. Just bad all round.

Thoughts

• Line Up

I was surprised at how strong Klopp set us up with two massive games on the horizon, but the result really paid it off. He restored Shaqiri to the front three in a bit of a free role, and partnered Henderson with Wijnaldum in midfield. In defence, a welcome return of Trent after a bit of an injury crisis.

• Arsenal

I was expecting more rotation for Newcastle, which makes me wonder what Klopp will do with this one. That being said we're essentially in a CL run playing Wednesday/Saturday/Thursday and Wolves on Monday gives us a break and an opportunity to rotate. So I'm expecting Klopp to go strong again and really keep this form going.
Alisson; Trent, Lovren, van Dijk, Robertson; Wijnaldum, Fabinho, Keita; Salah, Firmino, Mané
I've put this down as a 4-3-3 but it as likely to be the 4-2-3-1/4-2-2-2 we've seen in the bigger games recently. I've put in Wijnaldum instead of Henderson simply because Wijnaldum was substituted but Henderson wasn't. Then, we have Keita in the "free" role in midfield, in a game I really think he could (and should) play well in.

Our next fixture is against Arsenal in the Premier League. The match kicks off on the 29th of December at 17:30PM(GMT)/12:30PM(ET).

Hey guys, Well, it’s official: GW27 was the worst. With an average of just 35 there weren’t many positives to find at all. Most captaincy options blanked, some template players weren’t in the Starting XI, just 3 cleansheet games total and now we’ve got an injury epidemic on our hands. But the best time to have a shit gameweek is when everyone has a shit gameweek, so let’s just put GW27 behind us and start looking towards GW28 turning it all around for us! Last week I posted an FA Cup special diving into the FH31 and FH32 strategies and what teams work well with each. We’re are all bored to death with strategies chat, so this will be a short post looking at the next 4 fixtures to see what players we should be keeping an eye on and what teams we should be investing in as well as what to do with all these bloody injuries!
Here’s my team for this week. A small red arrow to 4.1k OR, which is much better than I thought it would be! This week felt a lot like last week, but just without Salah and Pogba holding the points total up. Lacazette scoring a goal again this week is a nice reminder that rechecking stats on players you’ve previously written off is always a good idea. I took a hit to take out TAA + Hazard for Lejeune + Mane which worked out well considering they both actually played. All in all my team’s shaping up nicely to get through GW31 unscathed.
I also wanted to remind you guys that I’ll be doing my first ever Monday After Stream tomorrow at 6:45pm GMT! I’ll be doing some RMTs, checking stats, going over some finer points of this post and having a bit of a laugh. Here’s the link to my YouTube Channel if you’re interested!
Here’s some useful links that help me write-up these TMA posts:
Premier League Fixtures – A great way to line up the fixtures for the specific gameweeks you want to see. Orders the teams from best fixtures to worst.
Player Analysis by Performance – Amazing tool that compares every player based on Shooting, Creativity and Attacking involvement. Options for looking at any combination of teams too.
Player stats per Game – Great for looking at team stats per player for Offensive and Defensive plays. Also shows heat maps!
Teams To Look At
Leicester - Okay so they got beat by Palace. It was quite an awful performance. I feel particularly bad for managers who brought in Pereira (5.4) for his decent fixture run especially if he replaced the notorious Digne (5.3). However as you’ve all heard, they’ve sacked Claude Puel and will be looking for an interim replacement. If they get the right manager, the Foxes could well hit another New Manager Bounce and start scoring similar to when Ranieri was replaced last February, or they could continue being rather poor and disappoint every manager looking to bring their players in. Either way, they have the best fixtures in the next 4 games out of every team, so we can’t exactly ignore them. A lot of managers are asking about Vardy (8.8) and whether he’ll rise to the occasion. His stats aren’t much to look at from the last 5 games, but considering they’ve had to play WOL, LIV, MUN and TOT, nobody’s stats from Leicester look any good. So let’s look at the positives. Vardy is on penalties and should be playing with Leicester’s best Midfield behind him. They can’t afford to mess about anymore and will most likely play their best starting XI. That means Maddison (6.6) is also less risky despite his managed minutes, as well as Barnes (5.5) who was their best asset against Palace this week. With plenty of choices, and plenty of decent games, I wouldn’t be surprised if GW27 was the kick up the arse these lads needed to start flying. If you had Leicester in your plans, I’d stick to your guns on this one.
Newcastle - The Magpies looked really good against Huddersfield. Rondon (5.8) stole the show, Almiron (6.0) had a great debut and the defenders easily kept their cleansheet. Now we know that Huddersfield are diabolical and any team should be beating them comfortably, but Newcastle can only play who’s in front of them, and they managed to keep their heads, play n effective, defensive game, get ahead and stay ahead. They have so many options at the back, with Lascelles (4.6), Yedlin (4.5), Schar (4.7) and Lejeune (4.4) all playing 90 minutes most games (Reminder that Schar has 8 yellow cards and is two away from suspension). There is a slight risk of changing from 5 at the back, but considering they haven’t played another defensive formation since GW20, I’d say you’re good to go. They don’t have the worst or best fixtures on paper, but Rafa is known for his fortress style of play and I wouldn’t say any of BUR, WHU, EVE, or BOU are the best at breaking down a solid defence. Now with Rondon gaining form and new signing Almiron showing his goods, there’s even more options here. I’d definitely keep my eye on their attacking assets in the next game. Here’s hoping they can continue this form!
Arsenal - I’ve only added Arsenal in the ‘Teams to Look At’ section because there are a lot of managers transferring Gunners players out of their teams. Whether it be frustration, or lack of decent fixtures before the blank, I think you should reconsider for just one more game. Aubameyang (11.1) was rested this weekend so he’ll most likely play against Bournemouth, who’ve been absolutely hopeless away from home and have a bit of an injury crisis on the go. With Steve Cook (4.4) still out and losing Lerma (4.5) to suspension, Arsenal should confidently smash the shit out of them, with Auba leading the way. We also have Lacazette (9.5) consistently returning and Mkhitaryan (6.7) coming back into the squad in recent weeks, so Arsenal are looking hard to bet against right now. Consider holding until we need to find replacements before TOT and MUN games.
Teams To Be Wary Of
Man City – Regardless of what GW you’re using your chips in, City players have continued to punish anyone who hasn’t owned them in recent weeks, and before the Final against Chelsea we figured they’d probably continue to do so. However with some key injuries, Aguero (11.6) and Sterling (11.3) playing 120 minutes and just 2 days rest before their Home game against WHU, that rotation risk is slowly creeping back in. There’s been some analysis on past incidents similar to this, but it’s hard to compare now with Laporte (6.0) and Fernandinho (5.3) out of action until at least GW30. Let’s look at the facts. Aguero hasn’t been rested in the EPL since GW22. The shortest days rest he’s had in that time was the double gameweek where he played 80 mins and 79 mins. He then played 65 mins against Chelsea just 4 days later. In his last two games Aguero played 60 mins against Schalke and 120 mins against CHE, with even less rest time before West Ham in GW28. We know Jesus has had a injury, and he may be fit in time for playing the Hammers, but we won’t know for sure until the team is announced on Wednesday. We also have to keep in mind that City play BOU on Saturday just 4 days later. So will Aguero start? Nobody knows. I wouldn’t be surprised if he only plays 2 of next 3 games, though. If you’re looking to do some hokey cokey with him before his blank in GW31, he is more of a risky choice right now than he has been since his injury. Might be worth waiting for the pressers on this one. As for Sterling, he’s an even bigger risk because he doesn’t have an injured counterpart like Aguero does. Mahrez (8.2), Sane (9.5), and Silva (8.5) can all play in place of Sterling and they’re all fit and raring to go. I feel like every week we mention Pep Roulette, but this isn’t your standard week! This is closer games and more minutes played. I’m not saying that transferring City players in for their 3 decent fixtures is a bad move, but it is a lot riskier than usual. If you’ve kept City assets through the blank, then good luck! I hope they start. No point in turning back now.
I also had a quick look at their defensive assets, and it’s just as inconsistent as the attackers, I’m afraid. Stones (5.2) could be available and has played in Fernandinho’s place before. Otamendi (6.0) might get a start at the back, or Kompany (5.2) depending on how Pep’s feeling on the day. Using a transfer here just seems like a waste unless it’s Ederson (5.6), the only nailed “defender”. But do you want to invest in their keeper knowing their best defender is out?
Watford - There are a lot of chat about bringing in some cheap Watford assets after their 5-1 win against Cardiff, but I think we chill out a bit and think it through. The Hornets blank in GW31 and have LIV, LEI and MCI before that. In fact 5 out of the 11 games left in the season they play will be against a Top 6 side. We all knew Deulofeu (5.5) had this performance in him, but will he be able to replicate it in the next few fixtures? Is it worth a free transfer during a time when we need them the most for our Chip Strategies, or injuries? I’m not too sure. Considering they both blank and have poor fixtures, I don’t think anyone should be giving in to the hattrick fever.
Plans And Strategies
Injuries and Value – There were quite a few injuries in GW27. Man United may have lost Rashford, Lingard and Mata, Liverpool are assessing Robertson and Firmino, and Laporte is out for a good while. If we have any of these players, should we be taking hits to replace them? Our free transfers seem so precious in the lead up to the crucial blank and double gameweeks, and it’s hard enough getting ready for them never mind dealing with unforeseen injuries. There are two ways we can deal with the problem: Benching the injured players, or transferring them out and losing value if we want them back. So first things first, if you aren’t planning on bringing any of these players back into your squad, then I think it’s an easy choice to get rid. Taking a hit for an injured player costs less and less the more that player doesn’t play, and in these cases, hits aren’t something to be scared of. However! We should definitely be waiting to hear the pressers before making such big decisions. Even benching the injured player for one GW might be worth it due to information you can get from a Starting XI announcement and manager interviews.
A lot of the injured players are going to be blanking, and you’ll have probably already made your mind up with who you want to keep in your team and who you’re getting rid of for GW31. So if you were already considering leaving, for example, Rashford (7.8) on your bench for the blank gameweek, then there’s no reason he can’t sit on your bench now. The whole point in having 15 players is in case this happens! You might lose some value on him over the next few weeks, but if you want him for the doubles, you’re actually not losing anything at all because you’ll have to bring him back in if you transfer him out for probably more than you paid in the first place. The decisions are always a bit easier if you don’t have money tied to a player. In that case you could easily transfer out the injured player and bring them back when needed, but as each of our free transfers are worth more right now than they have been throughout the season, it might be worth having a look at your bench to see if you’re able to survive a few weeks without them. At this point in time, though, none of these players are confirmed injured, so don’t be hasty in your transfers and get screwed when Rashford is cleared fit for Crystal Palace.
And that’s a wrap! Hopefully you’re well on your way to getting ready for the Blank and Double GWs, and this post gives you some food for thought in the lead up to GW28. Remember, it’s midweek games, so get your team sorted before the deadline tomorrow! Thanks very much for reading, I really appreciate the good feedback I’ve been getting recently. I’ll be posting again on Thursday for another Monday After special. Cheers!

Part 1 here - Part 2 here

13. Brentford by Johnsitton (plus thoughts from s0ngsforthedeaf)

Manager: Dean Smith until October then replaced by Thomas Frank
Hopes/predictions at the beginning of the season?:
I’ll be honest I had us as favourites to make playoffs and dark horses to go up automatically. Of course, it was difficult to predict as I didn’t know how the three relegated sides would do.
Mini season review - how has it gone so far?: In short: Good – Very Bad – Good – Okay
First 7 games were good with great performances. We were around the top 2 for most of that time and betting favourites to win the league at one point. Slowly started to lose steam and were winless in our last 6 when Dean Smith left us for Aston Villa in October.
Thomas Frank, Dean Smith’s assistant, took over and basically continued with the exact same system that was already in place. He had an unfortunate start, with the death of our very young technical director Robert Rowan clearly affecting the whole club from the staff down to most of the players, who had a good relationship with him. A few key injuries on top of that as well didn’t do him any favours.
He was dangerously close to getting sacked when we picked up only 4 out of 30 possible points in his first 10 matches in charge, which saw us drop down to 19th (3 points above the relegation zone). He then made some big tactical and personal changes and turned it around in late December with a hugely needed home win against Bolton that kickstarted a 10-match unbeaten run with mostly great performances.
With Derby and Bristol City dropping points we started to catch up to the playoff places which seemed impossible in December but still were never really able to gain the full momentum necessary for a playoff charge due to away defeats to teams we would easily have beaten at home (Nott. Forest, Sheff. Wed.) and consecutive losses to Sheffield United (A.) and West Brom (H.) in March.
Best/most used starting 11 and tactics:
Started the season with Dean Smith’s 4-1-2-3 (Transfermarkt has it as a 4-1-4-1 but I don’t like the sound of that) with McEachran as holding midfielder behind Sawyers and MacLeod. This worked well initially but with our fullbacks usually pushing up high and McEachran’s defensive weakness (he is not a natural holding midfielder and struggled off the ball) we were starting to get exposed on the counter attack with our centre backs left isolated too often. We were still moving the ball well and dominated possession though.
We continued playing with this system and only minor personal changes. On top of that we really (and this can’t be understated) struggled at clearing the ball out of our box. There would be at least 5-10 minutes in every match with just calamitous defending against set pieces or crosses from open play which cost us at least one goal every game even if we dominated for the rest of the match.
Once we hit rock bottom in December and Thomas Frank was close to getting the sack, he switched to 3 at the back in a decisive match at home against Bolton. We barely won and kept the new formation since then. It’s a 3-4-3 with 3 centre halves and two central midfielders in Sawyers and Mokotjo.
This allows our wingbacks a lot more freedom to go forward with the double pivot creating from deep and dictating play while at the same time maintaining defensive solidity. The line-up shows our best 11. Unfortunately, Henry is out injured and has been replaced by Odubajo, who is alright but sometimes seems to slow our attack down a little bit by losing possession too often. We also have Sergi Canos who really shouldn’t be sitting on the bench in the Championship as he is absolute quality on both wings and started to fill in for Dalsgaard as right wingback and did a fantastic job there.
u/s0ngsforthedeaf: yeah, the switch to 343 was really crucial and basically the tactical story of the season. Despite previously being considered a 'possession' or 'progressive' team (true), the 4123 began to falter under Frank (Smith wouldve encountered problems had he stayed Im sure). The problem was the midfield 3 simply not doing enough, with McCaechran, as nice technique as he has, not really being an expansive enough playmaker, and having zero physical presence. Teams were soaking up pressure and countering effectively. So while 343 is nominally more 'defensive'...as soon as it was on the pitch it made sense. The star front 3 can to attack. The fullbacks can roam upfield freely. Sawyers is just better in a midfield 2, he has space to play with and there is less focus on the possession game. The one weakness is depth and experience at centreback, which isnt helped by squad turnover. But the new players will be up for it next season.
Best/worst/memorable moments:
This is a difficult one as we had many absolute top performances this season and some horrendous ones as well.
Personally, I’d say the best moment was either coming back an early 0-2 against Blackburn to win 5-2 or Maupay scoring a deserved late winner against Dean Smith’s Aston Villa in February. Honourable mentions go to our opening match against Rotherham (5-2 win) which was probably the most optimistic I’ve ever seen Griffin Park and beating Middlesbrough away (which we haven’t done since 1938).
Worst moment was definitely the 2-0 defeat away to Hull in December which was Thomas Frank’s 10th game in charge and his 8th defeat. Horrendous defensive performance conceding an early goal which allowed them to sit back and watch us do nothing for 90 minutes.
u/s0ngsforthedeaf: Beating Hull 5-1 was very satisfying, because the front 3 showed what they could do with some accuracy!
Remaining fixtures and expectations - nervous?:
Wigan (A), Swansea (A), Derby (H), Ipswich (H), Reading (A), Millwall (A), Leeds (H), Bolton (A), Preston (H)
Not nervous at all because there’s not really anything to lose here. We are 8 points off playoffs with a game in hand. All but one of our remaining away matches are against teams fighting relegation and with our away record I don’t necessarily see us beating all of them (even though we have the quality to do so).
At home we can beat anyone so ideally, we will pick up maybe 20 points out of our last 9 matches. It will probably be closer to 15 or fewer in reality but if we play at 100% of what we’re capable of then who knows. Thing is we have a lot of teams ahead of us which makes it difficult for us to overtake them all.
Give us about a 10% chance max. of making playoffs. (*Edit - we lost to Swansea midweek...yeah, its over)
If you get promoted/survive relegation you will..[and if you don't you will]:
If we somehow make playoffs, we’d be on such a terrific run that I’d actually give us a chance of winning especially if we play Sheffield United who have a similarly bad record at playoffs. About 1% chance of us going up this season.
Finishing position prediction: League prediction is almost impossible with how close it is from 6th to 15th. Reckon in the top half of the table around 10th.
Rival watch and league prediction:
Our two games against QPR sum up both of our seasons perfectly. In November they beat us because we were shit and they were good and in February we beat them because they were shit and we were good. Funny to see how they somehow managed to go on an even worse run of form than we did and are now below us in the table.

14. Swansea City by Lerkot

Manager: Graham Potter
Hopes/predictions at the beginning of the season?: People sort of expected the club to give new manager Graham Potter a bit of money to rebuild the team last summer. However, the summer went by and not much happened, and when the transfer window closed most of us agreed that a mid-table finish would be fine as long as we developed our squad and our young players.
Mini season review - how has it gone so far?: A lot of up and downs. We are mid-table as expected but we have played some very nice football and a lot of our youngsters have proven to be better than we could hope for, while other players have shown that maybe they should have gotten more opportunities in the Premier League. The team seems very harmonic, we have one of the youngest squads in the English league system and seem very humble and hungy and we have one of the best coaches in England.
Outside of the pitch the club is in chaos. We have a very strained relationship to the owners.
While most of us love the current set of players, it is obvious that we are very thin in some positions and the disappointing January transfer window was not worthy of a reasonably big club like Swansea. Kicking the chairman, almost giving away one of our best players to Leeds, letting all of our staff know that they might be fired in the summer, an economical loss of £65m... we have a lot of issues. Any other manager choice, and we could very well have been the new Sunderland. So far it has been a season showing us that the future is both bright and worrying. Players like Connor Roberts, Joe Rodon and Daniel James have gone from being absolutely nothing to playing international football.
Best/most used starting 11 and tactics: MuldeNordfeldt - Roberts, Rodon, Van der Hoorn, Naughton - Grimes, Fer - James, Celina, Routledge - McBurnie We have played different tactics and used a lot of players but this is probably our strongest lineup not counting Martin Olsson who got injured in December and will miss the rest of the season.
Remaining fixtures and expectations - nervous?: No, our season is more or less dead. We are very unlikely to reach the playoffs and wont get relegated. I expect good football and hopefully we could climb a few positions and that our players keep developing.
If you get promoted/survive relegation you will..[and if you don't you will]: The harsh reality is that we will stay in the Championship and since our owners won't invest in the club, we need to sell our best players and invest very litry little. Our very young and very talented team will likely be torn into pieces. It will be a summer of fear rather than hope.
Rival watch and league prediction: We are looking forward to the derby.

15. Stoke City by SekZBoiAlex1986

Manager: Gary Rowett was sacked in December, after that Nathan Jones
Hopes/predictions at the beginning of the season?: Automatic promotion. With our Premier League team in tact (minus Shaqiri and Ndiaye), the biggest wage bill in the league and over £40m spent in the summer on transfers I don’t think it’s arrogant to say that we had high expectations. We were bookies favourites for a reason.
Mini season review - how has it gone so far?: Well we’re not going to get relegated, so it’s not a total disaster, but this season has been incredibly disappointing. We’ve not clicked at any point. Even during a ten game unbeaten run under Gary Rowett we only won four games.
Best/most used starting 11 and tactics: I’m not sure where to start here. Our starting line up has been changing all season. Only Jack Butland and Joe Allen have played in every league game.
Neither manager has wanted to play with two strikers, but with so little pace (of passing or movement) in midfield we’ve never been able to dominate games even with an extra man in the middle.
We are totally risk averse and will pass sideways or backwards for eternity rather than attempt a dangerous ball forward (with the exception of Charlie Adam). However we looked different in our last game at home to Sheffield Wednesday. So maybe it’s a sign of things to come.
Best/worst/memorable moments: Best - Beating Derby 2-1 after going down to ten men in the first half
Worst - 0-3 down at home to Wigan in August with Nick Powell looking like Maradona. Absolutely embarrassing. Even this early into the season we started to realise that things weren’t going to plan.
Memorable - 0-2 at home to Bristol City on New Year’s Day. Very toxic atmosphere as Rowett lost the majority of the Stoke fans.
Key stat: We have the fourth best defence and third worst attack in terms of goals scored / conceded. This sums up our problem this season, especially under Rowett. We’ve had very attacking intent resulting in few goals.
Remaining fixtures and expectations - nervous?: Blackburn (A), Swansea (A), Rotherham (H), Middlesbrough (A), Norwich (H), Millwall (A) and Sheff Utd (H)
Considering that we’ve drawn our last four games 0-0 we might as well draw the last seven 0-0 and set a world record.
If you get promoted/survive relegation you will..and if you dont you will:..Not much to stay here with a boring mid-table finish. I can’t wait for the season to end.
Rival watch and league prediction: West Brom are our only historic rival in the league. Whilst I disagree with them sacking Darren Moore I do kind of understand the logic if they had a great replacement in mind... which they don’t. So no promotion for them.
Finishing position prediction: 12th
I think we may squeeze into the top half. Fingers crossed we can rebuild the squad in the summer.

16. Blackburn Rovers no review submitted

17. Queens Park Rangers by Tiggy10

Team, Manager: Queens Park Rangers, John Eustace (Caretaker manager, took over from Steve McClaren April 1st)
Hopes/predictions at the beginning of the season?: Staying up I suppose? Probably our famed mid-table mediocrity.Anything higher than 16th would have been a bonus. Main focus of the season was to stabilize and develop youth.
Mini season review - how has it gone so far? Well. At the time of writing Shteve is the latest manager to pass through the revolving doors at Loftus Road and I think that just about sums up the season. We've broken some "hoo-doos" which have been a highlight of the season so far but on the whole we've lost a LOT of games and badly, whether that was through bad luck, poor officiation or (and mainly) poor play.
After a dreadful start we hit a purple patch and got carried away with perhaps being a surprise dark horse for a playoff push along with an FA cup run. AN ACTUAL CUP RUN! But being QPR, all hopes were squashed and reality came tumbling down. But here we are with a handful of games to go, looking nervously over our shoulders once again.
Best/most used starting 11 and tactics: With big losses to our defense in the form of Nedum Onuoha and Jack Robinson we shouldn't have been surprised to see a slight downfall in the quality of our defense. Boy were we wrong. The first few games we were torn apart. Trialling a 4231 for the dismal start and then changing to a standard 442 to achieve our first win of the season. It's difficult to say if the change in form was due to the big signings we had bought in or the new formation, but it worked.
Also a change of keeper from Matt Ingram to Joe Lumley has proved to be instrumental. Gotta feel bad for Ingram, but if you are riddled with mistakes, you aren't going to play much.
It is difficult to pinpoint what the focus of the team is. Wells is a tricky striker who can beat a man, Freeman is the creative outlet and Eze was/is likewise. When big Matt Smith is on, the game plan is simple.
http://lineupbuilder.com/?sk=hy9vy2 Our best starting XI? Bright Osayi-Sammuel misses out here only due to lack of game time, otherwise he can seem like one of the only players giving it his all. Rangel and Cameron have been revelations, we have sorely missed them through injury and as such our performances have suffered without them. Grant Hall has had a torrid time with injury over the last two years and quite frankly has fewer mistakes in him than Joel Lynch. Eze started well but has not achieved the level of expectation the fans had hoped for, who knows why he's tailed off towards the end of the season? He's still very young though, and has a lot to learn.
Best/worst/memorable moments: No prizes for anyone who guessed the shambles at the Hawthorns was the worst moment of the season. Losing 7-1 is quite frankly embarrassing, Enough said.
Highlights would include our cup run. Beating Brentford 3-2 at home. And finally. FINALLY winning at the City Ground 1-0.
Key stat: On average we commit the most fouls per game (14.7) and coincidentally, we've conceded the most penalties this season (7). Poor Timing.
Remaining fixtures and expectations - nervous?: Norwich (A), Millwall (A), Swansea (H), Blackburn (H), Derby (A), Nottingham Forest (H), Sheff Wednesday (A)
Boy I would love to say we can get another point this season but I am skeptical. We couldn't beat Rotherham or Bolton at home. We need a couple of wins to ease the nerves, but at this point in time we may be sweating and looking at results elsewhere to decide our fate.
Despite this though I would not entirely be surprised to nick a point away at Norwich, because we just do stupid things like that when we are in dismal form. I'd much rather go down this season than next. I can't keep doing this skin of your teeth stuff.
If you get promoted/survive relegation you will..and if you don't you will..if QPR don't get relegated I wouldn't be surprised, we've thankfully got a bit of a cushion. If we do get relegated, quite frankly we deserve it based on 2019 alone with 1 league win, apologies, Leeds.
Predicted League Position: 18th
Rival watch and league prediction: Local rivals Brentford will be here next season, with or without us, I think they've left it a little too late to chase the play-offs, and even if they did make it in I can't see them beating others around them to go to Wembley. It's the teams below us we need to focus on. I think all the teams above us will be fine. The bottom three (Rotherham, Bolton, Ipswich) look set to go down in my opinion.
Going up has got to be Norwich, and fully deserved, stuck with Farke and it has paid off. Good luck in the Prem as champions. Leeds will get second. and Sheff Utd will win play-offs (I cannot believe Washington will be playing for a premiership team).

18. Birmingham City by 2ej

Manager: Garry Monk
Hopes/predictions at the beginning of the season?: Mid table stability was my hope after two straight season of chaos, both with last day relegation fights. Monk had gotten the players playing at the end of last season and we looked a genuinely good team so just to take that through to this season and not be constantly looking over our shoulders. Then news of a transfer embargo came out which resigned me to another poor season, but why worry about embargo's when you have owners who just sign players anyway?
Mini season review - Calling this season a roller coaster ride is putting it mildly. 0 wins in the first 8 league games was frustrating because we genuinely battered teams in this period. 2-2 opening day of the season against Norwich where Hernandez scored a last second equaliser, goalless draws against Swansea (H) & Sheff Utd (A), 2-0 up away at Forest with 10 minutes to go and only drawing, missing a penalty straight after going 1-0 against WBA. All these made me feel like the season was cursed. Then in our 9th game we beat then league leaders Leeds away 2-1, funny league isn't it? Shortly after this we steamroll teams in October and everything's looking rosy.
Get to November and the wheels fall off ever so slightly. Plagued with injuries and a small squad we lose to Derby, surrender a 2-0 half time lead to Hull ending 3-3 and then lost to the Villa 4-2 where any complaints I had about the officiating were rendered moot after we let Hutton run from what felt like two different postcodes to score the 4th. As has been typical with this season for the most part we bounced back straight away taking 13 of the next 18 points on offer, taking us through Christmas and a real belief that we could sneak in to the top 6.
Then January happened. 2 points from 12, including an absolute lesson in football by Norwich and a last minute equaliser by Swansea in a 3-3 classic which underlined the spirit in the team (1-1 at half time and down to 10 men). Moving in to February we then bounced back again with victories over Forest & QPR, the latter being a 4-3 classic in which Lee Camp saved a last minute penalty. Again we were on the fringes of the top 6 and looking optimistic at an outside shot at the top 6.
Then March happened! (seeing a trend here?) 0 points from 12, more opposition players assaulted than goals scored and the cherry on the delightful sundae is a 9 point deduction for breaching P&S rules, ensuring what was looking like a boring mid table finish is now our annual relegation fight.
Best/most used starting 11 and tactics: Monk has predominantly used a flat 4-4-2 system in which we're happy for other teams to have the ball in their half, but as soon as they start to venture forward they're swarmed by us. Very effective against teams who like to pass it round. When we have the ball the main tactic is to chuck it up to Juke up front and have him hold it up to allow Adams & the wingers to be brought in to play. Monk has experimented with a diamond formation where Jota plays the number 10 in behind the two strikers which was used for the first time against QPR away and caused us to be 4-1 up at half time. This has since been shelved however as we were leaking goals using it. Adams has been getting all the plaudits, and they're fully deserved but Jutkiewicz is my player of the season. The man runs his bollocks off every game for the team and has 10 goals and 10 assists so far, great return from the big man.
Most used team - http://lineupbuilder.com/?sk=hy9d3
Best/worst/memorable moments: Best I've seen us play is easily the first 45 away to QPR, which is also the most memorable moment when Camp saved the penalty in the last minute - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYd51nIeADA
The worst has to be the 0-1 home loss to the Villa, not for the loss itself as you get used to losing to them lot but for what happened on the day.
Remaining fixtures and expectations - nervous?: WBA (A), Leeds (H), Sheff Utd (H), Ipswich (A), Derby (H), Rotherham (A), Wigan (H), Reading (A)
Horrible next 3 fixtures against 3 of the top 6, and two of the top 3. After that we only have to play 1 team in the top half and even then Derby are in a horrible run of form and it's at home. Not nervous right now as we're good enough to get the bare minimum of 5 points that would pretty much guarantee safety.
If you get promoted/survive relegation you will..and if you dont you will.. Promotion is 100% off the table, surviving relegation should be a formality. We will sell Adams in the summer for a fee which should be over 20 million, allowing us to get the P&S monkey off our back and hopefully have a little bet left over for Monk to play with.
Rival watch and league prediction: Villa are storming up the league now Grealish is back, looking at their fixtures I'd expect them to finish top 6 now. Although it may come back to the last 2 games against Leeds & Norwich which won't be easy, they best hope they go up as the P&S boogeyman will be coming. West Brom are stuck in that no mans land where they're guaranteed playoffs but they don't have enough to reach the top 2. I think Norwich & Sheff Utd will get the automatic spots, with Leeds going up through the playoffs.

19. Reading by therealadamaust

Manager: Reading FC - Jose Gomes, who took over from Paul Clement just before Christmas.
Hopes/predictions at the beginning of the season?: I was thinking mid table, probably lower mid table. Our signings made me cautiously optimistic, and we started with a good performance against Derby County, despite conceding a last minute winner. Looking back, I realise this was a poor prediction, in that we didn't win a single pre-season game and our signings were actually all pretty poor, with the exception of Andy Yiadom.
Mini season review - how has it gone so far? One word - horrifically, at least until the appointment of Gomes. The rot from last season had truly set in as the club became more and more of a toxic place to be, with a rift developing between not just the club and the fans, but separate groups within the supporter base too. On the pitch, we were playing dire football, and off the pitch our CEO Ron Gourlay proceeded to alienate everyone, tried to grab power, and buddied up with his Chelsea mate Paul Clement before they were both rightfully binned off in December, with the club needing a complete overhaul in the January window.
Since then, it's been the complete opposite with Gomes in charge and Nigel Howe returning as CEO. The support is back, the deadwood is gone, people are happy, and there's even the semblance of an atmosphere at the Madejski. The players want to play, the manager wants to manage, and the supporters want to support, which is something we didn't have with Clement. Combined with much better football and an uptick in form, and everything's all starting to look quite good.
Best/most used starting 11 and tactics: Under Jose Gomes, we've not really been able to play the players he wants to pick due to being pretty nailed by injuries. As such, I've put this team which seems to be the eleven that Gomes wants to put out. Due to what I shall call an 'unfortunate incident' with Tyrone Mings against Aston Villa followed by a hamstring injury, Oliveira has only featured in six games since joining on loan, and despite results we've definitely missed this focal point in the team, with Meite now usually playing up top and Ovie Ejaria coming in as the wide replacement. We're now characterised as generally good passers of the ball, who like possession but without passing the ball for passing's sake, as we were under previous managers. Instead we try to draw opponents onto us in order to break using the pace of our wide players, supported by a switch to more of a three at the back system with our full backs pushing forwards as we attack, and one of our central midfielders dropping between the two centre backs to provide cover. All in all, we've become a lot harder to beat.
Best/worst/memorable moments: I've picked four moments here, all of which are from the last six weeks or so, with three key victories being followed by a (mostly) dominant performance this weekend against Preston. First of all out of the three was Nelson Oliveira arriving back from surgery like a masked saviour to score a late winner against Blackburn Rovers. We then built on this at the beginning of the month with two crucial games against relegation rivals, with vital late goals from Mo Barrow scoring a 90th minute winner away at Ipswich in a 2-1 victory as well as an 89th minute equaliser the following week, before Yakou Meite netted in the 97th minute to beat Wigan 3-2.
Key stat: We're the best form team in the Championship that isn't part of the top 6, which is rather impressive considering we're in 19th.
Remaining fixtures and expectations - nervous?: Hull City (A), Norwich City (A), Brentford (H), Bristol City (A), West Bromwich Albion (H), Middlesbrough (A), Birmingham City (H).
I think that this is one of the hardest run ins that any team in the Championship has to face this season. I'm surprisingly confident about it though - although that's worked out poorly before. We're riding a high and could probably beat anyone on our day.
If you survive relegation you will... Need to carry on with the squad overhaul. Sign some of the loanees on permanent deals, and get rid of the older, unusable players.
If you go down you will... Need to do everything we can to get back up, although I'm not sure how soon that would be. We'd either languish for a while due to not being as good physically as the other teams, or we'd come straight back due to the fact we have some very technically competent players.
Finishing position: 18th or 19th, but comfortably safe from relegation.
Rival watch and league prediction: Ipswich are dead and buried at this point, with Bolton not too far behind, as these court situations will not be helping. Birmingham are in free fall and now in a bit of a relegation scrap with 5 or 6 losses on the spin, but a much better goal difference than the rest of us. I think the final relegation spot will be occupied by Rotherham, though.

20. Wigan by franktortuga

Team, Manager: Wigan Athletic, Paul Cook
Hopes/predictions at the beginning of the season?: Our last two season in the Championship (16/17 & 14/15) Wigan were relegated from the Championship. Both times after going down we came back up as League One Champs. The majority of the fans just want us to maintain our Championship status. Due to our takeover in the middle of the season and lack of transfers last summer because of this, staying up this season is so crucial for our clubs future.
Mini season review - how has it gone so far?
Oof. Well, 10 games into the season the Latics were in 8th place, with 5 wins, including a 3-0 win over Stoke. Flash forward to now, Latics are in 19th, just 3 points out of relegation and no away wins since Stoke! The winter period saw the Latics lose crucial attacking players in Gavin Massey, Michael Jacobs and more importantly Nick Powell. Who were all instrumental in our 17/18 League One Championship season. The selling of Will Grigg on deadline day is something that most of us don't want to talk about, given our lack of goals all season. Many fans called for Cook's head before the impressive 3-0 win over Villa. Then again after defeats against Reading and Blackburn, things were looking bad before a 5-2 win over Bolton last matchday.
Best/most used starting 11 and tactics:
http://lineupbuilder.com/?sk=hy9d9
4-2-3-1, although we have had a few players rotate. Reece James, most notably, has been playing CDM the last few games, with Nathan Byrne on the right. Also, Danny Fox will most likely start taking either Kipre or Chey out, or could slide in LB. We have gone 3 CB's with two wingbacks a few times this season as well.
Best/worst/memorable moments:
Worst moments, the matches against Preston, Blackburn and Brentford, last minute pk winner at Norwich, last minute PK against Forrest. Best moments, 3-0 win at Stoke, 3-0 win over Villa and 5-2 win over Bolton.
Remaining fixtures and expectations - nervous?:
Nervous is an understatement. I believe two wins of the last 8 would keep us safe, around 8 points.
Brentford (H), Bristol City (A), Hull City (A), Norwich (H), Leeds (A), Preston (H), Birmingham (A), Millwall (H)
If you get promoted/survive relegation you will..[and if you don't you will]
If the Latics get relegated I will have to unsubscribe from this subreddit for the 3rd time in 5 years and won't be very happy.
Rival watch and league prediction:
Bolton... not much needs to be said. I think I speak for most football fans when I say I don't want them to go bust. It's a shame to see the state of that club right now our derbys are something we all look forward to.
At this point I think Leeds is going to blow the auto push. I think Norwich and Shef U go up and WBA win playoffs. Rotherham, Bolton and Ipswich to go down.

21. Millwall by Shitta_Than_Shittu

Manager: Neil Harris
Hopes/predictions at the beginning of the season?: After massively overachieving in our first season back in the league, with a late playoff push towards the end of the season, a season of building to consolidate our status as a championship side was the goal. Any expectation of another playoff push was pure fantasy, but a mid table finish seemed like a reasonable aim.
Mini season review - how has it gone so far?: Despite an exciting cup run this season has turned out to be a struggle for us, and we've found ourselves deservedly in a relegation battle. An inability to see out games and lack of tactical flexibility for the majority of the season has left us deservedly in a relegation battle, perhaps expectedly when looking at the cost of our team compared to others in the division. Spending most of the season languishing just above the relegation places, a recent downturn in form leaves us just a point above relegation placed Rotherham.
Best/most used starting 11 and tactics: http://lineupbuilder.com/?sk=hy9my5 We started the season with the 442 that brought us great success last season. However, after selling midfielder George Saville and striker Steve Morison getting on a bit, other teams started to figure us out, and a 442 based on soaking up pressure and quick long ball counters quickly descended into painful and drab hoofball, with a clear lack of a plan b. The return of loaned out midfielder Ben Thompson, from a successful spell at Portsmouth, alongside the return of winger Ben Marshall, on loan from Norwich, allowed us to switch to the 433 which we use now. While we've enjoyed a little more success with it at times, usually playing a pressing game built on quick counters and transitions against the bigger sides. Against smaller sides a lack of identity is evident and games usually quickly turn into a bit of a slog.
Best/worst/memorable moments: In the league, it's difficult to pick a best moment, because there are next to none, we've come short in all of our big games in the league this season, even if it's well hidden by memorable moments such as our cup win against Everton. We've been on the wrong side of a thrilling 4-3 loss to Norwich. The low of this season for sure has to be our 2-1 loss away to Bolton, the moment when relegation started to become a genuine prospect.
Key Stat: Over 25% of our goals conceded this season have come after the 75th minute. This sums our season up perfectly sadly. If games were 75 mins long, we'd be comfortably mid table if not more. Unfortunately an inability to hold onto leads, caused in part by tactical decisions to sit back and absorb pressure late in the game, combined with ineffectual (or lack of) substitutions have cost us dearly this season.
Remaining fixtures and expectations: WBA (H), QPR (H), Sheff Utd (A), Brentford (H), Villa (A), Stoke (H), Bristol City(H), Wigan (A). Not the easiest run in by any means, but we tend to perform better against top half teams, so that may work in our favour. Having won only three games away from home all season, having most of our remaining games is definitely an advantage. The two London derbies against QPR and Brentford, as well as Stoke are games where we need to pick up points if we are to stay in this division. Away games against Sheff Utd and Villa will be a tough ask, so home form will be crucial.
If we get relegated I will...: be fuming. While I can have no complaints if we go down, we won't have deserved to stay up whatsoever, the way in which we go down will be unacceptable. Having thrown away too many late leads, and failed to pick up points in games where we have been the better team, it'll be tough to take and serious questions will need to be asked of the management, even if Harris is a club legend, things could turn bitter should we go down.
Finishing position prediction: 21st
Rival watch and league prediction: Sadly our main division rivals Leeds look like they're on their way to promotion alongside Norwich, the less said about that the better. London rivals QPR and Brentford are both heading towards mid table finishes, QPR in much worse shape than the latter. Norwich and Leeds will most likely finish in the top two, I fancy either Sheff Utd or Bristol City (if they make it) to win the playoffs. We'll probably just have enough to get over the line and survive, which means Rotherham bounce straight back down to League One with Bolton and Ipswich

22. Rotherham no review submitted

23. Bolton Wanderers by rexkwando52

Manager: Phil Parkinson
Hopes/predictions at the beginning of the season?:
After miraculously staying up with 2 goals in the last 2 minutes of the final game of the season, fans were hoping to build on the 21st place finish. There were no hopes of anything higher than mid table, a comfortable season would have been a success if we could avoid looking over our shoulders at the relegation zone. And those hopes were granted.... For the first couple of weeks. This was despite players refusing to play a pre season game at St. Mirren due to unpaid wages and bonuses from the previous year. Something that was to cast a dark shadow over the club in the months to come.
Mini season review - how has it gone so far?
Terrible. A bright start to the campaign fell away fast and the team plummeted through the standings. Some of the absolute worst football we've ever watched came. Averaging around 35% possession most games, negative long ball tactics and goal shy strikers. It really hasn't been good viewing. 3 wins and a draw from the first 4 games saw us high up the table. Then a 3-0 dismantling by Sheffield United saw the wheels fall off. 1 win and 4 draws from the next 18 games with only 9 goals scored before a 2-1 victory over Rotherham on boxing day saw us sink to the bottom. After that, not much else changed and at the time of writing, we sit 8 points adrift with 8 to play.
Best/most used starting 11 and tactics:
I can't really give a best or most used 11 because there hasn't been one. I think Parkinson uses a bingo machine to pick his team as it changes so much every game. Our 'best' player Ameobi has been sub par. Bright players have been polish right back Olkowski and youth midfielder Luca Connell but besides this the team has lacked quality throughout.
Best/worst/memorable moments:
Best moments have been the bright start, beating relegated West Brom 2-1 on opening day, and a 5 goal fa cup win over Walsall where the team looked like they could actually play football. By far the worst moment came in our last outing though, getting thumped 5-2 away at rivals Wigan. It was really the last chance to mount a challenge to stay up and the performance was pathetic.

.... rest of the Bolton and Ipswich (p)reviews in the comments below!

Part 2 here - Part 3 here - Part 4 here

On Friday at 8pm UK time, Reading and Derby County will kick off the 127^th season of the English second division - also known as the Championship! 24 clubs will compete for 3 promotion spots to the Premier league (2 via automatic promotion and 1 via playoffs) and to avoid the 3 relegation spots to the third tier a.k.a League One.

Its looking like a really tight and competitive season. The league is absolutely full of ambitious player and managerial talent - the more time goes by the more it looks like a Premier League 2. If you want a competitive league with proper English football, that also has the spice of skilful players and forward thinking managers, it really is the place to go.

This is guide written by the fans who have come together on /Championship - an absolutely huge thanks to them. Do check out the sub, we try to keep it a good place to discuss the EFL, away from the rancid gloryhunting shithole that is /soccer (just kidding - I like this place). Lots going on, including a score predictor thread which is running all season.

This guide is in table order with the PL demoted sides first. Only 5 clubs today (because the Swansea one is a fucking novel and I can't fit any more in), the rest will be submitted tomorrow and Friday. Do bare in mind that not all the transfer news will be up to date as these guides were largely written a week ago. Point out to me if there are any clear errors with formatting or spelling.

Championship info, links and media

/Championship's 17/18 player of the season review

Season previews: The Guardian | Sky Sports | The Mirror
EFL focused podcasts: Not the Top 20 | The Totally Football League Show
The 17/18 table - Wolves, Cardiff and Fulham went up. Barnsley, Burton and Sunderland went down. This season West Brom, Swansea and Stoke join from the PL and Wigan, Blackburn and Rotherham join from League 1.
These are the bookies' favourites for promotion (via Oddschecker):

Club	Odds
Stoke	2.75
Middlesbrough	4
West Brom	4
Nottingham Forest	4.5
Leeds	4.75
Swansea	5

And relegation:

Club	Odds
Rotherham	2.2
Bolton	2.25
Ipswich	4.5
Reading	5
QPR	6
Hull	6

How to watch in the UK: Live rights are owned by Sky Sports. They are upping the number of televised matches this season. Reading v Derby on Friday is televised. The weekly highlights show previously on Channel 5 is moving to Quest TV, which apparently is on Freeview.
How to watch abroad: Depends, but in most territories, the iFollow Service is available, which is £110 to watch all a single club's matches. Bargain. I think the clubs that aren't on iFollow have their own similar streaming services.
Check out club Youtube channels - quite a few of them post extended highlights now with their own commentary, including Derby, Norwich, Sheffield Wednesday, Brentford and more. (You may need VPN to watch if you're abroad.)

Swansea City by RafiakaMacakaDirk and my_knob_is_gr8

Location: Swansea, Wales
Nickname: Swans, The Jacks
Major honours: Football League Cup (2013), Championship Play-off Winner (2011), League One Winners (1925, 1949, 2008)
17/18 finishing postion: 18th (Premier League)
Transfermarkt squad value: €115.5 mil NOTE: This number is as of July 22nd, when we still have Mawson (€15 mil), A. Ayew (€15 mil), Bony (€10 mil), Clucas (€8 mil) and Fernandez (€8 mil), who are all pretty much expected to be sold, or loaned out, before the season starts. Without all of these players except Bony (who's injured for a while so it makes it unlikely he'll be sold soon), the squad value would be around €70 mil.
Manager: Graham Potter joined the Swans on 11th June 2018. In 2010, he became head coach of Östersund, who were in the fourth tier of Swedish football. 5 years later, he got the club promoted into the Swedish top flight and in 2017, they won Svenska Cupen which qualified them for the Europa League where they managed to get through the group stage. He’s been applauded for what he did at Östersund and the way he managed to build the club up from nothing. The year after his success in the Europa league he signed a 3 year contract with Swansea.
Potter is well respected by The Swans and after a few years of poor managerial and financial decisions his appointment is seen as a step in the right direction to bringing us back to our old ways of being a well-run club. Potter has been recognised for his "progressive" and "unconventional" coaching methods. At Östersund, he encouraged his players and staff to engage in community activities, such as performing in theatre and music productions which was designed to take them out of their comfort zone. Potter describes his style of football on the pitch as "tactically flexible, attacking, and possession-based". At Östersund, he deployed a flexible 3–5–2 formation centred on ball possession.
Best player(s)/ talisman:With many of our best players being rumoured with a move away what good players that remain at the start of the season is yet to be seen.
Alfie Mawson is probably our standout player. He’s been amazing for us since we got him and was a bargain at about £3m. He’s great in the air and is just an all round tank. Keeping him will be a huge boost for us and should be solid in the championship.
Federico "El Pajaro" Fernandez has also been strong at the back with Alfie. The pair played with each other for the majority of last season and together became a solid unit. We will most likely sell him to reduce wages though.
Jordan Ayew put in a great shift last season and was our top goal scorer. His work rate was immense and was able to drop back and defend when needed. He’s fast, able to beat a man and a decent finisher. Sadly all these players are transfer targets for other clubs and might not even be here at the start of the season. If we can keep a lot of our players we should have a decent season but who knows who'll be left by the end of the window…
Rising star: Swansea’s U23 had a great season last year and with Potter wanting a young and fresh squad, a handful have moved up into the first team.
Our standout youngster, Oliver McBurnie, joined Barnsley on loan in January last season where he went on to win a Championship player of the month award after 6 goals in 8 games and went on to win Barnsley’s Player of the year award. While only 22, he’s struggled to break into our first team but will most likely be our main striker for the coming season. Be on the lookout for his long legs, miniature shinpads and ridiculous sock length! LEGS LEGS LEGS!!!
Connor Roberts performed well at RB last season and adapted quickly to the premier league where he battled Kyle Naughton to be in the starting line up and did great when given the chance. Decent at going forward and professional at the back. Hopefully potter puts him ahead of Naughton.
What happened last season?: What Happened last season?: After our great escape the season before and with Paul Clement at the helm there was optimism that the 17/18 season could be our turning point where we start rebuilding 'The Swansea Way". How wrong we were.
After a disastrous transfer window where we sold Sigurdsson and never replaced him and started panic buying the week before the transfer window closed we were left an obvious hole in our team. We had no creativity in midfield and no one could kick the ball into the box to save their life. And just to rub it in further Renato Sanches turned out to be more disappointing than Bob Bradley. With the team sitting bottom of the table Clement was sacked in late December.
Then along came the wise talking Carlos Carvalhal who managed to rebuild the confidence the team had lost. Our results took a turn for the good, beating Liverpool, Arsenal, Burnley and West Ham consecutively at home. He pulled us out of the relegation zone and things were looking good. However, the good times were quickly followed by the bad times. Our form turned and we didn’t win a single one of our last 9 matches. We were quickly relegated after pitifully losing to both Southampton and Stoke in our last 2 games of the season.
Highlights (Or lowlights):
The pass by Renato Sanches that summed up his and our season
Swansea City 3-1 Arsenal
Summer transfer business (so far): At the end of last season, it was clear we needed several transfers, both in and out. However, this would all depend on the manager we got.
Yan Dhanda (Free, Liverpool): A 19 year-old Midfielder, Yan Dhanda left Liverpool this summer and joined the Swans in a free, before we even hired Graham Potter. At one time one of the most promosing youngsters in Liverpool's Academy, injuries slowed down his progress, and ultimately made him fall behind other players. Citing lack of first-team playing time, Dhanda decided to join us this summer in hopes of getting regular playing time in the senior squad. Through 3 pre-season games, Dhanda has been one of the brighest and most impressive players in the squad, even scoring a game-winning goal and smashing a penalty in a shootout against Genoa. With our current injuries and shenanigans involved in our midfield, Dhanda has a good chance of becoming a starter and hopefully guide our midfield during the season.
Jordi Govea (Free, Real Madrid): Another 19 year-old from Ecuador, Jordi was the first signing under Potter. Not much can be said about the lad, but this is what Real Madrid had as his bio:

Jordi is an Ecuadorian defender who possess three key qualities for a player in his position: he's skilful, is able to go past a player and has a good shot on him. He's left footed and is able to send in good crosses on the run.

With Martin Olsson currently as our starting LB, and Kyle Naughton as the backup, the hope is that Jordi can develop on our U-23 squad and hopefully move up to the senior squad in coming years. Also the only man I've seen do a medical while wearing jeans (https://twitter.com/SwansOfficial/status/1015251916132057089)
Joel Asoro (€2 mil., Sunderland): Yet another 19 year-old, a Swedish winger who has represented his country in the younger levels, he was Potter's first senior signing. With world-class speed, and some impressive skills, Asoro was able to score 3 goals and get 2 assists last season in 26 apperances for Sunderland. While these numbers may seem a bit disappointing, many of these games were sub appearances on a very dysfunctional team. Along with Dhanda, Asoro has been one of the most impressive players during preseason, constantly beating his man with either speed or skills, and whipping in good balls to Legs. At the current rate, Asoro appears to have a good chance of starting on the right wing spot, with Nathan Dyer and Luciano Narsingh backing him up.
Predicted starting XI: NOTE: This is gonna be assuming Mawson, A. Ayew, Clucas, and Fernandez are all sold by the start of the season. If by some reason they end up staying, they are pretty much guaranteed to start. Based on the pre-season games so far, a lineup looking like this would be plausible, with Rodon most likely to be replaced by a CB (possibly Scott McKenna) when we buy one. Our second unit is looking something like this.
Best case scenario: Graham Potter is able to motivate and make sure our senior players (Fer, Carroll, etc.) stay fit, along with our youngsters being able to make an impact as expected, and also we retain Mawson, Fernandez, and Clucas, we can finish in the top 2 and get promoted automatically.
Worst case scenario: Our worst case scenario, and something many of us fear of happening, consists of primarily 3 things. 1. Graham Potter isn't given enough time to build an identity with our squad and is sacked by the midway point of the season by the greedy, dumb American owners. . 2. We end up not replacing the players we sold properly like last summer, therefore having a squad with holes everywhere and no chemistry. 3. Our youngsters such as Asoro, McBurnie, Dhanda and company don't pan out and progress at all, thefore becoming mediocre players. This would all culminate in us looking like Sunderland, and making relegation a probability.
Prediction: Realistically I see us selling Mawson and company in the last days before the season starts and not replacing them properly until later on. Because of this, as well as our current injuries with Fer and Clucas, I can see us initially struggling to build an identity but over time, we will start playing like Potter wants us and finishing the season strongly.
8th place, missing the play-offs by 4 points
What will happen to your closest rivals?: The scum that is known as Cardiff City will break the record for lowest points ever accumulated in a Premier League season, getting 5 points all from draws, and will therefore get relegated with 17 games to spare.

West Bromwich Albion by Joelwba

Location: The Hawthorns, West Bromwich, West Midlands
Nickname: The Baggies, The Throstles
Major honours: 1x League title, 1x League Cup, 5x FA Cup
17/18 finishing postion: 20th in Premier League (relegated)
Transfermarkt squad value: £101.16m
Manager: Darren Moore or Big Dave as he's known to Albion fans. A club icon as a player in the early 2000s, he returned to look after our U23 squad before being promoted to assistant manager by Alan Pardew in January. Following the end of Pardew's horrific reign, Moore took temporary charge with Albion facing inevitable relegation. He led us to wins over Newcastle, Spurs, Man Utd and a draw with Liverpool, somehow taking our futile battle for survival to the final week of the season. Following this he earned the head coach role permanently. Moore is loved among the Albion faithful, largely due to his reputation as a player here. He heavily favours a 4-4-2 formation and at the back end of last season, tended to soak up pressure and play on the counter attack. It will be interesting to see how his approach differs in a league where we are one of the favourites, not fighting to survive (hopefully)
Best player(s)/ talisman: It's an interesting situation for Albion currently. There are plenty of Premier League quality players still in the squad. A lot depends on if they are picked off before the deadline shuts. Chris Brunt is a club stalwart and likely to be reappointed as captain. He is adored by the fans and in my opinion will be an incredible asset in the championship. His set pieces alone will bring 10+ goals to the side. Kieran Gibbs is a high quality player who appears to be set to stay and should make a big difference. Jay Rodriguez, Craig Dawson, Salomon Rondon and Nacer Chadli should all make a big difference in this division IF they stay. In all honesty I expect to lose a few of the above. Sam Johnstone appears to be an astute signing to replace the outgoing Ben Foster.
Rising star: Sam Field he's one of our own! He looked completely at home against some of the top Premier League sides last campaign. A box-to-box midfielder, he's full of energy and looks so comfortable on the ball. I expect him to be a major part of our side this season, having just signed a new long-term deal.
Kyle Edwards is an exciting attacking midfielder who has been impressing in pre-season. He may have a part to play following a loan spell at Exeter last campaign.
Jonathon Leko looked like a potential world-beater when he first came through a couple of years back. A lightning quick winger full of tricks. A loan spell at Bristol City and limited appearances later he seems to be losing his way. Will be an interesting one to watch.
Finally, the enigma that is Olly Burke. After signing with us last summer for £15m, he failed to impress any of the four managers we had over the season. He looks exciting when he comes on, without any end product so far, and was unfairly blamed for a loss at West Ham by Alan 'Coward' Pardew. We all know the talent he's got. Hopefully we can see it this season.
What happened last season?: Let's not talk about it... We finally escaped the stranglehold of Tony Pulis, only to opt for the human joke that is Alan Pardew and duly hurtled towards relegation. Four of our players stole a taxi and then played (and lost) the following weekend.
Pardew was sacked about 3 months too late, and Moore took over, restoring pride with some notable wins over Man Utd and Spurs.
This season we also lost the great Cyrille Regis, and the outpouring of emotion and the coming together of the club during the weeks after his passing was something special.
Summer transfer business (so far): We started by releasing Claudio Yacob, Boaz Myhill and Gareth McAuley. Yacob and McAuley will be greatly missed but it is perhaps the right time for them to go.
Jonny Evans departed for Leicester for a cut-price £3m, Ben Foster left for Watford and James McClean has departed for Stoke City.
Sam Johnstone has been bought in to replace Foster, with Jonathon Bond arriving as backup. Kyle Bartley has joined from Swansea City and it appears that Harvey Barnes will soon be arriving on loan from Leicester.
Finally, James Morrison is currently out of contract but still with the club. His future is uncertain.
I am very happy with Johnstone and Bartley. It has been a quiet window for Albion so far but that is largely a good thing. The squad is packed with Premier League talent and the window is more about keeping hold of them.
There is major interest in Dawson and Rondon, along with interest in Rodriguez, Hegazi and Chadli. If any of the above go, then we would need to replace. Otherwise I would be happy with another striker and another CB.
It is also worth mentioning that every player in the Albion side suffered a 50% wage cut upon relegation which means that we are financially sound despite relegation, but may lead to more big names leaving.
Predicted starting XI: This is my best attempt. It will undoubtedly be 4-4-2. We may see Nyom in at right back and perhaps Barry in for Field.
Obviously about half of this side could leave, so we shall see.
Best case scenario: The bulk of the side remains and the quality in the side shines through as we breeze to automatic promotion.
Worst case scenario: The better players leave or do not put the effort in. Moore cannot transfer his great start into his first full season in management. We become embroiled in a relegation battle
Prediction: It will be somewhere in the middle. I'd like to think we'll go up automatically but I think play-offs are more likely. 6th
What will happen to your closest rivals?: Villa won't go down but will settle into mid-table, despite the recent takeover.
I think Wolves will do well in the PL, although I don't know how long Nuno will last before a big club comes in.

Stoke City by mrmariomaster

Location: Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire
Nickname: The Potters
Stadium: bet365 Stadium, 30,089 seats
Major honours: 1972 League Cup
17/18 finishing position: 19th, Premier League
Squad value: £127.8 million
Manager: Gary Rowett signed from Derby in May. His honest attitude has brought lots of optimism to fans, who are looking forward to an overhaul of the Club. His style of play seems to change based on the squad he has available.
Best Player: Joe Allen was vital to the Club last season, giving us hope that we would avoid relegation. His massive new contract signed this summer shows how loyal and committed to the Club he is, and will be a vital player this season.
Rising star: Tom Edwards is a local lad who has won the Under 18 Player of the Year award twice in the Club. In the latter parts of last season he played some good first team football.
What happened last season: A pathetic attempt at a season that had been coming for a while under Mark Hughes. Paul Lambert was appointed in January, but a win rate of just 2 in 15 matches wasn’t enough for him to keep his job and miss out on the million pound bonus offered to him.
Transfer business so far: So far this has been a decent transfer window. Peter Etebo had an amazing World Cup for Nigeria and Benik Afobe looks really promising. Adam Federici has also been appointed to replace Lee Grant. Xherdan Shaqiri has left along with a few players like Stephen Ireland and Glen Johnson who will not be missed. Badou Ndiaye also looks to be on his way out, but it looks like Jack Butland will stay with us, which is massive. Perhaps most surprising are the new contracts signed by our 2 best players last season, Joe Allen and Moritz Bauer.
Predicted Line up: Here is our predicted squad. I’m not sure what formation we will have. EDIT: This is a new version, complete with our rumoured new signings and in the right formation.
Best case scenario: Stoke will finish top with an all-time Championship points record.
Worst case scenario: A mediocre start to the season will see Rowett sacked and Stoke with a disappointing mid-table finish.
Prediction: I think with our squad and our new manager, we will finish 1st.
What will happen to our closest rivals? Port Vale will be relegated to the Vanarama National League.

Aston Villa by trueschoolalumni

Location: Villa Park, Trinity Rd, Birmingham B6 6HE
Nickname: The Villans, The Villa, Prince William's Club, David "Twat" Cameron's Second Club.
Major honours: 7 First Division wins, 7 FA Cups, 5 League Cups, 1 European Cup, 1 European Super Cup, 1 Intertoto Cup
17/18 finishing postion: 4th
Transfermarkt squad value: £67.77m and dropping fast
Manager: Steve Bruce (for now). Former Man Utd playing legend who's been a fixture of English football for decades. He joined Villa in 2016 after successful runs at Hull, Sunderland (yes they were good once) and Birmingham City. A bit of a promotion specialist, he's taken Championship clubs up to the Premier League 4 times in the past and just missed out last season, losing 1-0 to Fulham in the Playoff Final. Tactically, he's fairly old school who prefers 4-4-2 or a 4-1-4-1, usually involving a big man up top. Fun fact: while managing Huddersfield in 1999 he wrote three novels, "Striker!", "Sweeper!" and "Defender!", which focus on main character Steve Barnes, a football manager. Barnes solves crime and takes on terrorists, and the books have become prized rarities. The Guardian's Football Weekly podcast managed to get a copy and read out some of the copy - suitably awful.
Best player(s)/ talisman: There's only one Jack Grealish. A Villa boy through and through, he's been with the club since 2001 (aged 6), and made his way into the first team in the 2013-14 season. He's been the centre of controversy a few times, most notably getting on the beers and passing out on a Tenerife street. Playing as a number 10, his quick feet and dribbling skills provide a number of goals and assists, as well as fouls. He probably went down a bit too easily when first in the Premier League, but time in the gym has noticeably toughened him up and he's a much more solid player as a result. One of the better players in the Championship, and due to Villa's abject finances, a transfer target for the likes of Leicester.
Rising star: Keinan Davis could possibly be it, potentially Andre Green and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy as well.
What happened last season?: Have you ever walked into a casino, spotted the roulette table and popped £10,000 on red? It's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off. You've doubled your money if you win, but look like a right git if you lose. Villa figured this was a good way to approach 2017-18: spend millions on players, get in lots of loans, gamble everything on achieving promotion. After a so-so start, Bruce got the team playing well, stringing together a number of wins and moving through the playoff spots. Unfortunately they ran into a few teams playing out of their skin - champions Wolves ran away with the league and boasted a squad that included several Champions League players. Neil Warnock's Cardiff couldn't stop winning and grabbed the second automatic promotion. In the playoff final Villa came up against a Ryan Sessegnon-led Fulham and were just pipped at the post 1-0.
Summer transfer business (so far): It's one-way traffic, due to absolutely abysmal finances. Loan spells for Lewis Grabban, Robert Snodgrass, Josh Onomah and Sam Johnstone have all ended, which is almost the spine of the team (Johnstone in particular - he was arguably the best keeper in the Championship and personally bagged a number of wins). Plus clubs are circling to pick off whatever assets we have left (eg. Jack Grealish, James Chester). With no prospect of anyone new coming in, it looks like the youth academy will be getting a lot more game time.
Predicted starting XI: Possibly this, but half these players could be gone before the first match.
Best case scenario: Mid-table anonymity would have to be best case - Villa are a mess and could go down this time around.
Worst case scenario: Our finances are the real issue - they are dire. Villa need to find £9 million this month to avoid going into administration. Owner "Dr." Tony Xia is a billionaire, apparently, but tax bills went unpaid and the question remains if he's able to support the club as generously as he has in the past. Administration, points deductions and potentially relegation to League One are all real possibilities right now. It's not looking good.
Prediction: Due to financial irregularities in the 23 clubs above us, Villa will get into the Champions League and take out the likes of Atletico, Bayern and Real Madrid on the way to our second European Cup. "Taylor, Green, prepared to venture down the left. There's a good ball played in for Jack Grealish. Oh, it must be and it is! It's Keinan Davis!"
What will happen to your closest rivals?: Unfortunately the Scum managed to avoid League One in the final rounds of the season. Here's hoping they go one better. Agbonlahor to re-sign for one game: the Derby. And score the winner, again.

Middlesbrough by OneSmallHuman

Location: The Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough
Founded: 1876
Nickname: The Boro (Or just Boro)
Major honours: The League cup 2003-2004 season
17/18 finishing position: 5th
Transfermarkt squad value: 79.34m
Manager: Tony Pulis became manager of us in late December 2017, replacing the sacked Garry Monk after a pretty lacklustre few months of the campaign (despite where our league position was). Pulis is known in England for being the man that is never relegated when in charge of someone in the top flight. We are all aware of Tony Pulis' style of football. You start by having a strong and massive defence and maximise your use of set pieces to gain an advantage. Pulis is a lover of all set piece plays, whether that is crossing the ball in from a corner or free kick, or launching a ball into the box from a throw in, they're all in his arsenal of weapons. 'Pulisball' as it is pretty much known. Pulis has achieved promotion from the championship once before with Stoke, and I hope he achieves it again with us this season
Best player(s)/ rising star: I mean, where else do I begin. Adama Traore. Arguably the best player in the championship on his day and is one of the most frightening dribblers in English football, maybe even world football. The winger is known for his speed and dribbling ability although is usually criticised for his lack of end product. Before last season I would've agreed, however 5 goals and 10 assists, with all but 2 assists coming before Pulis' arrival show the progression of the Spanish winger.
As for other members of the squad, Ben Gibson, the prodigal son. Boro through and through he's progressed into a commanding centre half with the ability to play out from the back thanks to Karanka. He gained attention and emerged as one of the few given credit after our disappointing premier league campaign but was only the subject of one bid upon our relegation, from now manager Tony Pulis. It remains to be seen whether he'll be here come the first game of the season, but I hope he will be.
As for future stars, Dael Fry, already has played 2 championship campaigns for us and looks as assured as a veteran of the game. Another centre half produced by our academy and he is being played in cdm this pre-season by Pulis, to add to his versatility. Hopefully a standout season for him, especially if Gibson does end up leaving. Finally, yes, he does always look as confused as images of him show.
What happened last season?: Well, the first half of the season was tragic under Monk. We played really poor football at times and looked like we hadn't defended a day in our lives. There was also no consistency in the team, we'd win one game then lose the next. A key theme under both managers however, was our inability to beat those around us in the table. After Pulis' appointment the results picked up and it ended with us finishing 5th in the table. We ultimately lost in the playoff semi finals to Aston Villa but honestly, we didn't think we'd even be in the top half around Christmas.
Summer transfer business (so far): Just the three deals to talk about so far. We've acquired Paddy McNair from Sunderland who looks like a decent player. He's been utilised in right back and midfield during pre-season so it looks like they'll be his positions for the season. I imagine he'll play alongside Clayts and Howson in a midfield three.
Aden Flint was signed from Bristol City and I think I'm in the minority when I say I don't like how much we paid for him. Obviously the man is a Pulis player but I'm a bit unsure about his defensive ability. That being said he's looked strong during pre-season and I'm sure Pulis will get the best out of him. Fabio departed our club for Nantes so we'll need more full back cover.
As for the rest of the window, I expect Gibson to leave but will be delighted if he doesn't. One of our strikers will also leave and Braithwaite should follow after his decent World Cup performances. We'll probably bring in a striker and a winger and hopefully hold onto Adama. That'd be a successful window in my eyes.
Predicted starting XI: My best guess The only other guess I could make is that Gibson might leave and then Ayala would start, but he's injured at this point in time. Britt might play over Gestede too if Pulis is feeling fancy.
Best case scenario: It has to be top of the pile right? It's not out of the question to imagine us up there and if everything clicks then we've got a chance. A defence that scores more than some teams' strikers, Adama channelling his inner Messi and finding consistency, Rudy/Britt/Bamford scoring for fun. It could be carnage.
Worst case scenario: I can't see us finishing outside the playoffs, if we did then that would be gut-wrenching. But if we did then that would most certainly be the worst. Realistically, it'd be losing in the playoffs... again, and if it were in the final again then god help me. Although saying this, now losing Bamford and maybe Traore will be a worst case scenario in itself, definitely if they're not replaced.
Prediction: Have to be confident, although it always kills me. 1st or 2nd. Tony Pulis and his nice white trainers carry us to the promise land. That being said, we never do it the easy way.
Best Match of Last Season Sorry Leeds fans, but it had to be. "Hattrick Bamford" as our Twitter account tweeted, 3-0 against Leeds with Adama running the show. Leeds clearly found some positive from the game as they're set to sign him off us. This was the sign of what we should've done more last season. Showed what Paddy could've been too if given an even more extended period in Striker by himself. Oh well.
What will happen to your closest rivals?: Who even are our closest rivals in this league? We're in geographical purgatory. Can't say Sunderland anymore so what? Leeds? Bielsa either turns them into the well oiled machine they hope for or he succumbs to the old Leeds ways and is sacked by December. As for the Mackems, probably promoted from League 1.

I took a month-long break from writing these every week, but after the events of this weekend I’ve realised I just can’t stay away from the global entertainment phenomenon that is Scottish football.
As well as being extremely busy, part of the motivation behind this hiatus of mine was the nonsense that followed Brendan Rodgers’ departure from Celtic to Leicester City, despite him saying that he didn’t see it as a stepping stone, and that it was his dream job. Whilst according to the average /soccer user, this cemented the Scottish Premiership’s status as a diddy league unworthy of following, it DID provide an opportunity to examine Celtic’s support’s journey through the 5 stages of grief. First there was denial, then anger, before depression, bargaining, and finally acceptance that Moussa Dembélé was right all along.
Elsewhere, it’s brown trousers time for fans of Hamilton, Dundee, and St Mirren; and the race for a top 6 place - and a chance at European football - is going to go down to the wire.
A timeline of all of the patter in the SPFL, and results from the last month in the Scottish Premiership ‘reported’ below, taking a more detailed look at this weekend’s fixtures, and results from the Scottish Cup, the Challenge Cup final, and the national team’s Euro 2020 qualifying games (as much as it pains me to do so).
I’m not going to go into copious detail with every result, because there’s a good 30-something games to discuss, but there will be at least highlights of every game, just a click away.

Wednesday 27/02/19

Hearts	1 - 2	Celtic

Neil Lennon’s first match as caretaker manager for Celtic was a visit to his previous team’s city rivals. He was greeted by two banners, one from the Green Brigade directed at Brendan Rodgers reading “You traded immortality for mediocrity. Never a Celt. Always a fraud.”, and one from Hearts fans reading “Brendan Rodgers is here for 10 in a row”.
Once again the fans were centre of attention at Tynecastle, with Celtic’s support lobbing a coin at Bobby Zlamal, and Hearts’ support producing the staunchest tribute act of 2019.
If there’s a moment in this season where Hibs and Celtic fans have been united in tweeting “inject this into my veins”, it will have been when Odsonne Edouard’s 92nd-minute winner against 10-man Hearts provoked this reaction on the touchline.
Highlights.

St Johnstone	1 - 2	Hibernian

The official SPFL YouTube channel’s description for the highlights of this match does it more justice than I ever could - “Florian Kamberi went down as if "hit by a 40-foot truck" to win the spot kick that set Hibernian on course for a third consecutive win”.
Meanwhile, the BBC still can’t differentiate between former Hibs forward Dominique Malonga and current loanee Stéphane Omeonga.
You can watch the aforementioned highlights here.

Aberdeen	0 - 2	Hamilton Academical

Since awful home performances from Aberdeen are no longer remarkable, this game should exclusively be remembered for George Oakley’s Marco van Basten-esque wondergoal, and little else.
Highlights.

Rangers	4 - 0	Dundee

A solid performance from Rangers who went into half-time 3-0 up against a struggling Rangers.
Highlights.

Kilmarnock	PSTP	Motherwell

This game was postponed on account of no-one, including the players, being able to see a thing. Sorry, Motherwell defender Charles Dunne.

Saturday 02/03/19

Scottish Premiership

St Mirren	1 - 0	Livingston

What a huge result this is for the Buddies, courtesy of an 89th minute goal from Ryan Flynn! This result put them one point behind Dundee.
Highlights.

Kilmarnock	0 - 0	Motherwell

Worth the wait, then. 8 games without a win for Kilmarnock at this point.
Highlights for the morbidly curious.

Scottish Cup - Quarter-finals

Hibernian	0 - 2	Celtic

Without meaning for this to turn into a Scottish Football Fan Trouble Roundup, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that a bottle of Buckfast, or Bucks Fizz if you’re the Mail, was thrown at Scott Sinclair whilst it was 0-0, in the first of two incidents of bampot behaviour at Easter Road within the next week.
Not sure it quite had the desired effect, mind, as shortly after two belters from James Forrest and Scott Brown did the business for Celtic.
Full highlights with commentary.

Sunday 03/03/19

Aberdeen	1 - 1	Rangers

Having been sent off in his previous three matches against Aberdeen, Alfredo Morelos was welcomed back to Pittodrie by a banner reading “Morelos tu madre es un colchón”, or in Scots: “Morelos yer maw’s a mattress”. The Daily Record, of course, seeing this as just as offensive as the fans who fling bottles and coins at players and managers.
Sam Cosgrove had the Dons ahead from the penalty spot, but was at fault as Joe Worrall snuck in the equaliser shortly after half-time, forcing a replay. Full highlights with commentary.

Dundee United	1 - 2	Inverness CT

Brilliant late drama as wee Aaron Doran headed in a goal in stoppage time to book Caley Thistle’s place in the semi-final, in a game which they dominated. After beautiful goal from Joe Chalmers put ICT ahead, United were equal through a contentious penalty converted by Nicky Clarke. Inverness had the ball in the net again before the winner, but Nathan Austin had been ruled offside. Overall, ICT worthy winners.
Full highlights.

Monday 04/03/19

Partick Thistle	1 - 1

A hilarious performance from Hearts on account of how predictable it was; totally dominant with no end product beyond Christophe Berra’s 12th-minute opener, which was cancelled out by Christie Elliot on the counter attack an hour later. Uche Ikpeazu almost scored one of the competition’s greatest ever goals before half-time, and if he had, that most likely would have been it for Partick. However, they managed to force the replay, along with Aberdeen and Rangers, although neither game could be broadcast, because UEFA want you to watch the Champions League.
Full highlights with commentary.

Friday 08/03/19

Hibernian	1 - 1	Rangers

Rangers fans retaliated to the Morelos banner they saw at Pittodrie by coming up with a Spanish banner of their own, reading “de asientos vacios a ovejas que abusan sexualmente Aberdeen FC”, or in English: “of empty seats for sheep who sexually abuse Aberdeen FC”.
With the spotlight on fan behaviour as much as ever before, weeks of incidents were capped off by a moronic Hibs fan running onto the pitch trying to start on James Tavernier, before shiteing it as soon as Tavernier stood up against him.
Rangers totally dominated, and Hibs could have been down to 10 men within as many minutes if Darren McGregor had been sent off for his elbow on Morelos. Morelos couldn’t take his chances, and Rangers couldn’t take their chance to close the gap on Celtic, with Florian Kamberi equalising with 75 minutes played. Darren McGregor was eventually sent-off after all, for a second yellow in stoppage time.
Highlights.

Saturday 09/03/19

Livingston	3 - 1	St Johnstone

Two teams who haven’t really got going in 2019, but fair play to Livingston for responding in such a way to going down after Joe Shaughnessy’s early opener.
Highlights.

Celtic	0 - 0	Aberdeen

Aberdeen’s Scott McKenna may have been linked with Celtic in the summer, but before this game he announced he’d signed a deal with Trump International instead. A bold choice when you consider how popular Trump is in Aberdeen (not very) and also the world (not very).
This fixture is normally a bit of a goal-fest, with the last match between the two sides being a 3-4 Celtic win, but I put a bet on both teams to score, so it’s the first goalless draw since 1994.
Highlights.

Motherwell	3 - 0	Hamilton Academical

The two previous Lanarkshire derbies have been fiercely competitive, with Hamilton victorious when visiting Fir Park, and Motherwell taking the 3 points from the Hope CBD.
This game, however, was all but over in 10 minutes, with a David Turnbull brace putting daylight between the two teams, before Jake Hastie finished Accies off 25 minutes later.
Highlights.

Monday 11/03/19

St Mirren	0 - 1	Kilmarnock

Sickener for St Mirren, but an 87th minute goal from Liam Millar has ended Kilmarnock’s rotten run of 8 games without a win.
Highlights.

Tuesday 12/03/19 - Quarter-final replays

Rangers	0 - 2	Aberdeen

In part three of the epic saga, Aberdeen fans somehow managed to smuggle a blow-up mattress into Ibrox before this match.; yet, despite his best efforts to play as dirty as possible, Morelos managed to break his personal best, and go 2 games in a row without being sent-off against Aberdeen this season.
Game plan executed to perfection for Aberdeen as Niall McGinn capitalised on a dodgy Glen Kamara pass, and Conor McLennan rounded the result off an hour later.
Highlights.

Hearts	2 - 1

Shortly after Hearts meandered to a 1-1 draw with Thistle in the original fixture, their reserve team pumped Thistle’s 9-1, as if to rub salt into the wound.
Hearts went behind to a tap-in from Scott McDonald, but goals from Uche Ikpeazu and Sean Clare were the difference in the end.
Highlights.

Saturday 16/03/19

Hamilton Academical	1 - 0	Hearts

Sad news for Scottish football, after it was revealed that the Hope CBD Stadium, so-called after a cannabis oil company purchased the naming rights to New Douglas Park, would be renamed after just 6 months to the even more eccentric “Fountain of Youth Stadium”. This all comes after they were randomly disrespected by Lord Sugar on Twitter. Tough times to be an Accies fan for sure.
All of this was not enough to prevent Accies from getting one over Hearts, though, with Aaron McGowan’s goal the difference between the two sides.
This result also validates the first words in four months from 22 year old stroke victim Darren Thompson - “Hearts are shite.”
Highlights.

Aberdeen	1 - 1	Livingston

Another astonishingly insipid home performance from Aberdeen and possibly the coldest I’ve ever been at a football match.
Highlights.

Hibernian	2 - 0	Motherwell

Unfortunately ‘due to technical issues’ Hibs were unable to serve chips at Easter Road for this game.. Annoyingly, neither of Marc McNulty or David Gray’s goals were dinked over the keeper, as Hibs put some much-needed distance between themselves and an in-form Motherwell side.
Highlights.

Rangers	1 - 1	Kilmarnock

Before this match Rangers fans took to the offices of BBC Scotland in protest (I’m assuming?) against the unfair treatment they get on Sportscene.
Kilmarnock went ahead through Conor McAleny, who replaced an injured Eamonn Brophy, but Alfredo Morelos was able to equalise. Neither side will be entirely content with a draw, I feel.
Highlights.

Sunday 17/03/19

Dundee	0 - 1	Celtic

If you’re not willing to wait 96 minutes for goals, there was at least some entertainment in this game, as a man jumped down off one of the stands to chase after his tricolour that had just been confiscated by a steward.
If you do like waiting 96 minutes for your goals, then you were in luck, as that’s how long it took Odsonne Edouard to break the deadlock. No damage yet to Celtic’s plot armour.
Highlights.

Thursday 21/03/19

European Championship Qualifying

Kazakhstan	3 - 0	Scotland

All in all a very bad week for the Scottish men’s national football team. First we get absolutely done by the Northern Irish FA on twitter, and then we go on to get absolutely humiliated by Kazakhstan in our first qualifier. God help us.
Alex McLeish did remark that we started brightly, which is funny considering that we were 2-0 down within 10 minutes. There’s also this weird interview with Graeme Jones where he explains why the squad decided not to try to adjust to the different time-zones. Not sure the priorities are quite right in the Scotland camp.
The only highlight of the game as far as I’m concerned is when Sky lost pictures from Astana, but if you really want to see us get absolutely outclassed, then you can do so here.

Saturday 23/03/19

Scottish Challenge Cup

Connah’s Quay Nomads	1 - 3	Ross County

After a player of the round performance from Ross Stewart gave us the most Scottish photoshoot ever - without featuring a kilt or bagpipes - and helped Ross County into the Challenge Cup final, the country of Scotland could put their international misery behind them for a day to watch a Welsh team almost win the final of a Scottish cup competition.
The Nomads went ahead thanks to Michael Bakare 20 minutes in; it took until the 75th minute for County to turn it around. A quickfire double from Josh Mullin gave the Staggies the lead, before Jamie Lindsay secured what may not be Ross County’s last silverware of the season - they look likely to return to the Premiership as Champions.
Highlights.

Sunday 24/03/19

San Marino	0 - 2	Scotland

Where were you when Scotland went 70 minutes without scoring in San Marino? Would you like to experience it all over again? From Kenny McLean’s 4th minute opener, Johnny Russell’s almost-disappointing second goal, and that one moment where they got round the keeper and we actually thought they might score - relive it all here!
Finally, we continue with some action that actually happened this week.

Wednesday 27/03/19

St Johnstone	1 - 0	St Mirren

In the context of the whole season this doesn’t look like a bad result at all, but St Mirren will feel this is an awful point or three to drop.
The Buddies had the chance to go a goal ahead, but Simeon Jackson opted to try a weird panenka along the ground from his spot-kick, which Zander Clark had no trouble with. I mean it’s not as if it could all come down to one goal or one point for St Mirren at the end of the season, anyway.
Shortly after, Chris Kane put St Johnstone ahead by pouncing on a defensive error. Had Jackson’s penalty gone in, and the score remained the same, St Mirren would have been off the bottom before their must-win match against Dundee. They’ll be without Ethan Erhahon for that match after he was given a straight red for a poor tackle late in the match. Architects of their own downfall in this match, St Mirren.
Highlights.

Friday 29/03/19

Livingston	1 - 2	Hibernian

Livingston won’t have any worries of relegation, which is a miracle in itself considering how poor value they looked at the very beginning of the season. Meanwhile Hibs will have known that they could easily fall out of the top 6 with any missteps at this crucial point in the season.
Craig Halkett missed this match through an injury sustained prior to the game, and it was announced today he’d be leaving Livingston for Hearts at the end of the season - with this I reckon he’ll make the Scotland squad for the next series of international games.
In the end, goals from Paul Hanlon and Mark McNulty killed the game off in the space of 5 minutes, and Ryan Hardie’s late penalty was only a consolation for Livingston.
Highlights.

Saturday 30/03/19

St Mirren	2 - 1	Dundee

St Mirren may have been their own worst enemy in the middle of the week, but what a performance and result this is for them - and one which could well be fatal for Dundee.
Dundee went ahead after just 22 seconds through Ethan Robson, which could easily have destroyed any hopes St Mirren had of taking something out of the game, but Danny Mullen scored his third goal of the season - his third against Dundee - to reignite the Buddies’ hopes just 11 minutes later.
The winning goal came courtesy of speccy tube Brad Lyons, affording him the opportunity to premiere his speccy tube celebration in Saturday’s best exhibition of patter.
St Mirren leapfrog Dundee, and are looking much more likely to increase that gap at the moment than Dundee are to close it.
Highlights.

Motherwell	3 - 0	St Johnstone

This result confirms St Johnstone’s bottom 6 placement, and keeps Motherwell’s alive by a sliver.
Chris Cadden returning to the Motherwell bench will be a cause for optimism, and Motherwell looked improved when he came on, with Elliot Frear’s opener occurring 6 minutes after his substitution into the game, and David Turnbull doubling the lead 10 minutes later. Liam Craig had an early penalty saved for St Johnstone, and Richard Tait added a third to complete Saints’ capitulation in stoppage time.
Highlights.

Hearts	2 - 1	Aberdeen

Aberdeen remained without Shay Logan through injury, although he did pull on a kit for his stag do.
They went ahead thanks to Connor McLennan in the first half, but came out after the interval with apparently very little idea of how to play football. Sean Clare and Uche Ikpeazu got on the scoresheet to complete the Hearts comeback.
How it feels to be an Aberdeen fan right now can be summarised by Derek McInnes’ decision in the 86th minute to bring on centre-back Michael Devlin for our only dangerous attacker, Connor McLennan, in a Steven Caulker-esque move. I despair.
Highlights.

Kilmarnock	5 - 0	Hamilton

One of the most notable differences between Brian Rice’s Accies and his predecessor Martin Canning’s side is that Rice has set up much less defensively. As such, his side have been on the end of some right pumpings.
Highly-rated left-back prospect Greg Taylor scored his first ever goal for Kilmarnock, before a second half rout saw four other players on the scoresheet - Conor McAleny, Youssouf Mulumbu, Chris Burke, and Mikael Ndjoli.
This result means that Kilmarnock overtake Aberdeen into third, and will look to hold on to this European place. The job Steve Clarke has done is pretty incredible. Hamilton will be looking cautiously at St Mirren and Dundee beneath them.
Highlights.

Sunday 31/03/19

Celtic	2 - 1	Rangers

You already know how this one went down.
One man whose name shot up in the estimations of 95% of /soccer yesterday is a certain Scott Brown. The events of this match almost entirely revolved around him.
After Odsonne Édouard opened the scoring, the first notable incident involving Brown was the Celtic captain baiting Alfredo Morelos into elbowing him in the face, and laughing at him as he walked off back down the tunnel.
Ryan Kent levelled magically for Rangers, and Celtic too went down to 10 men after Dedryck Boyata went off-injured after their third sub.
When James Tavernier nonchalantly enabled James Forrest’s 86th-minute winner, Brown’s gameplaying saw him get punched in the face by Ryan Kent, which seems to have made both players more of a hero to each side.
Andy Halliday was then sent-off after trying to brawl in the tunnel, just before Brown gave a brilliant post-match interview where he claims not to remember what happened with Kent, and that the post-match scuffle with Halliday was just the Rangers man coming over to congratulate him.
All things considered, a good day for shithousing.
Highlights.
So after all that, the table looks as follows:

Table

Pos		Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts	Form
1		Celtic	31	23	4	4	69	17	+52	73	WWDWW
2		Rangers	31	17	9	5	67	24	+43	60	LDDWW
3		Kilmarnock	31	15	9	7	44	28	+16	54	WDWDL
4		Aberdeen	31	15	7	9	47	36	+11	52	LDDLW
5		Hearts	31	15	5	11	37	36	+1	50	WLWLD
6		Hibernian	31	13	9	9	47	33	+14	48	WWDWW
7		Motherwell	31	13	4	14	36	41	-5	43	WLWDL
8		St Johnstone	31	12	5	14	30	42	-12	41	LWLLL
9		Livingston	31	10	8	13	33	33	0	38	LDWLW
10		Hamilton Academical	31	7	3	20	20	66	-46	24	LWLWL
11		St Mirren	31	5	5	21	23	58	-35	20	WLWDD
12		Dundee	31	4	6	21	25	64	-39	18	LLLLL

Championship Round
Relegation Round
That was a lot so thanks for giving it a read. See yous next Monday for more of the same!
^{Check out /ScottishFootball for good patter and discussion of the SPFL
Last week’s matches were rounded up here
● data from soccerway.com
● thanks mods for 2soccer2bot but it’s still broken}