Saturday 16th August 2014
Man Utd 3-0 Swansea 12:45
Leicester 1-2 Everton
QPR 2-1 Hull
Stoke 3-2 Aston Villa
West Brom 0-2 Sunderland
West Ham 1-1 Tottenham
Arsenal 5-0 Crystal Palace 17:30

Sunday 17th August
Liverpool 4-0 Southampton 13:30
Newcastle 1-1 Man City 16:00

Monday 18th August
Burnley 0-2 Chelsea 20:00

Saturday 16th August 2014:
Man Utd 2 v 0 Swansea
Leicester 1 v 1 Everton
QPR 1 v 0 Hull
Stoke 0 v 2 Aston Villa
West Brom 1 v 1 Sunderland
West Ham 2 v 1 Tottenham
Arsenal 4 v 0 Crystal Palace

Sunday 17th August:
Liverpool 2 v 0 Southampton
Newcastle 2 v 1 Man City

Monday 18th August:
Burnley 0 v 3 Chelsea

Hi everybody

Saturday 16th August 2014

Man Utd 1-1 Swansea 12:45
Leicester 0-1 Everton
QPR 1-1 Hull
Stoke 2-0 Aston Villa
West Brom 1-2 Sunderland
West Ham 0-2 Tottenham
Arsenal 4-0 Crystal Palace 17:30

Sunday 17th August

Liverpool 2-1 Southampton 13:30
Newcastle 0-2 Man City 16:00

Monday 18th August

Burnley 1-3 Chelsea 20:00

Welcome to the 9th season of the Premier League prediction competition. This season sees 8 clubs that have been present in each of the previous seasons and 1 club that has not previously featured in our competition (Leicester City).

We welcome 4 new players (Cissy Fairfax, LittleByLittle, Phoenix04 and willrelf92) taking part for the first time (becoming the 311th to 314th players to take part). 3 players (cheeks, Terrence Chant and yakutz) have made predictions in all 9 seasons to date.

The season gets underway with a lunchtime kick off that sees 70 players making a prediction (compared to 83 who predicted ahead of the first kick-off last season). The opening fixture is one of two from this set that also featured on the opening weekend last season (although in both cases the home team from last season’s fixture are away this time around):

Manchester United v Swansea City
68 players have gone for a home win here, with 2 players going for a draw and 1 player going for an away win. 21 players have gone for Man United to win 2-0, whilst 18 have gone for a 3-0 win. There are also four players going for a 2-1 United win and three going for them to win 1-0. Both players going for a draw have gone for 1-1, whilst the only player tipping Swansea for victory has gone for a 2-1 win. We have 21 uber-max predictions for this match: 9 players have gone for United to win 3-1, 8 have gone for 4-0, three for 4-1 and one player has gone for them to win 4-2.

Good luck to everyone 

Bugger.

Saturday 16th August 2014

Leicester 1-2 Everton
QPR 0-2 Hull
Stoke 2-0 Aston Villa
West Brom 1-1 Sunderland
West Ham 0-1 Tottenham
Arsenal 3-0 Crystal Palace 17:30

Sunday 17th August

Liverpool 3-0 Southampton 13:30
Newcastle 2-3 Man City 16:00

Monday 18th August

Burnley 0-2 Chelsea 20:00

Who was the one genius predicting a 2-1 Swans win?

TruffleShuffle was the only player to back Swansea to beat Man United. He got the 2-1 away win spot on to score 5 points and so is our very early leader.

There are 5 matches kicking-off at 3pm today:

Leicester City v Everton
4 players have gone for Leicester to start their season with a win, whilst 26 have gone for them to get a draw. There are 41 players going for Everton to win this. 20 players have gone for a 2-1 Everton, 9 have gone for a 1-0 win, 6 for 2-0 and one player has gone for them to win 3-0. We have 16 players going for a 1-1 draw and two players think it will finish goalless. Three players have gone for a 2-1 Leicester win and one player has gone for them to win 1-0. 8 of the 13 uber-max predictions are for a 2-2 draw, with the other five players tipping Everton to win 3-1.

QPR v Hull City
There are 36 players going for a home win here, 28 going for a draw and 7 going for an away win. The 1-0 QPR win is the most popular prediction here as 17 players have gone for that. A further 12 players have gone for a 2-1 win, four have gone for 2-0 and one player has gone for them to win 3-0. We have 15 players going for a 1-1 draw and 7 going for it to finish 0-0. Three players have gone for a 1-0 Hull win, two have gone for 2-1 and one player has gone for them to win 2-0. 6 of the 9 players going for an uber-max prediction here have gone for a 2-2 draw. The 3-1 Hull win and the 3-1 and 3-2 QPR wins have each been picked once.

Stoke City v Aston Villa
54 players have gone for a Stoke win, 15 for a draw and 2 players have gone for Aston Villa to win. The 1-0 Stoke win is the most popular prediction today as 22 players have gone for that. There are also 14 players going for them to win 2-1, 11 going for 2-0 and one player has gone for a 3-0 win. 7 players have gone for this match to end goalless and 6 have gone for a 1-1 draw. Both the 2-0 and 2-1 Villa wins have been picked once each.

West Bromwich Albion v Sunderland
We have 17 players going for a home win, 28 going for a draw and 26 going for an away win. There are 14 players going for a 2-1 Sunderland win, 7 going for 1-0 and four players have gone for them to win 1-0. 13 players have gone for a 1-1 draw and 8 have gone for this match to be goalless. There are 10 players going for West Brom to win 2-1, whilst the 1-0 and 2-0 home wins have both been chosen twice each. 7 of the 11 uber-max predictions are for a 2-2 draw. There are also two players going for a 3-1 West Brom win, whilst the 3-2 home win and the 4-1 away win have both been selected by one player each.

West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur
7 players have gone for West Ham to win this, 21 have gone for a draw and 43 players have gone for a Spurs win. The 2-1 Spurs win is the most popular prediction for this match as 19 players have gone for that. A further 8 have gone for a 2-0 win, three for 1-0 and one player has gone for them to win 3-0. There are 12 players going for a 1-1 draw and two who have gone for 0-0. Three players have gone for West Ham to win 2-1, whilst both the 1-0 and 2-0 wins have been chosen by two players each. 19 players have gone for an uber-max prediction: 10 going for a 3-1 Spurs win, 7 for a 2-2 draw and two players have gone for Spurs to win 3-2.

I wish I could tell you I'm a genius but unfortunately i'm just a pessimistic Man Utd fan!

There were 8 uber-maxes as Leicester and Everton drew 2-2. Cluedon657, Croctacus, CTD101, dazc, dgsmith, DimbleBurbleby, DimSum and Terrence Chant were the players getting 7 points each from this match. There were 18 other players who also went for a draw and scored 2 points each.

basdfg, Darren Lethem and dgsmith were the 3 players who went for a 1-0 Hull win at QPR. davethecue, LostFool, spindiddly and U.R.Correct were the only other players to go for an away win here.

beth84 and Hayden were the only players to tip Aston Villa to win at Stoke. Neither got the 1-0 victory spot on, so each score 2 points from this fixture.

There were more uber-maxes as West Brom and Sunderland drew 2-2. -Bandit-, bazzaroo, beth84, dbal, MinkyJoe, Phoenix04 and taurus_67 were the players scoring 7 points each here. A further 21 players also went for a draw to score 2 points each

The first cowpat of the season saw dean michael, spindiddly and Steveaustin316 benefit as Spurs won 1-0 at West Ham. With the only goal being scored in injury time these players scored 5 points and gained a +5 cowpat. A further 40 players went for a Spurs win to score 2 points and gain a +2 pat.
InTheLoop and MinkyJoe were the two players who predicted a goalless draw and so ended up with a -5 pat. 19 others also went for a draw to score a -2 cowpat.


After the first 6 matches of the season the leading scores are:

dgsmith 14
beth84 11
taurus_67 11
Terrence Chant 11
-Bandit- 09
bazzaroo 09
Croctacus 09
CTD101 09
Darren Lethem 09
dazc 09
dbal 09
DimSum 09
TruffleShuffle 09
Cluedon657 07
DimbleBurbleby 07
MinkyJoe 07
Phoenix04 07
Steveaustin316 07

dgsmith was the only player to get 2 predictions spot on (1 normal max and 1 uber)

beth84, Darren Lethem, DDRickyDD, dgsmith, Hayden, LostFool, taurus_67, Terrence Chant, TruffleShuffle and U.R.Correct each scored points in 3 of the matches

10 players have failed to score points in any of the 6 matches so far.

For the first Saturday evening kick-off of the season:

Arsenal v Crystal Palace
This match is only the 4th time from 9 opening weekends where we have a cleansweep – all 71 of us have gone for a home win (the three previous occasions all involved us predicting a Chelsea home win). There are 22 players going for a 3-0 win, 13 going for 2-0, three going for 2-1 and one player has gone for a 1-0 Arsenal win. This match has the most uber-max predictions of the opening weekend with 32. Half of these are for a 4-0 Arsenal win, with 11 players going for a 3-1 win. Three players have gone for a 5-0 win, whilst both the 3-2 and 4-1 wins have been chosen once each.

And I am one of the 10

The second cowpat of the day sees DimbleBurbleby, familyguy8904 and Partyanimal score 5 points (and gain a +3 cowpat) courtesy of Arsenal's 2-1 win over Crystal Palace (and the last ditch winner). Everyone else scored 2 points from this fixture and gained a +2 pat.

The leading scores from the 7 matches today are:

dgsmith 16
beth84 13
taurus_67 13
Terrence Chant 13
DimbleBurbleby 12
-Bandit- 11
bazzaroo 11
Croctacus 11
CTD101 11
Darren Lethem 11
dazc 11
dbal 11
DimSum 11
TruffleShuffle 11
Cluedon657 09
MinkyJoe 09
Phoenix04 09
Steveaustin316 09

dgsmith and DimbleBurbleby are the only players to get 2 spot on predictions (both getting a normal max and an uber-max each).

beth84, Darren Lethem, DDRickyDD, dgsmith, Hayden, LostFool, taurus_67, Terrence Chant, TruffleShuffle and U.R.Correct each scored points in 4 of the matches

What does it mean when a game is a 'cowpat'?

This refers to a match that involves one (or more) goals scored after the 87th minute. Over the course of the season it reflects how your predictions have been impacted by late goals. A positive cowpat is beneficial to you (meaning the late goals have generally helped your total) whilst negative cowpats have gone against you. Basically it is the difference between the points you would have scored had the match finished at the end of the 87th minutes compared with the number of points you did eventually score (hope that is clear). When more than one goal is scored after the 87th minute only the effects of the last goal are considered when it comes to the cowpat.

Taking today's cowpat in the West Ham - Spurs match (where the only goal was scored in the 93rd minute) anyone who went for a Spurs win would have scored no points had the match finished after 87 minutes. However, those players who did back Spurs to win 1-0 ended up scoring 5 points thanks to the "cowpat". Consequently those players are said to have scored a +5 cowpat. Anyone else who went for a Spurs win, ended up scoring 2 points and so is given a +2 cowpat.

Likewise anyone who went for a goalless draw would have scored 5 points if it had stayed that way. So they are said to have scored a -5 cowpat. Players who went for a score draw would have scored 2 points, so find themselves with a -2 cowpat.

We keep a separate record of all of the positive and negative cowpats over the course of a season and publish a table showing which players are the luckiest and which are the unluckiest when it comes to late goals.

If only you did that in the World Cup game. My minus score would have been like one off of QI!

Ok I get it, so wouldn't the players who predicted Arsenal to beat Crystal Palace 2-1 get a +5 cowpat and not a +3 cowpat, since they wouldn't have gained any points if the score had stayed 1-1?

Yes they did. Sorry that was my mistake in the write-up - thanks for spotting that. Obviously my explanation made sense then

Haha no problem.

I won't be online again until the second of today's matches has kicked-off so here are the stats for both of today's matches:

Liverpool v Southampton
70 of the 71 players have gone for a Liverpool win, whilst the other player has gone for Southampton to win. The 2-0 Liverpool win is the most popular prediction here as 22 players have gone for that. A further 13 players have gone for a 3-0 win, whilst both the 1-0 and 2-1 wins have been chosen by 7 players each. The only player backing Southampton has gone for them to win 1-0. 15 of the 21 uber-max predictions are for a 3-1 Liverpool win, whilst four players have gone for them to win 4-0 and two have gone for a 4-1 win.

Newcastle United v Manchester City
We have 1 player going for a home win, 6 going for a draw and 64 going for an away win. There are 21 players going for a 2-1 Man City win, whilst 14 players have gone for a 2-0 win. Both the 1-0 and 3-0 away wins have been selected four times each. Four players have gone for a 1-1 draw, whilst the only player going for Newcastle to win has gone for 2-1. 16 of the 23 uber-max predictions are for a 3-1 Man City win, whilst the 2-2 draw and the 3-2 and 4-1 City wins have each been chosen twice. Finally one player has gone for a 4-2 City win.

From today's 2 matches:

Apple_Crumble, Cluedon657, Darren Lethem, davethecue, digiremote, Hibs-kid-2007 and uls2000 went for Liverpool to beat Southampton 2-1. A further 63 players scored 2 points from this match.

Apple_Crumble, Benny Johns, cheeks, Chris MacL, clarky323, DDRickyDD, dean michael, dyer24, familyguy8904, Jamesp84, Phoenix04, Realale, Steveaustin316 and Xavier Quebeck all went for Man City to win 2-0 at Newcastle. The second City goal was a cowpat so these players also get a +3 pat. basdfg, Darren Lethem, Hibs-kid-2007 and Sattrega were the players who went for Man City to win 1-0 and so suffered a -3 pat. In total 50 players scored 2 points from this match.


After 9 matches from the opening set of fixtures the leading scorers are now:

dgsmith 20
Darren Lethem 18
beth84 17
taurus_67 17
Terrence Chant 17
Cluedon657 16
DimbleBurbleby 16
Phoenix04 16
Steveaustin316 16
-Bandit- 15
bazzaroo 15
CTD101 15
dazc 15
dbal 15
DDRickyDD 15
DimSum 15
TruffleShuffle 15
dean michael 14

Cluedon657, dgsmith, DimbleBurbleby and Phoenix04 each have a normal max and an uber-max, whilst Apple_Crumble, Darren Lethem, dean michael, familyguy8904 and Steveaustin316 have 2 normal maxes each.

beth84, Darren Lethem, DDRickyDD, dgsmith, LostFool, taurus_67, Terrence Chant, TruffleShuffle and U.R.Correct have each scored points from 6 of the 9 matches so far

I won't be online again until late tonight so here are the stats ahead of the final match from the opening fixtures:

Burnley v Chelsea
2 players have gone for Burnley to win this, whilst the other 69 of us have gone for a Chelsea win. The most popular prediction from any of the opening fixtures of the season is for Chelsea to win this match 2-0 as 24 players have gone for that. There are also 16 players going for a 3-0 win, 6 going for 2-1 and five going for a 1-0 win. Both players backing Burnley have gone for them to win 1-0. Half of the 18 uber-max predictions are for a 3-1 Chelsea win, whilst four players have gone for 4-0. Both the 4-1 and 5-0 wins have been selected twice, whilst one player has gone for a 5-1 win.

Saturday 23rd August 2014
Aston Villa v Newcastle 12:45
Chelsea v Leicester
Crystal Palace v West Ham
Southampton v West Brom
Swansea v Burnley
Everton v Arsenal 17:30

Sunday 24th August 2014
Hull v Stoke 13:30
Tottenham v QPR 13:30
Sunderland v Man Utd 16:00

Monday 25th August 2014
Man City v Liverpool 20:00

On holiday atm so the first tables will be up all being well early next week

Aston Villa 1-1 Newcastle
Chelsea 4-0 Leicester
Crystal Palace 1-2 West Ham
Southampton 2-0 West Brom
Swansea 2-0 Burnley
Everton 1-1 Arsenal

Hull 2-1 Stoke
Tottenham 2-0 QPR
Sunderland 1-2 Man Utd

Man City 3-1 Liverpool

Saturday 23rd August 2014
Aston Villa 1-2 Newcastle 12:45
Chelsea 4-1 Leicester
Crystal Palace 2-1 West Ham
Southampton 3-0 West Brom
Swansea 3-1 Burnley
Everton 0-2 Arsenal 17:30

Sunday 24th August 2014
Hull 1-0 Stoke 13:30
Tottenham 2-0 QPR 13:30
Sunderland 1-3 Man Utd 16:00

Monday 25th August 2014
Man City 4-2Liverpool 20:00