Whitey Grandad

I don’t think we’ve peaked. I think it’s more a case of coming up against a couple of very good (and expensive) teams plus Ings not back to full sharpness. Let’s see how the we get on against the ‘softer’ teams.

Otherwise your mask fills up with shit.

I’m talking rubbish? I am only relaying what Clattenburg said.

I somehow feel that Ralph isn’t too bothered aa out going hell for leather in every game. I think he views it as a process of steady improvement building up confidence and working on keeping our shape. He knows that if we keep getting better the results will follow.

As Clattenburg said on the commentary, anywhere else on the pitch that would have been a foul.

No

He obviously didn’t want to impress Pep.

JWP was a deserved booking. The problem is that so we’re mayofvtheirs that weren’t booked.

Big Boy Bias

He isn’t ready. It was just a chance to get out on the pitch and get a feel of the Premier League.

I think you mean Redmond.

We’re playing for a 0-1 defeat here.

That’s a bigger. Your days will come. If it makes you feel better we had our golden anniversary in the middle of September during the brief relaxation

Many congratulations for Sunday. Fortieth is a great big ruby isn't it?

When I rang the ticket office on Tuesday I was told that they are processing the next two refunds now. Man Utd and Sheff utd

Do you mean “didn’t award us a penalty?

I saw a replay on my coverage. If that had been given it would have been very soft but that could be said of a lot of them this season.

Yes.

The penalty claim was checked and turned down.

Behave!

Yes, I had my two emails an hour ago.

A draw with lots of injuries to each side?

When I saw The Times projection that we could have 36 points my immediate reaction was “nearly safe”

Why Southampton can top the tree at Christmas Bill Edgar It is shaping up to be the craziest Premier League season on record and it is only going to get tougher as the clubs enter the hectic Christmas period. The 20 clubs will play five matches between now and the start of January with a full midweek fixture programme starting tonight. This season has been impossible to predict but — for a bit of festive fun — we decided to make an educated guess at who might sit top of the tree when the decorations come down. Our projected Premier League table indicates what might happen if teams continue to perform at their present level. It also takes into account the strength of the opposition: both those played this season and those still to be faced. Each team is given a ‘home’ and ‘away’ ranking. The home ranking is the halfway point between a team’s average points earned in home matches and the average points gained by their opponents in away matches. For example, Southampton average two points per game at home and their six opponents have averaged 1.41 points per game in away matches. Southampton’s ‘home’ ranking is therefore 1.71. To predict the results of the festive fixtures, we compared home teams’ home rankings with the away teams’ away rankings. Anything less than a difference of 0.15 between the rankings is counted as a draw, to maintain the Premier League’s draw rate of 20 per cent. Otherwise, the team with the higher figure earns victory. Southampton’s ‘home’ ranking of 1.71 is the second best in the Premier League and, under our projection, is enough to earn victories over Liverpool and Manchester City who have ‘away’ rankings of 1.30 and 1.22 respectively. Here, we have predicted the results of all 50 matches. If any results look strange, that is because they reflect a very strange season. KEY:HW Home win; D Draw; AW Away winThis week’s midweek matches all live on Amazon Prime Video Today Wolves v Chelsea 6pm D Man City v West Brom 8pm HW Tomorrow Arsenal v Southampton 6pm AW Leeds v Newcastle 6pm AW Leicester v Everton 6pm AW Fulham v Brighton 8pm AW Liverpool v Tottenham 8pm HW West Ham v C Palace 8pm HW Thursday A Villa v Burnley 6pm D Sheff Utd v Man Utd 8pm AW Saturday C Palace v Liverpool 12.30pm HW S’hampton v Man City 3pm HW Everton v Arsenal 5.30pm HW Newcastle v Fulham 8pm HW Sunday Brighton v Sheff Utd 12pm HW Tottenham v Leicester 2.15pm AW Man Utd v Leeds 4.30pm AW West Brom v A Villa 7.15pm AW Monday Burnley v Wolves 5.30pm D Chelsea v West Ham 8pm D Dec 26 Leicester v Man Utd 12.30pm AW Aston Villa v C Palace 3pm D Fulham v Southampton 3pm AW Arsenal v Chelsea 5.30pm AW Man City v Newcastle 8pm D Sheff Utd v Everton 8pm AW Dec 27 Leeds v Burnley 12pm D West Ham v Brighton 2.15pm HW Liverpool v W Brom 4.30pm HW Wolves v Tottenham 7.15pm AW Dec 28 C Palace v Leicester 3pm AW Chelsea v A Villa 5.30pm D Everton v Man City 8pm HW Dec 29 Brighton v Arsenal 6pm AW Burnley v Sheff Utd 6pm HW Southampton v West Ham 6pm D West Brom v Leeds 6pm AW Man Utd v Wolves 8pm AW Dec 30 Tottenham v Fulham 6pm HW Newcastle v Liverpool 8pm HW Jan 2 (to be confirmed) Brighton v Wolves AW Burnley v Fulham HW Chelsea v Man City HW C Palace v Sheff Utd HW Everton v West Ham D Man Utd v A Villa AW Newcastle v Leicester AW Southampton v Liverpool HW Tottenham v Leeds D West Brom v Arsenal AW

The Times this morning has a predicted table with us at the top after Christmas on 36 points after 17 games. The next three places are Leicester, Everton and Tottenham on 33, 33 and 32 points.