What The Fans Are Saying – Gameweek 38

This article tries to answer the question ‘What the fans are saying’ for the Gameweek ahead by delving into their forums and unearthing their predictions of how the games will be played.

Fans Predictions

Arsenal fans are whining about their season and Arsene Wenger. They want this season to be over, it’s been a massive disappointment after doing so well in the early stages. They think Villa beating them is just as likely as the Gunners winning against the relegated side, such is their malaise.  It sounds like there aren’t going to be too many goals in this game. Villa are expected to sit back and the hope is that complacency will creep in. However, they do think Olivier Giroud had a good game against Man City by his standard and could again in this.

Aston Villa fans are also whinging, and believe this could be the most miserable game in Premier League history. A few want to play the youth but it’s been a disastrous season and if Arsenal need to score 14 goals to get second place it could happen. They also see Olivier Giroud having a field day.

Chelsea fans are talking of playing the kids again against Leicester. They say Willian is burnt out and probably won’t play. The Chelsea fans really want this season to end and if they don’t play well they could get a hammering from Leicester. All in all they seem wary of Leicester and have accepted defeat.

When the fixture list came up at the start of the season most Leicester fans were hoping they’d have avoided relegation at this point. Instead they will get a guard of honour as champions.  With former Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri at the helm this should be a huge love fest. On the pitch they see a goalscoring draw with the team keen to see Jamie Vardy add the golden boot to his 2015/15 accolades.

Everton fans are happy that Roberto Martinez has been sacked and are looking forward to playing against Norwich. It will probably be a 4-1 victory with lots of singing and happiness as if this season had never happened. They just want to see a good reaction from their players.

Norwich fans are very unhappy with Everton after losing 3-0 to Sunderland. They haven’t made any predictions about their game because they are still fuming that Everton  got Norwich relegated. Maybe this is a vain attempt to lower their expectations for the final game of the season. I can’t help but feel sorry for their fans, they know they weren’t really good enough and they’ve been talking about their lack of funds all season.

Manchester United fans aren’t looking forward to their game against Bournemouth because they will probably miss out on Champions League qualification. Even if they win, Man City will probably get a draw. Most think it will probably be a 1-0 or 2-0 victory, but some are wary of Bourenmouth’s pacey attackers such as Josh King. There will probably be a hostile atmosphere at Old Trafford so it won’t be fun.

Bournemouth fans think there will be goals in this game, they always though, which makes their predictions wildly erratic. However, most are predicting a loss, with scores ranging from a 1-0 defeat to a 4-1 thumping.

Newcastle fans are down and say there will probably be a toxic atmosphere towards their board against Spurs. A lot of fans don’t want to turn up for the game, the crowd will be very quiet and some only want to go to show their respect to Rafa Benitez. After their relegation, they now expect to get hammered because there will be no fight in the players. Most expect a 3-1 defeat.

With Mauricio Pochettino signing a new contract this should give Spurs a mental boost the fans think as should their desire to beat Arsenal to second spot. They didn’t like Ryan Mason’s performance against Southampton but he should play again hopefully a bit better this time. They suggest an early goal should get them the win. 

Southampton fans have their eyes on their rival’s fixtures for the European spots. They hope Liverpool or West Ham can mess up and then it will be in their own hands. Even though Crystal Palace will have one eye on the cup final they could stump up some resistance, however, most fans think a win is inevitable. They expect no changes to the team. It could be difficult because Palace are a counter attacking team with pace all over their forward line.

Crystal Palace fans want to rest players. If Man United win the FA Cup final against them then Southampton could get a Europa League spot so they expect some hard challenges from Saints players. They are really looking forward to Wembley but they can’t make too many changes or they’ll get hammered. So they expect a loss, hopefully not too heavy.

Stoke fans hope to give West Ham a good game but they aren’t too expectant. They have been playing poorly for a while. They give teams space and have lucklustre predictable attacks. They are a little wary of Andy Carroll who should give their defenders a hard game. They are also wary of their third choice keeper Jakob Haugaard as he has been dreadful in the net. If they get a result here they expect to see Marko Arnautovic in the goals.

After blanking in double Gameweek 37 Andy Carroll is not popular among many Fantasy football managers but the West Ham fans still love him. He’s unplayable at times and this could be one of those games. If they lose they could slip to 8th in the table but they are very confident of a big win. Most of the league’s fans are unhappy that this is the televised game on Sky so this could help West Ham to not to be too complacent. They are a little worried though.

Swansea fans hope to show the attacking intent they’ve had in their last two matches against Man City rather than hoping for huge slices of luck to get a result. They should attack down the wings heavily and they don’t like the referee Mike Dean. They’d like a good atmosphere at the game so that Wilfried Bony would want to go back to Swansea.

Man City fans want Kelechi Ihaenacho to be replaced with a midfielder after his disappointing performance against Arsenal. So it will be the same team with that exception and hopefully Kevin De Bruyne in the hole. They say Swansea will rest some players but it shouldn’t harm them too much they think. They think they’ll win especially because Sergio Aguero is one behind in the golden boot race. They just plead for their players to not mess up Champions League qualification.

Watford fans say they are playing extremely poorly. It will be a game of tired, poorly trained, poorly motivated players with a spineless midfield and clueless long balls against Sunderland. They expect to lose but they could score. The departure of their manager Quique Flores will also help in this loss. Sunderland will play with a few younger players so it won’t be a foregone conclusion. They think it will be an atrocious game. 

Sunderland aren’t so confident of a win because they will be playing a few U21s. They don’t know what the score will be but they are annoyed Mark Lawrenson has backed them to lose 2-1. But it is understandable as Big Sam will playing most of the youth team.

West Brom fans think they’ll beat a full reserve Liverpool team. This will probably serve to mask the awful performances in the latter part of the season. They think Carlos Rondon will get his 10th goal of the season. Maybe he’s the differential everyone is looking for. So Tony Pulis will really want to win this for himself they say, and a lot of them really don’t like his brand of football. Most want him out; they can’t stand it anymore.

Liverpool fans have their eyes on Sevilla in the Europa League final and want to rest the whole team for Wednesday night. They think they will lose heavily because West Brom can go up three places in the table with a win. 

Score Predictions

Arsenal 2-0 Aston Villa

Chelsea 1-2 Leicester

Everton 2-0 Norwich

Man Utd 2-0 Bournemouth

Newcastle 1-3 Spurs

Southampton 2-1 Crystal Palace

Stoke 1-3 West Ham

Swansea 1-3 Man City

Watford 2-1 Sunderland

West Brom 3-0 Liverpool

Conclusion

It’s Gameweek 38; there are no rules. So unfortunately everything you’ve read may mean very little. However, I do believe there is some predictability and form is still important.

Who to captain? I don’t know. The list of names to captain is endless. I think the captaincy should go to someone on form or someone who has something to play for this season or next season. Names include Romelu Lukaku, Harry Kane, Olivier Giroud and Jamie Vardy.  There is no standout captain choice but a Spurs player could be profitable with their strong attacking statistics.

Differentials could include Christian Eriksen and West Brom’s Rondon. If you need a cheap player then try Liverpool man Oluwaseyi Ojo.