What the Fans Are Saying – Gameweek 14

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

Manchester  City fans are hoping Chelsea field an unchanged side when they visit the Etihad as that gives Pep Guardiola a good chance to make a very good strategy to beat them. They say Chelsea have looked beatable over the last couple of games and a high press and all out attack strategy could prevail.  However, if Man City sit back Chelsea can find their shape and take control, as they did against Spurs last weekend. They agree they need pace in the team. Yaya Toure has gone back to his slow days and probably won’t play, is the consensus. They know how big a game this is and they are hoping for a 2-1 win even though Chelsea are in fine form. 

Meanwhile, Chelsea fans are slightly worried and think their wingbacks may be targeted by City. They are also worried Pep may outfox them tactically. However, City have a bad defence so there is potential of a good result here and they have to win the midfield battle to win. Chelsea also have a run of easy games coming up, whereas City don’t, which gives Chelsea confidence. Most are pessimistic though and don’t think they can keep Sergio Aguero away from the score sheet.

West Brom’s game against Watford is another winnable game. Watford should miss Miguel Britos and Younis Kaboul at the back and even though the Baggies have respect for Watford they think they will win. They’d like Nacer Chadli back for this game – his box-to-box ball carrying should help.

Last weekend’s loss to Stoke is preying on the minds of Watford fans, but the more levelheaded fans remind the others that their side are severely inconsistent and may perform much better at the Hawthorns. They don’t know what to expect from this game results wise.

Tottenham fans say their loss to Chelsea was encouraging and they can see a win against Swansea. They always score against Swansea, due to their high pressing strategy. Spurs have their full defence back so they should keep a cleansheet too. Most predict Harry Kane to get a brace and perhaps Gylfi Sigurdsson to get a goal against them if Swansea are to score. They have a full team, no hidden agenda and predict 3-0 mainly.

Fans of Swansea are still unhappy with manager Bob Bradley. He gets some credit for his first win, in the 5-4 victory against Palace last weekend,  but he should have started the game with a striker in their opinion. His tactical decisions still annoy them and so too his buzzwords. They can’t see much in this game, they’ve never had won even a point at Spurs yet and are predicting a 2-0 loss.

Sunderland fans have all decided they will beat Leicester at home. They predict 2-1 mainly or even 2-0 and perhaps a rare cleansheet. They know Leicester are in bad form and are prepared to watch their side kick them when they’re down. Sunderland are looking for wins not draws. For some reason they think Jamie Vardy will end his scoring drought  against the Black Cats.

A 4-4-2 formation is proving unpopular among Leicester fans and they don’t want to see it this weekend. Against Sunderland they believe Claudio Ranieri will stick with it though and as a result most Foxes fans think they will lose this weekend. Ranieri’s stock phrase of being ‘pleased with the performance’ after every bad result is another concern. They are worried that Sunderland’s strikers, Victor Anichebe and Jermain Defoe, will slip through their defence like a knife through butter.

Stoke fans are glad they got rid of Tony Pulis. Even though they thank him for everything, they call him bad names – odious is probably the most politically correct. They’d prefer Mame Diouf up front against Burnley and not Wilfried Bony who doesn’t run. They are happy with their victory over Watford and they don’t want too much to change. 

Fans of Burnley are hoping for an improved performance, however, it doesn’t look possible with their still weak attack. Tom Heaton being potentially out is also a big worry and they don’t expect much from this game.

Crystal Palace fans expect a 3-1 loss to Southampton. If they capitulate again, Alan Pardew should run from the pitch quickly. They don’t say much about Southampton instead just accepting that there side will concede goals. They believe they will get a late consolation goal and the only thing worthy of hope is that Southampton played midweek and they didn’t. 

A 4-3-3 formation that has emerged from the original diamond midfield used earlier this season is pleasing Southampton fans. They say that an early goal will silence the home fans and then it would be plain sailing. This game depends on whether Palace’s team is behind Pardew or not. The saints fans suggest Palace are bad at defending set pieces so perhaps they should play James Ward-Prowse with Virgil Van Dyke being a prospective scorer. They think they will win.

West Ham fans say they have no fit strikers to play and they’d like some defenders to defend too against Arsenal. They think another loss is on the cards and a lot of goals conceded too. Their attacking options are very limited and they suggest Arsenal will flood forward, something the Hammers are unable to do. It will surely be 4-2-3-1 formation used,  though because last year Arsenal had the beating of 3-4-3 in the first half and it had to be reverted at half time. They seem very down and don’t even want to watch the game.

Fans of Arsenal  are a little undecided. Some predict a win, others feel West Ham are better than their league table position. A popular score prediction is 3-1 to the Gunners.

Bournemouth fans like their chances against Liverpool. They believe it will be a high scoring game and a few believe they can even win. Without Philippe Coutinho the whole game changes. Him and Adam Lallana destroyed them last season. They see a high scoring draw mainly.

Fans of Liverpool want Divock Origi to play up front because he was playing very well last season until a horror tackle. He has a lot of quality, though Daniel Sturridge will share time with him and is better. Some fans though want Roberto Firmino to stay central because he has apparently been poor playing on the left wing for Liverpool so far. The game should be end to end, which suits Liverpool fine and hopefully they’ll edge it. If Lallana plays they feel he will be key to a victory. 

Everton fans are not looking forward to playing Manchester United. Their players will be walking around and the Red Devils will win 3-0, is a popular prediction. Everton will put out the same team with the same bad performances and same disappointing result. Perhaps Kevin Miralles can shake things up a little? They’d rather not have Gareth Barry playing as he’s too slow. They aren’t happy and there isn’t much hope.

Confidence is high among Man United that they can get a result against Everton. They all want Henrikh Mkhitaryan to start and Paul Pogba to play in Wayne Rooney’s spot as the England captain is banned for the game. Other than that they want Jose Mourinho to keep the same team. They understand that they’re playing well and Everton aren’t but they seem a little tentative because Everton are still a decent team who always give everything in this fixture. Top predictions are 2-1 and 3-1 victories to the away side.

Middlesbrough fans don’t know whether to stick with their ultra defensive formation or play with only two defensive midfielders rather than three against Hull. Martin De Roon could make way for someone more creative such as Stewart Downing. They have a decent chance of a cleansheet but they mainly predict a 2-1 victory.

Fans of Hull are talking a lot about goalkeepers, which shows how their season is going. They don’t even rate their outfield players  high enough to mention. They do hope to get a result at Middlesbrough and predictions are for a low scoring game, with some of them even daring to hope for a win. They may have to reshuffle their team for this game. They enjoyed the cup match against Newcastle, which has partially lifted spirits. 

Conclusion

I don’t think there will be many upsets this week and everything should go to plan. Big wins for Spurs and Arsenal are on the cards and Manchester City fans believe Man City can get the better of title rivals Chelsea. It looks like there will be lots of goals again this week.

Who to captain? Definitely Harry Kane or Alexis Sanchez. I think they’ll both score with Theo Walcott being a strong bet too. Outside of those I wouldn’t like to predict anybody else.

I’d love to predict both Kane and Sanchez as the best captain, but I think the Gunners man just may shade it, especially as November, Arsenal’s bogey month, has passed.