I am really getting a lot of mileage out of the "sporadic" part of my feature's title. Anyway, it's the last day of the season, and that means 10 games all at once, specifically 11 AM Eastern/10 Central on Sunday (So pretty much if you can see this post, get the TV/laptop ready). There's not a whole lot to be played for today. United won the title going away, City is firmly in 2nd, and all three relegation spots (Wigan, Reading, and QPR) are finalized. The battle for 3rd and 4th (and thus the Champions League) is heating up, with Chelsea, Arsenal, and Spurs (currently in that order) all still able to qualify. Will Spurs be the odd one out, or will one of the teams above them stumble? Lower in the table, spots 10-17 are only separated by 4 points, so lots of shuffling could be seen by day's end. How will that affect our prediction contest? Some numbers after the jump.
The 4 bonus points for champions and the 3 relegated teams are locked in. Here's the scoreboard of bonus points:
| Player | Bonus Points |
|---|---|
| DG | 2 |
| The Dread Pirate | 2 |
| Homer Dome | 1 |
| FTLT | 1 |
| DK | 2 |
| Freealonzo | 1 |
| Spookymilk | 2 |
| AMR | 2 |
| davidwatts | 1 |
| MagUidhir | 3 |
Here is the link to the full prediction contest spreadsheet. As of writing this on Thursday, I'm in the lead, followed closely by DG, with AMR in 3rd. After losing out to HomerDome literally in the last seconds of the season (Kun Agüero is on my list), I so want to win this time around. I'm not sure what they are exactly, but I'm sure there are plenty of scenarios where I can drop quite far in the table because of the logjam at 10-17.
The following teams cannot move out of their current spot in the table.
| Team | Position |
|---|---|
| ManUtd | 1 |
| ManCity | 2 |
| Everton | 6 |
| Liverpool | 7 |
| Wigan | 18 |
Everyone else can either catch the team above them or be caught from below.
QPR with a victory and Reading loss, QPR will tie Reading on points and then leapfrog Reading into 19th based on GD. They are currently one behind -28 to -29. but a QPR win will see them improve at least to -28, while a Reading loss will push them back to -29 or worse. A tie or win for Reading will secure them in 19th, regardless of QPR's result. A tie or loss by QPR will secure them in 20th, regardless of Reading's result.
So as I mentioned above, the real fight is for 3rd and 4th. Here are the fixtures for the 3 teams involved (home teams first)
- Chelsea - Everton
- Newcastle - Arsenal
- Tottenham - Sunderland
Spurs need a win and Arsenal to drop points to even have a chance. A win and an Arsenal tie/loss will move them into 4th. Spurs cannot catch Chelsea, thanks to Chelsea's far superior GD (OK, theoretically if Chelsea lose and Spurs win by a combined margin of 17+ goals, they can catch Chelsea). If Arsenal win at Newcastle, Spurs will finish 5th regardless of their result.
One interesting scenario is a 3rd place play-off. You can check this article for the details, but the "tl;dr" version is that it is possible that Arsenal and Chelsea can finish level on points, GD, and goals scored. Because the 3rd place team is automatically into the CL group stages and 4th place is into the qualifiers, there must be a one game playoff. I am rooting for this to happen, simply because it's never happened before.
Going Forward
- Champions League final is May 25th at 3:45 Eastern/2:45 Central. Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund face off at Wembley. There will be a game log for that.
- Earlier this year, I promised myself to try to be a better MLS supporter. So far, it's not gone too well, but I fell like with the close of the European season, I'll be able to focus on MLS more. I'll definitely post some MLS-centric SSSs over the summer months. What are everyone's favored teams?
Chelsea making it harder to catch up on goal differential early on.
And now 1-1 at Stamford Bridge. Pretty exciting stuff over there.
We have Newcastle-Arsenal on at the rink.
COME ON!
Demba Ba for Newcastle: 13 goals, 0.62 g/game
Demba Ba for Chelsea: 2 goals, 0.14 g/game
Torres! NICE TO SEE YOU
In the literal 45 seconds it takes me to get home from work, I miss a goal
Looks like a ludicrous finish for West Brom-Man U as West Brom scores in 81, 81 and 86 to pull even at five goals. I...wish that had been on at a different time.
Final Standings
Hey, I was second place but not even close to first! I feel like Man City.
Results if West Brom had not scored those three late goals
Spooky's got someone in the midlands to thank.
Me too.
Though I don't know who Brom is or what team he plays for. Is Midlands a team? A hat trick is pretty impressive.
Is there any tiebreaker between Spooky and myself for second place?
West Bromwich Albion is a team in Birmingham, which is in the Midlands (like Chicago being in the Midwest).
As for your second point, I'll check last year's post which laid everything out and see if we ever decided on a tiebreak method.
You both had 12 points off of positions, and 2 points from bonuses, so that's no help.
You had three 3-pointers and three 1-pointers, whereas Spooky had two 3's and six 1's.
I don't know if you get win for getting more dead right (3 v. 2), or he wins for scoring with more selections (6 v. 8)
Spookymilk survivor goes to more golds.
Using his own method, tiebreaker is the more completely right.
Which gives it to me.
But I'll wait to hear from him.
That's actually Play with the Prose. But, yes, I am clearly fighting myself here...
Yeah, I think considering them as wins/ties, as in soccer with 3 and 1 pointers, you'd have to give the nod to more wins.
SHould it be
1) "Wins"
2) "Ties"
3) Non-bonus points
Then?
Maybe 4)Relegation bonus points after that since they're harder to predict than the champs.
After a disastrous middle, Chelsea ended up having a good season:
1. 3rd place in EPL
2. Frank Lampard gets club record in goals scored and signs 1 year contract
3. Europa Champions
4. Gave Sir Alex Ferguson his last home loss.
5. Mourinho just days away from being named new coach.
I saw somewhere that Mourinho's buyout at RM is really high and there was speculation Roman may not want to pay that much to get a coach he had to buyout to leave, but we'll see. I eagerly await The Special One's return to Stamford Bridge.
Mourhino and Abramovich got along so well the first time, after all.
I know...muahahahahaaha
Just saw Bale's goal. Another ridiculous strike from range after cutting in onto his left foot. I'm not sure much can be done to stop him doing that, but defenders have to know that's coming.
Bale will look good in a Madrid kit next year.
I will readily admit I don't follow as closely as many folks around here so this question is in all seriousness; why is he more likely to make the move this off season? I have heard/read people talk about Bale leaving for years now and he is still in Lily White ever year.
It's all about the Champions League. That's where the money and fame is. Without CL cash Tottenham will be hard pressed to add a player to complement Bale.