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'Expert' UK footy tips

Cape Town - Each round of the 2011/12 English Premiership season, a panel of Sport24 staff tipsters have a crack at predicting the results - do it yourself, if you like, and see how you compare afterwards.

Our forecasts also offer assistance (if that is the right word!) to those who take part in the SuperBru megapool (Pool code: cropriot) created by Sport24.

Compiled by Rob Houwing (the champion for the last two seasons but a Newcastle supporter for his sins), the others are colleagues Garrin Lambley (very Everton-partial), David Brooke (Manchester United), Dominic Valentine (Liverpool) and a novel newcomer in “converted” rugby devotee Tank Lanning (another of those infernal Red Devils fans).

THE PRIME ATTRACTION

TOTTENHAM v ARSENAL
Sunday, 17:00


You couldn’t have said this a couple of weeks back, but suddenly this most traditional of derbies features sides just beginning to find a semblance of form. Arsenal come off good wins both in the Premiership and more recently in the Champions League in midweek, while Spurs beat Wigan away last weekend. So both teams may well fancy grabbing all three points, which should make for an action-packed affair. A gut feel tells me Arsenal, but several of my co-tipsters go the Spurs route and ever-cagey Garrin not unexpectedly backs a 1-1 stalemate. This was a 3-3 thriller last season, as the Gunners’ title bid started to falter near the end of the campaign and Arsene Wenger visibly unravelled “upstairs”!

Rob: Tottenham 0 Arsenal 2
Garrin: 1-1
David: 2-1
Tank: 2-1
Dominic: 2-1
Last season: 3-3

THE GRUDGE MATCH

EVERTON v LIVERPOOL
Saturday, 13:45


If you love your fiery derby scraps ... well, here’s another big ‘un for the weekend. The Merseyside match-up is always worth watching, whatever the health of the combatants in ladder-position terms. It’s not the easiest game to call, because both the Reds and Toffees are struggling for consistency and it could go either way. Everton won the corresponding duel 2-0 last season, but none of us can quite see the way clear to back them again – the draw is a favoured selection.

Rob: Everton 0 Liverpool 0
Garrin: 1-1
David: 0-1
Tank: 1-2
Dominic: 1-1
Last season: 2-0

THE DESPERATE DUEL

SUNDERLAND v WEST BROM
Saturday, 16:00


I thought Sunderland were surprisingly tame in their Monday night defeat at Norwich, and Steve Bruce will be extremely grumpy with their start to the season – the Black Cats lie in 14th spot after some pre-season signings had seemed to suggest better things for them. Still, West Brom are languishing several notches lower in 19th, and with a likely rocket up their you-know-whats, several of us believe Sunderland will get back to winning ways at the Stadium of Light. Interestingly, Dave goes for the West Brom three-point raid – maybe buoyed by last season’s result in a five-goal affair.

Rob: Sunderland 1 West Brom 0
Garrin: 2-1
David: 0-1
Tank: 1-0
Dominic: 2-0
Last season: 2-3

THE OTHERS

ASTON VILLA v WIGAN
Saturday, 16:00


Rob: Aston Villa 3 Wigan 1
Garrin: 2-1
David: 2-1
Tank: 1-0
Dominic: 2-0
Last season: 1-1

BLACKBURN v MANCHESTER CITY
Saturday, 16:00


Rob: Blackburn 1 Manchester City 1
Garrin: 1-2
David: 1-0
Tank: 1-3
Dominic: 1-2
Last season: 0-1

MANCHESTER UNITED v NORWICH
Saturday, 16:00


Rob: Manchester United 3 Norwich 0
Garrin: 2-0
David: 3-0
Tank: 3-0
Dominic: 4-0
Last season: Not applicable

WOLVES v NEWCASTLE
Saturday, 16:00


Rob: Wolves 2 Newcastle 2
Garrin: 1-1
David: 1-1
Tank: 1-1
Dominic: 1-1
Last season: 1-1

BOLTON v CHELSEA
Sunday, 14:30


Rob: Bolton 1 Chelsea 2
Garrin: 1-2
David: 1-2
Tank: 0-2
Dominic: 1-3
Last season: 0-4

FULHAM v QPR
Sunday, 16:00


Rob: Fulham 1 QPR 1
Garrin: 2-1
David: 2-1
Tank: 2-0
Dominic: 1-0
Last season: Not applicable

SWANSEA v STOKE
Sunday, 16:00


Rob: Swansea 0 Stoke 0
Garrin: 1-1
David: 0-1
Tank: 1-0
Dominic: 1-1
Last season: Not applicable

LEADERBOARD

Under our traditional, in-house scoring system for the five Sport24 staff featured here, Tank stays top: but his shares suddenly look less firm because the gap has been closed to only two points after second-placed Dom made up three points on him last weekend. Some movement in the “bowels”, I am happy to say – although I remain at the back of the field my last round eclipsed all others. This is the state of affairs:

44 Tank (7 points in last round)
42 Dominic (10)
41 David (8)
39 Garrin (12)
32 Rob (13)

*In the broad, Sport24.co.za pool on SuperBru, which sports 1,220 players, “Johies” has taken the lead with 55.80 points, followed by “Andy” on 53.80. The yellow cap for best performance in the last round belongs to “Stormer”.
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