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‘Expert’ UK footy tips

Cape Town – Each round of the 2012/13 English Premiership season, a panel of Sport24 staff and occasional guest tipsters have a crack at predicting the results – do it yourself, if you like, and see how you compare afterwards.

Compiled by Rob Houwing (eternally Newcastle-partial), the others are Garrin Lambley (Everton, and last season’s winner), Dominic Valentine (Liverpool) and Herman Mostert (Chelsea).

Three points are awarded for an entirely correct scoreline, and one for right result.

THE PRIME ATTRACTION

MANCHESTER UNITED v ARSENAL
Saturday, 14:45


This could easily have been the grudge game, when you consider the eternal Fergie v Arsene rivalry (though it’s simmered down a tad in recent years) and also the small matter of that amazing 8-2 scoreline in the equivalent fixture last season. But it also merits best feature of the weekend’s programme, so for the “antagonistic” slot I looked elsewhere. You would think the Gunners will be haunted to at least some degree by that jaw-dropping, late-August outcome last year, when Wayne Rooney grabbed a hat-trick for United and a certain Robin van Persie got on the scoresheet (for the little it mattered!) against the club he now represents. The Daily Telegraph called it “Arsenal’s most humiliating result since the days when Queen Vic was a monarch and not a pub”. We’ve all gone for a Red Devils win again but with, unsurprisingly, more conservative scores this time …   

Rob: Manchester United 1 Arsenal 0
Garrin: 2-1
Dominic: 3-1
Herman: 2-1
Last season: 8-2   

THE GRUDGE MATCH

FULHAM v EVERTON
Saturday, 17:00


This Londoners-meet-Merseysiders duel doesn’t automatically jump out as a prickly fixture, does it? But the reason I’ve chosen it for the category is that Fulham are likely to be strongly motivated by a disastrous showing against the Toffees across the two Premiership encounters last season: it was 4-0 to Everton at Goodison Park, whilst in the Craven Cottage meeting things hardly went better for the home side as they were whipped 3-1. Mind you, it was 1-1 late on when the home side squandered an open-goal opportunity … and then were punished for their wastefulness with stoppage-time strikes from Messrs Saha and Rodwell. With Fulham lying two slots behind the Blues in seventh but sporting home advantage, it’s reasonably understandable that all of us envisage a closely-contested draw. 

Rob: Fulham 0 Everton 0
Garrin: 1-1
Dominic: 1-1
Herman: 1-1
Last season: 1-3

THE DESPERATE DUEL

QPR v READING
Sunday, 15:30


An easy choice, this one: the game pits the only two Premiership teams yet to sample a victory against each other! Home advantage, presumably (rather than any blistering form considerations) sees all four forecasters opting for bottom-placed Rangers to break their win duck. That said, maybe we should be taking into account more seriously Reading’s fighting 3-3 draw with Fulham last weekend? Subsequently, though, they suffered the awful midweek League Cup deflation of squandering a 4-0 lead against Arsenal to lose 7-5! It could mean they stay at sixes and, well, sevens …

Rob: QPR 2 Reading 0
Garrin: 2-1
Dominic: 1-0
Herman: 1-0
Last season: Not applicable 
 
THE OTHERS

SUNDERLAND v ASTON VILLA
Saturday, 17:00


Rob: Sunderland 1 Aston Villa 0
Garrin: 2-1
Dominic: 1-0
Herman: 1-1
Last season: 2-2 

NORWICH v STOKE
Saturday, 17:00

Rob: Norwich 2 Stoke 1
Garrin: 1-1
Dominic: 0-0
Herman: 1-0
Last season: 1-1     

SWANSEA v CHELSEA
Saturday, 17:00
Rob: Swansea 0 Chelsea 2
Garrin: 0-2
Dominic: 1-2
Herman: 1-2
Last season: 1-1

TOTTENHAM v WIGAN
Saturday, 17:00

Rob: Tottenham 1 Wigan 0
Garrin: 2-0
Dominic: 2-0
Herman: 2-1
Last season: 3-1  
 
WEST HAM v MANCHESTER CITY
Saturday, 19:30

Rob: West Ham 0 Manchester City 2
Garrin: 0-2
Dominic: 1-2
Herman: 1-2
Last season: Not applicable

LIVERPOOL v NEWCASTLE
Sunday, 18:00

Rob: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 1
Garrin: 2-1
Dominic: 2-1
Herman: 2-1
Last season: 3-1

WEST BROM v SOUTHAMPTON
Monday, 22:00

Rob: West Brom 2 Southampton 0
Garrin: 2-1
Dominic: 2-0
Herman: 1-1
Last season: Not applicable

*LEADERBOARD

77 Garrin (11 points in last round)
76 Dominic (8)
66 Herman (8)
62 Rob (8)
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