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‘Expert’ UK soccer tips

Cape Town - Each round of the 2014/15 English Premiership season, a panel of Sport24 staff and occasional guest tipsters have a crack at predicting the results - do the exercise yourself, if you like, and see how you compare afterwards.

Compiled by Rob Houwing (Newcastle-partial), the others are Garrin Lambley (Everton), Herman Mostert (Chelsea), Earl Haupt (Liverpool) and a pesky new trio of Manchester United devotees in Tashreeq Vardien, Wade Pretorius and Maano Nekhavhambe.

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

THE PRIME ATTRACTION

CHELSEA v ASTON VILLA

Saturday, 16:00

Tough job nailing down the game for this slot, given the proliferation of genuinely big derbies this weekend ... but they find their real estate elsewhere in this article! Instead I’ve used the current standings as my key yardstick, which makes leaders Chelsea against third-placed Villa the most appealing on those grounds. Mind you, I’m not sure quite how appealing, given my firm belief that the Midlanders are punching rather above their weight and will drop out of the leading pack pretty soon. They did beat Liverpool away, but their last result (0-3 at home to Arsenal) possibly signals that correction I mentioned. No fewer than three of us see the Blues romping to a 3-0 triumph, and only Maano fancies a share of the spoils at Stamford Bridge.  

Rob: Chelsea 3 Aston Villa 0  
Garrin: 2-0
Herman: 2-1
Earl: 3-0
Wade: 3-0
Tashreeq: 2-1
Maano: 1-1
Last season: 2-1                         

THE GRUDGE MATCH

ARSENAL v TOTTENHAM

Saturday, 18:30

This biggest of the various London derbies is a fairly natural candidate for “grudge” slot, yes? It brings the north of the city to a standstill, regardless of fortune at the time for the respective clubs. The Gunners enter it in better present fettle, given their near-imperious win at Aston Villa last time out, and lie further up the table (in fourth) than iffy Spurs do. Tottenham come off a worrying home reverse to West Brom, so their long-suffering fans can only hope better times are around the corner ... this particular corner! Six of our seven pundits see three points for Arsene Wenger’s charges, with Maano again deviating from majority sentiment. Last season it was 1-0 at the Emirates, with Olivier Giroud the goal-scorer.

Rob: Arsenal 2 Tottenham 1
Garrin: 2-1
Herman: 2-1
Earl: 3-1
Wade: 2-1
Tashreeq: 2-1
Maano: 1-1
Last season: 1-0                         

THE DESPERATE DUEL

LIVERPOOL v EVERTON

Saturday, 13:45

Ever so slightly influenced by the fervent plea of one of our Red Devils-partial panellists - no name, no pack drill - that I give Man U a break from “desperate” status, I will now incur the wrath of Garrin and Earl by putting both Merseyside teams unusually in the berth. It is only because they go into the lunchtime derby in slightly fragile frames of mind: ‘Pool have already lost a dangerous amount of ground through successive Premiership defeats, whilst the Toffees experienced a sobering 3-2 home loss to Crystal Palace last weekend. I’ve taken the cagey stalemate route on this one, with neither goalkeeper having to retrieve the ball from the onion bag. A pleasant memory for Reds fans, though, is that it was 4-0 in their favour at Anfield last season, Daniel Sturridge scoring twice (and even having time to miss a penalty).  

Rob: Liverpool 0 Everton 0  
Garrin: 1-1
Herman: 2-1
Earl: 2-1
Wade: 1-0
Tashreeq: 2-2
Maano: 1-2
Last season: 4-0                    

THE OTHERS

CRYSTAL PALACE v LEICESTER

Saturday, 16:00

Rob: Crystal Palace 1 Leicester 1
Garrin: 1-1
Herman: 1-1
Earl: 1-1
Wade: 1-1
Tashreeq: 2-1
Maano: 1-2
Last season: Not applicable                   

HULL v MANCHESTER CITY

Saturday, 16:00

Rob: Hull 0 Manchester City 2
Garrin: 0-2
Herman: 0-1
Earl: 0-2
Wade: 1-3
Tashreeq: 1-2
Maano: 2-0
Last season: 0-2           

MANCHESTER UNITED v WEST HAM

Saturday, 16:00

Rob: Manchester United 3 West Ham 1
Garrin: 2-0
Herman: 2-1
Earl: 3-1
Wade: 3-1
Tashreeq: 3-2
Maano: 3-1
Last season: 3-1                  

SOUTHAMPTON v QPR

Saturday, 16:00

Rob: Southampton 2 QPR 0
Garrin: 2-0
Herman: 1-0
Earl: 3-0
Wade: 2-0
Tashreeq: 1-0
Maano: 1-1
Last season: Not applicable           

SUNDERLAND v SWANSEA

Saturday, 16:00

Rob: Sunderland 1 Swansea 1
Garrin: 1-1
Herman: 1-1
Earl: 1-1
Wade: 1-1
Tashreeq: 1-1
Maano: 0-0
Last season: 1-3                   

WEST BROM v BURNLEY

Sunday, 17:00

Rob: West Brom 1 Burnley 0
Garrin: 2-1
Herman: 1-1
Earl: 1-0
Wade: 1-0
Tashreeq: 1-0
Maano: 2-0
Last season: Not applicable

STOKE v NEWCASTLE

Monday, 21:00

Rob: Stoke 1 Newcastle 1
Garrin: 1-1
Herman: 1-1
Earl: 1-1
Wade: 2-1
Tashreeq: 1-1
Maano: 1-1
Last season:1-0             

*LEADERBOARD

34 Garrin (6 points in last round)
32 Herman (6) & Rob (3)
24 Wade (3)
23 Maano (4) & Earl (0)
20 Tashreeq (0)

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