Barstool’s Weekend Soccer Preview – The “Champions of the World vs Son of Soccer Christ” Edition
Sam’s Safe Space for Soccer Stoolies
Hi Haters™,
YOUGE weekend ahead, and not just because I am heading to Madison to watch Wisconsin stomp Michigan firsthand, but also because we got some fantabulistic jogo bonito in store. I meant to write this earlier in the day but accidentally drank some beers watching Cubs/Cards so please forgive any typos and or other errors that appear herein and the extreme brevity of this week’s blog. Now without further ado…
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ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Results from last weekend:
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POWER RANKINGS
TOP 4
1. City
2. Liverpool
3. Tottenham
4. Chelsea
Honorable mention: United, Lester, Arsenal
BOTTOM 3
20. Newcastle
19. Palace
18. Watford
Dishonorable mention: Southampton
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The table as things stand:
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And this weekend’s schedule:
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PICKS OF THE WEEKEND
Chelsea [+270]
Liverpool [-105]
Draw [+275]
I went over this at some length in the podcast, and I know a lot of people will snicker, but I really think Chelsea have a chance to get a result this weekend. It’s not that Napoli cracked some sort of code and showed teams how to beat Liverpool. It’s more than Chelsea kids have the capacity to be damn good. So, yeah, they could get absolutely stomped. That is a possibility every time out against Liverpool. But at the same time they – at home, with Mason Mount back and crucially N’Golo Kante buzzing around – could give the Reds some real problems. Liverpool’s defense has not been anywhere near the lights out unit it was last year (not yet anyway). I have been tempted all week to go with a draw but as long as I’m gonna stick my neck out might as well stick it all the way out. Gimme Chelsea to win 2-1 and I need a goal from The Birthday Babyjesus more than I need air to breathe.
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Lester [+165]
Tottenham [+140]
Draw [+245]
This is not exactly shaping up in Spurs’ favor. Coming off a midweek game in Greece where they played like shit and didn’t even deserve the 2-2 draw they eventually walked away with, now heading to a rested Lester who has given every indication that they are the strongest (early) contender break into the top six this season. Having said all that, Spurs looked like a totally different team with Danny Rose and Serge Aurier – both rested after skipping Champions League – in the XI. Assuming they are good to go and Christian Eriksen has taken some antibiotics for his acute case of Mesut Ozilitis, I am liking Spurs to win 2-0 in a game that is closer than the final score.
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LOCK OF THE WEEK:
Palace [+160]
Wolves [+170]
Draw [+200]
Palace is fully rested after the entire team took last weekend off. Wolves are coming off a tough loss in Europa on Spursday. Not exactly a recipe for success for the latter but this pick is almost entirely based on how incomprehensible it is that Wolverhampton have yet to win a game in the league despite putting in a number of solid performances. Wolves to win 1-0.
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Here are some more predictions (to increase the possibility that I eventually get one right – maybe):
• Burnley 1-1 Norwich – One very boring team. One very fun team. Usually the latter trumps the former, especially at home.
• EVERTON 3-1 Sheffield – Everton has been schizophrenic so far this season. I’m guessing they take their meds this week and actually show up.
• CITY 2-0 Watford – The Hornets may have saved their season by coming back from 0-2 down against Arsenal last week, and will ride that momentum into the Etihad…. where only conceding two goals should be considered a legitimate moral victory.
• NEWCASTLE 2-1 Brighton – Is it too early to start calling games “relegation 6-pointers”? No? Okay, this feels a little like one of those. DeAndre Yedlin was back practicing this week. Tough for Brighton to overcome that.
• West Ham 2-2 United – Red Devils have been all over the place this season. More of the same? More of the same.
• Arsenal 4-2 Villa – The Villans are missing some key players, including Trezeguet (suspended) and Jonathan Kodjia (injury), which may hamstring their attack a bit. Also, West Ham have rather quietly done some damn good business by signing striker Sébastien Haller from Eintracht this summer.
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LAP AROUND THE WORLD
GERMANY – Not a lot of highlights but Werder and (hopefully) Josh Sargent hosting RB Leipzig on Saturday (11:30am CT) should be fun.
SPAIN – Several good matchups but none better than the traveling circus of Real Madrid heading to league leaders Sevilla on Sunday (2pm CT).
ITALY – MILAN DÆRBY on Saturday (1:45pm CT).
MLS – TONS of games with playoff ramifications. Too many to list in fact, which – despite what Zlatan says – makes things pretty exciting coming down the stretch. The one I’ll call out though is Philly heading to RBNY on Sunday (5:30pm CT) since the latter recently “earned” my provisional good-vibes-only affections.
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So there we have it. Big weekend of #sports. Little bit of a break next week with the next round of Make-Belieague Cup nonsense so rest up boys and girls!
Holler,
Samuel Army