Month: December 2019

Rowan’s Premier League Predictions 2019/20: December 21st-22nd

The penultimate weekend before Christmas was dramatic. Liverpool kept their winning ways going on their march to the title while Man City breezed past Arsenal but Liecteser ended their eight game-winning run having been held to a draw by Norwich City. There were big wins for West Ham at Southampton and Bournemouth at Chelsea [Image above from The Evening Standard] while the M40 derby ended in a one-all draw.

Midweek saw Liverpool field two different sides in two days. The reserves were sent out for Carabao Cup duty at Aston Villa and were resoundingly beaten 5-0. Elsewhere in the competition, both Manchester clubs progressed against EFL opposition and face each other over two legs in the semi-finals. Leicester overcame Everton in a penalty shoot-out to confirm their clash with Aston Villa. Liverpool also progressed to the final of the Club World Cup which means they are not in league action this weekend. Their visit to the London Stadium to face West Ham is still yet to be confirmed. read more

Rowan’s Premier League Predictions 2019/20: December 14th-16th

Last night watching the General Election results coming in was utterly depressing and soul-destroying. It really was. So, I’ll return to more cheerier territory for me and that is football and my sad little bit of escapism.

Last weekend saw some incredible results. Duncan Ferguson, in temporary charge of Everton, while they still seek a successor for Marco Silva defeated Chelsea, Manchester United beat Manchester City in the derby, Jose Mourinho’s Spurs side scored some screamers and Liverpool continued their march towards the title. Meanwhile, another caretaker coach, Freddie Ljungberg got his first win for Arsenal after a 9-minute comeback against West Ham [Image above from The Evening Standard]. Oh, and you just know VAR had its role to play too. read more

General Election 2019: Boris Johnson must not win!

The first December election since 1923 is upon us and while my intents on this blog when discussing politics has to been to remain fair and impartial mostly; I have been keen in the past year to reflect the truth. Hence, the series of posts I’ve done entitled A Tory Said What. Those posts have been difficult to get on top of with the number of mistruths and spins spun by the Tory government. However, since Boris Johnson became leader in the summer the scale of mistruth and keeping up with it all has been virtually impossible.

So, with the country going to the polls, I make this impassioned plea…Please for the love of God, do not return Boris Johnson and his ‘new’ Conservative Party to Downing Street with a majority! read more

2019 General Election: Jeremy Corbyn’s Neutral Brexit Stance

As a Labour member and supporter, one thing I have been increasingly frustrated with the narrative of the party’s stance on Brexit has been portrayed. It’s confusing, it’s too complicated, they’ll argue against their own Brexit deal or they are not a Remain enough party. These are all criticisms that have been levelled at the leadership.

It is understandable. Whether you have for example Emily Thornberry on Question Time saying she’d campaign to remain in any future referendum leaving Fiona Bruce and co aghast, or Joh McDonnell on Peston refusing to say which way he’d campaign, it doesn’t add to a coherent picture. That’s why I was personally delighted to hear Jeremy Corbyn clarify it on the BBC Question Time Special debate a couple of weeks ago [Pictured above, image from ITV] when he said… read more

Rowan’s Premier League Predictions 2019/20: December 7th-9th

It has been a big week of Premier League football! Two sets of fixtures, three managerial casualties in the space of six days and the first set of fixtures ever broadcast through an online streaming service Amazon.

Last weekend, Allison saw red as Liverpool survived a scare against Brighton, Man City dropped points to a Jonjo Shelvey strike at Newcastle meaning the gap at the top is now 10 points. West Ham won a big London derby at Stamford bridge leading to emotional scenes for 33-year-old debutant David Martin in goal who kept a clean sheet (pictured above, image from The Evening Standard) while Arsenal started life without Unai Emery with a draw at Norwich. Watford fell to a bug defeat in the bottom two clash at Southampton and the proved to be the final straw for Quique Sanchez Flores. After 10 games and only one win, he was sacked by the Hornets for the second time. read more