The argument never goes away, but surely those who question the pedigree of the English Premiership are in the minority, writes GARY LEMKE.
Each season we hear the same thing: The English Premiership might be exciting, but the standard of football is inferior to other leagues around Europe. Routinely, the argument is based on the winner of the Ballon d’Or – as well as the team that lifts the Champions League trophy. Messi and Suarez are in La Liga, Ronaldo in Serie A and Neymar and Mbappe in Ligue 1. Who is the best player in the Premiership? Hazard? Aguero? Sterling? Pogba? Van Dijk? De Gea?
This week served as another sober reminder why those who knock the Premiership are living in cloud cuckoo land. Four Premiership teams started out in the 2018-19 Champions League draw, and all four remained when the quarter-final stages came round – four out of eight teams left in the competition. The others were from the Netherlands (Ajax), Portugal (Porto), Spain (Barcelona) and Italy (Juventus).
Consider too, how Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham booked their places. City saw off German club Schalke 0-4 with a 10-2 aggregate over two legs, United beat PSG 3-1 away from home to advance on away goals, Liverpool beat Bayern Munich 3-12 away and Tottenham hammered Dortmund 4-0 on aggregate.
In most other leagues it’s a one-horse race: Spain have Barcelona (and with Real Madrid there for now in name only), Germany have Bayern, Italy have Juventus and France has PSG. Yet, the Premiership has provided 50% of the quarter-finalists.
Only Liverpool are involved in league action this weekend, though, as there’s a diluted five-match fixture list. Liverpool should go two points ahead at the top of the table by seeing off relegation-bound Fulham at Craven Cottage, while in the only other really significant fixture, Chelsea travel to Goodison Park where victory over Everton would see the London club leapfrog Man United into fifth spot, a point behind Tottenham and behind Arsenal only on goal difference. It’s a massive game in the context of the race for Champions League places.
Elsewhere, unpredictable West Ham host bottom feeders Huddersfield, struggling Burnley host Leicester and need the three points to give them a bit of a buffer over 18th-placed Cardiff City, who aren’t in action this weekend.
The other match is between 12th and 13th-placed Bournemouth and Newcastle respectively, where a draw will likely be a popular call.
The most common scorelines so far this season are:
48 times: 2-0
46 times: 2-1
41 times: 1-0
33 times: 3-1
26 times: 1-1
20 times: 0-0
17 times: 3-0
12 times: 3-2
11 times: 2-2
8 times: 4-0
7 times: 4-2
6 times: 4-1, 5-1
5 times: 5-0
2 times: 6-1, 4-3
1 time: 3-3, 6-0, 6-2
Here are the SportsClub team’s predictions for this week’s round of fixtures.
West Ham vs Huddersfield
Gary Lemke (155/271): 2-0
Dylan Appolis (161/271): 1-1
Juandre Joubert (148/271): 2-1
Dean Workman (148/271): 2-0
Burnley vs Leicester
Gary Lemke: 1-1
Dylan Appolis: 1-0
Wade Pretorius:
Juandre Joubert: 1-1
Dean Workman: 1-2
Bournemouth vs Newcastle
Gary Lemke: 2-1
Dylan Appolis: 2-1
Juandre Joubert: 1-1
Dean Workman: 1-1
Fulham vs Liverpool
Gary Lemke: 1-3
Dylan Appolis: 0-2
Juandre Joubert: 1-2
Dean Workman: 1-5
Everton vs Chelsea
Gary Lemke: 1-2
Dylan Appolis: 1-2
Juandre Joubert: 1-1
Dean Workman: 1-1
Lemke is the 2017/18 EPL Superbru Global champion
