Fifa 12 Review or Fifa 13 Preview? – VP and Clubs Part 1

With Fifa 12 having such a broad nature about it, I’ve decided not to necessarily review the whole game in one solid piece. The title also indicates that this isn’t just me reviewing the game; I also want to put across what I’d like to see in future FIFA’s. I’ve had the game for a few weeks now and I feel it’s time to talk about some major and minor issues the game has. Hopefully I can send this to a other well known ‘reviewers’ as well as some EA guys as I know Romily Broad loves to read some community articles etc.

I thought I’d start with someone that hasn’t been mentioned at all. I’ve looked around and seen nothing about the whole VP system. Virtual Pro is a massive feature for me but it also seems quite an untapped market for FIFA players. I’m a big fan of the clubs mode which really ties into the VP system; I’m only 50% through this year but the tedious, repetitive nature has now got to me.

I wasn’t expecting anything drastically different but only a few extra accomplishments and oh... pants for my goalkeeper. That it? As stated before, I know they haven’t gone down this particular route this year so I’m going to chuck a few ideas out there that can revolutionise FIFA 13.  

Lets start with the traits. As you are fully aware, they’re no new traits this year which has really got to me. A major disappointment is only three goalkeeping traits. I generally feel this can be massively updated. If you’re an acrobatic keeper, I’d love some type of special punch trait or something that would really identify you as an acrobatic keeper. The traits should really blend with the play style of your pro. I’d like to see the ability to push the ball around the post (I know you can do this but with an acrobatic keeper; the trait could give that extra incentive for the pro to dive that little further.)

If you’re defensive midfielder I’d like to see a crunching tackle trait or even take engine and move them to the traits section. This could completely eradicate pointless ones like long throw and fancy passes. Flair can easily be both fancy passes/flicks rolled into one. The long throw is useless in the game. In real life the long throw for Stoke is massively effective. So why not in Fifa can I have custom throw-ins? I’d like one of my guys in front of the keeper; so he can’t just run out and collect the ball. Rory Delap has a mixture of flat and floating deliveries... why can’t that be implemented?

I’ve not really gone into major detail about what specific traits I’d like to see, if you want me to carry on with that then I’ll put in another article. Staying with VP, I’ll move onto clubs. I know that it was all about the servers this year and connection improvements (still hasn’t been totally fixed, seem to get lag in certain games, not my connection, may be an issue with the frame rate?) but there always seems to be something missing.

Firstly, fantastic job with the new AI. Brilliant. The only shame is hardly anyone uses an ANY in clubs, something that IMO needs to be addressed. Leaving the defensive work to the computer and bashing A for the ball is pointless and rather annoying to play against. So, I’d like to see either any be a position that HAS to be used. Or, it doesn’t have to be used if 1. Both CB roles are filled and 2. If it is 11 v 11 (obviously.)

I’d like the progressive nature of my club to be noticed. If I’m a 2k point club and I have an away game at the O Dromo, I want to know I’m in for a hard game. For this to happen, I’d like to see real players being able to be bought at set levels. I know they’re 1000’s of players and Fifa and this could be a tedious programme of what players to pick but I’ll give you an example.

Lets use the UT coins system. You’ve hit level 10 as a club. As a reward, you can select one or 2 players but obviously in return for your coins. This would also fix people constantly re-starting new clubs (something people that play it ‘competitively’ can get ratty about.) Lets make this clear, I’m not saying you can get Messi for your club straight away.

If you’re a team who has played a massive amount of games, have a terrific stadium, won a massive amount of games and have won cups along the way, that is something that would appeal to the likes of Lionel Messi. Being part of a club is all about managing it but with clubs, it is just playing games and after a while, becomes very repetitive. If you don’t want to go down the real players’ route, the AI could upgrade (like they’ve hit their potential in career mode.)

 

Another thing I’d like to see introduced is custom kits and badges. The whole point of clubs is to start a new club right with your mates? Why am I restricted to choosing kits that other clubs use? I know this has been on a wish list for a while now and hopefully it can be added. As well as custom kits, do I dare say custom stadiums? (maybe I’m dreaming now.)

 

Before I go, what about Ultimate Team clubs? That is a discussion for another time.

Thanks for reading!

Appsolutely Mayhem

This article isn’t about the basics of the Web App failure, if you don’t know anything about the Fifa 12 Ultimate Team Web App, you may as well not read the rest of this. Firstly, I want to put this in a positive light so I’ll start with a negative first, better to end on a positive, isn’t it?

After being a loyal customer for all these years now, I’m going to defend EA as I can honestly I’ve overall had an enjoyable experience playing EA Sports games, there may have been moments where I didn’t enjoy it but I can honestly say I’ve never said the words “EA IS JUST S***.” (Something a few of the community love to say.)

The only negative I will point out is the irony on how the EA Servers will be reliable this year. We all know there have been problems but with the lack of new features for the online modes, and first impressions indicate that the servers won’t be in tip-top shape, doubts are creeping in. I’m not a server expert but surely the game servers are different to the ones on the app, I’m sure someone will correct me on that and can elaborate on the server issue. A positive from this is that the Fifa community is clearly growing as well as the amount of people working on the game.

You may say people are doing a bad job but put yourself in their shoes, can you do what they do? No, I don’t think the majority can. Without them, Fifa wouldn’t be what it is today (waits for sarcastic comments about how “S***” it is,) the awards Fifa get speaks for itself and to doubt the staff, the people who work for your entertainment is just idiotic. If you can prove that you can do better, hand in your CV to them and see how far it gets you.

I’ve been seeking many more questions than answers so I found myself using the EA forums again. The only answer I got was the average age of a Fifa player must be about 9. This takes me back to the Fifa community is clearly growing, well I don’t necessarily see that being solely being from the game being as good as it is. I’m not going to name names but I am going to blame some of the Youtube Stars for this. You know who they are, who do that type of thing, some are great and have a great understanding, and the others are simply jumping on the bandwagon, bringing their clueless, immature subscribers with them.

Now I move onto how we can fix the predicament we’re in. Firstly, I think bringing some of the more mature Fifa community (some of the bloggers like FifaSoccerBlog etc) more control. Not necessarily saying they should make the game but I feel they could bring a whole new dimension to Fifa as they know what we want. I know some of them are “gamechangers” but they could do more if allowed?

Secondly, I wouldn’t give a release day to the app. Sounds strange I know but the problem was the amount of people that tried to get on the app, so why don’t they just make sure it is 100% complete before release? Gamechangers could get exclusive access and give their feedback, increasing the chances of an app being released on time. The initial rush of people on there won’t be as high but the news the app being open would spread like wildfire, just a suggestion.

Lastly, to complete the trinity of renovations, I would also charge. This may sound again stupid but to get rid of the idiots, charge a small sum. If you have the season ticket then you can get it for free, it’s just another way to get rid of the immaturity and probably a fair bit of the scams that involve UT. I’m not going to mention how I’d improve the app anymore; you’re probably thinking “what an idiot.”

I now move onto on what I’d do in the next few days before release. Starting with the daily gifts, I’d scrap the bid tokens. All web app users should be given 100 bid tokens from the start; the gifts should be the mini packs or a small amount of coins, nothing major but a nice addition. Talking about packs, I’d also reduce the price of them until release. This is only due to the amount of players on the market and also, it is another incentive to use the app.

Putting both together, I know it is a free app and the moaning is completely idiotic but it would nice if we could get maybe a bit of a prize for being patient about the delay. I’m going to suggest an extra free players pack but take away the free daily gifts. My initial thoughts is that would be a good idea but again, someone will probably correct me.

Overall, I’m honestly not fussed on the state of the web app; I’m more bothered about the community. I actually hate using the word community but you kind of have to in this situation. I hope you’ve enjoyed my suggestions as well as a positive way of looking at things.

 

Thanks for reading,

Brad Harper.

Reflecting - Deadline Day.

The window may be shut but there’s still time to reflect on yesterday’s events. Don’t expect this to be the usual stereotypical blog, there will be grammatical errors, this is me reflecting on yesterday and to do that, I don’t want to ‘fine tune’ the article afterwards, so, lets begin with the start of the day.

As a Manchester United fan, I’m going to start off with my own particular club, if you don’t want to read about Sneijder, skip the next few paragraphs. The word I’d use on the possibility of the deal for me was optimistic. The twitter rumour mill was in full flow with mainly, a split opinion. Some say the deal was on, and others said it was off, as simple as that. With the deal being “dead” I was surprised when Sky Sports News (who I’ll get onto later) said they had “exciting news for Manchester United fans.”

Twitter went into turmoil, we were all on the edge of our seats, and even the neutrals were slightly excited. SSN are usually very good when it comes to transfers, knowing deals and normally confirming the deals on the programme.  This has changed this year. Twitter has simply ruined SSN, even though the confirmation and the reliability of SSN is so much greater than twitter, they narrow down the good from the crap, but this year, SSN fell for the crap.

Now, time to rant. Why the hell are you giving us this “exciting news” if you don’t even know it yourself? It took you 3 hours just say “there’s nothing new on Wesley Sneijder” Why? Why did it take that long, that’s pathetic. You gave so many false hope yesterday, including me, for what? I later found out it was the “excitable presenters fault” erm, no it wasn’t. You fell for a twitter rumour, you announced it to the viewers, you built it up “will Wesley Sneijder come to Manchester United, or not coming up next.” Those were the words of Hayley McQueen, one of the presenters. I’m not blaming her, someone should of told them that they’re not 100% sure that this is concrete information, she was in the loop as much as anyone.

I can fully accept you got it wrong, it happens, you even fell for a fake Stewart Downing twitter account over James Milner, and again, nothing happened after that. Surely, if you’ve given false (quite major) information, you should apologise, live on TV. No, they didn’t do that, they just kept badgering on about Cameron Jerome to Stoke, which they announced about an hour earlier.  I, as well as others, were pissed off and quite frankly have received quite a lame excuse back, an apology would be nice.

Sneijder didn’t come but they were other signings and I don’t want to bother you about the saga anymore, that’s the last of it from me, I promise. Now, I don’t want to talk in a very analytical view on each clubs signings, so, I’ll just mention a few. Firstly, Arsenal.

Speaking to fans before, and after the deadline, it seems a flash of realism has struck them. Losing such key figureheads in their previous side has seriously dampened the mood at Arsenal, and everyone knew they’d be busy. For me, they didn’t sign enough, they never were as Wenger left it too late. Arsenal haven’t got a top 4 squad anymore, replacing Fabregas and Nasri was always going to be hard but Arteta can’t fill both players roles, they struggled for goals before he arrived, now, it’ll be even harder. They may have more experienced leaders on the pitch but with these players, a new philosophy of play is in order. Mertesacker is a great signing, he’ll deal with the physical side of the Premier League, standing at 6ft 6, and it’ll be key how he and Vermaelen link together, and they could be a fantastic defensive partnership. Also, they brought in Santos, a left back who similarly to Clichy, is a bit suspect at the back. I think Arsenal fans shouldn’t expect an immediate good performance from the player but in time, he could be a great addition to the side, especially going forward.

Staying with the major clubs, we move onto Chelsea. I seem to get a lot of flak from their support so I’ll keep this short, why do I get flack? I just say it how it is, they aren’t as good as they once were, will struggle this year to beat the Manchester clubs. Meireles, really, that it? Mata is going to be a fantastic player, and in time, will bring out the best of Torres once again but only Meireles, they needed more, especially at the back, where they’ve looked suspect for several games now. They key to Chelsea is that they’ve got lucky, they’ve got 7 points in 3 games and they need to take that as a positive. A problem they will face is that teams will now feel they can take something from Stamford Bridge, they won’t just sit 11 behind the ball; I expect their home record not to be as great as it once was.

Moving onto to Stoke, one of the big spenders on deadline day. Personally, now, I feel they could do some real damage in the Premier League. The acquisition of Wilson Palacios is one of the signings of the summer, they’ve also strengthened at the back, increasing their strength in depth, something Arsenal, who I spoke about earlier, haven’t done. Stoke haven’t necessarily replaced players, they’ve just strengthen the side, in different areas. As well as Palacios and Jerome, they also brought Peter Crouch. The England international’s career has been on hold for a while, with Peter trying to revive his England career, I’m sure he’ll get plenty of chance at Stoke, expecting some big things from him this year.

Finally, I move onto new boys QPR. After a recent takeover, the signing of Joey Barton was the sign of things to come and deadline day didn’t disappoint the QPR faithful. Shaun Wright-Phillips was hotly tipped to join the London club and was again, one of the signings of the summer. As well as the tricky winger, they’ve also reassured the back four with the additions of Luke Young and Anton Ferdinand. The signings they’ve made may take them away from relegation but what will be interesting is how the ego’s of the club cope with the manager, if they clash, there’s always the risk of a backlash.

The last few days may of set the future for your clubs season but you can’t forget there’s still another chance in January to finalise your squad. The key from now to then is to keep players fit, it could be an even longer few months if your captain or key player gets injured, as well as that, winning games normally helps, doesn’t it?

 Signing of the Summer: Shay Given
Biggest Winner: Stoke
Biggest Loser: Everton
Biggest Disappointment: Tottenham
Biggest Twat: Owen Hargreaves

 

Thanks for reading the blog and also following me over the course of the summer, I, for one, will be staying on twitter and finally I can talk about football again. For me, I started Twitter with literally no “inside knowledge” of the game, just a passion and a decent understanding of Football. Over the last few weeks, I’ve spoken to some journalist and agents etc which has really helped. I want to become a Sports Journalist and this blog has slowly helped me along the way. I’m not ITK and never claimed to be so, if you followed me thinking I was going to give you some big exclusive, you followed the wrong guy.

Maybe in January, if I’m still talking to the right people as well as getting to know even more, I might have a few bits of information for you, but that’s the beauty of twitter, isn’t it?

Expect plenty of blogs in the future and I hope you’ve taken the time to read through this one, I’ve been “thefootylad” and I hope you’ve had a great summer.

Thanks for reading,

TFL.

Betting For Dummies - From A Dummy

Before we crack on with the first of the new weekly series, I’m no betting expert and I hope the title gets that across. With two free £10 bets with SkyBet, I hope to try and make a small bit of profit without spending. Firstly, something I can’t stress is only bet what you can afford, in my case, nothing.

Secondly, use a bit of common sense. A perfect example for this week is a 4-0 away win for Bolton this week, it’s not going to happen. With I’d say a good knowledge of the game, hopefully I can use that to my advantage, with you guys following my progress.

Don’t expect this to be a very long, insightful blog. Each week, I’ll give my bets, a small reasoning for doing so and the odds/potential winnings. So, without further due, let’s start with the first of two bets this week.

Bet Number 1: QPR and Swansea to win - @7.72

I’m no betting man but I presume if bet £10, I get 77.20 in return? (If not, I’m sure someone will correct me.)

 

I have done the double bet for two reasons. Firstly, QPR are on the up. With this new takeover bid, the team will be on a high and with Wigan’s performances; I can see them nicking a win. Secondly, Swansea have home advantage, in contrast, Sunderland are still shaking off a defeat to Newcastle, how will their new signings cope?

Bet Number 2: Luiz Suarez to score the first goal against Bolton - @4.50

Suarez is in fine scoring form and with a home fixture, which’s to doubt he’ll score again. Bolton conceded three to City and you feel Liverpool will get goals in this game. Now, how confident are you in Suarez, personally, @26.00 to score a hat-trick may be worth a punt.

Bonus Bet: Blackburn to score first against Everton - @2.25

There at home, why not? Bonus bets are going to be more maverick style bets.

That’s it for the first day of betting, may put one up tomorrow for Sunday’s games depending on the feedback on this one. I wouldn’t recommend doing the same bets as me but I would recommend you follow my progress throughout the season.

Thanks for reading,

 

Footylad.

Fergie's Babes.

Alan Hansen’s deluded comment on “You’ll never win anything with kids,” may come round to haunt the ex-Liverpool turned BBC pundit again as it appears, in a time of over-priced players, Fergie is doing it again. The 3-0 win against Tottenham could be the start of what’s to come, fielding a side of the average age of just 23, Ferguson is clearly going down the youthful route, regenerating his side with the loss of such figureheads that stood before the current crop.

 

Going back to the time of “over-priced players,” this is no cheap investment Ferguson is making. A mixture of local talent and foreign imports has a slight ring to the previous side, with Cantona being the focal point in a side that will go down in history as one of the best ever. This time around, English players like Rooney and Ferdinand will have to lead the line (that’s if Ferdinand will get in the side.)

Now, why do I say that? The youngsters coming through are just that good. An example was set last Monday with future England Captain Phil Jones shining in a four man “second-string” defence. Costing £16.5 million, that initial fee for a 19 year old wonderkid may seem strong but in fact, it’s a bargain. The Champions League quarter-finalists were kept quiet with Jones’ intelligent play, anticipating the next move and wearing his heart on his sleeve, throwing himself into every tackle.

Another part of the back four was Chris Smalling, playing Non-League football just three seasons ago, Fulham spotted the youngster and without them, he wouldn’t be where he is today. A centre back by trade, Ferguson has seen the potential and shifted him to the right back role where he is the equivalent of our own little Daniel Alves. His centre back instincts may lead him to future error but his attacking style, alongside his pace is a dangerous threat for any team. The 21 year old may be the answer for the loss of Gary Neville, a strength of Smalling is his nerve. Playing many big games at a young age hasn’t flustered him, reacting with calm and precision to all situations and at times, been the best player on the pitch. Another example of the Tottenham game was his ability to do something not many have, keep Gareth Bale quiet.

In his own right, Gareth Bale is one of the top wingers in Europe. After providing so much dangers for top full backs around Europe last season, his direct approach and crossing ability causes havoc, something Manchester United themselves have admired. The modern-day Ryan Giggs was as silent as any other, Smalling marked him out of the game, not allowing him to push up the pitch as well as whipping in them crosses to test our new keeper, David de Gea.

I’ve talked about David in several blogs before so I’ll keep this one short. At only 20 years old, the massive investment in David is apparent, his potential is endless but the current media flock are already on his case with the slowness of adapting to the English game. For me, his qualities shone the weaknesses against Tottenham. His distribution and tactical awareness was undoubtedly fantastic, but, it didn’t stop the negativity to come out once more. It’s obvious his aerial abilities are flawed; catching is a weak point but can be resolves, just like the other “weaknesses” the week before.

Why do I say that? He resolved two major issues against Tottenham. Firstly, his concentration. Keeping a clean sheet, throughout periods of the game where the United side faced pressure as well as dealing with shots from range, something he hadn’t dealt with prior. Even though his catching weren’t good from an aerial position, he held onto everything well, even with the onrushing Jermaine Defoe, who left his mark on De Gea late on.

Still, with the prior fantastic performances, many are still after one more player. The central midfield is lacking one final piece to the jigsaw. With Cleverley and Anderson seeming the main two, they both a bit similar. With Anderson being left-footed, I’d keep him in the side as he adds that variety. Cleverley is young and his performances have already gained him an England squad call-up but, with the calibre of player we need (Modric, Sneijder etc) maybe it’s time to go splash some more cash, and go show Barca what United are made of.

Moving onto the forward areas of the squad, one youngster shone above all the others. Danny Welbeck had a terrific second half performance, scoring one and making another, showing he’s developed from a boy to a man. A problem with Welbeck in the past was he never stayed on his feet, as he’s now stronger, his runs are more purposeful and full of energy, and his finishing isn’t too bad either.

Another key youngster will be last season’s signing of the season, Javier Hernandez. Called Chicharito by many, the qualities he poses as a striker are phenomenal. His pace is lightning, always on the shoulder of the last defender, the quick burst of speed is a defenders worst nightmare, as well as that, his finishing in front of goal is one of the best in the league, this was clearly evident when he totalled 20 goals last term. His composure in front of goal will be a key reason why he’ll play the big games, despite that; he looked out of his depth against Barcelona, like many others in last year’s squad.

As well as these youngsters, its evident players like Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic will need to step up and nurture to upcoming talent. The mixture of youth as well as experience is an ingredient for success, something Ferguson breeds into his players. He’s build many sides in his time but now he faces his toughest challenge as a manager. The riches of City and the overall competitive nature of the league is different to what it once was, the current squad will have to learn quick but with the backing they have, this could lead to a new, successful era at Manchester United.

Thanks for reading,

Footylad.

"Not Quite City" Oh Shut Up

With Gameweek 2 now completed, it’s time to reflect on my beloved Manchester United’s home fixture against late starters Tottenham. Both clubs were missing key figures, United without Captain Nemanja Vidic and fellow centre back Rio Ferdinand, as well as several other key figures, United were left with a second string back four with inexperienced goalkeeper David de Gea leading from the back, providing many to believe they’ll be goals in the game, for both sides.

Tottenham weren’t exactly at full strength either, Luka Modric was left out of the side for his “head not being right” and other, slightly less important players, also not playing, leading to the like of Jake Livermore playing central midfield. Gareth Bale and Rafael Van der Vaart were the main attacking threats available and they needed to have played a near perfect game to get some points out of Old Trafford, something Tottenham haven’t done for a long time.

 

With these match reports, I’ve been told to not focus so much on the match itself so what I’ve decided to do is discuss individual performances, why’s that? Because I can pretty much guarantee you’ve already watched the game, so, me describing the key parts of the game step-by-step is just simply boring, so, I need to keep it opinionated.

Firstly, the first shock for me is with team selection. Again, I was proven wrong by Ferguson’s managerial ability but I was shocked that how he stuck with Cleverley and Anderson, I expected Carrick to start with possibly Anderson and early on in the game, it was evident that the United midfield was non-existent. Another surprise was sticking with local boy Danny Welbeck over ex-Spurs forward Dimitar Berbatov, who has clearly stepped down the pecking order.

In the early stages, the United defence was tested with the game seemingly stretched from the start. A point that no-one has seemed to make is De Gea’s saves from range. Tottenham didn’t have a proper clear cut chance but the shots they did have were dealt with surprising ease. His concentration was also good after being criticized for that in the previous week, as well as improving his issues, he also showed a far wider audience how good is distribution was, always setting up attacks from the back. An issue was the aerial ball late in the second half but overall, he’s performance improved dramatically.

Moving onto the defence, every player played their part with one shining out. Don’t get me wrong, Chris Smalling, Jonny Evans and Patrice Evra all played their part but I just want to talk about Phil Jones this time around. With a string of fantastic performances for Blackburn Rovers last year, keeping them up, it was no surprise he moved to a bigger club and what a debut he had. His anticipation was a key attribute to his game, breaking the play up, which has made many fans see his potential to fill in a defensive midfield role, but why? No need to. He’s playing well at centre back and no need to alter things when he’s playing well.

In the second half, Cleverley and Anderson did their jobs but someone I weren’t impressed with is Ashley Young. I say this due to the rare poorness of his corners. Him and Nani both can’t get it past the front man and with the power we possessed in Smalling and Jones, going short was always the wrong option and I feel we could of created far more chances if you just whip it in there, anything can happen.

Moving onto Tottenham, it’s clear a striker is needed. Defoe is a poacher that had nothing to poach; it was clear, without the Modric spark, players like Bale couldn’t get involved in the game, with Smalling doing an excellent job keeping him quiet. VdV had a clear target to embarrass de Gea which failed dramatically, annoying his teammates. The difference between that and Man United was there was no team spirit, when going one down there was no urgency, with United there’s a real team emphasis about them, Van der Vaart is just so selfish and, at times, seems to not care about the game, just his own performance.

A final note to take on the game is Javier Hernandez’s return, igniting the question of who to play up front against Arsenal. Quite frankly, against that back four, Mama Diouf could do a job but for me he has to stick with Welbeck, Hernandez is more of an impact player, and still isn’t fully fit.

That’s it from me.

Thanks for reading,

Footylad.

Score Predictions - Week Two

After week one being a disaster with me scoring negative points on the TalkSport predictor league, hopefully after realising how bad QPR are, I can at least hit positive marks this week. I’ve gone for some strange, slightly risky results again this week and we start with the Tyneside derby between Sunderland and Newcastle.

One of two early kick offs tomorrow, Sunderland’s performance at Anfield last week should inspire the team to a more than certain victory. Like last week, it’ll be interesting to see how the Sunderland new signings cope but with the home support behind them, I expect them to come out 2-1 winners against their closest rivals.

Then, we move onto one of the bigger fixtures of the season; Arsenal v Liverpool is a hotly contested game but both sides aren’t at full strength. Arsenal has lost several key figures and now Song and Gervinho are banned as well as Gibbs in particular becoming injured. Saying that, Liverpool had a mixed draw at home to Sunderland last week and it’s apparent the new signings are going to take time to gel. Captain Steven Gerrard will miss the game with Glen Johnson being a fitness doubt; I expect to see chances for both sides but a 1-1 draw at the Emirates.

Moving on to the three o’clock kick-offs, we start with Aston Villa v Blackburn. With Villa being at home and Blackburn having no control, over their drink and their side, I expect Villa to cruise control over Blackburn in a 2-0 win. Then, we move onto Everton v QPR. QPR may have been taken over bit they still haven’t brought in anyone in time, leaving Everton to really take control even though they haven’t played this season, 3-1 win to Everton.

Fellow newcomers Swansea need to get their first win and there’s no better opportunity than Wigan at home. Both being prime relegation contenders, these games could be a six-pointer when coming to May, a massive game for both sides. Roberto Martinez will be returning to his old side but I think Swansea is going to come out 2-0 winners. Chelsea v West Brom is the next game and there can be only one winner at Stamford Bridge. I expect a relentless onslaught from the Chelsea attack and unless Ben Foster has the game of his life, 4-0 Chelsea.

As well as the Saturday games, we have four on Sunday. We start off with the last of the newcomers, Norwich v Stoke. Stoke’s away record isn’t as prolific as the home form and with Norwich on the up; I see a surprising 3-1 victory. From all the games this weekend, I see this one being goals galore from both sides. Wolves then take on Fulham and again I favour the home side. Saying that, Fulham are a very strong side but due to the midweek Europa League game, I see Wolves taking this 2-1, due to their emphatic home form.

The last two games involve the two Manchester clubs. Firstly, City has a tough away game at Bolton where it’ll be their first test of the season. Even with a returning Tevez and a superstar in Aguero, the Cahill price tag might just rise a bit further as I predict a 1-0 home win.

Lastly, United play Tottenham at home. There’s no need getting into that as I’m a United fan so I’ll always predict a United win, 2-0 this time around.

That’s it for week two, thanks for reading,

Footylad.