Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag is back in the firing line as his side host Brentford, while Thomas Tuchel will be aiming to bring football back home after being appointed as England manager.
TEN HAG NOW BACK IN FIRING LINE
The English Premier League resumes tomorrow and with it attention turns to the Sack Race, among other subjects. We’re deep into October and this weekend marks 20 percent of the EPL season done! Man United’s Erik ten Hag remains the favourite to be sacked first, followed by Gary O’Neill (Wolves) and Russel Martin (Southampton).
United host Brentford on Saturday afternoon and it’s now squeaky bum time for Ten Hag. With Thomas Tuchel taking the England job though, the new favourite to replace Ten Hag is Ruud Van Nisterlrooy. I kid you not.
HISTORY SAYS AWAY EPL WINS ARE DUE
As we head into round eight of 38 in the EPL, the top three common scorelines for the season are 2-1, 1-0 and 3-1. Away wins are at an average of 31%, which is a few percentage points down from the historical average that I keen.
No one calls me a dull man! We’ve only had five away wins in the last 30 matches, which is 16.66%. We are due a week or two of higher-than-average away wins, which means fours and fives, methinks.
CLUB FOOTBALL IGNITES FANS FEVER
Many football fans are more passionate about supporting their club than they are about their country, which is why the resumption of domestic football after October’s International break feels like normality has resumed.
In the EPL, a couple of interesting (for me) lines include: Only four sides have yet to keep a clean sheet this season – Brentford, Bournemouth, Southampton and Wolves. Some might say they will continue leaking goals, others that they’re due a clean sheet. I’m with the latter. Liverpool are on a three-match winning streak. Only Man City have achieved four so far this season. Only three clubs have scored every game – Man City, Arsenal and Leicester. The same theory about those conceding applies here.
TOUGHEST EPL PREDICTING WEEKEND AHEAD!
Based purely on the above, and this is for those Superbru punters looking for bragging rights in their pools – this “trend system” of predictions has come up consistently – Liverpool’s match against Chelsea could end up being a draw, Man City to keep a clean sheet at Wolves, Leicester failing to score at Southampton and neither game between Fulham and Villa and Newcastle vs Brighton to be a draw.
Plus, throw in a few away wins and this is the toughest EPL of the season to predict so far!
CAN TUCHEL BRING FOOTBALL HOME?
The biggest football news of the week was Thomas Tuchel being appointed England manager. He is undoubtedly one of the finest coaches around and is a coup for the England FA. But, of the 21 managers to have won World Cups, few have been successful club managers.
Marcello Lippi (Juventus and Italy), Vincente del Bosque (Real Madrid and Spain) … and I can’t think of a third. Will Tuchel be the man to bring football home? History says managing a club as opposed to managing a country is a different ball game.
CASSANO FEELS RONALDO (CR7) WRATH
Antonio Cassano, who played 39 times for Italy between 2003 and 2014, has never been a fan of Cristiano Ronaldo’s playing style. On his popular podcast, he said CR7 should have retired a while ago and called the Brazilian Ronaldo “The No1” of the two Ronnies. Further, he felt the Portugal superstar “doesn’t make my top five” of greatest players. Cristiano was furious.
“I get a text message from a +34 number, that’s Spain,” said Cassano. “It’s a list of all the trophies, goals and statistics. Then he sends me a voice note, telling me, ‘You disrespected me, don’t do anything like that again. You only scored 150 goals, you only won four trophies.”