Match Week 29 Reschedule Recap & 35 Preview

EPL Match Week 29 Reschedule Recap & 35 Preview

It’s the 2024 NFL Draft - great scenes from Downtown Detroit.

And with the first pick of the 2025 NFL draft the Chicago Bears select…..IYKYK.

In Today’s CleanSheet:

• Headlines 📌

• Current Situation📈📉

• Hot Topic 🔥🔥🔥- Final Match Day

• Off Island 🏝️ - Who is Arne Slot

• Best Bets 💰

Headlines 📌

• The Races Narrow. 

  • Title. Arsenal & City won mid-week and Liverpool has started to fade.

  • Europe. (Here is a 2m read on how it all works at skysports.com)

    • Champions League (4). Arsenal, City and Liverpool are in. The final spot will go to Villa or Tottenham.

    • Europa League (2). Whoever doesn’t claim the fourth CL spot - Tottenham and Villa - are in. The final spot will go to Man United, Newcastle, West Ham, or Chelsea.

    • Europa Conference League - to be renamed UEFA Conference Leage (1). Will be Man United, Newcastle, West Ham, or Chelsea.

  • Relegation (3). It’s a 3-team race for 17^th place between Forest, Luton Town and Burnley. Sheffield United will be relegated.

• Full Slate This Weekend. 7 Saturday, 3 Sunday.

• North London Derby. Tottenham +260 host Arsenal -115 Sunday 8am with A LOT on the line. The Gunners have had a big couple of weeks with 3 matches - a loss to Bayern Munich in the CL and two dominating wins in the PL 2-0 over Wolves and 5-0 over Chelsea. Spurs have not played in two weeks. Will they be well rested or rusty? Title and Europe ramifications are in play.

• 1,096. There have been more goals scored this season in the PL than any other season - with 48 matches yet to play.

• Da Bomb. Literally. An active bomb (2m read cbssports.com) from WWII was found in the area around Mainz (Bundesliga) Stadium during renovations. Renovations have stopped and 3500 people have been evacuated from the area while they work to defuse the 1100-pound American aerial bomb. This is not the first time this has happened, in 2015 a devise from WWII was found near London’s Wembly Stadium.

• Kopites. I had never heard this term before. A Kop-ite is a fan of Liverpool. It can also be used in a derogatory way for a LFC fan who exhibits poor sportsmanship and/or hooliganism.

  • But where did it come from? A “kop” is a South African term for hill or mountain. In 1906, the “banked stand” of Liverpool’s stadium was named after Spion Kop - a hill in KwaZulu-Natal South Africa - where many Liverpudlians were killed in the second Boer War. What is a LIverpudlian? A person from Liverpool, and it’s a pun on using the word “puddle” as opposed to “pool”. (The More You Know)

  • An Example. Here is a good example of Kopites (X 3m of fan frustration).

  • Video Board in Australia. Supposedly bought by an Everton fan prior to the Merseyside Derby. Nice use of the Everton Logo.

Mid-Week (MW29 Reschedule) Recap - Organized by 🏇🏇Races🏇🏇

• Trossard scores at 4’ - it was all Gunner’s from there.

• This was the Gunner’s biggest win over Chelsea, ever.

• Kai Havertz scored 2 goals against his former club.

• Most concerning for Blues fans, it seemed like the players stopped playing - just another question for the club to answer as they look ahead to 2025.

• 3 1H goals and the route was on on the south coast.

• First Ever. Kevin de Bruyne had his first ever header goal for City in the PL, shocked given all his goals he never had one before.

• 50. Phil Foden with his 50th PL goal, and it was a great strike.

• Things that make you go hmmm. Often, when Liverpool hasn’t won this year you could point to not being able to finish the chances they get. This match, they were just out played by a team that hasn’t really outplayed many this season.

• Up is Down. Liverpool have lost 2 of their last 3 PL matches. Prior to that they had lost 2 of 31. Everton had not won a match in 13 since the new year. They have now won 3 of their last 4, including this Derby.

• Pinball Wizard. Slop (X). 1-0 to the Toffee’s.

• Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Good commentary on his goal (X). “It’s why I play”.

• Klopp’s Reaction. (X)

• Great 2 min from Tim Howard @NBCSportsSoccer on the Merseyside Derby.

Biggest Winners: Man United - the only winner, so those that didn’t play won (Spurs, VIlla, W Ham).

Biggest Losers: Wolves, Chelsea, Newcastle, BHA

Wolves, BHA and Bournemouth are not mathematically eliminated, but will need a big run and a lot of help.

• Man United 4-2 Sheffield United. One of the biggest clubs in the world against a side with 16 points in the PL, at home. Can you feel more frustrated after a 4-2 win? Down 0-1 and again 1-2 was nice to see the comeback, but this is United, and they continue to allow chance after chance to whoever they play.

  • Turnovers are killer. Gotta be better (X).

  • Harry Maguire. Playing much better for MU, the defender scored his 2nd of the PL season.

  • Blades back in front.

  • Bruno with a rocket to put United in the lead for good.

• Wolves 0-1 Bournemouth. Been a great season for both sides as they began with several seeing them as relegation candidates.

• Palace 2-0 Newcastle. The Toffee’s are still battling injuries and it was obvious, outshot 20-7 and really out played by Palace. Will Newcastle have enough over the last 5 to earn a Europe spot? A big match at Old Trafford may be the deciding factor on 5/15.

  • TWELVE! That’s 3 dominating performances in a row for Palace, 1-0, 5-2 and 2-0 and gives them a chance to finish between 10^th and 15^th place in the Table. Next year will be Palace’s TWELFTH straight year in the PL, and every season over the time they have finished no higher than 10^th and no worse than 15^th.

    

Biggest Winners: Everton, Palace.

Biggest Losers: Sheffield United.

The most Luton Town can get to is 37 points.

• Palace is now officially safe.

• Brentford need 2 more points out of 4 matches.

• Everton need 4 more points out of 4 matches.

What 2 Look 4 👀- Match Week 35

Title Race Implications🏆🏆🏆

• Tottenham v Arsenal -135 Sunday, 8am cst. North London Derby. See Above. 

• Forest v Man City -200 Sun- Can the Tree’s do what Everton did to Liverpool mid-week? Don’t count on it. City seem locked in, especially after being knocked out of the Champions League. It’s title or bust for City. Forest have just not had the fire power and they may need to manage their goal differential down the stretch. Can they keep this close at home.

• West Ham v Liverpool -145 Sat - A club that likes to sit back and counter against a club that attacks but has been having a hard time finishing. Should be entertaining, and pretty much must win for both sides in their respective races.

Europe Race Implications🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️

• Villa v Chelsea +220 Sat - Champions League and Europe on the line. Can the Blues bounce back after mid-week embarrassment. Villa can put some big space between them and Spurs with a win. Ollie Watkins has scored 19 goals for Villa, one behind league leaders Erling Haaland (City) and Cole Palmer who looks like he will be in the lineup for Chelsea after missing the Arsenal match.

• Tottenham v Arsenal -135 Sunday, 8am cst. North London Derby. See Above. 

• Man United v Burnley +360 Sat - The Clarets have played really well over their last 7. They just don’t have the wins to show for it. But a win at Old Trafford would go a long way to a run at staying up. Over their last 16 PL match ups, Burnley have won just 1, United have won 10 with 5 draws. United will give up shots and keep things close.

• Newcastle v Sheffield United +1200 Sat - Newcastle will welcome home cooking in Geordie-land and the Blades may offer that up. SU are on pace to allowing 102 goals on the season, which would be a new record for goals allowed.

• West Ham v Liverpool -145 Sat - See Above.

• Wolves v Luton Town +250 Sat - Last chance for Wolves to make a run at Europe against a Hatter’s side desperate to avoid relegation. How will Luton Town respond to the big home loss last time out 1-5 to the Bee’s.

• Bournemouth v BHA +190 Sat- Mid-way through the season I would’ve never thought the Cherries would be sitting ahead of the Seagulls in the table. Any European hopes will be gone with a loss by either, but a win will make the final 3 match run in very interesting.

Relegation Implications🌋🌋🌋🌋

• Tottenham v Forest +575 Sun - See Above.

• Wolves v Luton Town +250 Sat - See Above.

• Man United v Burnley +360 Sat - See Above.

• Newcastle v Sheffield United +1200 Sat - See Above.

Current Situation 📈📉

Clean Sheets Counter

Hot Topic 🔥🔥🔥

FINAL MATCH DAY

For the last day of the season, matches are played at the same time. This begins this weekend with League 1 and League 2.

• The FINAL MATCH DAY for League 1 is this Saturday, April 27^th. All matches will be played at 630am. A Derby County point against Carlisle will send them up to the Championship.

• The FINAL MATCH DAY for League 2 is this Saturday, April 27^th. All matches will be played at 9am. A Derby County point against Carlisle will send them up to the Championship.

• The FINAL MATCH DAY for the Championship is May 4. All matches will be played at 630am cst.

Promotions

• Leicester City. WELCOME BACK to the PL! Straight Back Up.

Relegations

• League 1. Fleetwood Town and Port Vale have been relegated.

Matches of Note

• Tom Brady Watch - Birmingham City currently sit 1 point into relegation with 2 to play. They travel to Huddersfield Town on Saturday, Huddersfield currently sit 2 points behind Birmingham for a major relegation battle. Loser will most likely be headed to League 1.

Off Island 🏝️

Who Is Arne Slot

Slot is set to become Liverpool’s new manager, replacing Jurgen Klopp. Big shoes to fill.

Liverpool will pay Feyenoord around $10M and then negotiate a contract with the 45-year-old.

Best Bets 💰

Sweet Mo!

Match Week 35

City to Win at Forest -200. $400

This goes against CS philosophy of laying big $ on big favorites but I just don’t see City stumbling in the title race after being knocked out of the CL. Will Forest get a boost from a great home crowd, yes. I just don’t like the whining the club has done over the last week, and I don’t think City does either.

Burnley total shots O12.5 at Man United -125. $25

Burnley at Man United O3.5 -110. $22

Burley have been playing well, Man United keep winning but allow teams to hang around and give up a lot of shots. I expect Vincent Kompany to continue to play in an aggressive style which will generate Burnley opportunities but also give up goals on the back end.

Bournemouth to Win v BHA +125. $20

Like the way the Cherries are playing, and it seems BHA have accomplished what they set out to this year.

Brentford to Win v Everton +180. $10

Brentford to Draw v Everton +250. $10

Let down after the big Liverpool win? Possibly.

Arsenal to Win v Tottenham -135. $27

Spurs are capable and have been resting but the Gunners seem to be locked in and similar to City I don’t see them giving away any of the 3 points.

Wolves Luton Town O3.5 +147. $20

Luton Town will score, and they will give up more than a goal.

Longshot of the Week. Newcastle, Villa, Bournemouth, City all to Win +625. $10