Premier League Picks Of The Week 22

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 22

The 22nd week of the Premier League action saw:

261 shots - most by Manchester United = 25
30 goals - most by Swansea & West Ham = 3 each
214 fouls - most by Watford = 16
31 bookings - most by Stoke & Spurs = 4
1 red card - Xhaka for Arsenal
3 penalties - 3 scored (Tadic for Saints, Gray for Burnley & Sánchez for Arsenal)

Thoughts and love to the Hull City player Ryan Mason and his loved ones and all the best for his recovery. 🙏🏻

Bournemouth were 23rd in League Two at Obama inauguration in 2008! 😱

Pep loving his post-match interviewer once again... 🙈

What a game! Swansea shocked Liverpool with their first league win at Anfield. Jürgen Klopp's men looked all over the place in the first half, came back in the second half, but could not finish it off and the Welsh side capitalised on the Reds' weakness. Paul Clement looks like he is making the crucial difference in the relegation battle. Meanwhile, Arsenal left it very very late against Burnley to stay in the title race with a hint of a shout. Red cards, penalties, goals, no goals, offsides, not offsides, plenty of controversy once again! More to that below...

What a team! Dire stats left, right and centre: Leicester are the joint-worst defending champions with just 21 points from 22 games (equalling Ipswich's 1962-63 record). Victory remains scarce also for both Bournemouth (just 1 in 7) and Watford (winless in last 7 in the Premier League). Affected and downed most by their crumbling defence or as David Moyes branded conceding goals as a "disease", Liverpool are still looking for their first league win of the year (D2, L1), Middlesbrough remain winless in 5 and Sunderland are back to bottom after their fourth defeat in 5 league games. Meanwhile, Chelsea must be laughing at the top of the table with a seven-point cushion, after a less-than-impressive win but most importantly 3 points gained against Hull.

What a man! Wayne Rooney finally broke legend Sir Bobby Charlton's club record scoring his 250th goal for Manchester United. He bcame the Red Devil's top scorer with a 94th minute free-kick cracker, to make it 1-1 and grab a point at Stoke. It could have been worse for United. Fernando Llorente's double for Swansea downed Liverpool and Andy Carroll's double for West Ham meant two wins in a row for the Hammers with a man on fire. On the other end of the spectrum sits Arsenal's Granit Xhaka after his 5th dismissal in the league since the beginning of last season, more than any other player in Europe's top five divisions. What were you thinking?! 👊🏻💩🙈💩👎🏻

What a goal! Roberto Firmino's leveller for Liverpool was a nice one but all for nothing in the very frustrating end. There were plenty controversial decisions, penalties given, not given, offside given, not given, as mentioned above. Everton's winner should have been disallowed not for Jeff Schlupp's injury antiques, but for offside. Hull should have had a penalty and a free kick in the build up to Chelsea's goals...

What the hell?!?!?! ... And Pep wasn't happy either! The ex Barca boss went mad for a penalty not given for Kyle Walker's push on Raheem Sterling, just because his player didn't go down. Seconds later, Son Heung-min equalised to make it 2-2 after City had beaten Hugo Lloris twice to make it 2-0 thanks to the keeper's howlers. He is not the only one who is unhappy with the referee, Andre Marriner in this case. As listed and repeated above, Arsenal, Hull, Crystal Palace,.... The list goes on and on about decisions that should have gone the other way but the refs didn't or couldn't do anything. Everyone is just left wondering and cursing, replays show who/what/where/how/why - why can it still not be used?!?!?! Pathetic! Annoying! Costly! ⚽️💩🙈💩⚽️

My Predictions - Actual Results
Liverpool 3:0 Swansea - 2:3
Bournemouth 0:0 Watford - 2:2
Crystal Palace 0:1 Everton - 0:1
Middlesbrough 1:2 West Ham - 1:3
Stoke City 1:1 Man United - 1:1
West Brom 1:0 Sunderland - 2:0
Man City 2:1 Tottenham - 2:2
Southampton 2:1 Leicester - 3:0
Arsenal 2:0 Burnley - 2:1
Chelsea 2:0 Hull City - 2:0

Click here for last week's Premier League Picks.

Pictures taken from the BBC match reports.