Gameweek 27

Ok, here we go again...

West Ham United v. Crystal Palace

West Ham is still having a really great season, while Crystal Palace is essentially in no man's land in the lower-mid table.  Probably a win for West Ham, as they'll be pushing to make a fight for a top 5 or top 4 finish.

Burnley v. Swansea

Having secured a shocking draw at Chelsea, Burnley might be able to carry that momentum into this match, and continue to fight their way out of the relegation zone.  Swansea will be hurting, having lost their leading goal scorer Wilfried Bony to Manchester City.  I'd say a draw for this match.

Manchester United v. Sunderland

Manchester United has been an incredibly difficult team to figure out this year, as they've been inconsistency personified.  Sunderland have also had their fair share of surprises against seemingly-superior opposition.  Now that Man U is fighting to retain their top 4 spot, I'm going to say they'll manage the victory here.

Newcastle v. Aston Villa

Newcastle got absolutely demolished 5-0 by Manchester City last weekend, and didn't even put up a fight.  Meanwhile, Aston Villa lost a heartbreaker to Stoke City in the first game for their new manager, Tim Sherwood.  I'll take Aston Villa to make up for that loss last week with a narrow win, but honestly, neither team is really good enough to have a distinct advantage.

Stoke City v. Hull City

As mentioned above, Stoke barely pulled off a victory over a poor but hungry Aston Villa side last weekend, while Hull have managed to win back-to-back games, so both sides have some momentum.  Personally, I'd say this has draw written all over it.

West Bromwich Albion v. Southampton

West Brom has gone 6 straight Premier League matches without a loss, while Southampton was beaten 2-0 by Liverpool last week.  Frankly, Southampton is still the better team, and they'll be needing points to keep themselves in the conversation for the top 4, so I'd take them as winners this weekend.

Liverpool v. Manchester City (Sunday)

This is the big one this weekend in the Premier League.  Liverpool has been surging up the table lately, and just had a big win against Southampton, while Manchester City gained 2 points on league-leading Chelsea by absolutely decimating Newcastle.  Manchester City did play terribly against Barcelona in their Champions League match last week, so perhaps the edge can go to Liverpool in this game.  Being that it's a home game for Liverpool, I'd give them the win in this matchup between last season's first and second place finishers.

Arsenal v. Everton (Sunday)

Both teams have been all over the map this season, which can make for some entertaining games.  Arsenal were massively disappointing in their Champions League game against Monaco last week, while Everton have shown some improved form recently.  I'll go with a draw, as Arsenal is better but is underperforming, while Everton has finally started to play as well as they should have been all season.

Chelsea v. Tottenham (Sunday)

First off, this match isn't a Premier League match.  This is the final of the Capital One Cup.  The English Football Association (basically the soccer government) has two tournaments it hosts during the season, the Capital One Cup and the FA Cup.  All of the rounds of the Capital One Cup have led to this final between Chelsea and Tottenham, and it should be a great match.  Chelsea certainly have a better squad, but were dominated 5-3 by Spurs (Tottenham's nickname) on January 1.  To make matters worse for Chelsea, they are missing one of their most important players in defensive midfielder Nemanja Matic, who is suspended due to a physical outburst in their game against Burnley last weekend.  For this reason, mixed with the fact that Tottenham striker Harry Kane has been on fire lately, I would pick Spurs to steal a surprise victory in this one.  Unfortunately, it will be difficult to find this match on television, so following it some other way is advised.  And I do advise that you follow it, it's a big deal!

Gameweek 26

Here's the quick rundown of what's going on this weekend in the Premier League.

Aston Villa v. Stoke 

This should be a war of attrition, as Aston Villa has a horrific goalscoring record at the moment, while Stoke is known for their defensive solidity.  Look for Stoke to try to take advantage of Aston Villa's poor attacking by attacking a lot themselves.

Chelsea v. Burnley

On paper, Chelsea should run away with this one.  That being said, Burnley are getting desperate for points this season, and they need it more than Chelsea does.  Still, Chelsea might be too good.

Crystal Palace v. Arsenal

Crystal Palace have a knack for holding their own against good teams, so this one could be interesting.  In theory though, Arsenal is the better team and has the extra motivation of trying to get up into the top four this week.

Hull City v. QPR

QPR are horrific away from home (in soccer, the home team is listed first), so that doesn't bode well for them.  That being said, Hull isn't a good team at all.  This could be either extremely exciting or horribly boring.  Proceed with caution.

Sunderland v. West Bromwich Albion

West Brom might still be riding the high that comes with bringing in a new manager, and they do have some decent players in attack, while Sunderland doesn't offer anything particularly exciting.

Swansea v. Manchester United

Both teams have played with stunning inconsistency this season, but it looks like Manchester United's manager Louis Van Gaal might be figuring out how to manage this very new set of players, so they look to be the safer bet here.

Manchester City v. Newcastle

It's hard to see Manchester City dropping any points in this one, as they are falling off Chelsea's pace and need to keep it together in the late stages of the season.  They've played poorly as of late, so Newcastle might be on the receiving end of Man City's frustration.

Tottenham v. West Ham United (Sunday)

Both of these teams need a win to stay competitive in the league, which should make for a great game.  Tottenham has one of the great young stars in the game right now in striker Harry Kane, so they get the edge here.

Everton v. Leicester City (Sunday)

Everton has gotten themselves into a tough situation in which they can't really achieve specific goal in their season now.  Leicester desperately needs points, so they'll be doing everything to get points where they can get them  This one smells like a draw.

Southampton v. Liverpool (Sunday)

Liverpool purchased a handful of Southampton players last summer, but it seems to be Southampton who are reaping the benefits this season.  That being said, Liverpool is slowly pulling it all together and climbing the table steadily, so this one could be a tricky one to call.  I'm going with a draw.

The Teams

So now that you're a bit familiar with the Premier League in general, here's my two-sentence run down of each team, in alphabetical order.

All team logos courtesy of Wikimedia

So, Where Are We Right Now?

© Barlcays Premier League

So, are you confused?  Don't be.  This is the "table" for the Premier League, which is essentially the current standings in the league.  Obviously, there are 20 teams.  Every team plays each other twice throughout the season, once at home and once away.  This means each team plays 38 games.  As of this post, all the teams have played 25 games (as shown in the 'P' column).  For every game (or "match") a team wins, they are awarded 3 points.  A draw gives both teams 1 point.  A loss gives 0 points.  The league champion is the team that has the most points at the end of the season.  Yup, it's that simple.

  

So, let's talk about the shading of the table.  At the top, the first four teams are shaded blue.  These top four spots are the "Champions League" spots.  Every year, there is a World Cup-style tournament of the best teams from all of the top European leagues (i.e. England, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, etc.).  So, if the season ended today, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Southampton would be England's representatives in next year's Champions League.

Then, there are the grey teams at the bottom.  This is the dreaded "relegation zone."  English soccer is organized into 4 "leagues," the Premier League, the Championship, League One, and League Two (isn't that confusing?).  At the end of each season, the bottom three Premier League teams are demoted to the Championship for the following season, and the top three from the Championship are promoted.  This typically makes for some exciting matches between terrible teams near the end of the year.

I'm going to work on another post summarizing each of the teams, but this should serve as a guide for how the league functions and what team is where as of right now.

Welcome!

Welcome!

So, did you watch the World Cup last summer? Catch an MLS game on TV? Accidentally wake up early on a Saturday and watch some Premier League?  Regardless, hopefully you're here to learn a little soccer.

For me, soccer has become a huge passion in recent years, and one I never would have expected to develop.  I was never much of a soccer player, yet for some reason I began becoming infatuated with the FIFA video games, and eventually that interesting blossomed into a full-on love affair with the game.  Now, I want to share this passion with people like me, people who don't really understand the game or the culture around it quite yet.

For the sake of not overloading you or myself with information, I'm mostly going to focus on the Barclays Premier League.  The Prem, as it's affectionately referred to, is the top English professional soccer league, and is the most popular soccer league in the world in almost every regard.  The league runs from August to May, so we are right around 2/3 of the way through now.  Don't worry though, I'll put up another post on the current state of affairs in the league.

All the Premier League games can be seen on NBC, NBCSN, or online on NBC's website.  The games are mostly Saturday and Sunday mornings or afternoons, with the occasional Monday or weird weekday game as well.

I'll do my best to keep things simple, and hopefully interesting as well.  Feel free to leave a comment or some advice!