The prediction league is back slightly earlier this week as we are blessed with a Tuesday game which is always a nice surprise and a welcome addition to everyone’s week. The week prior to this saw a whopping four correct scores and nine correct results, let’s take a look at how this one panned out…
For those of you that don’t know, a green box means the result is correct, the scoreline being in bold means the score is correct as well and yes, I’m aware there’s no bold on there. Two more correct results which is good, but, the biggest thing missing from the results this time around is that no one got a correct score and that’s where the big points are at. Although, if anyone would’ve successfully predicted that Goa would win 4-0 away at Pune, I think that would have marked the end of the competition because the towel would’ve been well and truly chucked in.
Mark finally remembered what football was as he ended this round of fixtures as the highest scorer which is even more impressive when you consider that he rolled a doughnut for the second time, last week. With the lack of correct scores ensuring that no one picked up any big points, the table now looks like this…
Name |
Points |
Correct Scores |
Chris Darwen |
35 |
5 |
Jake Flock |
32 |
4 |
Stephen Beavon |
25 |
3 |
Mark Smith |
16 |
1 |
So, the gap at the top remains three points as we can into the final round of the prediction league and with there being seven games this week, you really do have to feel that it’s all still to play for. Looking at the Jamshedpur vs Bengaluru game in isolation, could you imagine if the ‘Men of Steel’ scored? Steve would be hot on my heels, Mark would have hit the magic twenty mark and Chris would have pulled away. Luckily, they didn’t and we go again this week.
As mentioned, there are seven games this week and amazingly, six of them having something riding on them, so we should be in for a treat and then some. Here are the games we’ll be racking our brains to predict:
Delhi Dynamos vs Mumbai City (27/02) | FC Goa vs ATK (28/02) | Bengaluru FC vs Kerala Blasters (01/03) | Delhi Dynamos vs Pune City (02/03) | Chennaiyin FC vs Mumbai City (03/03) | Jamshedpur vs FC Goa (04/03) | ATK vs NorthEast United (04/03)
And this is what we believe will happen…
Delhi Dynamos | Pos: 8th | Pts: 15 | GD: -14 | | GD: +1 | Pts: 23 | Pos: 7th | Mumbai City
Predictions – CD: 1-2, JF: 1-2, MS: 2-1, SB: 1-1.
Verdict: Majority have gone for the away win, although, it really is anybody’s guess because Delhi are playing out their skin at the moment so they could quite easily upset the apple cart and dash Mumbai’s remaining play-off hopes.
FC Goa | Pos: 6th | Pts: 24 | GD: +7 | | GD: -11 | Pts: 13 | Pos: 9th | ATK
Predictions – CD: 2-0, JF: 3-2, MS: 2-0, SB: 3-1.
Verdict: A resounding home win, normally when this happens, the result goes completely the other way, however, Goa need to win and I’m quietly confident we’ll all be bang on the money.
Bengaluru FC | Pos: 1st | Pts: 37 | GD: +17 | | GD: 0 | Pts: 25 | Pos: 5th | Kerala Blasters
Predictions – CD: 2-1, JF: 0-1, MS: 2-0, SB: 2-1.
Verdict: Home win. I’ve gone for the ‘Bengaluru have got nothing to play for and will rest players’ approach and everyone else has gone for the ‘Bengaluru are mint’ approach. You know it makes sense to rest the players!
Delhi Dynamos | Pos: 8th | Pts: 15 | GD: -14 | | GD: +9 | Pts: 29 | Pos: 2nd | Pune City
Predictions – CD: 2-0, JF: 2-3, MS: 1-1, SB: 1-2.
Verdict: Delhi could ruin another play-off party here, but the majority has gone against them again and gone for a Pune win. Pune were terrible against Goa and without the talismanic Marcelinho, anything could happen.
Chennaiyin FC | Pos: 3rd | Pts: 29 | GD: +4 | | GD: +1 | Pts: 23 | Pos: 7th | Mumbai City
Predictions – CD: 2-2, JF: 2-1, MS: 1-2, SB: 2-2.
Verdict: Score draw. Another crucial game and yet again, impossible to call. Of course, if Mumbai don’t win in Delhi, then it’ll all be over already, if not, it will be game on.
Jamshedpur FC | Pos: 4th | Pts: 26 | GD: +1 | | GD: +7 | Pts: 24 | Pos: 6th | FC Goa
Predictions – CD: 1-1, JF: 1-1, MS: 1-1, SB: 1-0.
Verdict: 75% have gone for the draw. The ideal situation is that both these sides have to win to make the playoffs, however, it’ll be one or the other and all depends on how Goa get on against ATK. Either way, Goa are never going to be able to play for the draw, so I’m unsure why I’ve opted for it.
ATK | Pos: 9th | Pts: 13 | GD: -11 | | GD: -14 | Pts: 11 | Pos: 10th | NorthEast United
Predictions – CD: 2-1, JF: 0-1, MS: 3-1, SB: 3-2.
Verdict: Everyone bar me is going for ATK. Easy to understand why, NorthEast haven’t been great recently and ATK scored a few goals against Delhi. I’m banking on NorthEast going out with a bang.
As one door closes, another one will definitely open as this marks the last prediction league of the normal season. There will be something for the play-off games, as for what, I am not so sure. We’ll roll the points over to the play-offs and then the winner will be crowned and they can bask in their glory knowing that they’ve achieved immortality for the season.
Until the next time.
