Hello all,

Welcome to another EPL thread, where this week will feed you all the European football news and results that I know you are hungry for. This weeks format will have the EPL round in review, followed by the preview for Game Week 5, followed with a wrap up of the 1st match day in the Champions League which went off with a bang Wednesday morning. We will conclude with a brief rundown of the 5AS competition and the links for all TS EPL leagues will be included as well...needless to say this is a big one!!!

Now, on the back of ripper week in the IKTS, following last week’s tipping prediction netted a huge 10 points, unless you went with the banker on Chelsea/Arsenal (I went with Man City...never again; its Chelsea/Arsenal for me from now on), or different banker and insurance chip placements altogether...oh well, you cant be right all the time

And on that note, what a strange weekend for results in the EPL where other than the usual suspects in Arsenal and Chelsea getting up, most other results did not go the way of the favourites.

More over the break...<!--more-->

So Game Week 4 started off with a surprise result at Goodisen Park in the lunch time fixture where Everton scored 2 goals late into injury time against Man Utd to level the ledger and draw 3 all. The Arsenal hosted Bolton at the Emirates where Cesc Fabregas put on a dominate display and Andrev Arsharvin terrorised the opposition, and Arsenal cruised home to 4-1 victory against a 10 man Bolton. Over to Upton Park where the news gets worse for the Hammers as Chelsea put 3 past them before a late consolation goal to Scotty Parker made the result 3-1 but in West Hams defence, they had a Carlton Cole goal called offside early on and an easy chance crashed into the crossbar late in the piece.

Fulham found themselves 1 nil down at home early on against Wolves but double from Dembele, one of which was deep into injury time gave them points. Blackburn travelled to the City of Manchester and found themselves 1 up after a howler from Joe Hart and Kolo Toure, but City hung on and equalised through ex-gunner Patrick Viera to split the points. Up north we go to St James Park where newly promoted clubs Newcastle and Blackpool played off in last seasons championship re-match. Newcastle finished with a huge points gap at the conclusion of the Championship so it was with much surprise when Blackpool came away with the points courtesy of a converted penalty by captain Charlie Adam on the stroke of half time, followed by a sublime counter attack move late in the game. This time the captain played a ball through feeding newly signed DJ Campbell after a loan spell at the club, to steal the points against the Jordies.

West Brom hosted Tottenham and found themselves 1 nil down after a comprehensive strike from Luka Modric, who took a nasty injury later on in the game and will be out for at least 3 months. West Brom equalised just before half time and while Tottenham squandered chance after chance as the game went on, West Brom hung on to share the points. Sunderland travelled to Wigan with the record breaking signing Asamoah Gyan named on the bench, and found themselves 1 man down early on after Lee Cattermole was booked twice in 4 minutes. After a reshuffle, Gyan came off the bench and scored on debut to give the Black Cats the lead but they could not hold and claim an unlikely victory as Paraguay international Antolin Alcaraz headed home late in the game to share the points.

On Sunday, Birmingham hosted Liverpool in a game with very few clear chances and they held on to split the points and on Monday, Villa travelled to Stoke On Trent where the Potters found themselves 1 nil down at half time, but fought back with 2 late goals and registered their first win the season with a 2-1 victory courtesy of an injury time strike from Robert Huth.

So at the end of GW4, Chelsea remain undefeated at the summit with Arsenal hot on their heels and Man Utd just behind them, followed up by the minnows Blackpool rounding out the top 4. West Ham remain bottom and pointless after draws to Blackburn, Everton, West Brom and Wigan, and these results meant that even after Stoke registered their first win of the season, they are still in the bottom 3.

Game Week 4 Results
Arsenal - 4
Koscielny (24)
Chamakh (58)
A Song (78)
Vela (83)
Bolton - 1
Elmander (44)
Sent off: Cahill (64)

Everton - 3
Pienaar (39)
Cahill (90+1)
Arteta (90+2)
Man Utd - 3
Fletcher (43)
Vidic (47)
Berbatov (66)

Fulham - 2
Dembele (49, 90+1)
Wolverhampton - 1
Van Damme (10)
Sent off: Berra (90)

Man City - 1
Vieira (55)
Blackburn - 1
Kalinic (25)

Newcastle - 0
Blackpool - 2
Adam (pen 45)
Campbell (90)

West Brom - 1
Brunt (41)
Tottenham - 1
Modric (27)

West Ham - 1
Parker (85)
Chelsea - 3
Essien (2, 83)
Kalou (18)

Wigan - 1
Alcaraz (87)
Sunderland - 1
Gyan (66)
Sent off: Cattermole (22)

Birmingham - 0
Liverpool - 0

Stoke - 2
Jones (80)
Huth (90+3)
Aston Villa - 1
Downing (35)

GW 5 Fixtures (all times in GMT) and predictions (in bold)
Saturday, 18 September 2010
Stoke v West Ham, 12:45 - Stoke 2-0
Aston Villa v Bolton, 15:00 - Villa 2-1
Blackburn v Fulham, 15:00 - Blackburn 1-0 (maybe 1 all draw)
Everton v Newcastle, 15:00 - Everton 2-1
Tottenham v Wolverhampton, 15:00 - Tottenham 2-0
West Brom v Birmingham, 15:00 - 1 all draw
Sunderland v Arsenal, 17:30 - Arsenal 3-0
Sunday, 19 September 2010
Man Utd v Liverpool, 13:30 - 1 all draw (as The Reds seem to really fire up for this fixture, but really I have no idea!!!)
Wigan v Man City, 15:00 - City 2-0
Chelsea v Blackpool, 16:00 - Chelsea 4-0

Insurance chip on the Liverpool game, banker chip on Chelsea.

Captain for the week: Cesc Fabregas is looking in ominous form after being BOG on the weekend against Bolton and having a hand in 2 goals, and he was also BOG against Braga overnight scoring a brace and setting up Arshavin and Vela in 2 other moves. You simply cannot look past him.

Champions League Review (Courtesy of BBC Sport)
In Group A, reigning champions Inter were held at FC Twente after Wesley Sneijder gave Inter an early lead, the Dutch hit back and went ahead thanks to a brilliant Theo Janssen free-kick and a headed own goal from Diego Milito. Samuel Etoo spared new manager Rafa Benitez and Inters blushes by scoring before the break as it ended 2-2. In the groups other game, Tottenham earned a 2-2 draw at Werder Bremen in their first Champions League group stage fixture. A Petri Pasanen own goal and a Peter Crouch header put Spurs 2-0 ahead, only for Hugo Almeida and Marko Marin goals to earn the German team a point.

Portuguese giants Benfica recorded a comfortable 2-0 victory against Hapoel Tev-Aviv at the Estadio da Luz. Anderson Luisao put the hosts ahead before Paraguayan striker Oscar Cardozo doubled the lead halfway through the second half. Lyon joined Benfica at the top of Group B on three points with a slender 1-0 victory at home against German side Schalke after Michel Bastos put the French side ahead and Schalke had Benedikt Hoewedes sent off before the break as Lyon held on to triumph.

Valencia raced to the top of Group C with a thumping win in the Ataturk Stadium in Turkey against Champions League debutants Bursaspor. Tino Costa, Aritz Aduriz, Pablo Hernandez and Roberto Soldado got the goals with a resounding 4-0 victory. Manchester United were forced to settle for a point in their home game against Scottish champions Rangers as they played out a goalless draw at Old Trafford. United, who made 10 changes from their 3-3 draw at Everton on Saturday, could not break down a stubborn Rangers rearguard and they also saw winger Antonio Valencia stretchered off with a suspected dislocation and a fracture of his ankle in the second half, which will probably keep him out for some time.

In Group D, Barcelona fell behind early on at home to Panathinaikos, but they recovered to record a comprehensive 5-1 win over the Greek side. Sidney Govou fired home from Djibril Cisses flick to stun the Camp Nou, but Messi slotted in to level, David Villa swept in a second and Messi fired home to make it 3-1 at half time. The Argentine blew his chance of a hat-trick when Alexandros Tzorvas saved his penalty, but Barca still added gloss to the score line with second-half goals from Pedro and Dani Alves. Danes FC Copenhagen joined them on three points with a 1-0 victory at home against dark horses Rubin Kazan, the Russian outfit that impressed last season. Senegalese striker Dame NDoye left it late to score the winner, heading home a free-kick with only three minutes left.

Bayern Munich left it late against a resilient Roma side - but their 2-0 victory was achieved in style. One of Germanys heroes of the World Cup, Mueller, scored what was arguably the goal of the round, when he curled in the opener with the outside of his foot. Club and country team-mate Miroslav Klose added the second moments later. And in the other group E game, it was a good night for Romanian side Cluj, who recorded a 2-1 victory over competition regulars FC Basel. Ionut Rada and Lacina Traore gave the home team a 2-0 lead inside the first 12 minutes before Valentin Stocker pulled one back for the Swiss club, on the stroke of half-time.

Spartak Moscow secured a 1-0 win at Marseille. The goal came in the last 10 minutes and off the unfortunate Marseille defender Cesar Azpilicueta, who inadvertently diverted the ball past his own goalkeeper Steve Mandanda. In the other Group F game, Carlo Ancelottis Chelsea eased to a comfortable 4-1 victory away to Zilina. France international Nicolas Anelka scored twice during the romp in Slovakia. Tomas Oravec grabbed a consolation for the minnows.

Seven-time champions AC Milan had Zlatan Ibrahimovic to thank for their 2-0 win over French side Auxerre at the San Siro in Group G. The striker, on loan from Barcelona, converted Kevin-Prince Boatengs flick-on for the first before scoring his second from Ronaldinhos pass. In the nights other game in the Group of Death, Real Madrid created 35 chances but only scored twice against Ajax for their 2-0 win. Cristiano Ronaldo tested the Ajax goal on many occasions but it was an own goal from Vurnon Anita and Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain, with a tap-in, who scored for Jose Mourinhos side.

Shakhtar Donetsk captain Dario Srnas second-half free kick gave the Ukraine champions a 1-0 victory over Partizan Belgrade. Shakhtar dominated and got their reward when Srna smashed in from 30 yards. In the other Group H game, Arsenal sent out a warning to their rivals with a stunning 6-0 win against Portuguese side Braga. Cesc Fabregas and Carlos Vela both scored twice as Arsene Wengers side romped to victory in what can only be described as nothing short of a dominant display of football class.

Match Day 1 Results
Barcelona - 5
Messi (22, 45)
Villa (33)
Pedrito (78)
Daniel (90+3)
Panathinaikos - 1
Govou (20)

Benfica - 2
Luisao (21)
Cardozo (69)
Hapoel Tel-Aviv - 0

Bursaspor - 0
Valencia - 4
Facundo Costa (16)
Aduriz (41)
Pablo (68)
Soldado (76)

FC Copenhagen - 1
Ndoye (87)
Rubin Kazan - 0

FC Twente - 2
Janssen (20)
Milito (og 31)
Inter Milan - 2
Sneijder (13)
Etoo (41)

Lyon - 1
Howedes (og 21)
Schalke 04 - 0
Sent off:
Howedes (38)

Man Utd - 0
Rangers - 0

Werder Bremen - 2
Almeida (43)
Marin (47)
Tottenham - 2
Pasanen (og 12)
Crouch (18)

AC Milan - 2
Ibrahimovic (66, 69)
Auxerre - 0

Arsenal - 6
Fabregas (pen 9, 53)
Arshavin (30)
Chamakh (34)
Vela (69, 84)
Braga - 0

Bayern Munich - 2
Mueller (78)
Klose (83)
Roma - 0

CFR 1907 Cluj - 2
Rada (9)
Traore (12)
FC Basle - 1
Stocker (45+2)

Marseille - 0
Spartak Moscow - 1
Azpilicueta (og 81)

MSK Zilina - 1
Oravec (55)
Chelsea - 4
Essien (13)
Anelka (24, 28)
Sturridge (48)

Real Madrid - 2
Higuain (31, 73)
Ajax - 0

Shakhtar Donetsk - 1
Srna (71)
Partizan Belgrade - 0

TS FPL Leagues
Classic: <a href="http://fantasy.premierleague.com/M/table.mc?id=12154">http://fantasy.premierleague.com/M/table.mc?id=12154[/url]
H2H: <a href="http://fantasy.premierleague.com/M/table.mc?id=12169">http://fantasy.premierleague.com/M/table.mc?id=12169[/url]
H2H#2: <a href="http://fantasy.premierleague.com/M/table.mc?id=84040">http://fantasy.premierleague.com/M/table.mc?id=84040[/url]
TS.net H2H: <a href="http://fantasy.premierleague.com/M/table.mc?id=116683">http://fantasy.premierleague.com/M/table.mc?id=116683[/url]
FF.uk: <a href="http://fantasy.premierleague.com/M/table.mc?id=25276">http://fantasy.premierleague.com/M/table.mc?id=25276[/url]

TS IKTS Leagues
TS: <a href="http://iknowthescore.premierleague.com/minileagues/view.htm?id=20221">http://iknowthescore.premierleague.com/minileagues/view.htm?id=20221[/url]
FF.uk: <a href="http://iknowthescore.premierleague.com/minileagues/view.htm?id=13944">http://iknowthescore.premierleague.com/minileagues/view.htm?id=13944[/url]

5-A-Side Review
Toosers R Us defeated Nameless: 3-2 (NedFlanders, Fezcat &amp; JoshyC all winners)
TooSerious 1 lost to Flamming Buddhists: 2-3 (Benji &amp; Placentino FC both winners)
TooSerious Tree lost to The Libertines: 1-4 (Macca only winner)
TooSerious Two lost to Coonts Like A Hippos Yawn: 1-3 (AusJB only winner, UnderAchievers drawing)

This week’s fixtures (and ladder positions):
Too Serious 1 (5) vs Feral Dingoes (9)
TooSerious Tree (12) vs Coonts Like A Hippos Yawn (6)
Toosers R Us (11) vs The Wenches (7)
TooSerious Two (8) vs Nameless (10)

There is no video this week as Shlocky is tied up with other things...

Also, I will posting again on Saturday morning with the Best Buys for the VS EPL competition, game previews for the game week 5 courtesy of the BBC, and a full injury update for the EPL (as this is when it is most accurate).

I need another new keyboard now...lol. Until next week... :lol: