The Official LoP Premier League Prediction Contest 2020/21

[Smiffy]

Well done Shee congrats on the win! Big thanks to Prime for once again running this like a pro. Hopefully back again for next season

[Gooner]

Yeah, echo the same, congrats to Shee and thanks to Prime

[Mazza]

Didn't I win?

Oh bollocks. Well done Shee, top work as always PT2

[Shee]

I still carried the scars of getting pipped by Heisenberg on the last day of 2019. Was taking no chances this time around. :-)

Thanks for the congrats lads and thanks to Prime in particular. Terrific work and commitment to this game by him down through the years which I still thoroughly enjoy. Bravo!

[The Cook]

Well done Shee, nicely done. And I look forward to trying to do better in the Euros one.

[Freeman]

Congrats Shee, very well played. Magnificent work as always Prime - I will take up your offer of some advice before I get to work on running the Euros if that's ok.

[Prime Time]

Summary

In the end, there was to be no fairytale comeback. Shee and Maverick were locked in a close battle for a lot of the season and it was obvious from sometime out that one of them was going to triumph. Shee definitely had the edge in the final third of the season and Maverick's memory let him down at the death, which made it a bit of a foregone conclusion. In fact, with a trio of bonuses in the last round I suddenly was able to push Maverick very close for 2nd place, ultimately only falling two points short. Would I have got enough from the games I missed the week before to pull myself over the line? I guess we'll never know. More solid performances from Freeman, Gooner and Smiffy in the middle of the pack, and a good first outing for The Cook. Mazza and Bear - two powerhouses of yesteryear - were affected by not being around as much, while Oliver did well to pull himself off the bottom despite starting quite late.

So, we add another name to the Roll of Honour. Not an entirely new one, since he's already got two FA Cup contests to his name. But please join me in congratulating Shee on his first win of the main Premier League tournament.

Roll of Honour
Division One
2004: Jack
2005: Huxta156
2006: Daveyboy
2007: Winter
2008: Daveyboy
2009: Amebling
2010: Mazza
2011: Chrisbear
2012: Prime Time
2013: Mazza
2014: Prime Time
2015: 'Bear
2016: Prime Time
2017: Freeman
2018: Smiffy
2019: Heisenberg
2020: Mazza
2021: Shee

Division Two
2014: Freeman
2015: Sucky
2016: Ranting Randall
2017: 'Bear
2018: 'Bear
2019: Smiffy

FA Cup:
2012: JoeyShinobi
2013: zzzorf
2014: Prime Time
2015: Golden
2016: EddieG
2017: Oliver
2018: Shee
2019: Gooner
2020: Shee

European Championships
2008: Flesh
2012: Mazza
2016: Anonymous

World Cup
2010: Marvin
2014: Golden
2018: Mazza

That's all for this season - and perhaps for good? I know numbers aren't what they have been and a few people dropped off this year. Perhaps we'll be back for next season, who knows. I guess we'll have a better idea of that come July. On a personal note, this was my tenth season in charge of the game, which is probably something else to factor into it all.

In the meantime, I believe there's an offer on the table for a European Championship contest from Freeman. Hopefully we can shore that up in the next couple of days. I hope you'll all join in with that and help spread the word to anyone you think might want to play. We could do with a bit of new blood around here and that seems like it could be just the thing to get a few new eyes in here. And who knows? If they stick around, maybe it could help the Premier League contest into a new era.

Well, I think that's it. Congratulations again to Shee and thanks to everyone for playing again this year!

[Prime Time]

Final Update

Name	Prev	pts	w/o	Total
Shee	242	8	195	250
Maverick	222	0	182	222
Prime Time	197	8	185	220
Freeman	204	10	194	214
Gooner	196	9	180	210
Smiffy	186	11	177	202
The Cook	174	4	163	178
Mazza	145	0	115	145
Oliver	85	9	89	94
BEAR	83	0	53	83

[Shee]

Arsenal 3-0 Brighton & Hove Albion
Aston Villa 0-1 Chelsea
Fulham 0-1 Newcastle United
Leeds United 2-0 West Bromwich Albion
Leicester City 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur
Liverpool 3-0 Crystal Palace
Manchester City 2-0 Everton
Sheffield United 2-0 Burnley
West Ham United 2-0 Southampton
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Manchester United

Bonus 1: Which team will finish in fourth place? Liverpool
Bonus 2: Which team will score the most goals on Sunday? Liverpool
Bonus 3: Who will score the final goal of the season? Vardy

[Oliver]

Arsenal 2-1 Brighton & Hove Albion
Aston Villa 1-0 Chelsea
Fulham 2-2 Newcastle United
Leeds United 3-1 West Bromwich Albion
Leicester City 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Liverpool 3-3 Crystal Palace
Manchester City 3-1 Everton
Sheffield United 1-2 Burnley
West Ham United 1-3 Southampton
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-2 Manchester United

Bonus 1: Which team will finish in fourth place? Liverpool
Bonus 2: Which team will score the most goals on Sunday? Leeds
Bonus 3: Who will score the final goal of the season? Pablo Hernandez

[Prime Time]

Round 27 Update

Name	Prev	pts	w/o	Total
Shee	231	6	187	242
Maverick	211	6	182	222
Freeman	193	6	184	204
Prime Time	190	2	177	197
Gooner	181	5	171	196
Smiffy	174	7	166	186
The Cook	163	6	159	174
Mazza	140	0	115	145
Oliver	78	2	80	85
BEAR	68	0	53	83

Update with preseason bonuses. The only one left is for the top scorer - if Mo Salah gets it Mav might still have half a chance of the title. If Kane gets it, Gooner and I get the points. They are currently level at the top, and we're the only players with a realistic chance of netting that one.

[Prime Time]

SUNDAY 23RD MAY

Arsenal 3-0 Brighton & Hove Albion
Aston Villa 0-2 Chelsea
Fulham 1-1 Newcastle United
Leeds United 3-0 West Bromwich Albion
Leicester City 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Liverpool 2-0 Crystal Palace
Manchester City 3-0 Everton
Sheffield United 1-1 Burnley
West Ham United 2-0 Southampton
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-3 Manchester United

Bonus 1: Which team will finish in fourth place? Chelsea
Bonus 2: Which team will score the most goals on Sunday? Man City
Bonus 3: Who will score the final goal of the season? Marcus Rashford
Deadline: 15:58pm Sunday 23rd May

[Smiffy]

SUNDAY 23RD MAY

Arsenal 2-0 Brighton & Hove Albion
Aston Villa 1-2 Chelsea
Fulham 1-0 Newcastle United
Leeds United 3-0 West Bromwich Albion
Leicester City 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Liverpool 3-0 Crystal Palace
Manchester City 2-0 Everton
Sheffield United 1-0 Burnley
West Ham United 120 Southampton
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Manchester United

Bonus 1: Which team will finish in fourth place? Chelsea
Bonus 2: Which team will score the most goals on Sunday? Liverpool
Bonus 3: Who will score the final goal of the season? Harry Kane
Deadline: 15:58pm Sunday 23rd May

[Gooner]

SUNDAY 23RD MAY

Arsenal 3-0 Brighton & Hove Albion
Aston Villa 1-2 Chelsea
Fulham 1-2 Newcastle United
Leeds United 3-0 West Bromwich Albion
Leicester City 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Liverpool 3-2 Crystal Palace
Manchester City 1-0 Everton
Sheffield United 1-1 Burnley
West Ham United 1-0 Southampton
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-2 Manchester United

Bonus 1: Which team will finish in fourth place? Liverpool
Bonus 2: Which team will score the most goals on Sunday? Leeds
Bonus 3: Who will score the final goal of the season? Salah
Deadline: 15:58pm Sunday 23rd May

[Prime Time]

That's great, Freeman! I don't think anyone will want to stand in your way.

Since people have already had plenty of chances to come forward, I suggest anyone else that wants to be considered should throw their name into the hat by the deadline of this round and if no one does, consider it yours to run. I've run two world cup contests and a Euros one before now so if you want any advice arising out of that experience, just ask.