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Movement On the Table: A Tad Predictable Podcast

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On this episode @TadPredicts gives us his thoughts on the upcoming EPL Gameweek 31. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Movement On the Table: A Tad Predictable Podcast

The EPL Index Podcast

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The EPL Index PodcastMovement On the Table: A Tad Predictable Podcast. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.

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He's got a twisting turning. He's scoring. Big shotter. Dancing. To score. To score. Believer. Chris Words with the opening voice. It's Summer. The slow machine pays out the jackpot. Liverpool back on their purge with a record equally sweatier English league title. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages. Maybe I'll index proudly grace to you the best prediction podcast in the world. A tad predictable. To your host, to the U.S. China Kira. It's game with 31, and you know what that means. It's time for another brand new episode of a tad predictable. Well, the title race is going to take a bit of a pause

as Arsenal are marching their way to a Premier League title, but they have to park that for a weekend because they will be welcoming Manchester City, their title rivals to London, albeit at a neutral stadium, but welcoming them to London, nonetheless, as they will be going head to head in the Carabaugh Cup Final. You look at the state of the Carabaugh Cup and you look at recent history and you look at who has been in the finals of the Carabaugh Cup. It's quite evident that the notion of, you know, some of the bigger teams not taking the Carabaugh Cup seriously, not taking the FA Cup seriously. It's hard to buy that, especially with the Carabaugh Cup. You look, even as far back as 2020-2021 season,

that was man-seed at beating Tottenham. 2021-2022, it was Liverpool beating Chelsea. 2022-2023 was man-united beating Newcastle and obviously it's Newcastle with a financial muscle that they had acquired. 2023-24 was Liverpool beating Chelsea. Last season, it was Newcastle beating Liverpool and then this season Arsenal versus Manchester City. So the big clubs, in Verdacombs, are the traditionally big clubs and then you add Newcastle into that as well who with the financial muscle they have certainly one of the bigger clubs now from that perspective have dominated the Carabaugh Cup finals. So this whole thing of, well, they're not taking the Cup seriously. Well, they're doing a pretty good job of getting to the finals despite not taking them seriously.

And I'm curious to see if this is going to continue. I think the fact that squad building has become such an important thing for these clubs that are in European football, you're in your outwardly, at least trying to be in European football, you're in your out, you have to have a massive squad and the Carabaugh Cup usually results in a lot of rotation. But if you've got the depth in your squad and you're rotating, bringing in players that would start for the majority of teams in the Premier League, then you put yourself in a good standing to go far in these tournaments. And as we see by the finals over the last couple of years, that seems to be quite evident that squad building has become so important and those clubs that have done well with regards to squad building tend to be the clubs that then end up in these finals certainly in the Carabaugh Cup. I think it's going to be an interesting game. I've mentioned throughout the season the psychological blows

Arsenal have needed to land on Manchester City. To their credit, they have done it pretty much every single time. They've been called upon to do it. We mentioned December, the arms list gap they needed to maintain. They did that. I think this will be despite it being a Carabaugh Cup game and not a Premier League game. I think this is going to be another one of those psychological blows that Arsenal can land on Manchester City. They need to infatically show and it doesn't necessarily have to be infatic on the scoreboard but infatic in the result. They need to show that the old guard is the old guard and these guys are the new kids on the block in terms of just superiority in the Premier League. Obviously, Pep Guardiola, they're the rumours of him calling it at Man City at the end of the season. You have to usher in this new Arthetta

and Arsenal will be hoping it's more than one season. It's a dynasty that they're going to be hoping to build. And the perfect way to do it is go and beat Man City in this Carabaugh Cup game. We know the pressure that's now on Man City in the league. They've got no room to make any more errors. They have to win out the rest of the season just to stand a chance to be in the conversation to win the league title in my opinion. And I don't see that happening. They're not the killers that we're used to seeing. They're not the Sainé Stirling, a Guero type of Pep Guardiola teams that were revered around the league. This team can be got. And again, if Arsenal just land this blow again, it's saying, yeah, we now own England. Even though it is a Carabaugh Cup, it's still a final. And these type of games can send a message.

If they knock the stuffing out of them, I think it psychologically just allows Man City to have an excuse to bow out of the Premier League title race. It might not be that consciously they bow out, but I think subconsciously I think they might end up buying out if they go and lose this game. And from an arteta perspective, it just continues to grow the confidence of the team. It continues to drive the message home that what we are doing is the right thing. And it gets that trophy. Here's on one of trophy with his version of Arsenal, because obviously the first trophy he won, it was not Arsenal in his image. Kind of similar to on the slot winning the Premier League title, I'll bait Arsenal with Arteta. It was an FA Cup, very different Premier League, obviously way more prestigious and harder to do. But the premise is still the same, that you did it with the team that wasn't shaped in your image.

You did it with a team that was littered with players that had been under the previous regime. You were tweaking things. You hadn't yet fully embraced your methodology and style of play. And the fact that he's not won it yet, whilst having his team playing his style of football, has been a growing concern, obviously for Arsenal fans, and they've been calls for him to go if he can't deliver trophies. And I think it's an interesting one, and one we'll have to talk about, obviously, maybe later down the road, that he's come so close but can't get over the hump and whether or not that justifies him leaving, or do you maintain that and bank on the consistency? And Arsenal, I think, will feel vindicated if they do go and win the Premier League title like I'm predicting. Because all you're doing is we know we're a consistent team.

Yes, we're a consistent team that can't get to 90 points and our tetas shown you can't get to 90 points. But what we are going to bank on is we know we can always get above 80. And one of these seasons, that's going to be enough to win the league title. And it looks like this season's the season where it's going to be enough to win the league title. Whereas before the previous versions of Pep Guardiola, the previous versions of Liverpool under Jürgen Klopp, you have to get to 90 points just to enter the conversation for a league title. That's not going to be the case this season and Arsenal are banking on the fact that while they've been consistent, they're the most consistent team over the last couple of years that's going to bear fruit. So yeah, I think Arsenal do go and win this game. I think it's probably going to be an ugly final. We know finals already are ugly games. They're not many blockbuster finals because their KG, no one wants to lose the game, certainly not early on.

And with the style of play, Arsenal play, that compounds that even more because their conservative nature, their time wasting, the amount of time that the ball is out of play and the amount of free kicks and fouls that Arsenal will be giving away and also trying to get, it's going to make for a very KG game. But I do think Arsenal are a bit of squad and I've mentioned it throughout the season from before the season even started. Arsenal have the best depth in the league and I think it's going to be testament to this game. They're going to drag city into the deep waters late in the game as we're Arsenal are going to then maybe release the handbrake and that's going to be to their benefit because we've seen city struggle late on in games. I think the psychological blow as well of going out of the Champions League so emphatically was a coming of age. Well, it was a crossroads moment for them

and I think back to back tournaments where they go out, I think will be symbolic of the season that they've had and probably a foreshadowing of what's going to happen towards the end of the season with the Premier League. I did want to mention and I reminded myself by remembering who the man city played in Roma Drid in the Champions League. There was the season Liverpool lost to Roma Drid in the Champions League final. It's interesting because when I was talking about those dynasty moments and those new kids on the block there were similarities in Liverpool then and Arsenal now where it was a team on the ascendancy, a team that was at that point in time pretenders but on the verge of becoming the most dominant team in European football and in that final Roma Drid

were at the tail end of their peak. They were going to be doing a rebuild after that season and we know what the clubs like Roma Drid the rebuild isn't as long as some of the rebuilds that other clubs have because they just have that power as a football club to bring in a caliber of player that not many other teams can do so they rebuild usually take a lot shorter than other teams. I thought it was important for Liverpool to knock off Roma Drid then because it was Liverpool on the ascendancy Roma Drid on the decline as slighted decline as it might be on the decline and that would have been a poetic moment similarly here with where man city on the decline in Verticom is relative to Arsenal on the ascendancy it's a poetic moment for Arsenal to solidify that and confirm that they are indeed the team that is now taking over

from man city as the dominant team the the hunted team they've been the hunter for so many seasons now and they're trying to be the hunted and this is going to be the season that does it for Arsenal certainly from their perspective and it's certainly projecting that way with the way it's looking so this game has bigger ramifications than just winning a trophy I think it sets the platform for where teams stand in the league going forward in my opinion and I think again I think it also helps encourage Arsenal to continue their defiant march towards a Premier League title for the first time in decades right there's also Premier League action this weekend eight games as a result of two games being well Arsenal play their game a couple of weeks back and man city crystal ball palace game has postponed because city are involved in the car bar cut but nonetheless they are eight other games let's jump into those games now the first

game is a Friday kickoff it is Manchester United they will be traveling to Bournemouth to obviously try and continue this march to a Champions League spot I think they sit in a favourable position they play one game a week they obviously don't have any other competitions with its car about Cup FA Cup any version of European football man United have been out of that for a while now and I mentioned at the time when they went out of those tournaments that it's too their benefit to go out of those tournaments I think it's to the benefit of the likes of a Tottenham that we're going to get to speak to speak about at the end of this podcast as that's the last game of the weekend and it's beautiful that it's been set up that way I think it would have been beneficial for Liverpool but again those performances that we'll discuss Liverpool and the two schools of thought with regards to

whether to guard or to stay in it for man United I think it was the right thing they were never going to win any of those cups in my opinion there's still a lot of work to do to fix man United I know they're playing as one of the most informed teams in the league at the moment but that's because they do have so much time to recuperate recover build tactical game plans for specific games this wouldn't be the same level of performance you'll be getting from United if they were playing two three games a week so for United it's important from a financial perspective off the pitch to make champions league but it's important on the pitch as well just to give a lot of the players some belief I think they continue on that road Bournemouth have started a little bit there they they've thrown quite a few draws into their into their games in recent weeks I I'm still enjoying watching them play but the

the lack of killer instinct in recent weeks has kind of allowed teams to stay way too long in games with Bournemouth and find a way to go and cause Bournemouth problems which is unfortunate for them because you look at the momentum they started picking up after their horrendous run during that around December time period they've clawed their way back up the league table but now I'm looking for that killer instinct I'm looking for the Evan Nelson's to step up I'm looking for Bournemouth to show me a little bit more from an aggressive attacking standpoint you look at the fact that they've only scored four goals in their last six games there there's got to be a bit more ruthlessness in front of goal if you are Bournemouth and hopefully for for for their sake it it ends up it ends up coming to fruition because as I said they're still playing good for

Bournemouth they just aren't able to finish teams or put the the ball in the in the back of the net and we will see whether or not you know the likes of an Evan Nelson the likes of an now are able to well basically fire them to a European spot I think also it's telling an interesting that you know they've put a lot of emphasis on creepy who's a young player and with young players they they have patches of form you can't be relying on on on creepy to to send you into Europe because he's going to have dry spells you need the Evan Nelson's to be the ones that step up and and make an impact you need an and then as well now to deliver a bit more than than he's currently delivering in in my opinion so we'll see we'll see but for this game I do fancy man you're not just to go and win it similarly to what we've seen in a lot of Bournemouth games

recently I think man united I think Bournemouth allow man united to be in the game a lot longer then then they should despite playing well and United have shown they've got a good run of form at the moment they're strikers are producing quite nicely from from from a goals output perspective and I can see the team that sits currently third in the form table who have scored 10 goals in six games to be able to score two goals at least in this game I can see man United winning this two one maybe two no two one from for man united let's move on then to so we've got a Friday game we've also got an early kickoff on Saturday it is Brighton entertaining Liverpool I think this is a great game for Brighton as because you look at the performance Liverpool had midweek in the Champions League

they were 1-0 down you know based on the first leg they needed to win the game I think it was a performance we haven't seen often from Liverpool this season where the handbrake was taken off where they were playing with the fallbacks giving the width with the likes of the the wide players and Florian vs Salah playing tapped in a bit more rather than having Salah and Gakbo as they've had for a majority of the season hugging the touch line and these were all things that I know I've mentioned I know for example on anfield index they've mentioned it quite often this this was not some difficult thing to do you bought marauding attacking fast fallbacks you have one of the greatest goal scorers in Premier League history the player that gave the

greatest ever Premier League season last season and you have and and yet you have those marauding fallbacks inverting and you have Mo Salah playing hugging the touch line it made no sense I don't know why they've been doing that this season get Salah's close to goal as possible we've seen from the underlying numbers that Mo Salah is further away from goal then he's ever been in his Liverpool career he's he's touching the ball his initial first touch of the ball is a lot further away from goal than it's ever been where he's taking his shots from is a lot further from goal than it's ever been at Liverpool and you're thinking why would you take away or why would you send Salah further and further away from goal and you see that it's not working you see that his production has has dropped dramatically and continue doing that if it's if it's not broke there's no need to fix anything here Salah needs to be as close to goal as possible you've got

the legs out wide to with your fallbacks to stretch play that way it shouldn't be the other way around and it's not rocket science it's really not that difficult to figure out so whether or not Liverpool can go and play the same obviously Salah to come off in that game you hope that it's not a long-term injury or anything like that but you've got the blueprint here of how Liverpool should be playing and I'm interested to see if they play like this again the way they played midweek on the weekend I'm betting they don't because we've seen for example when Liverpool played Marseille another emphatic performance attacking performance handbrake off type of performance and then the following week in in the Premier League they they revert back to this sterile possession heavy football sideways passing trying to limit the amount of events in the game and and you know hoping

for some individual brilliance to see them over the line and then if they go ahead they sit back try and play on the counter attack and be defensively resolute even though they're not that type of team so that's the concern if you're a Liverpool fan is what version of Liverpool are going to see how we're going to see the team from Wednesday which is a team that which is a style of play that suits the players all we're going to go back to what has not been working this season and we've seen in the Premier League they prefer to play with the latter unfortunately which is why I think it's a great position to be in it if you're Brighton because people are going to come into this game saying oh did you see that Liverpool performance can Brighton handle it and Liverpool aren't going to play like that it's going to work in Brighton's favour and if they then go and get a result in this game you've got in a result against the team in Liverpool that's just gone to the quarterfinals of the Champions League what can that do for your momentum it seems like Brighton are between the wilderness at this point in time their season seems to not be as meaningful as it could be they're said in 12th

place I think they've got an outside chance to make European football there are a lot of teams they have to climb over to get into European football but they they they sit there with an outside chance and a positive result in this game I think could see them claw their way seriously into that conversation I'm going to go with the one one draw it's frustrating for me to give that type of prediction as a Liverpool fan I hope that Liverpool go in this game I hope that Liverpool play like they played on Wednesday from a style perspective but I'm not expecting it and because I'm not expecting it I can't expect to be giving Liverpool a win in this one so a one one draw much to my chagrin right let's take an ad break we'll come back we'll discuss some more games and then I'm so looking forward to some of those games towards the end right let's take a an ad break we'll be right back after these short messages score more with the college branded Venmo debit card and earn up to 5% cash back with Venmo stash

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all right we are back we are discussing the English Premier League game week 31 the next fixture that we're going to be discussing is Fulham vs Burnley it's a game that I'm predicting a one no tidy one no uh Fulham win I think from a Burnley perspective um they've been quite spirited and they came on stack last week which was a bit of a surprise for me because they have been quite good for a for a goal or two in in in recent games but they had that no no draw against the the team that I've mentioned had that has been quite toothless um and and and not have the killer instinct born methane in recent weeks I think that Fulham are going to be able to keep them at arms reach I know um you know from a Fulham perspective they also are in a bit of a allow period um I think they've got one up two wins if I'm not mistaken uh from their last six games uh and three of those have been losses as well but they they're a team I seem to always have

a little bit of confidence in to to see out results especially when they start to get in these weird spaces where two games you know a loss in a draw I can see them picking up a win they seem to always just keep ticking over and this feels like one of those games where they're going to be able to just again keep themself in that out with you know in that conversation from the outside looking in to try and get a European spot I think they take care of business against Burnley and for Burnley's sake I mean it would have taken a miraculous um end of season to to stay in the Premier League I think them and walls are resigned to the fact that they're going to be relegated but um I think that doesn't help them obviously and and no one know when Fulham keeps their hopes alive on European football let's move on to Everton vs Chelsea Chelsea are humiliating um tie against um against PSG and I mean tie in terms of

of of the game not tie in terms of a result they I think Chelsea I I to say enjoyed is probably the wrong word um I think it was revealing and I think it was important for this result to happen um for Chelsea if they use it in the right way because I've said the entire season this Chelsea squad is way too young it's full of you know the wonder kids that you would sign on FIFA you know over the past five they've they've collected them right every single kid that that's been in a wonder kid article when when you're trying to build a team on FIFA or football manager Chelsea have signed them um and with that is going to come very patchy start a very patchy part of the season they're going

to be sees the parts of the season when you're thinking oh my well they could go and win a league title and they're going to be parts of the season when you're thinking are they even going to make you know champions league European football and that's going to ebb and flow throughout the season with such a young squad you hope that when for example a cold parmer has his dip in form then a jar pedra has his peak or an ends up in and has his peak and that you can ride those waves in unison and it keeps you you know competitive for entire season but the reality of the situation is that's not going to happen some of them might have their peaks at the same time some of them all of them might have their dips at the same time as well and it makes it very difficult and you can't be expecting young players to be consistent that that's what comes with the territory of being a young player you are going to have those dips in form and it's the great players that come out of that by developing that level of consistency something obviously some of these Chelsea players are still growing into it still learning to do and without the level of experience

players to learn or certainly in my opinion it's difficult for them to reach that and I think the balance of this Chelsea squad needs to be addressed if they are going to be a team that's going to be you know taken seriously from a winning things perspective going forward I think for Everton it's a great chance to be taking advantage of a wounded animal in Chelsea it's obviously a home game for Everton they've had the whole week to prepare for this game I'm expecting them to put in a polished performance I'm going to go with the one one draw I think Chelsea the image the inexperience I almost said immaturity but to be fair to some of them yes some of them they play with a bit of immaturity but the inexperience as a whole for Chelsea I think they're going to feel that humiliation and I don't think they're going to be able to channel it in the right way I don't think they know how to channel that humiliation from the Champions League performance in the round

of 16 I don't think they're going to be able to channel that and turn that into motivation to give us a positive performance I think they're going to be reeling from it I think they're still going to be feeling it in their legs I think they're going to be feeling it mentally and it's going to reflect in their performance in this game I'm going to go with Everton getting a one one draw if they can be as polished as they need to be and play the perfect game Everton can go and win this game but I still think that this ends up being a draw another game that I'm calling as a draw is Leeds versus Brentford I think it's been interesting to see Brentford handle this position of being in you know one of those coveted European spots at present and you look at how they prefer they've been quite even killed in 2026 in my opinion and they're doing just in that to to maintain that position and it's good to see I think it's starting to get to that point

where they do need to start getting well obviously they need to win in this one but they need to start stringing together wins if they are going to be the team that does end up being in seventh place this season you can't be only winning one game and then draws and and and losses thrown you know in and around there you look at the fact that in their last 10 games only once have they had back-to-back wins that's not going to be enough you have to start stringing back-to-back wins if you are going to go on to to take one of these coveted positions and then obviously from a leads perspective the team that I did you know a couple of weeks back and say we're going to be the team that's going to stay up of those teams you know near the bottom I was quite confident that leads were going to stay up they've had a bit of a blip since I said that so sorry leads fans but I'm still confident I'm still I'm still backing them to be of those cluster of teams that are all bunched up together there I think leads are going to be fine I think they are still showing

enough effort and enough good things in their games to to give me confidence that they will go and and and see out the rest of the season and be in the Premier League next season obviously the fact that I'm predicting a two-two draw in this game doesn't help either of these teams in those two efforts from a brand-foot perspective I mentioned they need to start getting back-to-back wins on the board from a leads perspective they need the win just to keep that distance between them and the team below them but the draw puts them on 33 points I probably I probably reckon another win they need one more win in my opinion one more win and I think they they guarantee themselves pretty much well as close as you can to a guarantee without getting to 40 points they're guarantee themselves Premier League football next season so they'll have to wait a little bit longer for that but at least they're not losing they keep that you know tally ticking over which is important at this time of the season we'll move on to Newcastle versus Sunderland the time we

are Darby I think we had a fascinating one last time out when when the stadium of light entertained Newcastle this time it is St James's Park that plays host in this game I think Newcastle they they saw the reality of the Champions League in the sense that the Champions League has so much talent the teams that are at this point in the Champions League are all talented teams but there are levels to this talent and passion as much as we love it in English football passion is not enough you you know running around is not enough you have to have a level of technical ability that will see you through these games in the Champions League and if you don't have that you're going to struggle to go for on the Champions League as as much as the Premier League has emphasised the physicality of the game as much as the Premier League has

emphasised playing with the passion and playing with your heart on your sleeve the Champions League will humble you from that perspective and we've seen a time and time again in recent history with Premier League teams you have to have a technical flawlessness to you if you want to be in and around those the business end of the Champions League should I say yes this technique counts as a business end but I mean in terms of semi-final finals of Champions League you need to have a bit more than what Newcastle were offering and we saw it to devastating effect in that second leg and this is the danger with the Champions League is it's two legs so yes again the spirited passionate performance of Newcastle in the first leg over two legs the cream rises to the top that technical efficiency will wear you down eventually and we saw that in their game can they recover unlike Chelsea I do think Newcastle will be able to recover in this game I think they've had

experience of playing in Champions League this team together because they've not made an awful lot of changes to the team they've had the experience of playing in Champions League and the disappointment of not going far in the European football and then having to react in the Premier League I think they're playing a Sunderland side who isn't playing great at this present point in time they've obviously fallen down the league table you know and a lot of it had to do with what happened you know with with the squad depletion as a result of Afcon and you get that but they've not been great they've been a relegation level team for the last six games they've been a relegation or at least hovering just above a relegation level team for the last 10 games and I think their troubles continue in this game as much as the Champions League will be about you know their technical proficiency Newcastle thrive in the physicality they thrive in the passion type of

games and a time where Darby not many games are as passion filled as this one and I think Newcastle thrive in that and go in with this one two one right let's take another short break we'll finish with the last two games that we're going to be discussing we'll be right back after these short messages but before we get to the short messages I do want to give a quick shout out to epilindex.com you'll go to help for in-depth Premier League analysis and tomorrow's top stats today I also want to talk about our presenting sponsors Liberty Shield Liberty Shield is a leading VPN provider you that wraps your internet traffic in i'm clad encryption that means your online identity stays locked down your IP address vanishes nobody whether it's governments hackers or ISPs can pick at what you're doing if you want to binge a show that's only available in another country or you want to change your virtual location with a single click and breeze past your blocks or regional restrictions then head over to Liberty Shield.com pick the plan that suits you whether that's your whether that's their hardware routers or it's their you know routers or if it's the

software solution go to your checkout basket use the coupon code epil2526 that's epil2526 for 25% off of your purchase and we do thank them for sponsoring the show right we'll come back after the break with Aston Villa versus West Ham and what I think is the game of the weekend despite they being a carabalcap game I know that might be blasphemy but spurs versus nodding him for us my own my what the game that could turn to be your little one grew three inches overnight adorable also expensive sell their pint sized pieces on depop and list them in minutes with no selling fees because somewhere a dad refuses to pay full price for the clothes his kid will outgrow tomorrow and he's ready to buy your son's entire wardrobe right now consider your future growthspurt budget secured start selling on depop where taste recognizes taste payment processing fees and boosting fees still apply see website for details America leads the world in medicine

development it matters we get new medicines first nearly three years faster five million Americans go to work because we make medicines here at home and not relying on other countries keeps us safe but China is racing to overtake us will we let them or will we choose to stay ahead when America leads America cures let's tell Washington to keep us in the lead learn how at america cures dot com paid for by pharma the world moves fast you work day even faster pitching products drafting reports analyzing data Microsoft 365 co-pilot is your AI assistant for work built into word excel PowerPoint and other Microsoft 365 apps you use helping you quickly write analyze create and summarize so you can cut through clutter and clear path to your best work learn more at microsoft.com slash and 365 co-pilot what again that could turn up to be indeed spurses versus nodding

and far as but before we get to that austin villa versus west ham it it was nervy it was nervy for a lot of the english teams when it came to european football and trying to see their ways through that i think austin villa were one of the more comfortable teams they had the lead they were playing at home and they went and took care of business with that tuner when over liel i think from from their perspective they've got the manager that's used to doing this i mean european league should just be renamed the unainery tournament right the unainery invitational because he's won so many of them and being involved in in in in the latter stages of the of so many of those tournaments you look at the amount of squad rotation they had in this game he is managing the squad very well at this point in the season and he

specializes in that right i think they're going to be fresh for this game i don't think they've got course for concern from from a squad management perspective and and that will be music to austin villa fans ears west ham have been dogged man they they will not they will not go away they just seem to have a level of fight under um i drew a blank for a little for for for for a little bit there i could see his face and for some reason i was unable to um i was unable to figure out who was the manager for for west ham for a second there but obviously thank you it was being shouted in my ear as as they could see me scrambling to try and remember uh you know spirit to sent us his name i don't know why i blanked there i could see his face but i for some reason i blanked but under you know they have shown a resilience they have shown a fighting spirit they have been clawing their way up towards the teams above them obviously they sit in

18th place which is one of those relegation spots a uh a favorable weekend for them could see them jump all the way to 16th where Tottenham currently sit obviously a draw in the nottingham forest and Tottenham game will help west ham jump over both of those teams so maybe that's what they're hoping for in that game or even it to be honest it doesn't matter for west ham if they can take care of business on their end they're not going to be in the relegation zone come the end of the weekend that should be the driving force for them and you look at their performances in recent weeks they sit as a top ten team in the league over the last ten game i think they're in seventh in the form table over the last seven games if i'm not mistaken over the last six games they sit in eleventh place on the form in on the form table and that's music to their ears because the teams above them in Tottenham and and and and nottingham forest sit bottom and second bottom on the form

table and as i said west ham have clawed their way back and and and and and and and and and drag those teams towards them with each week and i think this is the weekend where they can go and then you know get themselves out of the relegation zone i think if i'm not mistaken um even with a draw west ham can climb out of the relegation zone they would need a favor from Tottenham in order to do that but i do think that this game ends up being a draw i think asden villa are primed to to make it difficult for for west ham which sounds weird that we're framing it that way but because of the importance for west ham in this game and a chance to psychologically and and literally get out of that relegation zone i think we need to frame it that way yes for asden villa financially it's it's it's it's it's equally if not more um you know impactful because they are fighting for champions league football for next season

they've had three losses on the bounce they've only won one one one game in their last five games and that is why i'm framing it from a west ham perspective i think they've got an opportunity to do something special in this game it's a one one uh sorry it's it's it's a um they've they've had the whole week to prepare for this game whereas as the villa had to take care of business uh in in in europe and we've seen the toll that european football has taken on asden villa in recent weeks in my opinion as much as the squad rotation has been good the performances in the league haven't been good they said in 17th place in the form table at this point in time over the last six games i believe in the last ten games they're in the relegation zone from a form table perspective in 18th place and i think new car um west ham are going to be able to compound that um i think west ham sneak the win in this one i'm gonna i was going one one i've talked myself into a west ham

two one win in this one and wow that that will have impact on both ends of the premier league table and certainly it has major impact on the game that would be um you know running concurrently with this game i wouldn't be surprised if all three of those teams don't have the other game uh you going somewhere in the background or at least keeping up with the latest um score lines it's spurs versus nineium forest the hot toddy as i like to call it the tutnam stadium will be a nervy nervy stadium i'm hoping from their perspective it will be a defiant stadium that is up for this relegation battle that is not sitting on their hands um you know hoping that they don't lose this game i think they need to be a stadium that is willing their team to go and win this game there's a different mentality when when when that happens when you're nervous and you do and

you're hoping not to lose the game versus if you're going in trying to willow in for your team i think it's going to be the difference in atmosphere for spurs i hope for their sake it's the more aggressive um try to go in will the win rather than the hoping not to lose because that could benefit notting them for us we know notting them for us are creating chances we know they're a dangerous team they can't seem to put them all in the back of the net um as consistently as they need to be doing uh in the league at this present point in time spurs have shown a bit of life i think so i when i was speaking to a spurs personality let me put it that way they i mentioned are you know this past weekend with the Liverpool game i said obviously it's a great game for taught them to play and yes it's possible Liverpool could go and blow them off the water and and Liverpool have the firepower to go and do that and we saw it in the Champions League

against Galatasaray that that could have been on the cards for for spurs but this version of Liverpool chances are we're going to give spurs um you know a chance to stay in the game and lo and behold that happened and and it gives spurs some hope it gives them some life and then i also mentioned to them that yes as humiliating and as bad as that let's come a dread defeat was um you know in in the first leg of the Champions League odds are and is very different to what Chelsea were facing with PSG PSG are just a killer man they're they're going to come after you they're going to put their foot on your throat and then and they're going to go and destroy you despite the fact that they've got that healthy um first leg advantage that's just the nature of the beast i'd like to come a dread though and there's Diego Simeone they're going to say well there's no chance you guys are scoring three goals you know what i mean i'm going to make it as difficult for you to score three goals as possible and i'm going to bank that i'm probably going to get one or

two um on the counter attack i'm probably going to get at some points in the game i'm going to have you know my my five-minute spells my ten-minute spells and i'm pretty sure i could probably get a goal or two in in in those moments or even on a counter attack but i know for a fact you're not scoring three and i'm going to dare you just to try and score three because i'll pick you off on the counter if you do that's the confidence in in deogas monee would have in his defensive setup in in the way he's coached at uh at electrical Madrid over the years so i thought that this could be a game where spurs get to play with reckless abandon knowing that they have to go and score multiple goals to stay in this game without the fear of um at electrical Madrid dominating the game with their midfield in a way that a PSG can do so it was very different to the Chelsea one i thought spurs could give themselves hope in this game i didn't think they were going to go through

but i think they were going to be able to give a spurted enough performance to go into despite losing in the championship to them propel them into the rest of the Premier League season with a bit of hope of well look at that spurted performance we gave against Liverpool look at that spurted performance we gave against at electrical Madrid let's channel that um let's hope that the players take some belief from that and let's move into these last and every game has to be a cup final for them uh you know remainder of the season and that seems to be playing out at this point in time and i think they try and ride that momentum in this game i'm going to go with the two one spurs when they're not the finished product yet but at least they have hope now at least they have a level of belief now in what you know in what tutors trying to do in themselves as players in the fact that they they they can resolve this issue they can play while they've got moments now where they can point out in games and say look how well we were playing under this manager and at these

circumstances and that is what they're going to then channel going forward before they didn't have anything there's nothing they could have pointed to to say well look we did this while we did this or no it was all just bad it was all bad and and then then there's there's no belief in what you're doing you know there's no belief in the methodology there's no belief in the philosophy at least they've got something they can hold on to now and that is what they're going to channel and it's going to help propel them to safety in in the Premier League this season i initially thought it was going to be an ego thing where the players are just going to at some point to time say well i'm better than this from a personal perspective and and that was going to claw them out it doesn't seem like that's going to work so there needs to be a level of belief they need to instill that level of belief and they've done it this week despite how low the low was in that electrical dream i think the fact that it was that low in the first leg the the highs and the lows i'm speaking of because it was so low they almost could only go up and as i mentioned because

of the style of play it was different to the Chelsea PSG game i think we're going to give them chances to help themselves out of this hole they've been digging because they were going to back themselves to to not concede three goals whereas PSG were going to play that game like it was no and going try and win it it results in a you know spurs two one win as i mentioned nottingham forest have been struggling in front of goal spurs will certainly test that and and probably give them more than enough chances to rectify that but i think spurs will have enough of this game and that would then mean nottingham forest into that relegation zone and it makes it for a very spicy rest of the season after the international break but that is going to do it for another episode of a tad predictable i implore you to wrap up your epl fixatepioindex.com for everything from match previews and post match breakdowns tune into the deli two two foot apart also Dave Hendrick where he does sex the hardest topics in football then

on Sunday evenings catch the final whistle with Nina and Ben as they re-kept the Premier League weekend action follow this on twitter and blue sky at a tad predictable and keep up with epio index for real time update both on twitter and blue sky at epioindex subscribe to the epio index podcast channel wherever you get your podcasts give us five star rating drop a positive comment that stuff really does help us out i appreciate each and every one of you that has done it so far if you haven't please go and and and do so thank you so much i've been to the oceanic area you can find me on my twitter handle at tad predicts which is also my blue sky handle huge thank you to obismania he's at john empire sa and jody she's at spursy one for one for our podcast intro i'll produce a behind the glass mr guide drinker he's at guide drinker on twitter guide don't think i've forgotten the fact that you still need to come back onto this podcast and defend the fact that you you gave this podcast taught them as a team to root for for the end of

the season you've made our lives so much more difficult because they are such a roller coaster team and a lot of the behind the scenes staff are demanding that you come back onto the podcast and and you and you talk about it so maybe in the international break we will drag mr guide drinker from behind the mic from behind the glass way currently so it's in front of the microphone um but remember twisting to some of that period chotter dancing to score believer Chris words with the opening the slow machine pays out the jackpot Liverpool back on their purge with a record equivalent Two teams, one cup. The primetime stage is set for the TGL presented by SoFi Finals, Los Angeles Golf Club versus Tigers Jupiter links. Keep up, it's playoffs. Tune in Monday, March 23rd,

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