I watched a game at The Valley a few years ago - I think it was against Stevenage. Four chaps in their 40s or 50s arrived at the seats next to me with ten minutes to spare before kick-off. Without being too judgmental, I would say they had downed a few beers between them. "Let's have a few prediction bets", said one. "Great idea", said another. The third, more creative one came up with 12 bets - minute of the first goal, minute of the last goal, shirt number of the first scorer, shirt number of the last scorer, number of fouls by Charlton, number of fouls by Stevenage etc. etc. The fourth suggested a tenner a bet. "That's £120 each in the kitty", said the practical-minded fourth. "That's worth having", said the first one. The second one frowned a little at the thought of losing £120. "Let's make each prediction nearest to the correct number", said the fourth practical one establishing the rules, who was also busy adding up the shirt numbers and dividing the sum by eleven. I got talking to them during the game, and they were a fun group to be near as they joked with each other about who was going to scoop a potential pot of £480. As the game wore on, they started to lose interest in the betting; I think the beer was wearing off. At full-time, the first one suddenly remembered the bits and jumped up. "Let's check the bets", he said with some exuberance. By this time, I had become good pals with them, so I waited at the end to see the outcome. The fourth worked assiduously to establish the results. After three or four minutes, he declared the results. "You've won three", he said, nodding towards the first one. "You've won four, no, sorry, make that three", he said, pointing to the second. He continued, "I've won three, so that leaves three for you", he said, addressing the third competitor. They all left with £120, having gambled £120. This goes to show that overthinking predictions can be a poor use of your time. My advice is to pick three games from this week's list, stick with it and post within one minute. If you score 10 points, you will be forever grateful to me. On the other hand, if you score zero points, choose more wisely.
If you missed last week's results, you can find them
here.
Premier League
Everton v Wolverhampton Wanderers (Saturday 1500)
Burnley v Aston Villa (Sunday 1400)
Newcastle United v Liverpool (Sunday 1630)
Championship
Hull City v Bristol City (Friday 1930)
Cardiff City v Sheffield Wednesday (Saturday 1500)
Coventry City v Sunderland (Saturday 1500)
Millwall v Stoke City (Saturday 1500)
West Bromwich Albion v Middlesbrough (Saturday 1500)
Watford v Blackburn Rovers (Sunday 1200)
League One
Bristol Rovers v Wycombe Wanderers (Saturday 1500)
Cheltenham Town v Northampton Town (Saturday 1500)
Exeter City v Reading (Saturday 1500)
Fleetwood Town v Shrewsbury Town (Saturday 1500)
Lincoln City v Blackpool (Saturday 1500)
Oxford United v Charlton Athletic (Saturday 1500)
Peterborough United v Derby County (Saturday 1500)
Stevenage v Portsmouth (Saturday 1500)
Wigan Athletic v Barnsley (Saturday 1500)
Guest fixture
St Mirren v Aberdeen (Sunday 1500)
Comments
Oxford v Charlton 2-1
Cardiff v Sheffield Wednesday 1-0
Cheltenham Town v Northampton Town (Saturday 1500) 1-1
Exeter City v Reading (Saturday 1500) 0-1
Wigan Athletic v Barnsley 3-0
Everton v Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0
Millwall v Stoke City 1-1
Wigan Athletic v Barnsley 2-0
Newcastle United v Liverpool 2-2
Oxford Utd v Charlton 2-1
Fleetwood Town v Shrewsbury Town 1-0
Wigan Athletic v Barnsley 2-1
Coventry City v Sunderland 2-1
Oxford United v Charlton Athletic 3-1
Peterborough United v Derby County 2-1
Wigan Athletic v Barnsley 2-1
Millwall 2 Stoke 1
St Mirren 1 Aberdeen 2
Peterborough United v Derby County 2-1
Wigan Athletic v Barnsley 2-0
Oxford United v Charlton Athletic 3-0
Coventry City v Sunderland 1-0
Fleetwood Town v 2 - 1
Oxford United v Charlton Athletic 2-1
Millwall 2 Stoke 1
Oxford 3 Charlton 1
Oxford United v Charlton Athletic 2-1
Wigan Athletic v Barnsley 2-1
Cardiff City v Sheffield Wednesday 1-0
Oxford United v Charlton 2-1
Newcastle v Liverpool 1-2
Exeter v Reading 3-2
Burnley v Aston Villa 1-3
Newcastle United v Liverpool 2-1
Everton 1-1 wolves
Exeter 0-0 Reading
Millwall v Stoke 1-1
WBA v Middlesbrough 2-1
West Bromwich Albion v Middlesbrough 1-0
Exeter City v Reading 1-0
Newcastle v Liverpool 1-2
Everton 1-1 wolves
Burnley v Villa 1-1
Newcastle v Liverpool 3-2
Cardiff City v Sheffield Wednesday 1-0
Wigan Athletic v Barnsley 1-0
Watford v Blackburn Rovers 2-0
Fleetwood Town v Shrewsbury Town 2-1
Exeter City v Reading 1-2
Wigan Athletic v Barnsley 2-0
Oxford 2-0 Charlton
Watford 2-0 Blackburn
Oxford 1 Charlton 2
Millwall 2 Stoke 1
Cheltenham Town v Northampton Town 2-1
Exeter City v Reading 1-0
Lincoln City v Blackpool 0-0
Oxford United v Charlton Athletic 2-1
Hull v Bristol City 1-0
Watford v Blackburn 1-0