Reuters Soccer Blog

Champions League predictions

Well the first round of Champions League group results were fairly predictable, except for Trabzonspor winning at 2010 champions Inter Milan of course.

Here’s my attempt at predicting the scores in this week’s action. If you agree or disagree then please leave a comment below. Don’t worry, registering takes about five seconds.

Playing on Tuesday

Group A

Bayern Munich v Manchester City

City obviously pose a big threat but Bayern have been in such good form I can’t see an away win. 1-1

Napoli v Villarreal

Paul the Octopus will predict no more…

It is with great sadness that we report the death of the world’s foremost psychic cephalopod.

Paul the Octopus, the mystic mollusc himself, became a more significant World Cup figure than Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo or Franck Ribery with his extraordinarily accurate predictions from his tank at Sea Life in Germany.

From our story today:

The two-year-old celebrity octopus made his choices after being offered two containers with food, each with a flag of the two teams playing, and eating out of one of them.

“We grew very fond of him,” said Sea Life general manager Stefan Porwoll. “He passed away during the night peacefully,” he said as the marine life centre flew flags at half mast and all employees wore black armbands.

 The country was shocked and distraught when he picked Spain to beat Germany in the semi-final after tipping German wins over Argentina, England, Ghana and Australia, as well as their shock defeat by Serbia and Spain’s final win over the Dutch.

 He was right again on that last one, so at least he leaves us with a perfect World Cup record.

Predictions contest is wrapped up but what about the Premier League?

It’s safe to say Paul Radford has been deservedly crowned our Predictions League champion 2009/10 but what about the Premier League?

Could there be a sting in the tail for leaders Chelsea in their last game at home to Wigan on Sunday?

Stranger things have happened and Manchester United fans will have their ears glued to radios at Old Trafford against Stoke City.

Thanks to all who have played the predictions contest this year. If you want one last go then put your guesses for this Sunday’s fixtures in the comments. See you here for the World Cup!

Reuters soccer blog panel table: Paul Radford 343, Patrick Johnston 301, Mitch Phillips 301, Neil Maidment 290, Mark Meadows 263, Mike Collett 241, Simon Evans 217, Kevin Fylan 208, Julien Pretot 210, Martyn Herman 175, Asia Sports Desk 161, Sonia Oxley 151, Miles Evans (relegated), Justin Palmer (relegated)

Sunday Arsenal v Fulham Aston Villa v Blackburn Rovers Bolton Wanderers v Birmingham City Burnley v Tottenham Hotspur Chelsea v Wigan Athletic Everton v Portsmouth Hull City v Liverpool Manchester United v Stoke City West Ham United v Manchester City Wolverhampton Wanderers v Sunderland

Will Liverpool do United a favour? See what our predictions panel thinks

Liverpool will not be keen on helping Manchester United in their title bid but a victory over Chelsea on Sunday could push the Reds closer to that fourth Champions League spot.

A real dilemma for Liverpool fans, already battered and bruised by a poor season and Thursday’s Europa League semi-final elimination at the hands of Atletico Madrid.

Here is how our predictions panel sees Liverpool v Chelsea and the other fixtures in the coming week as we approach the season’s end. I’ll add in predictions as they land. If you fancy having a go then pop your guesses in the comments. Five points for the correct score, one point for the right result.

Reuters soccer blog panel table: Paul Radford 333, Patrick Johnston 295, Mitch Phillips 292, Neil Maidment 275, Mark Meadows 257, Mike Collett 230, Simon Evans 212, Kevin Fylan 204, Julien Pretot 197, Martyn Herman 175, Asia Sports Desk 161, Sonia Oxley 147, Miles Evans (relegated), Justin Palmer (relegated)

Saturday Birmingham v Burnley: Paul Radford 3-0, Patrick Johnston 2-0, Mitch Phillips 3-1, Neil Maidment 3-0, Mark Meadows 2-0, Mike Collett 2-1, Simon Evans 1-1, Kevin Fylan, 1-2 Julien Pretot 2-1, Martyn Herman, Asia Sports Desk, Sonia Oxley 1-1,

Man City v Aston Villa: Paul Radford 1-1, Patrick Johnston 2-1, Mitch Phillips 2-0, Neil Maidment 2-1, Mark Meadows 1-1, Mike Collett 2-1, Simon Evans 2-2, Kevin Fylan 4-0, Julien Pretot 2-1, Martyn Herman, Asia Sports Desk, Sonia Oxley 1-0,

Predicting the unpredictable: the Premier League title run-in

Chelsea and Manchester United seem to want to make the Premier League title run-in as exciting as possible by dropping points in recent weeks. There’s just a point between them with three games left and you can’t get much tighter than that.

Sadly the same can’t be said for our predictions league where leader Paul Radford pretty much has the title wrapped up, but let’s see what this weekend brings.

United will not be counting their chickens at home to Champions-League chasing Spurs while Chelsea will be wary of Stoke’s long throws. Tiredness certainly comes into play at this time of the season and bizarre results abound, but at least the pair are no longer distracted by Europe.

What do you reckon? Are there more twists in the tale? Predict this weekend’s premier league fixtures and you five points for a correct score and one for a correct result. Pop your guesses in the comments and see how you do. Fixtures are below.

Reuters soccer blog panel scores: Paul Radford 332, Patrick Johnston 295, Mitch Phillips 283, Neil Maidment 265, Mark Meadows 248, Mike Collett 216, Simon Evans 212, Kevin Fylan 204, Julien Pretot 192, Martyn Herman 175, Asia Sports Desk 161, Sonia Oxley 139

Playing on Saturday Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur Bolton Wanderers v Portsmouth Hull City v Sunderland West Ham United v Wigan Athletic Wolverhampton Wanderers v Blackburn Rovers Arsenal v Manchester City

Is Messi secretly playing our predictions league?

Such is the dominance of our predictions league leader that many on the Reuters soccer blog terraces are chanting –  ”Are you Messi in disguise?”

The Barcelona forward produced a mesmeric four-goal display against Arsenal just days after predictions league leader Paul Radford racked up four perfect guesses on last weekend’s Premier League fixtures.

Interestingly, he was among a flurry of panel members to correctly predict Manchester United 1-2 Chelsea.

Paul is streaks ahead as we approach the end of the season but can you outwit him and the rest of the panel? Remember it’s five points for a correct score and one for a correct result. Put your guesses in the comments section and then come back next week  and tell us how you did.

United visit local rivals Blackburn but how will they react to the Chelsea loss and being dumped out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich? Wayne Rooney looks an injury doubt again.

Below are the panel’s updated scores and Premier League fixtures to predict for the next five days.

Predictions League could do with Mancini’s passion

The Premier League run-in is becoming so exciting that even stylish Italians like the usually calm Roberto Mancini are getting hot under the collar and wrestling opposition managers for the ball.

Our Premier League predictions competition needs a panel member to show similar passion or else Paul Radford will have wrapped up the title in a matter of weeks.

He had another flier last weekend although Sonia Oxley hauled herself off the bottom with an enormous 24-point tally.

Are you able to outguess our runaway leader? Predict the scores from this weekend’s Premier League fixtures and get five points for a correct score or one point for the right result. Post your guesses in the comments and then tell us how you did on Tuesday.   Reuters Soccer blog panel scores: Paul Radford 288, Patrick Johnston 259, Mitch Phillips 245, Neil Maidment 241, Mark Meadows 218, Kevin Fylan 204, Simon Evans 197, Mike Collett 188, Julien Pretot 179, Martyn Herman 164, Asia Sports Desk 151,  Sonia Oxley 131, Miles Evans 108

Saturday Birmingham v Arsenal Bolton v Man Utd Chelsea v Aston Villa Hull v Fulham Tottenham v Portsmouth West Ham v Stoke Wolverhampton v Everton

Sunday Burnley v Blackburn Liverpool v Sunderland

At least Liverpool can challenge United in the Predictions League

Manchester United v Liverpool is the standout game in the Premier League this weekend and how Rafa Benitez’s men would love to damage their rivals’ title charge and boost their own push for fourth spot.

Last week was probably the best collective performance this term from our predictions league panel (with yours truly top-scoring with a shock 16) so it will be interesting to see what we make of the Old Trafford clash given our rich vein of form.

I’m going for 2-2 with Torres embarrassing the United defence again.

If you fancy a go at predicting this week’s Premier League fixtures then it’s one point for each correct result and 5 for a correct score. Put your guesses in the comments section (logging in takes five seconds) and tot up your own total to see if you bettered our panel.

Below are the panel’s running scores so far this season followed by this week’s fixtures.

Reuters Soccer blog panel scores: Paul Radford 269, Patrick Johnston 244, Mitch Phillips 236, Neil Maidment 224, Mark Meadows 208, Simon Evans 192, Kevin Fylan 188, Mike Collett 178, Julien Pretot 171, Martyn Herman 152, Asia Sports Desk 151,  Miles Evans 108, Sonia Oxley 107.

UPDATE: Controversial Champions League gives way to Predictions League!

Well the fight for fourth spot in the Premier League looks like being one of the most intriguing battles in Europe as we near the latter stages of the season. Tottenham and Aston Villa won but Manchester City drew 0-0 with Liverpool in a drab game to leave it all as close as an Olympic downhill.

The Bundesliga and La Liga get more exciting thanks to Bayer Leverkusen and Cristiano Ronaldo while Inter’s lead being cut to five points has made Serie A less clear cut.

The same can not be said for our predictions league where leader Paul Radford was again joint-top scorer with 13 (full five points for Arsenal 2-0 Sunderland and Fulham 2-1 Birmingham) to streak 18 clear. But let’s not give up.

Remember one of the best manager cliches – it’s a marathon not a sprint!

Updated Reuters Soccer blog panel scores: Paul Radford 242, Patrick Johnston 224, Mitch Phillips 216, Neil Maidment 204, Mark Meadows 180, Simon Evans 176, Kevin Fylan 167, Mike Collett 159, Julien Pretot 151 , Asia Sports Desk 142, Martyn Herman 133, Miles Evans 108, Sonia Oxley 99 —————————————————

THURSDAY’S ORIGINAL POST: So what do you make of Wednesday’s Champions League controversies?

Predictions league hails the power of Drogba

Didier Drogba’s second goal in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Arsenal was the epitome of the Chelsea striker’s immense power.

It’s hard to know how any defence can stop him, even Inter Milan’s…

Top Premier League strikers are certainly having the best of it at the moment with Manchester United talisman Wayne Rooney scoring another in the 5-0 thrashing of Portsmouth.

Constrast Drogba and Rooney with Barcelona’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has scored once in his last 10 matches, and misfiring Juventus forward Alessandro Del Piero. His side have slid all the way to seventh in Serie A.

Talking of who is in or out of form, our Premier League predictions competition had one standout performer at the weekend — leader Paul Radford, who was spot on with Chelsea’s 2-0 win. Paul racked up four correct scores in all, bagging a maximum five points for each, while he picked up three singles for guessing the right result in three other games.

A midweek fixtures programme awaits and as many of our panel are away at the Winter Olympics, here is a perfect chance to sneak up on them while their minds are focused on luge and freestyle skiing.

If that doesn’t tempt you, any new entrants get double points for the rest of the season. Oh, and we trust you to total up your own points too.